Wolf had chosen to relax for the few days that he had to wait out for Daniel's head start. He still had a visit to the Detective planned, but just didn't know how to get her attention. He sat in an outside cafe, sketching on a paper and sipping his coffee once again. He enjoyed he sketching, and he continued to rough a picture of two men, a picture that he had seen before just a few days passed. The waitress came to ask if he needed more coffee, but stopped when she saw the scale of work that he was doodling.

"You like Savage Garden mister?"

"Yeah, a little. Met them last night."

"I bet that was cool for you...You're not from around here are you?"

"No, just here on business..."

She smiled and walked away, feeling something around him that she just didn't like. Had she known what that feeling really was, she never would have even thought about talking to him like she had, but that was an afterthought.

**

Mallyon sat at her desk, sorting through the numerous pages of information, but finding nothing. She hadn't slept at all the previous night, because something had gotten close to her, she didn't know what. It was like the feeling of being watched, but she was alone, like having your thoughts pulled straight from your mind.

"But that's crazy, there's no way, no smegging way..."

She wasn't a believer in the supernatural, even though she was almost sure that it was nothing human killing all of those people like that, not so many so close together. They found two, maybe three bodies a night, so far all women who were out in the South District alone late at night. Whatever it was, it made no sense at all, and nothing was adding up. Suddenly her phone began to ring, a high piercing screech that was sure to get someone's attention if she wasn't there.

"I know what you're looking for..."

"Who are you?"

"Someone who knows a lot about his job...."

"Before I have this call scanned, who are you?!"

"One who knows and wants to share if you would like to hear it...."

Mellina paused, took a deep breath.

"Alright Mr. Mysterious, what are you after?"

"Just a chance to meet with you, then you will have the chance to know all of you so wish...."

"When and where?"

"Tonight, after midnight, South District. Don't come looking for me, I'll find you..."

The line went dead, and she sat staring at the receiver in disbelief.

"I think this is one of those things...oh, what did he call it??? Oh yeah, Incredyouwhatsis...I don't smegging believe it...."

**

Darren had fallen asleep as the little private jet shot through the clouds. The pilot had asked earlier if he could play music over the system, and Daniel had agreed.

"Best to keep the man happy. This jet is going to be our ticket to life."

He could hear the music now, softly, but still there. Bagpipes playing mournful songs that he knew.

"Outlaws playing outlawed songs on outlawed pipes...Tradition is hard to change, boy..."

He had lived those words. Blood tears began to fill his eyes as "Gift of a Thistle" came on. Dan left his seat next to Darren, and went as far into the back as he could, hiding behind a small door. He crouched on his knees, scarlet red rimming his eyes.

"The truth has come for me, fathers. One cannot be forgiven for what we have done to him. He comes not for peace, but for blood to wash his memories away. He lives in the Savage Garden with us, but never as one of us. He takes as he chooses, and we are powerless against him. To him, life is nothing and taking it has no consequences. He is of the fur and fangs; he is of me..."

Blood now streamed down his face. He felt as if he was looking for an answer where there wasn't one, life where there was only death. Then, as if by a dream, it came to him.

"We are all monsters my fledgling, not just them. Though I go to fight them, we are no different. There is life there, if you look for it..."

**

Wolf gently placed the phone back in it's cradle, satisfied that all would be well when he planned to leave. He too would have his own plane, but he would be flying it himself, as well as a chopper when he got closer to Europe. He refused to let anything turn on him, there just wasn't time for such things. When it was time, he would be heading for Paris, the city of his dreams, the city that survived Lestat deLioncourt. Dag had enjoyed reading his story, knowing that wolves had once brought that much fear to him, and could bring it back. He quietly hummed to himself, letting the moment carry him away from the heat and nastiness that was life.

"So this is what it means to live and survive...To even be I suppose...To want, to need, to lust...The discipline that is learned, lived, then lost..."

He sat on the edge of his bed, listening to the sounds of the hotel around him, the living, breathing blood that swam and stretched through every human.

"Thinking of humans...Ms. Mallyon is only hours away...How quaint a meeting like this will be... Or what a show it could be..."

