The Breed

By Dream Janus

Disclaimer: All rights are protected and the story cannot be reproduced without permission.

This story is a work of fiction and contains scenes of gay sex between consenting individuals. If you find this offensive, are under the age of 18, it is illegal wherever you are to read this, stop reading now. Leave this site. If you are offended by harsh language, please exit this page immediately. You have been warned. This work of fiction is property of myself and may not be copied or used in any way without my express consent.

Much thanks and appreciation goes to Rubilacxe, my editor and second set of eyes.

Note from Dream Janus: If you enjoy reading "The Breed" you may also enjoy reading the prequel "I Antino".

Chapter 12 "1^st Job"

The table was covered with copies of the reports that Ray and the others had written over the last month. Harry had his head in his hands as he re-read the final report from Ray. Joshua Dal`gen'gel`na was shaking his head as he also read another copy of the same report. Antino and Elzabeth both were leaning back in their seats. Antino was slowly drinking a Bloody Jane; Elzabeth was looking disgusted at table.

"Are you positive that the Regia'an are responsible for this drug?" Joshua asked in a cold emotionless voice.

From the edge of the room Mike hissed and then bellowed, "Of course he is sure -- they have been watching it for over a month." He did not realize that he was not supposed to speak during the meeting, nor did he really care.

Joshua was shocked and looked from Mike to Ray and then toward Antino. He was further shocked when Antino just shook his head. "I meant no disrespect toward Lord Toban." Joshua blushed and nodded toward Mike, "Please come and join us at the table, young Zomé of Lord Toban. Anyone that is willing to protect Lord Toban like that deserves to sit beside him at this meeting."

Harry knocked loudly on the table with a smile, "Agreed, Agreed"

Mike was shocked and looked at Ray and then at Antino. He was not sure if it was for real or it was sort of weird Breed test. He realized Antino and Ray both nodded that it was for real, so Mike took the chair nearest to Ray. Mike realized that he had spoken out of turn and would try to do the same thing again in this type of situation. He looked very guilty toward Ray and then off to the side at George.

"I myself have seen this house," Mike admitted. "It is only a few blocks from my old house." He relaxed when he realized everyone was actually listening to him. Mike's small frame seemed even smaller as he talked. "I would take off after bedtime and go over to the park on the other side of the block and down from drug house," he began to explain. "I occasionally would walk behind that house in the alley and occasionally would hear them talking." Mike paused, "At first I thought they were speaking a made up language until I heard the others here speak it."

"Can you remember any specific words or phrases that were spoken often?" Joshua asked softly. He was actually enraptured with this cheeky human's inner strength and at the same time obvious weakness.

"Something like," Mike attempted. "Alræw bhneeæn Reg'ck mal'nar secü." He looked scared at all the faces when he completed the phase. Every one of them at the table wore a stone mask of understanding.

"So there is no misunderstandings here," Antino began saying very slowly. "That was a good very attempt at what you heard." His cold eyes showed no appreciation that his words attempted to give. "So good in fact, it is ordered that if you are willing, you be taught by tutor De'wann and at least one of the Thrope languages."

Antino waited for a response from Mike and when he noticed the boy nodded slightly he continued. "I also want a blood test done so that no one here can say anything about spies or ringer humans." He then looked directly at Joshua. "Full work up."

Mike realized that the second part was an order and that he had no say in the matter but again he nodded slightly. "Do I at least get to learn what that meant?"

Antino smiled at him with a smile that was genuinely warm. "Of course, basically Alræ'u just is a way of getting everyone's attention, like HEY!" He smiled when everyone jumped at the word hey. "bhneæn is the plan or plans, mal'nar is finished, updated, continues better," Antino then grimaced.

"Reg'ck is a word that is very specific to the Regia'an and has no English translation as it is more of a concept than a word or even group of words," Antino said as he began to drum his fingers on his temples. "It is the one phase that made everyone here believe your story even more. No Breed other than I is allowed to even say it." Antino then pulled his chair away from the table and stood. "secü means summer in this case.

