[Quest] The Hunters and the Hunted.

[Victor Wolfe]

"Well looks like my vacation is turning out to be a hunting trip, just as planned" he thought to himself as he burst forward catching up with the gore covered girl, Only looking back to admire just how much of a mess she had made of the Alley. He could almost hear the screams of terror of who ever happened to stumble upon that piece of fine art. Or who knows maybe they would just shrug it off as another monster attack and go about their day. He hoped for the former, "a life where murder does not have an impact on people is not one worth living” he nodded to himself as if confirming one of his deepest beliefs.
 
Although he did not mind following behind his new acquaintance; after all the view was rather pleasing to the eye and the trail of blood her footprints left behind did make him chuckle, he decided that it would be better to walk beside her and get to know just who it was that he would be working with. Looking around before addressing her he admired how pretty this little town actually was, compared to the zombie filled swamps the shady alleyways and dark streets where a far more fitting. Then he remembered all those stories of serial killers stalking people and spilling their organs all over places like this, what would they do if they ran into a person like that? He then looked back and forth between himself and Gabriella both their outfits stained with blood "befriend them or kill them, either way I doubt it would be the outcome they expected" he chuckled at the thought drawing a funny look from his companion. 
 
Thinking about what he knew about the woman he was now following he realized that he had some rather large gaps in his knowledge , for all he knew she could be leading him into a trap just like the poor bastard before him. What he did know was that she was almost inhumanly strong, cracking a man's skull so easily, and that she had a taste for human blood. The fact that she could talk so well and seemed like a normal human confused him, maybe some kind of vampire? Too smart to be a zombie, the only ones he had met so far had either groaned at him and tried to eat his flesh, or tried to convert him to a death cult. So Zombie was ruled out given that she clearly possessed some capacity to think. Vampire it must be, he just hoped that the sun would not rise and turn her to a pile of ash, such a waste of good sadism that would be. 
 
Finally deciding to start a conversation he coughed to catch her attention from her determined walk and asked whatever questions came to mind. "So how does such a lovely maiden find herself in the business of contract killing? Did they kidnap you as a kid and teach you to love every spilled drop of blood like it was your first born? How long have you been in this world? Did the smiling child invite you here or did someone else summon you? Are you single?" Victor stuttered not meaning to ask the last question and deciding to try to bury it in even more questions “So how are lycanthropes in this world? It's not going to try to convince me on the benefits of a vegan diet is it? Also what did that moron back there do to deserve having his best friend bitten off like that? Would be good to know as I would not like to make the same mistake."  He asked all of this with a look of genuine curiosity, after all she was one of the few people who had not tried to kill him almost immediately after they had met, and her story intrigued him.

[Demetri Malius]

Gabby smirked as the young man followed behind her, obviously intrigued by her offer, having decided to take her up on it. She strolled along, her hips swaying side to side as she followed the worn road of town, taking it to the nearest pig station. Even though they didn't run on good terms with her, she loved that they couldn't help but begrudgingly give her information. She noticed a few chuckles come out from the dirty blonde, and looked behind her.
"Oh? What's so funny back there?"
"Ah, nothing really. Just thinking about what might happen to any poor sop that might cross our path. m'm sure that the man we left back might have been pretty lucky to have it so quick." He seemed to lean back and smile at the moon.
"Heh, I've always respected a bit of crazy." She grinned back, resuming her trek.
The man behind her picked up his pace to make it to her side, waving a hand as he began to pelt her with questions. "So how does such a lovely maiden find herself in the business of contract killing? Did they kidnap you as a kid and teach you to love every spilled drop of blood like it was your first born?"

"Not every bloodlusty soul in this place grows in the same way. Ona  wild guess I'm gonna say that's how you got into it. But no, I happened to be thrown into it a bit, but then again, I have always been a troublemaker and a rebel." 

Victor seemed to want to dig deeper, her answers being well said, keeping him from the entire truth but specific enough to answer his question. "How long have you been in this world? Did the smiling child invite you here or did someone else summon you?Are you single?" He seemed to pull away just before the last one, running a hand through his hair and giving a smirk.

She gave a sigh. "Not a prime, sadly, but I willl put of a hell of a fucking fight before I let any sonuva bitch put me down." She seemed to speak with a low, primal growl towards the end of her sentence, that is, until she addressed his last, hushed question. "That depends on whether or not you can hold my attention~" she spoke, flirting with him. " I seem to hold yours quite well."

Victor seemed to nervously chuckle and change the topic with more questions. “So how are lycanthropes in this world? It's not going to try to convince me on the benefits of a vegan diet is it? Also what did that moron back there do to deserve having his best friend bitten off like that? Would be good to know as I would not like to make the same mistake." 

Gabby thought for a moment. "Never really thought about it, probably just try to find some poor dumbass who decided to head out by himself and night and take him. There's a lot of people that go missing in Darkshire, as well as every other city in the Moors. Luckily, people here also fuck like rabbits and make up for those that don't make it. And as for the fucker we left back there, just do't lie to me or try to fuck me over, at least in a bad way~." She gave a little wiggle of her hips at the end, enticing Victor's eyes for a moment before he turned away and spoke up.  "Good to know."

"Hmmm, but what about you, huh sweet stuff? Were you blessed by the so called "curse" of being a Prime? Being able to become like a god and come back even after death?" She spoke with sarcastic enthusiasm.

 "Well, I had thought that maybe the name would answer it for you. After all, I was in Dante's Abyss last year. What a jolly time that was..." Victor spoke with a dark chuckle.

Gabriella paused for a moment, tongue in cheek as she remembered seeing a showing of it at a deadbeat electronics store a long time ago. "Huh, So the Victor Wolfe. The one that backstabbed that one bitch and sent her straight to the underverse?'