He began to laugh under his breath, his mind tracing over what a night it could be...

Dressed in his finest night gear, Dag took to the Southside once again, gliding across the rooftops almost silently. The people down below knowing nothing of the deadly being that sprang above their heads. The music in the clubs pulsed the air around him, one catching him by surprise. "Carry On Dancing" thundered into his ears, making him falter as he misjudged a leap to another rooftop. He missed the catch by four feet, falling to the alley below. He had dropped thirty feet before realizing and grabbing onto a window frame to stop his assent.

"Damn those two and their music!"

He dropped the rest of the way down, landing quietly on the cement. He brushed off his black clothing and walked into the club that had disrupted him before.

An hour later they were still playing Savage Garden, and Dag was still sitting in the back of the room, a body already hidden in a bathroom stall. His color didn't matter here, but he liked the warmth. A man had gotten him a drink earlier, but the alcohol had been hot and bitter on the way down. He didn't like the mix too well, but drank it anyway. Although it would have no effect on him, he still didn't like to drink that much, it changes the taste of the blood as it goes down.

*I can't believe I'm doing this...What if he's the one who is doing this? *

Dag was hearing her thoughts through the crowd. He got up from his chair and walked out the door and into the clearing street. He saw her at once, walking towards him, but not looking for him. He let her pass, then fell in behind her, finally putting his hand on her mouth and pulling her into the shadows.

"You scream and it ends. I'll kill you like I did the rest. Behave, and you'll see light again..."

Holding tight to her, he launched up the side of the building, putting her down gently on the roof, then removed his hand...

**

"Stupid Wolfbainian...I can't believe that Dan took him up on it...There's no way he'll lose him now..."

"Sush Ben...How is Lestat doing?"

"He's still out, but he didn't attack when I took him to the underground. That means that he's understanding what's going on..."

"Good... Do you know where Karl ran off to?"

"No, he didn't check in, but I'm sure he didn't go far, even if he was feeding. He knows Dagmantis is still around."

Lee sat back into his chair, sighing slightly, but worries about other things. Ben stood unsteady, waiting for the next move.

"Hey Lee?"

"Yeah?"

"When was the last time we checked back on Mellina?"

Ummm...Darren went last week...Why?"

"What if Dag goes after her?"

"Then Darren will give him hell. He wouldn't dare..."

"Then what's that?"

They both looked out the window as Dag leaped by on the rooftop below, a woman in his arms.

"Jesus...Watch him, make sure you know where he goes!"

**

Darren stepped down from the plane onto the runway, no red carpet or cameras to be seen. He wasn't sure if he liked this idea or not, Paris wasn't really his town anyway. Daniel was already inside finishing his paperwork at the counter.

"Mr. Jones? This was left for you..."

He was handed an envelope with his name on it.

"Dear Mr. Jones,

The game begins in the city of light and love by your choice. You have three days before I come, use them wisely.

Dagmantis Kacrona"

"He knows, he always knew..."

"Knew what?"

Darren walked up behind him, getting a chance to read the note himself.

"So what stops him from taking us now? He knows where we are going before we go, he knows what we plan..."

"I feel he's got other things on his mind...that he's occupied with something already back in Brisbane..."

"You don't think..."

"No Darren, I know...We left her with a monster breathing down her neck, and we ran..."

"Dan, what if he kills her?"

"Worse, what if he makes her one with him?"

"How would he convince her?"

"Easy, he can find some way of connecting us with all the deaths and she'll be hooked. Trust me, it would be easier on her if he just kills her...Even if she survives it, they go mad in that altered state..."

Darren sat down, his head bowed and his mind racing.

*Don't worry, soon you'll know all, my dear Detective...*

"Dan! He's got her!"

**

"You know they give the death penalty to people like you here...They don't take this kind of thing lightly..."

"I don't care Mallyon...Besides, do you honestly think I'm that sloppy? There are only five other people who care for you, and they all have things they've been hiding from you..."

"You promised me something..."

"Don't worry, soon you'll know all, my dear Detective..."