"In other words," Ray interjected noticing that his mentor was getting more and more agitated, "their plan will be ready for the next stage at the end of the summer."

The realization gripped Mike's heart like a cold vise. He realized that summer was due to end in less than three weeks. "Oh Shit"

"Double damn," Ray answered back. "We need a heavy strike force ASAP," he directed at both Elzabeth and Antino, continuing to get agitated.

"Agreed," echoed Joshua.

"I will set three teams up for emergency clean-up in the area," Harry said with confidence that the request would be agreed upon, "in biohazard gear so we don't have any exposure."

Elzabeth already knew the answer and had withdrawn her palm computer from her pocket, her finger ready to enter commands at any moment.

"Heavy power, low number," Antino said softly. His eyes flashed red and then he jumped up onto the table. "Two vampires T&T, two Bears are already selected, I am sure, two Wolves already selected, I am sure. I want Sherry out of retirement for this and..." He then began to stroke his chin in thought again.

"I would suggest two of best hosts as backup to Toban," Joshua suggested softly.

"Done and Done," Antino said agreeing to the two hosts and that Toban would be leader of the group.

Elzabeth's fingers flew over the palm computers small interface faster than Mike could see. "T&T will not be available until day after tomorrow and Sherry already agreed to this if we needed her" Elzabeth said mimicking another woman's gruntunial voice perfectly. She then slipped into her normal voice. "You know she has a personal vendetta toward the Regia'an."

"That is one of the reasons I chose her," Antino said with a deadly smile. "The other is she is the best assassin at my disposal."

Mike looked between Antino and Elzabeth with a bit of fear in his eyes. He realized for the first time since his arrival tonight that they were planning to execute a house full of people, maybe not humans exactly, but people. "If I could ask?" Mike asked in a soft voice, "what exactly caused the Regia'an to become blood enemy of the Breed?"

Antino blinked and then looked at Mike as if he should know the answer like everyone else. He then remembered that he was only a newbie human and had much to learn. "Regia'an are a species similar to both the Thrope Cat and Ghoul genetically and as such can eat a wide variety of foods. They became blood enemy as a race to the Breed for their refusal to stop eating their choice of delicacy and main choices of food; this is Human and Ghoul infants and toddler's life force. This of course draws undue attention to us and that is in direct violation to our main canon of laws."

"There are those few individuals that are not blood enemies, but they are watched closely and are marked in obvious manners so that they are not mistaken as others of their kind," Antino continued. "Inter-species breeding between Regia'an and any other species is forbidden under penalty of death for all involved."

"So that is why having several half breed Regia'an is such a big deal?" Mike asked softly.

"Yes," Ray interjected. "It means that the Regia'an have been planning this for at least one or two generations, and we may need to step up our blood war to full on genocide toward the Regia'an."

"Something I would rather not have to do," Antino responded hastily but coldly.

"Something none of us would like to do," Harry echoed.

"It is agreed that strike force gathers day after tomorrow at Lord Toban's home and strikes within two days after that, leveling the drug house and all that are in it with cursory clean- up over the next month as needed?" Joshua asked softly.

"Agreed," Harry said solemnly.

"Agreed," Elzabeth nodded.

"Same," Ray said with a frown.

"I agree," George said with a clinched jaw.

"Then we are all in agreement," Antino said softly.

Suddenly the room was invaded by four large rats that scurried directly toward Ray. The rats stopped short at his feet and bowed deeply. They each bowed and backed away in slightly different directions. <Lord Toban we/us bring/have a message/notice from/given Master Reuf'> One of the Rats squeaked. <Those of blood hate/blood enemy have/own/possess storage house/warehouse by/near river/small water.> Another Rat squeaked. <Supplier/Manufacturer/Maker/Creator found/is/located there.>

Ray nodded to the rats and thought projected, [Thank you for your help and assistance my friends].

The next morning during band practice everyone was excited, the color guard had returned from their summer camp and was finally joining the band in a combined practice. Everyone would get to see old friends and make new ones with the new freshman members of the color guard.