Victor answered with only a smirk and a show of hands.

"You sly fucking devil. I love it."

They continued on, entering the station, Gabriella taking the lead as they were greeted with an officer of the law. The man was a hunk of meat, seeming to be waiting to pound a face in, his veins nearly popping out of his neck as he smoked a cigar. 

"Ah, you again? Sadly we don't have any rats to feed ya today."

"Fuck off Wilbur, go scarf down a cock in the muggy as forest."

"I would if you didn't eat all of them first. Got word of what happened by Little Philos. At least I am gonna get a discount at the bar there tonight because of it."

Gabby flipped him off as she continued past the counter, hopping over. Victor stayed quiet, letting Gabby lead the way, unsure of what exactly was going on, but light on his feet just in case things went south. It bugged him to be in this place.

"Ey, hold up there," the officer Gabby called 'Wilbur' held a hand in front of him as he tried to go over the counter. 'Who the fuck do you think you are, eh? 

"Hey Pighead, leave my fucking date alone, he's straighter than you'll ever be and  doesn't suck cock like you do."

The hulk of a man grunted, blowing a bit a smoke to the side as he mumbled something vulgar and let Victor pass.

"Whats's up with all these assholes, are you a part of the guard?"

Gabby made a sour face. "Fuck no I'm not a pig. They just know not to fuck with me and I dont fuck with them. Literally and figuratively. Think of it like a truce. Fatface over there is in charge, so anything he says, goes. At least to all these dumbfucks. I don't give a fuck about him myself."

An office grunt seemed to be filing some paperwork before he groaned, seeing Gabby.

"That's right you little fucker, give mama some of them papers. I want the ones for the werewolves."

With a groan he replied." Look, we already sent out a squad to--"

"Call them back, this one is mine."

"We already--"

"She pulled the grunt in close, staring into his eyes. "Call them off and give me the damn paperwork."

"Fine." He grumbled as she let go, calling out to the squad to come back, receiving a less than amused response. "Just try to fucking not immediately kill the fucking clients. Not for their sake but I want at least a day break between seeing your ugly face. "

"Let me carve out your eyes and we wont have them problem hmm?"

He rolled his eyes before getting back to work.

"Funny relationship you got going on here." Victor observed.


"Yeah, wouldn't trust it back where I came from but its a fucking dream here. Alright so let's see..." she spoke as she skimmed the pages. "So we gotta see some couple over up north of Dakshire, but just west of here, and see what's going on up their ass, says something about them being directly involved in the shit. We can start there. Just follow the road up there, " she spoke pointing down a worn roadsign. " and we should be all set. Fuckers out of town are always getting into shit." She spoke just as they came back out through the front door, guiding her companion.

Victor nodded, but stopped for a moment, trying to figure out how she got so much influence with the force. "So what is it that you do that makes them work with you so much?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Long story is for another time, short story. i'm a zombie. Now let's get going before the sun gets up, shit fucking hurts my eyes."

[Victor Wolfe]

Victor processed the entire exchange, so the police here were merely information brokers for the real workers?  After all they clearly have some idea on the rather illegal behaviour that his date had been involved in. Conflicting thoughts went through his head, on one hand this made everything easier for him. If their law enforcement were this spineless then it was unlikely they would ever get in the way of his fun. On the other hand it took away that unique thrill , the idea that he might have to run from a group of armed guards , their heavy armour weighing them down as he easily outpaced and maneuverer them. He remembered the early days with nostalgia, how one slight rookie mistake would have an entire district looking for him, "Good times" he thought to himself with a smile
 
Still after watching so many crime syndicates thrive by keeping local law enforcement under their thumbs he had to admit Gabriella clearly had a sound strategy for her business. After all he could probably kill most of the citizens in this part of town in the night and then flee back to the dunes with very little consequences, she had to work here. And judging by the amount of dead abominations he had observed, business was good. 
 
Her being a zombie was quite the shock, after all the ones he had met so far all seemed to fit what he remembered haunting cemeteries and mass graves, maybe there were many different versions of the zombie disease, he had to admit despite her being one of the creatures he had come here to hunt, he felt no wish to kill her. She had proven to be far too useful a guide to the entertainment that Darkshire had to offer, and she was a fan, "What's not to love?" he once again chuckled before starting up the conversation again. "Do you want to know one of the best things about the Abyss? I did not even need to lie that much! I told them my weapon was the staff I carried, that was the truth, I said I would travel with them and help them fight enemies, which was also true. After all had we run into another group I would have kept up that facade, but it just so happens that we did not run into enemies, I ran into friends!" he laughed " then one quick jab later and she was gone, the look of horror on her partners face, It still brings joy to me!" he exclaimed a sadistic look plainly written across his face.
 
"I am just lucky that John was such a good shot with that bow, had he missed and hit me or allowed the other harlot to keep firing that gun, after I had saved his life I may have needed to stick something long, purple and full of fluid into his pretty brunette face, such a nice boy. He was so appalled by what we did that day he would not talk to us for the rest of the day ashamed that we had condemned such a nice young girl to hell" he grinned smugly as he looked at Gabriella who clearly had her own opinion on people so high on their morals.
 
"What a little bitch, fucking crying because he realized that he sent someone to hell? What the fuck did he think happened to the "evil" people he killed?" she rolled her eyes at how naive John had been Victor quickly responding with "he truly knew nothing of how the real world worked, I mean just the other day I was dispatching of a target when all of a sudden some reprobates knocked down the castle gates , killed civilians and then one of them shot me in the back before emptying the contents of my throat all over the street" he  added before lifting his cloak and shirt making sure that the bullet holes had healed properly with the revivals he had been through. He held the material up for a bit longer his abs well defined and easy to notice thanks to the full moon in the sky.  He noticed her glancing back allowing her to get a look before lowering his shirt again patting the material down "well at least I can heal most injuries, would not want this lovely face getting damaged now would we?" he grinned causing his companion to laugh and sarcastically respond  "Oh now wouldn't that just be fucking criminal?" 
 