Mellina sat stiffly in a chair that was placed in the center of the room, facing the balcony window. She reminded him of Darren the way she acted in defiance against him, the way her spark flowed into the air around her and excited him to no end. He could smell the light perfume that she wore, and that too brought him to an altered state.

"What I promised you was an answer to this blood thirsty rampage that has come into your city, but what I offer first is a thought for you to consider. Do you believe in the supernatural?"

"Why should I say such things? It has nothing to do with the situation at hand..."

"I beg to differ...It has everything to do with it..."

"Let me guess, you are going to blame this on something I can't see or can't explain so no one will believe me..."

"No, you can see me can't you?"

"Yes..."

"And you know I'm a physical being that can be explained to some extent..."

"Or so I think..."

"And you know that no normal person would do something like this..."

"So we're assuming..."

"Now I offer you truth, with proof of which you can judge for yourself. I am not as I appear to be, but neither are your friends...When was the last time you saw them during daylight hours?"

"Well, Darren and Daniel just a few days ago..."

"And the others?"

She closed her eyes in concentration.

"Never...Well, I sew Ben about nine years ago, but not since then...None of them...But you can't tell me that they are vampires..."

She laughed nervously as he stood and threw a duffel bag at her feet. She was surprised to see that it was full of surveillance videos.

"It's all there...Every club, store, arena, everywhere local anyway. Look for yourself...It's clear to see when you know what you're looking for..."

Dag took the first tape, playing it on the television. It was old, almost eight years old of Ben and Lee in a club. She watched as they drained a young girl from her neck and wrists, simply leaving her there when they were done.

"Clarice Songer, heart failure. Said it near exploded in her chest."

She watched others, Daniel mostly, Dag telling her everything she had already known, she had writing the reports for most of them.

"So, what about Darren and yourself?"

"I have the tape from three nights ago when he was changed, but I've never bothered to watch it, I know what happens, the horrible sound of a soul spirit being ripped from it's fading life form. Myself, there are only two tapes, one from that night, and one from earlier tonight, but I warn you that I'm not like them, and I don't care, I merely survive..."

He left the room as she watched the last tapes, as Dan attacked Darren in his dressing room, as Dag massacred the storekeeper. What held her was the film from the club he had been in earlier. He would take one at a time, seeming to whisper in their ears, then gently laying their heads down on tables or the bar as if they had simply passed out. Others he 'helped' into stalls in the restroom, and yet others he pushed under tables and benches. He had taken eight in a matter of two hours, and yet she still hadn't seen more than flashes of what his true form was. She walked out to the balcony where he sat.

"I want you to show me...Show me the truth behind you..."

**

Ben landed on a rooftop nearby, he could hear Mellina talking to Dagmantis as he was being revealed to her as a monster. He watched as Dag came and sat on the balcony. They saw each other, but neither said a word of hate.

"Ben, I will tell her my story, so take heed and listen well to the hell Daniel has put me through..."

**

"Is this what you really want? To see a monster face to face?"

"I want to know what so many deaths feed..."

His eyes glazed silver as the changed took him over. Ben starred in silence as the human was replaced by the wolf, Dag muttering not even a sound as his bones snapped and reshaped. It took less than a minute, but it seemed forever to Mellina. When he finally spoke to her, it was like being snapped from a dream.

"This is how I am, the killer of killers and Lord of the Moon..."

"How did you become this...this thing?"

"I was born this way."

"I want to know the story, why you are here, and why you have done this..."

"My story begins is the days after the Bantric Holyland Wars. We were first in Russia for hundreds of years before they came. I was only aged five summers when the vampires came to destroy us on our own land. My mother died there in the storm before my father lead our pack into exile and to find others. That was how we became the Kronigs Clan, the pires were German escorts sent to claim the land of fire and ice. We were the fire, and they called us the King's Clan for it seemed we were in control of everything. While we fled, others came in droves as we marched into what is now Western Poland. A good messenger could make the trip to Berlin in only a few hours, and as long as they acted 'human' while there, we could stay in secrecy and plan our return to power."