Ray stood talking to Mike and Steve acting as if he actually cared about the arrival of the color guard. The whole color guard was made up of girls and they all seemed to have a stuck up attitude, so they did not interest Ray in the least, but Steve was alive with chatter about several new freshman members who seemed to be his friends.

Ray had his back to the door as Steve inhaled deeply. He realized that Steve was holding his breath as the members of the color guard entered the band room. Ray counted silently as the mental awareness of each of the fourteen members of the guard entered the room. "Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen..." He then heard the door shut. Something was most definitely off, the guard made sure that they made an entrance as group; they would have waited for even a single person running late.

Ray turned around and began to count the color guard manually. Each and every one of them was wearing identical tee-shirts and shorts in the schools, blue and gold. They each were carrying a flagless pole and a white plastic twirling rifle. He counted fourteen girls visually and then closed his eyes and counted their minds. "Thirteen," Ray whispered to himself in disbelief.

Ray then began the painstaking process of identifying a face with each thought process and eliminating each of the girls as normal until he came to a very plain looking freshman. She had brown hair and eyes with thin lips and wore oversized glasses. Her skin was fresh and unmarked with an almost unnatural evenness to its consistency. It became evident almost immediately that she was actually attempting to appear plain and non-descript on purpose.

"She is a Talmar'marn," Ray realized in surprise silently.

As a sophomore, Ray didn't have any real standing in the school by himself, but as Rex's "friend" and the guy with the seven foot body guard, people treated Ray more like an upper classman, it didn't hurt that Ray was as tall as all of the upper classman. Ray decided to use that school credit and walk over to the `Color Guard' area of the band room and speak to the girl.

The older girls of the color guard looked hard at Ray as he approached, but did not say anything to him. In the social structure, what he was doing was only a minor breach. He was a Sax player and they were cool, not as cool as trumpets, but as long as he only spoke to someone in his grade or younger, he wasn't committing social suicide. They relaxed as he approached the bottom steps where the `freshbait' freshmen were seated. The older girls decided that Ray was just claiming a girl before they were picked over by the other boys.

The whole school social status situation was known to Ray and he felt it was annoying but when he needed to swim in the adolescent pool to get something done, he did it with the greatest ease and the least amount attention gathering. He felt it was juvenile at the very least and asinine at the great extent.

The girl looked up at Ray with surprise as she was not expecting to be notice by anyone so soon. Her dull brown eyes flickered momentarily with confusion at his presence and then she looked down. She was embarrassed when the girls next to her giggled in anticipation.

"My name is Ray, I play the Bari," Ray began appearing to be nervous. "I thought I saw you at my favorite foreign movie, "Talmar'marn," by Toban McFearsome, the protégé of the Ancient director Antino?" he asked, veiling one question inside another.

The girls eyes widened in surprise and astonishment. "I, I, I am Tammy," she stuttered. "That is my favorite movie," she nodded. "I have wanted to meet that director for months now," Tammy gushed. "Ever since he became the protégé of the Ancient at such a young age."

"Would you like to go to Bundy Burgers with me and a couple friends after practice?" Ray asked, keeping up appearances. "We always talk about movies like that and Bundy's in a great spot to just hang out and chill."

Tammy realized that the request was to please those around her more than actually ask her out on an actual date, after all everyone that was breed knew that Lord Toban was not into females. She also realized that Lord Toban would not just ask only to keep up appearances, he actually was being friendly. Tammy smiled genuinely for the first time in over a month and then put on a playful pretend coy face and said, "Only if we go dutch"

"Sure," Ray said quickly. He was ready for his audience with the color guard to be over and to get on with other things. "We will take you and bring you back to where ever you need to go. There will be two others with us today." Ray knew that the rumor mill would tell her that George was his driver and that Mike rode home with them. No one but Mr. Borden knew Mike's real living situation yet, even he didn't know the whole truth and he didn't want him to know.