The pair continued down the even more rural path of the backwater town as Victor unsheathed his daggers balancing them with the points in the centre of his index finger end. The balancing trick taking very little focus as he walked their sharp edges cutting slightly into his skin he lowered his hands keeping them level before flicking his fingers up spinning the blades catching them as he examined their edges , the slight red stain running down them attested to their sharpness. "Holy shit those are some fancy letter openers!" He heard the zombie tease causing him to shake his head a smug smile on his face "Well I could use something as , unrefined as a hammer, mace, axe or fire arm but why when I can use these lovely’s to slowly dismember anyone who gets in my way? A big weapon is hard to sneak into the sorts of places I normally would need to be and it is ever so fun to dodge the ever so slow swings of heavy weaponry. When you spend years fighting other people with similar small weapons it just makes the big ones seem so, slow" he grinned " besides if you want to see my larger weapon you will need to wait until after this job, not something to go showing in public " he winked as she suddenly halted at the door to a rather old house, assuming that this was the place he stood behind her, and allowed Gabriella to lead the hunt for information. 
 

[Demetri Malius]

The undead was started to take a liking the shady assassin, he seemed like he knew how to toy with his enemies and keep them just as close as his friends. The betrayal he spoke of made her wary of the possibility of it in the future, but if he did ever do that, she would rip his throat out. But for now, she would enjoy his company, after all, he didn't look half bad.

"Well then, hot stuff, see that little house over there, then one attached to the shitty farm? That's where we are headed, right to old bitch Hagwin or whatever, lived there for as long as I remember. Probably because she cant get her old ass off her front porch."

They trailed up the dusty dirty road that winded up the property. It was amazing one could even have a farm here with the  dead landscape and numerous diseases floating about. In her peripheral vision Gabriella could see a zombie entangled in a barbed wire fence, stuck as it softly tugged at the metal, groaning ever so low and hungrily. Some of the crops seemed wilted, with rotting fruit and vegetables, it was all a pretty disgusting sight to see. Clearly farming was not as a successful business over here as in other verses. Then again, neither was the Ashen probably. At least Gorons ate rocks.

Their steps kicked up little specs of dust as they came upon the small red house with faced paint and splintered wood, a low food over the entire establishment. Gabby could see an old woman rocking back and forth  on the porch, face grim with worry, watching the two strangers approach her. She wore a large straw hat with a few dull feathers sticking out of it, with long and large garments that covered most of her body. One might be fooled by thinking she could be an old frail woman with no way to defend herself, but Gabby had been around long enough to know any old bitch can have something up those giant ass sleeves of theirs. She's seen shotguns and all types of bullshit pulled out of their snatches and purses before.

"Hey, you old hag, heard you got some lycanthropy business that needs to get wiped up as bad as your own ass when you shit your diaper, any way we can get rid of it without getting too much shit on ourselves?"

Gabby kept her hand on her holster for her handgun, just in case this wasn't even a grandma, she had heard plenty of stories about grannies turning out to be giant fucking monsters of oblivion that devoured souls and shit. Not that she had one to give, but hey, she still had a sexy ass body to keep healthy.

[Demetri Malius]

The undead's eyes scanned the old woman who rocked in her chair, a wide-brimmed hat on her head, covering her face before she looked up at the two, revealing a grim but determined expression. 

"I know why you're here. Nobody ever comes around these parts unless they want something in particular. I reckon you want my boy Peter, don't ya? I can tell you where he is, but you have to promise me something in return."

"Quick to the point, aren't you granny? Well, what are your terms and conditions? Old granny doesn't want us to hurt his poor baby? From the shit I see on his record, the cops might think otherwise. Lucky for you, we aren't one of them." Gabby leans in and smiles while cocking her head. "Ain't no secrets here grandma, so spill your cookies or your deadbeat puppy of a son is the least of your worries."

"Y'all are some rude sons o' bitches. Nobody ever has manners these days, but don't make Mama Godwin beat some into you rascals. Now hear me out if you want a damn reward. The only reason why this hasn't been done is that I can't catch him myself, but here," the old lady explains as she pulls a vial out from omni knows where. "Here I have the cure for my son, to relieve him of his curse. Now, I know that he might be to far gone, but I want you two to at least promise me to try to give him this, I even have this here needle just in case you gotta hold him down for it. Tonight is the only night you can use this, because the cure only affects those transformed on a blue moon. Now, this means that my son is going to be very powerful, but I think you rude vermin can handle him just fine. " The old lady spoke with a smirk, probably thinking the two to be lycan lunch by the end of the night.

"Thanks granny, you better have some bomb fucking cookies when we get back then, was hoping to throttle someone's throat with a knife today." Gabby took the cure and needle from the old lady and chuckles darkly before waving her off. "So which way did he go old hag?"

Mama Godwin shakes her fist slightly, fidgeting in her seat. After mumbling something about no manners, she calls out. "Just to your right behind the barn, the large forest. He tends to play by the hill with a cliff face, but remember to be careful, I forgot to mention that rude cunts are his favorite meal!"

"Surprised he hasn't even you yet then, hag~!" Gabby calls out, leading victor away from the porch towards the barn.

After getting out of earshot, Gabby turns to Victor. "So, how did you like all of that? And do you think we should try this cure, or should we just tear his heart out?"

[Victor Wolfe]

Staying silent as he observed the back and forth between the women he wondered to himself if cursing was so commonplace here that it might lose the impact he was used to it having. Still, it seemed like they had managed to get themselves the job and now had to hunt a very strong werewolf. The thrill of the hunt started to build and he had a few ideas on how to handle things. The cure seemed to be an interesting prospect, on one hand, it would make the job far easier, on the other hand giving a live person back would kill the climax of this little excursion. 
 