"Skip ahead fifty years, until my father thought me as an actual part of the pack. Keep in mind that time has no real meaning to us. Almost sixty years to me is like turning 21 in your parents' eyes, you're finally an adult. Finally being at breeding age had made my father see me in a different light, as someone who could help him lead, a dubious prince to the thrown. And it wasn't until then that he let me take one of my consorts and travel into Berlin. That day would change my life...

"It was a military action I was sent for, to watch for a new one that had come into town. His name was Magnus, what they called a Blood God. He wasn't an ordinary vampire, someone said they saw him walking in the light. My partner saw him first as I sat in the shadows reading his thoughts. 'He's too young, I shouldn't have changed him...Should have picked someone who would understand the art, not as a swift and silent devil that he is...' He was a large man, built about as I am now. His soul was pure ice, but he had seen sunny days around the world. His was a different type, Heaven's saint in the light, Memnoch's scythe under the moon. But he had made another, and I had to see the covener for myself."

"He appeared at his master's side a few minutes later, having recently fed, his skin was a warm tone under his mop of dusty blond hair. He didn't seem terribly young for a human, mid to late twenties, but that was to be decided by his master.

'Do you feel them, Daniel?'

'Yes, they look coldly at us, all but one...'

He glanced around, meeting my eyes before I faded away again. No, I didn't hate him, for after seeing him, I knew his story. He had from his home by this true monster. He had lived in what had been Britannia, a close descendant of the Romans. Against his master's theory, I knew he understood all of this mess, maybe better than he himself knew.

"Magnus took his leave as Daniel continued to walk the streets in his own dream world. My companion Daylon reached him first, Dan almost running into him.

'Well, look at the little covener, all alone and in the wrong part of town...'

Daylon bared his fangs and stepped towards the 'pire.

'I don't' know you, I haven't done anything to you...'

'Wrong, your kind has murdered my kin.'

Daylon sprung at Daniel, throwing him back and landing with claws about to slash his throat.

'Stand down Daylon...'

I had startled him as I had come up behind him.

'But he is one of them, he deserves to die...'

'He is dead...'

'No, I mean out of this body...'

'Daylon, he is a covener, and none of our worries.'

Daylon stood and came almost nose to nose with me.

'If your father wouldn't kill me, I would have you too!'

He spat at my feet then faded into the shadows as I went to help Daniel.

"He scrambled to his feet as I came closer.

'You're one of them...Magnus warned me about your kind...'

'Oh please...I just saved your life pire.'

'Don't call me that...I'm not one of those night keepers. Magnus calls us Pyraids...'

'The ones who trail light...What a quaint title...'

'And who are you, savior?'

'I am Dagmantis Kacrona of the Kronigs Clan, and I warn you to leave this place if you wish to see more sunrises past tonight. A war is brewing here...'

'Maybe you should take your own advice. They plan to beat you again.'

'Never count on your counterparts, young one. My father plans to win this time, and I will stand at his side. You have had your warning.'

I left him in silence as I went to find Daylon. Daniel went back to Magnus, spilling the story of the past hour.

'Covener, pay no heed to this one who calls himself One of the Wolf. He knows not what we know, that his kind will be wiped from existence by tomorrow night's passing.'

'I will not be among the blood-shed, he saved me and for that I won't butcher his people.'

'You will see him fall, he is foolish to try anything.'

"I went back to my clan, my father angry because I saved Daniel, but still aching for battle. He never understood what I had seen in him, well, until the next night anyway. They attacked just after dusk, before we began our march. I watched as one by one they fell, blood soaking the snow. Daniel ran up over the pass, stopping suddenly. He had come to warn us, but he was too late. My father flew into them, slashing then down until Magnus thrust a sword through his heart, dropping him to the ground. He moved on me as I armed myself with a short sword from one of his fallen comrades. He lashed out at me, drawing blood at times. Soon though, I was surrounded, with none of my kin standing. They had slaughtered all of them, leaving me as the last standing. Magnus made to move to end the battle, but the blade was thrown from his hand by an invisible force.

'I will not let you do it master!'

Daniel moved through the encircling death.

'How dare you covener! You have no right!'

'Of course I do, he saved me, and know I return that favor. Let him stand as the last of his kind, as a testament of our strength, so no one will challenge us again...'