Marching practice dragged on and on. Ray was asked by Mr. Borden to take Steve, and a group of freshman clarinet and flute players off to the side and work on the marching basics. Ray felt at first as if this was a compliment until after an hour of doing basic marching drills, then he felt it was some form of punishment for him. Most of them could not tell their left foot from their right; those who could, could not march in time. The few that could both of those had trouble remembering basic commands such as turning left or right. The one that frustrated Ray the most was Steve, he knew how to do everything, but would allow his mind to drift and was not paying attention. Ray realized quickly that in reality it was he had a bad self-image and was dwelling on negative things inside instead of focusing on what needed to be done. No amount of drills would fix that, but Ray would work on Steve later.

Bundy Burgers was recovering from its regular lunch crowd when Ray, Mike, George and Tammy walked in the door. Several of the table had not yet been cleaned and several areas on the counter were also in need of cleaning. Ray smiled when he noticed that his favorite waitress Darla was working, she was cleaning one of his favorite booths.

"Hey, Darla, when you get time – two doubles screaming everything, one double dead everything, one garden salad dry, four fries, 3 chocos, 1 large water," Ray said loud enough to be heard, but not yelling.

Mike and George looked at Ray in horror that he would order such a plain meal for Tammy, but Tammy was smiling from ear to ear at his order. Ray had not revealed that Tammy was Breed to Mike or George so the whole turn of events was a surprise to both of them.

"Thank you, sooo much," Tammy gushed when they sat down. "I haven't been able to digest anything properly for almost a month."

"I figured you would be sick of the food they had been feeding you," Ray said softly.

Ray then turned to Mike and George and smiled. "Tammy is a true vegetarian." He then smiled wickedly. "She doesn't get any nourishment from anything except vegetables."

George cocked his head questioningly.

"Her whole race eats nothing but vegetables usually, unless they are trying to blend in with humans." Ray said with a mischievous smile.

A look of understanding crossed George's face and he softly said "Talmar'marn"

Tammy and Ray both nodded silently looking at the confused expression on Mike's face. "I am the first of my kind to go to regular school, I am a true shapeshifter. My natural form is not something nice for most humans to look at." Tammy explained she then looked at Mike questioningly. "What are you?"

"Human with benefits" Mike answered with a smile.

"He is the Zomé of a Lord and Two Masters of the Conclave and has blood bonded to the Conclave." Ray quickly explained.

"Humm" Tammy said softly. "That would definitely have its benefits." She smiled and then looked back and forth between Ray and George. "Is it share and share alike?"

"Almost, the forth is my younger brother and we don't..." George said softly, "otherwise yeah."

Tammy giggled "I thought it was you guys." She then attempted to straighten up her face as the food arrived. The moment the waitress left though it melted again and she said. "That is sooo cool."

"Oh Shit, We got ourselves our very own Fag Hag," Mike said as he burst out laughing.

"I hate that term," Tammy growled.

"Okay then, Fruit Fly," Ray added with a giggle.

"Hey, I can be one of those," Tammy said with a smile.

That evening Ray was sitting in his office reviewing files on each of the members of the team that he had been assigned. George had handed them to him once they had returned home from Bundy Burgers. Ray was supposed to review each of them so that he had a better understanding of how utilize his new team.

Junior and Karl's files were basically already known to Ray, except for the reason why they were living at the junkyard. They had been exiled from their clan for being suspected of the murder of the eldest son of the leader of the Clan. Being that the charges were never proven and Antino felt that they were trumped up to begin with, he asked Justin to move them in as added security.

The Vampire team known as T&T collectively was also known as Terry and Thomas, identical twin vampires. They both were Death Knights, the rarest of all vampires, a combination of both Shadow Lord (super psychic) and Shadow (shade) Vampire. The only other known Death Knight to Ray was Lord Jeremiah who Ray knew from the counsel dinners. They appeared to be twenty one years old, but in reality were over a hundred years old.