The wheels in his head turned as he formulated a plan, his hand stroking his chin as he thought. "Hm, using the cure would make the job far easier" he pondered out loud as he started to feel the pieces fall into place. "Also if we bring him back alive then use him as a hostage it would likely improve our chances of not getting screwed on the reward. And once the reward is handed over who's to say that a little accidental pressure does not cause an accident? About eight pounds of pressure can cause some amazing health care problems like grey-matter-over-wallitis. And sure hunting a werewolf is fun, but at the end of the day it is just another animal, and to me, human screams just sound all the better" he said with sadistic glee. 
 
Looking towards the barn and the forest stretching out behind it, he wondered how the hunt would go, it could be difficult to maneuver, unlike the wolf he had not had a chance to scout out the possible kill zones. And thus they risked being unprepared for whatever tricks the beast had up its sleeves. Still the prospect of seeing just how strong lycans in this world where compared to his own was one he would not pass up. Especially as it would also allow him to do two of his favourite things, killing stuff and spending time with hot women.
 
Victor walked a few steps back towards the old woman as he raised his voice "I apologise for my rather crude companion, she gets jealous when other women are nearby" he joked before continuing in a more serious, almost heroic tone "Fear not, I will be sure to bring back your poor boy alive although maybe not well as sometimes force needs to be used. But we will return victorious and you can re-join with your son, I just hope that the reward will be ready on our return as we are heroes, not charity workers" He gave a friendly smile and wave as he jogged back to where his accomplice was waiting.
 
"You see Gabriella, my dear, your way of doing things is brilliant and brutal but it lacks that level off... refinement, rather than killing the wolf and hearing its bestial death throes, or curing him and then torturing him to death only to return to a look of expectant disappointment. Now we get to see something really sweet, that little flicker of hope I just installed, being fuelled by seeing her son alive and returning, the happiness as he gets to reunite with his mother. Then the shock as he goes down not realizing what his happening, followed by all that hope, fading into pure despair with a final dash of vengeful rage." Victor is almost spasming with excitement at the thought of it, showing more energy than his usually collected but slightly eccentric self.
 
He looked her in the eyes and continued "murder when you put the right level of effort into it can unfold like any great art form, with many complex and beautiful emotional responses, always look to improve your art." he chuckled before heading off in the direction of the barn, wondering just what fun would be had."Poor Peter, what a horrible night to have a curse" he chuckled to himself.

[Demetri Malius]

Gabriella chuckled along, "He really is going to have a rough night.."

They progressed along in the dank forest, the smell of mildew and pine in the air as they lost sight of the farmhouse. This was werewolf territory now, and if they didnt keep a look out for 'Poor Peter', they could easily be caught off guard. Although they were confident in their abilities, a werewolf was nothing to scoff at in terms of strength and speed.

"I think I can smell him, I guess it's true that werewolves smell like a putrid dead dog. I can't tell if I like it or not." The undead girl joked, her ax out  and her hand by her gun, while Victor followed close behind with her daggers at the ready. In the silence , the hoots of owls and caws of crows echoed, as if they were being watched. The two hunters trailed along as Gabriella attempted to find the source of the smell, tracing it back to the far depths of the forest. They continued their silence, hoping to keep their steal, drawing near to the source of the smell, or so Gabriella thought.

"Are you fucking kidding me."

"Ah, well, at least you were smelling right, putrid dead dog."

"Fucker probably killed it to throw us off his scent. Fucking dammit. C'mon, let's head this way, he probably went this way."

Victor nodded and followed her behind, rushing forward as they tried to recover all the lost time and distance. It seemed that Peter was one smart dog. However, Gabriella wasn't about to let this bitch of a mutt outsmart her. In the distance, a howl echoed, with there being howls in response. What exactly Peter had in store for them was a mystery,, but they were both in for a hell of a fight.

[Victor Wolfe]

Five dead dogs later

Victor had followed quietly, observing Gabriella's growing fury at being, in her own words, "Fucked around by some shitty mutt”. Content to see if she could figure out what he had already noticed from the second body, he decides to just enjoy the stroll - after all, there were worse ways to spend an evening. The stench of putrid rot that filled the air made the assassin appreciate having the undead along. After all, he would not be able to pick up the difference of one rotting meat from another. He was a murderer, not a butcher. The only meat he regularly had to deal with tended to be bipedal.

The frustration was clearly getting to his companion more, clearly more used to the lesser undead, their lack of survival instinct, and unending hunger driving them forward like front line infantry towards a well-placed pitfall trap.  Victor himself didn’t really mind. A crafty target - one that actually wanted to try and live, was always the more fun hunt. "People that accept their fate too easily… how boring," he muttered under his breath, before looking forward again to the girl in front of him. Her once sadistic grin replaced itself with an increasingly infuriated pout. So she is cute when she’s annoyed, too. good to know, he chuckled as they walked. Perhaps she was underestimating the werewolf... or maybe she was more like her undead kin than she let on. It did seem to take her a while to figure out what had been obvious to him for so long.

"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" With a scream of built up rage, she unleashed her axe on the nearest tree she could find. Chopping with fury into its dead wooden flesh. Feeling a tingle of slight danger, the assassin recoiled a little. That could have very easily been his arm or neck that she decided to turn into a pile of small pieces. Allowing her to take out her rage for a minute, he decided to lean against another tree - one that at this moment had apparently not insulted an axe-wielding psychotic’s great ancestors.