Magnus raised his blade to strike again, but dropped it at me feet instead.

'Fine, let the one live, he is too weak for us to worry about now.'

And with that, they were gone, all but Daniel who stood silent.

'Leave me Pyraid...'

'Let me help you...'

'I don't need help.'

'Yes, you do...I have heard rumors of a new land far to the West. They have yet to spread there...'

'And what stops then?'

'There are no ships large enough or fast enough. They have all been found out and killed of the way there.'

'And shall I give you somewhere to run?'

'Would you?'

'Travel on land as far South as you can, then take a ship East for four days. A land of peace awaits you there...'"

"Okay, hold it..."

Dag turned to Mell, his human form restored.

"You're telling me that you saved him, he saved you, then he sent you to America and you sent him here, and for this you want to kill him?"

"I am not finished with my story, and no, I don't hate him for sending me away, I hate him for saving me as the last."

She fell silent again, letting him continue.

"So I did take my leave of them, making my way to the land that Europe wouldn't find for another thousand years. After six hundred years, there rose cries from around the world, the Savior had been born to the Virgin Mary, and pires had entered his company. They wished to see God, and in this they did, but I wished it as well. I was strong enough, and made the decision to return, to see what my future held for me. Upon my arrival, I found the Christ sick and sad, prosecuted in a court, Magnus being present, one who chose the punishment. I watched as he carried his cross, and as he died, Magnus lead his charge. The body had been removed, the nightwalkers burning the cross and killing the dreams of a nation. It was then that I had a revelation, that this creature should fall by my hand and no one else's. It wasn't until I saw the resurrection that I took action against Magnus. I slaughtered him in from of his followers that night, decapitating him and rode through the city with his heart on a stake. I took his fangs and watched the remains burn in the morning sun. They called it the Morning of Cries, hundreds bursting into flame.

"Of all the things rushing through my head, it excited me. The shear power of it all drove me into overdrive. At that moment, I realized what my true mission was. They had all spat in my face that night they let me go, and I vowed that every one of them would fall by my hand. I would be the end of the Berlin Clan..."

Dag paused, finding Ben still intently listening from the roof. Mellina shook her head in amazement.

"And I have kept that promise for over 2000 years, hunting them and taking them as I would. I've been all over the world multiple times, and have seen some things that most will never see...Mainly, I saw all seven wonders of the world...Slept in the pyramids and ate from the Hanging Gardens. But you mortals have one up on me...I have never found love, passion, or the soul of life. Those who can die die from broken hearts and loneliness, but I can only rive in self-defeat. This is why I go after him, Berlin payback, and an immortal life ruined."

Ben was suddenly at the sliding glass door, pushing it aside and letting himself in. Mell drew a breath as she realized what he really was. He lightly touched her shoulder, showing that he wasn't there to be hostile.

"Tell her the other reason...Paris..."

"Some of the residents that were working with Armand were Berliners. I spent months getting them comfortable with me being with them, but they had no idea. Daniel showed up one night with a companion, and I'll get to him in a minute. Daniel forgot who I was by then, and was for sure thirsting for a challenge. It was me he attacked...A supposed tourist who wouldn't' be missed. He left me almost dead, fleeting from realization. I was very much part of him when I woke up, but him companion somehow convinced me that Armand had done it. Now, this covener was a mistake of his own rave, a half-pyriad. Daniel had fallen in love with the mother, and had changed her while she carried child. Jason Frost was quick for being only half, the son of the fabled LaMagre Deacon Frost, the Blood God. Jason was good at his job, and I killed over half of Armand's coven out of pure hatred and anger. Frost watched with an eye of artistic wonder before disappearing. I don't know where he went, but he left Dan shortly after. What I do know is that he was a published writer. He met others, Lestat, Louis, and he knows the stories. I found a blank envelope waiting for me at a hotel, with a small poetry book inside. One narrative caught me, "Trial by Blood" written by J.D. Frost chronicled that bloody attack on the coven, and this just a few years ago. Point being, Daniel made me as much into him as he could, the worst this to ever do to someone wanting your life..."