The folder that held the information on Sherry was the largest of them all. Apparently Sherry had been an assassin for the conclave for over thirty years. Most of the file was filled with information on her hits. Ray read that she was an orphan Trope Tigress and was raised in a Thrope Bear home until she chose to learn her trade with a Conclave master Assassin, at age 14. Ray found it interesting that the only failure she ever had with an assignment, even temporarily was the assassination of a Regia'an Tælly'æn (Leader – like a governor). She was injured and badly scarred, but returned later and finished the job, refusing the payment. Since then she has a great personal hatred for the Regia'an and takes jobs against them for half price or even free.

Ray found a note in the file from Antino that was directed to him personally.

Dearest Toban,

When working with Sherry be aware that she and George have a history that you do not need to be made fully aware of by me.

I only bring this up so that you do not mistakenly put them together privately for any reason. It could cause a bit of personality conflict.

Lovingly,

Antino

Ray looked at the note with a bit of curiosity, but knew that Antino would not have added it unless it was important, so he took the information to heart. Ray took the note and put it in his pants pocket. He realized that it did not actually belong in the file.

Ruth knocked on the office door and then opened the door quietly. She stuck her head in the office to see if it was safe to enter and when Ray looked at her and smiled she entered quickly. "Two things, Lord Toban. Your meeting location has been changed to the club and in two hours," she said softly.

Ray nodded, "Thank you" He then smiled and said, "What was the second thing?"

Ruth blushed, "Davey, he wants to say good night before you leave," she then paused, "if you want."

Ray smiled real big and got up from his chair. "Of course, he is my little buddy." Ray then shut the files and followed Ruth out of the room. It felt good to have a little bit of normalcy once in a while.

Davey was standing at the bottom of the main stairs in his dark blue pajamas looking toward the office door expectantly. His face beamed when he saw the smiling Ray exit the office and head his way. Davey began bouncing on the balls of his feet in expectation.

Ray held out his hands and was not surprised when they were immediately filled by a nearly eight year old squirming boy. They both began laughing as Ray twilled them around slowly. Davey enjoyed feeling held by such a powerful teen and Ray enjoyed hold his surrogate brother, since he could not hold his own siblings.

"Sleep well munchkin," Ray said as he nuzzled Davey's soft neck.

"Don't stay up too late Lor Toban," Davey answered with a giggle.

At 7:30 pm George, Rex, Mike and Ray arrived at the dark Club Exile. The club was in a store front building owned by the Conclave. On one side of the club was a dress shop and on the other was pottery store. George opened the door and allowed the others to enter the building. Mike stayed by the front door and the light as Rex and Ray went toward the back. Rex headed toward the DJ booth and Ray headed toward the main banks of light switches.

When Ray reached the lights he began to turn on each bank of lights, bringing the club to life. The top bank of lights brought the overhead lights on; the second bank brought the outside lights and the signs behind the bar on. The third bank of lights activated the DJ booth and the fourth and last bank of lights brought on the laser and dance floor lights.

Rex turned to a multi-deck CD player and activated the unit and it started playing his favorite pre-open Mix CD. He then looked quickly at the favorite selections for the night's music and added a few new songs and mixes. Rex then ran a test of the light and laser system. Once he was happy with the condition of everything, he returned to the main floor and retrieved Mike.

Mike and George were at the door sitting at the doorman positions when Rex joined them. They still had over an hour before the club opened and Bill the Barman would be here any minute to prep the juice bar. Ray joined them a few moments later carrying small cash till. George took the till without making a sound and slid it under the small desk that was in front of his chair. At that point a small knock was heard on the front door and Rex turned to see who it was.

The small man that was outside the door smiled when he saw that Rex opened the door. Bill enjoyed looking at and talking with the young men that he worked with. His smile increased as he entered the club and saw that everyone was present and account for. It was funny in a way that he knew all about vampires and such, but worked for and with those who really were the age they looked, except maybe George.

Bill nodded to everyone and headed straight to the bar and began slicing lemons and limes. Ray followed Bill and began to do a quick inventory of the canned and bottled drinks behind the bar. He was actually glad that is was not a regular bar and that they did not serve alcohol, as it made inventory so much easier. Most of the drinks were created from the power drink dispensers at the bar itself.