Twirling his blade on his finger, he looked up and wondered if it was the blue moon that had boosted Peter’s intelligence, or if all Lycans were this fun to hunt. Hmm... if they are all this fun to hunt, then maybe we should kill more and make a coat of their fur? Giving this another moment’s thought, he noted to himself, no, it would probably just turn back to the human skin once they die. Still, I have heard of some eccentric individuals adding flair to their kills by making clothing and furniture from their victims. Maybe that’s what I need - A makeover, less black and red, more pink and blue? On second thought, Gabby here might try to eat it. But am I opposed to the idea of pretty women ripping my clothing off? Thoughts for later, he concluded his little daydream to see that the tree had seen better days, now with extremely deep lacerations, and a now, panting axe wielding zombie looking proudly over her work.

"So, Miss Gabriella, are you finished with your part-time lumberjack work? Could we get back to the hunt? I would like to kill this good chap before the moon sets, he turns back human and all the fun is taken away from it," he said sarcastically, his signature grin plastered across his face.
"Fuck off, you useless bastard," she snapped back angrily, clearly noticing how passive he had been so far. Mock offence filled his voice as he shot back, "Oh my dear, sweet Gabriella, I have merely been formulating a plan whilst you lead us deep into the hunting ground. And what a great job you have done, for without you, I would not have noticed the final piece of the puzzle."

He swaggered toward his comrade, her eyes turning to him as he compliments her. Silver-tongued as always, Victor notes with pride. He leant in close to her face, their eyes meeting. Taking her by surprise he continued, "You see, this beast is more cunning than we gave him credit for. He knows this area, and he knows unfamiliar scents. Most of all, he knows how we were tracking him. It is my hypothesis that he has been leading us into a better location to spring a trap, letting us think we are catching up to him when in fact, he is probably already killing the next dog way ahead of us. Consider this more like a game of chess than a normal undead hunt. But, thanks to your impressive skills, I figured out a way we can beat him at his own game," The assassin waxed lyrically as he revelled in his own perceived genius, whilst Gabby looked skeptical at best.

"You see, my dear,” he began again, “thanks to your lovely nose, I noticed that you are tracking by what smells different from the norm here. Dead dog, in this case.. If we smell like everything else here, then we could drop from his map. He will have to rely on a different sense to track us -Maybe sight or hearing. What it does mean is that he can no longer control our position, and we force him to reveal another one of his pieces." The zombie girl seemed to buy more and more into the idea as he went on and their faces and bodies drew even closer. "I also have a way to do this prepared. The only problem is, you might get mad because it could hurt a little," he explained with a little chuckle as he leant in as if to plant a kiss on her lips. Her eyes closed in response. Sorry for this, he thought as he moved his foot behind hers and pushed forward, aiming to land her in the mud that made up most of the floor covering the swamp. Its smell was sure to mask their own scent, but he had no idea how the hotheaded undead would react. He was sure that whatever Hell he welcomed upon himself, she would look adorable leading it to him.

[Demetri Malius]

Gabby fell forward with a hiss, turning back and attempting to catch herself as she fell back towards the mud.

"You son of a-"

SPLUT.

Right in the middle of the mud, all over her arms, legs, shirt, face, hair, just everything was a mess.

"Alright then you little shit, how about..." she swung her foot around, sweeping it under Victor, who started to chuckle as he easily jumped over the swipe, until he found that she used it to plant her foot and stand, leaping forward and tackling him mid-air. Another splat of mud sprayed the trees as they slid along the decaying leaves of the forest. Sitting on his chest, Gabriella gave a smirk, "Well now we are even aren't we,  enjoy your view while you can!" She clapped him with a handful of mud, rolling to get away as he retaliated with his own underhanded toss. Then, a howl in the distance. Both of their heads sharply glanced towards the sound, before both dashing away.

"Hush, he's close."

It seemed that it had worked, as they felt like they were actually making progress towards the werewolf, tracking scratched trees and pawprints in the mud, not stopping for a moment as they gained ground. Gabby huffed a bit as she leaned down, preparing herself. Up ahead was a large clearing. They might be able to catch him there. A disturbance in the bushes.  A growl. A yelp of p[ain as two bodies rolled out into the open.

Victor reacted immediately trying to flank the beast and take a jab at it, finding it surprisingly hard to do so as the werewolf foot kept glancing off his arms and chest, preventing such action. Gabby ferociously fought under the abomination, who had ended up on top, avoiding its deadly bites.  With a snarl the beast slammed Gabby don't before biting into her shoulder, shaking her violently in the air before tossing her to the side.  Victor grimaced at the sight of his ally being thrown out of the fight. It didn't matter, after all, she was a secondary, he was a Prime. With a curl of his lips, victor suddenly phased into nothing while the beast tried to catch him with its claws.

The beasts growled, looking around, checking on Gabby, who seemed to be slowly recovering, until a  searing pain stuck at its heels, causing it to howl.

"Don't you know not to turn your back your sick dog?"

Another swipe caught Victor's cloak, forcing him to duck and roll behind a tree, which protected him from a dangerous looking bite.

"FUCKKING MUTT!"

Gabby came up behind, handgun in one hand, hand ax in the other. Victor had to admit, she looked kinda hot being fucked up and angry. However, he had to focus, taking his chance to slip into the darkness again while gabby fired a few shots, the beast grimacing at the pain and charging at her. cuts began to appear on the two as they fought, nicking limbs as they matched each other's speed, Victor poking in to hit a critical point on the beast's body, slowly wearing it down.

"So loverboy, how are we gonna bring this fucker down, or are you just waiting for the fucker to tear my shirt so you can see my tits?"

[Victor Wolfe]

The wounds he had received so far, although mostly light cuts and bruises had started to pile up, his cloak and shirt now shredded and some nasty looking tears in the skin around his ribs and stomach spilling his precious blood onto the fog covered swampland beneath them. A twinge of fear broke through his normally cocky mask if this was a battle of attrition, the blood loss and exhaustion caused by the mix of rotting plant material, and mud below their feet may just cost them this battle. 
 