Rex and Mike returned to the DJ booth and began setting up the music in the players so that it could easily be dealt with when the time came. Ray restocked the bar for Bill and brought him a cash till from the office down stairs in the basement. He stopped and looked around the tiny club and sighed.

Once you enter the club to the right is the bar. Just beyond the bar is the small dance floor. The DJ's booth is just above and to the side of the dance floor. The bathrooms are behind the DJ's booth. The remainder of the club consists of a small area holding a single pool table and assorted seating. It was not a large club by any means, but it was intended for teenagers and as an after hours club for adults. Even by most of the other clubs that the Conclave owned, Club Exile was tiny, but it was a money maker and was a good meeting place for `everybody'.

The main lights flashing brought Ray out of his thoughts; it was George's way of telling everyone that there was only five minutes till opening. He was expecting everyone to respond.

"Ready," yelled Bill, as he finished prepping the five drinks that he made for everyone normally.

"Ready," echoed Rex and Mike's voices over the microphone system. The club's opening music began to play, rewound noisily and stopped waiting.

"Ready," Ray finished the series as he moved to the bar and picked up his plastic cup. He smiled as the overhead lights went out and the club's opening music began again. Ray gathered George's cup and took it joining him at the front door, in the doorman's position.

The club began to fill with its regulars almost from the moment the doors opened. George stood outside to act as outside doorman. This position allowed him the ability to stop unwanted people, such as predatory pedophiles from entering the club.

The first surprise for Ray was seeing Justin with the still very human Larry in tow, followed by three vampires who Ray assumed were Simon, Theo and Dave. When Larry saw Ray, he grinned and rushed to him.

Larry hugged Ray tightly and said "Thanks again". It was then that Ray noticed that Larry was wearing a necklace with Justin's symbol on it intermixed with the symbol for Zomé. Ray smiled and motioned for Justin and the others to listen closely.

"I will comp your cover and a free drink if a couple of you are willing to watch the door in a little bit, company business." Ray offered.

"Sure" Justin said with a smile.

A very graceful woman followed Justin's group into the club, she was wearing a hoody sweatshirt with the hood up covering her face. She attempted to pay the cover charge with a black gloved left hand. The glove was fingerless and her fingers were slightly claw-like and malformed. Ray grinned at her and withdrew his hand upon noticing her fingers and the light scars that ran the length of each of them.

"Sorry I cannot accept that from you," Ray said with a bit of a laugh, "Sherry"

She flinched and then looked at him directly in both eyes, revealing that she had sea green eyes and three scars that marred a once beautiful face. The first scar noticeable was from her mouth toward a hidden ear. The second started above her left eye ran jaggedly down the eye and ended crossing the mouth. The third scar gashed across her neck and up toward the right.

"You have to be Lord Toban," She said with a bit of purr. "Antino said you were extraordinarily smart for one so young."

"I am," Ray admitted. "We are going to meet downstairs once everyone is here and had some fun or at least something to drink."

"Good," Sherry said and then entered the club with true detachment.

Ray was next surprised when he saw the entry of the twins T&T. They looked like blond angels and were dressed in identical powder blue shirts, black jean and black loafers. They smiled knowingly at Ray.

[We are meeting downstairs soon; get something to drink from the special stash,] Ray transmitted as they looked at each other. He smiled when they both nodded.

"Smashing Great," they both replied in British accents in stereo. They then licked their lips in stereo and walked into the club.

The twins walked to the bar and smiled sweetly at Bill. "We would like a drink from the special stash," they said in stereo.

Without blinking, Bill turned and opened a small refrigerator and began filling two 16 oz cup with blood, when they were half full he stopped and then opened two cans of tomato juice. With them he continued to fill the cups with the juice. He then added a dash of tobacco sauce and pepper. Once he was done with that he handed the drinks to the twins and smiled, "Two Exile Rumbles."

The twins took the drinks and sipped them questioningly. They looked at each other and then smiled. The drink had just enough similarity to a Bloody Jane that it was familiar, but was different enough to be its own drink. They liked it.

When Junior and Karl finally arrived, Ray got Justin's attention and they switched. Ray then sent out a general [Follow me downstairs] directive to everyone of his attack force. Each member of the attack force followed him to the door that led downstairs. Ray was surprised when two boys that he did not recognize also followed them.

"I am Robert Dal`gen'gel and this is Ian Dal`gen," the taller blond haired boy explained. "We are the hosts you were told to expect."

"Well come on then, we need to get this meeting over with," Ray said, nodding.

The group followed Ray down the stairs and into the modern looking office, which was in great contrast from the club upstairs. Ray directed everyone to a chair around a deep mahogany boardroom table. He took the chair at the head of the table as he waited for the others to settle.

"The target is basically a traditional house that the Regia'an are using as a drug house. There are no extraordinary forms of protection, so it is basically a two front attack: sneak attack with all destroy and then extended clean-up," Ray began explaining. "We are going to destroy everyone and everything in the house and totally destroy the house itself. Then we are expected to search out and kill off any and all dealers that may have escaped."

"Are we going to storm the house or are we going to sneak into it?" Terry asked.

"A combination," Ray answered. "There are three of us who can shadow walk. One of us, with Sherry in tow, will walk directly into the house itself and get behind everyone. The Hosts act as intermediaries between the two teams. The other two shadow walkers will wait until the signal is given and will appear with bears and wolves outside the house coming inside."

"Fear will drive everyone inside and allow Sherry to take out the highest ranking individual as quickly as possible," Ray further explained. "The four other Thropes and I will attack the others, Pyres and Hosts will be on round-up duty."

Over the next thirty minutes the small task force discussed the upcoming plan of attack on the drug house. Ray sat back and allowed the others to express their opinions and enter their own modifications to his plans. Finally, everyone decided on attacking at sunset the next day, taking three cars to the area and making sure that there were no loose ends.

The rest of the night, Ray made sure that everyone enjoyed their time at Club Exile. Terry and Thomas increased the heat on the dance floor as they sexually danced with each other and draining the special stash of blood and Bill's mind of different types of non-alcoholic blood laced drinks and then returned to the dance floor for more sexy dancing. Junior and Karl spent their time making out and hustling suckers at the pool table. Robert and Ian enjoyed flirting with the girls in the club, buying several of them drinks as the night progressed.

Just as the club was winding down for the night, Ray and George heard a disturbance outside the club. Several girls ran back into the club screaming that a boy had been badly beaten and dumped just outside. Ray and George both left the door man area and went outside to check what was going on. When they opened the club's door they noticed a group of teenagers circling around what appeared to be a smaller boy's body. One of the teens was on his hands and knees trying to help the boy.

Ray quickly ran to the crowd and pushed his way into it. The teenagers separated as they realized that someone from the club was now on the scene and would be taking over. George was on his cell phone calling for emergency help.

Ray ran up to the prone form of the boy and then roared. His blood ran cold as he recognized the bloody cut and bruised form of Steve. Ray quickly noticed that both of Steve's legs and one of Steve's arms were bent at an angle that was impossible for the human body. Ray noted with cold fury that he must have had broken bones. He then looked at the boy hunched over Steve's body and noticed that he was holding a shirt tightly to Steve's left shoulder, which appeared to be bleeding profusely.

Ray was beyond furious but he did not know who or what to be angry with so he stuffed his anger. The shadow tendrils on his arms and chest exploded in dark fury in every direction. The energy over took the Polo shirt that he was wearing and replaced it and his Docker pants with black non-descript copies. Ray's eyes were now solid black without a hint of color or white.

The boy noticed Ray and became fearful as he approached. The boy began to move and attempt to flee.

"Stay where you are at and continue what you are doing!" Ray roared. "I am not after you!"

Note from Dream Janus: Sorry for the extended delay in getting this chapter out, I had back to back Flu and Bronchitis, which wiped me out for over two weeks. I also just had oral surgery so I am not in the best of sorts.

Editor's Comments: Now that is a great chapter! Whew! But, hold onto your hats for more is to come in the next chapter.