Leaping back from another swipe aimed at his neck he cleared a few feet of space, the squishy mix of mud, water and decay engulfing his boots as they collided with the ground. Gathering his composure, he snapped back to his comrade "well the idea did cross my mind, however, I think that maybe tearing it off myself as we get cleaned up from all this mud and gore would be far more enjoyable, after all, I am not one to share with mutts" running his fingers through his now grimy hair he sighed contently. Plans starting to formulate, how long had it been since he enjoyed a fight this much? The mood just right, the tension knowing that at any moment one wrong move could lead to the end, the thrill of blade meeting flesh, and the sound of axe on bone ringing in his ears. What a magical feeling this little detour was turning out to be.
 
His eyes scanned their target, it's pitch black pelt now riddled with tears and holes from their combined assault, trails of crimson blood mixing with the dirt on the beast's fur as it dropped to the ground, turning the once murky pools that had formed in their footprints a sickly red. Its chest was growing and shrinking quickly as the exhaustion from having to deal with two very nimble and persistent targets. The wound on its leg only getting worse as the fight had gone on. the creature now mainly sticking to the middle of a small clearing in the trees. A final stand as it where, if either of them got too close or too risky with their attacks then there would be no trees to duck behind. 
 
Victor gave a chuckle if this was the monsters last wish for their hunt, then what gentleman would refuse? Their eyes met, the yellow glow of the canine pupil locking with the assassin’s blood red, the mutual killing intent causing the werewolf to snarl at his challenger, who in turn raised his own lip showing his pearly white teeth. He watched as the beast prepared for one last lunge, an attempt to take down Victor in one swoop. 
 
Suddenly yelping in agony the wolf broke the stare down as an axe found its way into its one healthy leg, swapping their normal roles Victor had acted as a distraction allowing his femme fatal companion to get into position to cripple the beast. A snap of bone ringing out with the satisfying crunch, causing a shiver down Victor's spine. "Very impressive milady, Apparently it's not just my heart you are sneaking your way into," he said with a titter. "Still I fear that we may have upset the bitch” he pointed out as their mark lashed out in all directions trying to reach them. Without much success, one furry and muscled claw almost reaching Victors boot as he took one overly dramatic step back.
 
"Now how to deal with you? Maybe we should just kill you, after all, if you are going to flail around like a rabid dog then it might just be too much effort to save you, better to put you down." He said as he readied his daggers, his eyes glancing at the gems on their hilts. "On second thoughts perhaps I do have an idea that might just work, and you did provide a good fight, I might have even broken a sweat on this one." The Lycan continued to struggle trying to use its arms to reach Victor. "Gabby? if I get this things mouth open do you think you could do me a favour and pour that cure down its neck?" He looked at the undead who seemed like she was going to go full Patrick Bateman on the now, mostly neutered dogman. Who was this Patrick Bateman? And how did Victor know that name or reference he had no idea? But it seemed to fit. 
 
"Sure, just don't go getting yer self-killed hot shot” she smirked as she awaited her cue putting away her gun for one of the phials that they had received at the start of their little date. Meanwhile, Victor got closer to their target, its eyes locking onto his again, but before it could once again try to turn his to jerky his grinned and smashed the gems on his blades together causing a blinding flash of light. This was all it took, the wolf shielded its eyes and Victor leapt forward with a flip as he stuffed a dagger into each side of its long jaw. Pushing them open "Now!" he shouted to his companion only to hear nor see anything happen. Victor now riding the beasts back with his blades keeping its mouth open sighed fearing the worst. Only to have it confirmed.
 
Looking over to the Zombie girl she looked stunned, rubbing her eyes, the contents of one of the phials now spilt into the wet swamp bellow them as she rubbed her eyes trying to get her vision back. Apparently, he had not warned his only ally of one of his more useful powers "Oh dear" he said with a worried sigh as the wolf started to flail and buck, its arms not being able to reach around to its back. Nor was it calm enough to realise that aiming for his legs, currently wrapped around its waist, or his arms keeping the blades in his mouth. Holding on for dear life the assassin thanked his gymnastics teacher thinking that maybe killing them for not giving him a perfect score was a little harsh now. After a few seconds of struggling, he heard "You Asshole! Why didn't you tell me you were going to do that?" At least she was consistent he giggled a little before once again trying to focus on the situation at hand.
 
"Well to be fair, I didn't want to give this guy more information than he needed. And I thought that someone as smart as you would have figured it out instantly, now we can discuss this later, preferably in a bed, but for now how about we finish this and not fuck up this time" he said with a smile. "Fine!" he heard in reply as Gabriella sauntered over to the two killers locked in a struggle to the death, and casually poured to contents of a phial into the wolf's mouth. 
 
"Checkmate!" Victor chuckled into the creature’s ear as he removed his blades, its muscles shrinking, fur falling to the ground, and skull returning to something human, its sharp fangs returning to a set of cracked and bucktoothed nashers. and the talons that almost diced the pair changing back to a rather scrawny pair of hands. The serum seemed to have worked on more than just the transformation, sealing up a lot of the damage they had inflicted. Walking over the teen? Victor grinned "So I assume that you are Peter?" he gave a triumphant and heroic smile only to have his dreams of an artistic execution shattered. "Nah sir, my name be Rufus, looks like Mama Godwin tricked you guys, I am a werewolf by choice, the thing with Peter got taken care of a while back, maybe she didn't like your attitudes?" The silence was deafening.
 
Victor let out an infuriated scream as he walked over to the nearest tree and started stabbing it repeatedly. Laughing like a maniac "my plan! My beautiful plan! It was all so perfect, but fucking Rufus here has to be the wrong damn werewolf! All that work for so little payoff!" he sighed as he turned and slid against the tree sitting down, the adrenaline and his murder boner fading as his wounds started to hurt.

[Demetri Malius]

Gabby stood with her arms limp at her sides, staring down into the mud, her breath still heavy and rapid while it disturbed the frosty and foggy air. 

"You mean this fucker.... is the wrong fucking guy?" She called out, starting from a harsh rasp and building up to a boiling shriek. Her axe seemed to teleport instantly across the mud,  suddenly embedded into the thick bark of the tree, its outer shell splitting open before the two men could hear the wood crack. A large blade mere inches from the now cured werewolf, turning the man's head while he widened his eyes.

"It's not my fault! You should've known who you were after you dumbasses! What..... wait don-" 

BANG-BANG.

A shriek echoed through the dark woods as a thin pillar of smoke softly dissipated around the gun Gabriella held, its power exhumed in that single moment. Victor looked towards the undead woman, immediately reprimanding her.

"What do you think you are doing," he roared as he stepped forwards, fist held at his sides. "Don't forget I want to have my chance to slowly deprive this liar of his sorry life!"

"Well... WAIT YOUR FUCKING TURN!" 

A yelp as boot met flesh and made a hollow sound, splattering blood and spit on the long dead plants rotting in the ground.

"I'm not waiting my turn like some silly child, I want to make this liar pay NOW!"

A slam of bone against wood.

"I shot him first, I kill him first!"

The ax gets torn from the tree, seconds before it tastes flesh and shatters bone. More screaming. 

"Well, leave some of the killing for me!"

A soft tear can be heard, followed by panicked gurgling.

"YOU FUCKER. NOW HE'S GONNA BLEED OUT IN THREE SECONDS."

The man choking on his own blood faded in and out of consciousness seeing only traces of red, violet, and deep blue, trying to focus on the words floating around him, looking around and reaching up as if to pluck their meaning from the air. A blur rushed past him as he could only assume the woman who drove the ax into his knee.

Three.

Loud shouts. Everything is swirling together. His mind reminiscing over his life of being an outcast and a fool, until he acquired his Lycan powers, sorrow filling his body and soul. 

Two.

Silence. The sounds of lips smacking. Darkness. Regret. Everything fading away. The attempt to lose the duo in the woods.

One. 

More lips smacking. More of his life consumed. The battle rattling in his mind. In his final moments, he caught a glimpse of his kills embracing and gave one last breath.

Distant howls drowned out the lewd cries that followed, no doubt calling for the two brothers they had lost that night.

[Victor Wolfe]

Victor awoke, dizzy from the night before. The adrenaline had long since faded and the aftermath had all but erased his short term memory, leaving him in a dazed, lethargic state. He sat up using the stump of a long dead tree to support his back, wincing as he felt abrupt pain pulse throughout his body. Oh right, there was a werewolf. His thoughts drifted as he scanned himself to be sure everything had healed properly, being quite surprised to find that instead of staring at his stylish cloak and shirt, he discovered only his bare chest. He then focused on what wounds he may have, feeling the echoes of scars from the previous night. Flashes of memory invoked phantom pains from the forgotten wounds, soon fading as his mind cleared. His eyes drifted further down, trying to make sense of his surroundings.

Why am I naked?

Victor's head turned slowly to his left, he was in a clearing, old and dead trees making up most of the skyline. His eyes lowered to the dark mud that made up most of the ground. He noticed canine and human footprints, some of them still filled with dyed red water where the swamp had mixed with what he assumed was blood. His eyes drifted as they followed the canine footprints, they stopped at a cross section of three sets of human prints,and the remains of what he assumed was a human but could have been a small dog for all that was left of it. Scavengers had obviously took their chance to gorge themselves on the remains. How did I end up naked and next to a dead person? His eyes scanned the corpse, the neck bone having a long but very fine fracture, likely from a very sharp blade. OK, so I slit its throat, well not the first time this has happened so I think I have the picture. He smiled, normally now he would have to wake up, get dressed and then find a place to dump the body inside an imperial palace. Apparently undead and curse-filled forests where the far more efficient way to do things. I guess if I ever do return to my own world and off some minor nobles wife because she got to attached I will know to invite her out to a haunted forest and claim the lycans did it this time!

His smug grin returned to his face, he had finally figured out what had happened, getting into a fight to the death and slitting someone's throat was a pretty common occurrence for him. Breathing a sigh of relief he wondered what he had thought had happened?  But still He couldn't escape the feeling that there was a detail he was missing, a crucial piece of the puzzle. His eyes continued to drift to his right the foggy forest continuing to confirm to him that everything was as he thought. However as his head reached the end of its rotation his eyes went wide, the drowsiness being blasted away as he noticed a female form. Facing away from him and also naked she was bent over, attempting to pick her clothing from the ground. His eyes greedily took in the curves of her body, from her legs, well toned from her life of hunting the beasts of these forests, and her fully exposed rear. Definitely a woman, and a perfec… Near perfect one at that, after all we all know perfection doesn't exist. 

As his eyes admired the beauty in front of him the final memories from the night before came rushing back. How in a rage he decided to hunt some undead, but instead found a new companion and more interesting prey, How they had been played around with, and in their frustration lured the beast into a trap, how her sweary, murderous passion and rage turned into lust as they embraced to the sound of blood filling a helpless victim's lungs, the pathetic attempts to call out only driving them on more. "Well I guess that there may be true perfection in this world," he purred, infatuated with the woman .

Gabriella, who had been in the process of picking up her shirt, either not noticing, or caring that he could see everything turned her head slightly. “Just up and already talking about my ass!” she said, the edge of her smile just showing from the side of her face as she gave it a wiggle.

“Well, that is one thing, shall I list the few hundred other details or shall we just agree that it's pretty much everything my dear? After all, I don't tend to stick around too long if I don’t think I can have a lot more fun ” He said with his own grin.

Deciding that getting dressed may not be the worst idea in the world Victor stood up, stretching out his muscles, still sore from the fight and lack of rest the night before. His nose twitched, the familiar scent of decay filling the air, mixed with blood and sweat. It wasn’t long before he stood in front of Gabby, fully dressed, the black and red still caked with mud. The shiny silver of his belt now dull with dirt and grim, His daggers however still shone in their scabbards showing very little wear from the night before. The enchanted metal keeping itself clean and sufficiently sharp. 
He gathered what was left of his clothing, some of it in dire need of repairs.”So who ripped the cloak?” he sighed wondering if he had gotten careless and a swipe from the beast's claws had shredded the piece de resistance of his fashion.

“Oh that? I tore it” Gabriella said with a laugh

“Why?” Victor said a little irked 

“Because the button was annoying and a minute or two of fiddling with it might have killed the rush” She said with a grin 

“Fair point” Victor sighed in reluctant agreement as he looked for his shirt. Only to hear a slightly annoyed question.

“Victor? What happened to my underwear?”


The assassin giggled “Oh those? I tore them off, after all, spending all that time getting them off any other way would have taken away from the mood” His laughter filled the forest as Gabriella let out a frustrated sigh of her own. As the now grinning assassin continued to look for the last piece of his clothing. From what he could remember it had been thrown and caught on a tree branch a few meters away. His partner's strength continuing to surprise him.

Walking over in the general direction he sniffed the air once again, the stench of putrid rotting flesh filling his nostrils. His hands reached down and removed his blades from their scabbards, he walked around the tree that had once held his shirt and spotted a lone undead, its legs rotted to the point it could only manage a slow shuffle towards him. As he got closer he could see the signs of decay, large areas of bone and tendon exposed to the elements, the zombie was old, and may have survived to rot into nothingness, had it not happened to have walked into the branch holding his shirt, the fabric now coated in blood and rotting flesh pieces having distinctly more red than he remembered. Victor sighed, “OK, hold these please” he asked sarcastically as he stabbed his blades into the creature's eyes. Leaving them there as he grabbed his shirt from it, causing it to fall backwards and die. 

Once he was properly dressed, missing his cloak he leaned down and removed his daggers, the gore sliding off the blades as he lifted them. “Thank you kindly sir” he joked tipping an imaginary hat as he walked back to Gabby with a spring in his step. What a vacation it had been: crushed a zombie's skull against a rock, kneecapped another then watched a zombie girl smash his head into a wall, hunted down a werewolf and then spent the night with one of the most interesting people he had ever met. Just what he needed to release the stress of the last few weeks. Everything had worked out superbly. 

As he walked back he thought about what he should do next. The first thing that came to mind was to rush back to Nippur and do his job, but that could wait a bit longer, he was sure that Templar could handle managing some ruins for a bit longer. Nothing else really came to mind though, all of his other business he could attend to at any time.And the idea of going back to the tedium of dealing with the idiot yes-men King Gilgamesh tended to surround himself with was far from appealing, even getting all the information he would need to make a decision on what the city needed could take days with the incompetence of those guards.He looked down to his leg, couldn't even stop a thief and rodent from waltzing into our palace. However Gabriella was a breath of fresh air, almost a kindred spirit. He wanted to see just what other interesting situations they could get into. He weighed it up, let's see, Templar who takes himself to seriously, or perfect woman? Thus it was decided, he would extend his vacation and see what other fun things his new friend could show him. Walking back over to Gabriella who was now fully dressed he grinned “looking great as always dear, although I must ask, any idea what we could do next? Not to speak for you but this has been really fun. So miss Gabriella? Was this just a one night fling of passion? Or shall we see just how far this chance meeting will take us?” He said with a near manic grin.

[Victor Wolfe]

"well, why the fuck not, sounds like one hell of a good time lover boy" Gabriella proclaimed causing Victor to laugh, her crass nature and honesty was a breath of fresh air to someone who had spent many of his days dealing with backstabbing underhanded nobility. "So what shall we do? Kill vampires near the castle? Put down another dog? Or just head back to the inn to finish where we left off?" She enquired, but before the assassin could respond he noticed that his dataverse device had a new notification.

Opening up the screen Victor quickly read over the message, it was from Erik, and it seemed that Nippur was in even worse shape than he had previously thought. He thought about the different paths of action that he could take finally deciding whilst Gabriella waited for his response. "Well why don't we aim a little bigger than that my dear, you see the monsters here whilst challenging don't always react that well when you hit them, now bandits, on the other hand, they scream, and bleed, and beg for their lives, and you know where there are a lot of bandits? The Dunes. I do however have other things to take care off, So I am going to get a head start." Victor then proceeded to sketch out a rough map of the dunes and how to find the city of Nippur " Meet me here in a few days, that should give you some time to stock up on ammo and finish anything else you need to do " He then kissed her and before she could complain about being left behind, for now, he ran off towards the gate to the nexus. 

Running through the sodden soil of the moors the assassin had time to think to himself apparently a strong leader is far more important than I thought, without Gilgamesh things are just going from bad to worse. And if it keeps going this way I might be out of a job, although with Goldie gone and all those peasants without a leader there may be a new opening for someone ambitious enough. But I guess that is a thought for later if we don't get the situation settled there will be nothing for any of us to rule.

As this thought crossed Victor's mind he arrived at the portal, staring into its void he let out a sigh, the moors had been a fun time, but he had a job to do, and it seemed like he was one of the only ones that could do it. Thus he entered the portal, the strange feeling of being transported once again taking over his body.