Armand packed meager belongings into a case, Malloy eyeing him with cool confidence as he sat with Daniel.

"We will depart as soon as the sun goes down tomorrow...I don't even want to see him."

"Has anyone told you that you are absolutely weak?"

Armand turned, sharply glaring at Daniel's unwavering gaze.

"Why would you say that? Tell me who far off I am from doing exactly what you are doing?"

"I'll tell you the difference...He's not out to kill you, but you still run. What are you trying to prove?"

"That I won't be a dead man. He who runs away lives to fight another day."

Daniel sighed under his breath, shaking his head.

"But for how long Armand? How long until the obsession with running takes you over? You're like the kid hiding from the school bully."

"That may be, but I saw him kill our kind once..."

"I saw our kind do this to him! This man knows no forgiveness, he knows what we taught him..."

"And what is that?"

"That truth only comes from death, and now he gloried in it. You call him the Dark One, Walking Death...He does it to understand what is happening, not out of pride or happiness..."

Malloy placed a calm hand on Daniel shoulder. He held a soft expression, his clear green eyes showed his sad and lonely soul. He looked different at that moment, like some child realizing for the first time that people don't live forever.

"Jonesy, you know what we really are, that he can only go by memories of how he was treated so long ago. I wish there were a way to change it for him, because I alone out of all of you know how he feels, to be alone, nowhere to go, no one to understand. You want to understand? Go talk to someone so outcasted by your actions that he refuses to be recognized as one of us...Go see Jason Frost. And you thought that Dagmantis suffered from brutality...that isn't nothing."

Daniel closed his eyes, hanging his head. Jason could and did pass as mortal, better than his father had tried as vampire. He would have been full mortal if not for Daniel, so he had every right to hate and loathe him.

"What has become of Frost?"

"The new council tried to kill him, They don't believe that half breeds should be allowed to live...They are useless in their eyes..."

"I didn't know that the council reformed...Who commands them?"

Armand cleared his throat sternly.

"It is of no business to you Pyraid. It is only for us of true blood..."

Daniel was up in a flash, right in Armand's face.

"Any council who denotes because one is evolved doesn't deserve to go on. Tell me who leads them!"

"Lestat leads them in the faith of the Queen who loved and died for him. He alone brings these torments upon us."

"He came to me the night after Darren was changed. I imagine he too will fall in Dag's path, he already had a confrontation with him. I suppose he is another problem to face..."

**

Mellina opened her eyes, squinting at the slowly dying fire. She could see each spark crawling through the wood, and she could small the light smoke it produced. However, something was different, wrong to her...She was covered in fur, and no longer in human form. She tried to stand on her new paws, stumbling over Dag who was also in wolf form, and who had been sleeping next to her. She suddenly realized what had happened earlier that night, how Dag had changed her. She walked softly to the glass doors, looking at herself. Her fur was a light gray, her eyes as blue as any ocean.

'Don't be afraid...You are beautiful.'

Dag was suddenly there beside her.

'Don't try to speak...Just think it and I will hear.'

She finally saw what Ericson had, a huge, jet-black male with silver lining on his jaw.

'How did you...'

'I took from you, and you took from me...Now we are one. You shall live as long as you wish, from here to eternity.'

'So I have to take life to live?'

'No, not you...You are as I first was all those years ago. Be at peace...no death need come by your hand.'

She turned to him, putting her muzzle against the thick fur of his neck and sighed.

'Can we change back and lay by the fire?'

'Yes, you go while I grab a blanket.'

He padded to the bedroom as she lay by the fire, willing her body to change back. She didn't stop focusing until she felt Dag kissing her bare shoulders.

"It doesn't take much to change. You don't need to try so hard."

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to him. She could feel his heat as his skin pushed against her back, getting as much contact as he possibly could. He breathed in her scent, a bit of him still on her.

"You never have to be scared again...I'm here with you."

She placed her hands on his, squeezing them a little, a sign that no words were needed. He put his face against her neck, kissing it a few times before closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

**

Karl added another twenty pounds to the weights, lifting three times his max as a mortal, his muscles bulging under his thin T-shirt. Ben growled as he hammered his fists into the punching bag, continually breaking open the skin on his knuckles, only to be healed by his own blood. He dropped his hands loosely to his sides as Lee came in dazed and hurt, blood remaining in his eyes. Karl came to him.

"What happened? I thought you went to stop him?"

"I was too late...It was done by the time I got there...There was nothing I could do about it. She is his with no regrets..."

"Damn it all!"

Ben tore the bag in half, throwing it against the wall. Karl sat slowly on a bench.

"Well, it's only time now...I'll always remember her as the one who understood and forgave, she's lost forever to us now..."

Ben walked out, heart broken and crestfallen. He had always thought that she would have enough well to fight him, and they had already lost their first battle with him.

He walked the streets, infuriated with the fact that he could have stopped him the night before if he hadn't been so caught up in his story. Ben decided that he must see it for himself, and maybe have the chance to dispatch Dag easily. He climbed up to the balcony as a light rain began to fall, lightening flashing in the darkness. He could only make out a blanket as the dim fire cast it's light over the sleeping Wolfbainians. He took this as his time, clouding his mind, then slipping through the glass doors. Nothing moved as he approached them, only one intent ripping inside his heart. He pulled a dagger from his belt, one of two that he now carried everywhere he went. He rolled the handle between his fingers, finally finding the will to do what must be done. He slowly grabbed the blanket as he kneeled down next to them. In one fluid motion, he tossed it away, uncovering the lovers, then plunged the blade deep into Dagmantis' chest, to the hilt into his heart. He flew back as Dag burst to life, changing into his most threatening form, clawing at the blade. Mellina was startled awake, changing instantly into the wolf.

"GO now Mellina! Save yourself!"

She bolted out to the balcony, taking one look back before racing down the steps. Ben stepped towards him, the other dagger in hand and ready for attack.

"Well now, aren't so strong are we?"

Dag pulled the blade, grimacing at the pain that followed as the blood pumped out through the gash.

"Ben! You won't live long enough to tell anyone!"

He lunged at him with the blade, sparks flying as Ben pulled his up to block. Dag dug his claws deeply into Ben's unprotected arm, pulling tissue from the bone until the shoulder joint snapped.

"I should have killed you that night downtown...You will pay dearly this time covener!"

Dag threw him away, sill clutching Ben's now detached arm. Ben struggled to push himself up from the floor as Dag dropped the appendage, and snarled as another wave of pain hit him hard. He fell to his knees, grabbing at the wound with his free hand. Ben leaped to his feet, coming again with blade raised. Dag struck out, taking his legs from under him. He fell hard, bashing his head with a crunch on the table. Dag tried to draw a breath, tasting his own blood on his tongue. He fell to the floor in a heap, next to the lifeless form that was Ben.

**

"Lee, I saw it with my own eyes...If you don't go, Ben will die!"

Lee was overcome with anger with the idea that Mellina had even dare come to him.

"How do I know it's not a trap?"

"Because...because I'm not that kind of person! I would never come to you if there wasn't a reason for it..."

Karl burst through the door, soaked from the rain.

"I'm coming...Let's go!"

Mellina rushed from the room, Karl right behind her as Lee reluctantly followed.

They arrived on the balcony, and stepping inside, gasped at the sight. Blood stained much of the carpet surrounding them. Karl stared at Ben's arm lying on the floor as Lee went to Ben, wrapping the stump with his shirt.

"Hurry, bring the arm!"

Karl picked it up and brought it over, Lee placing it near the body. The arm suddenly moved as he pulled the shirt away. It lurched forward, reattaching to Ben's shoulder. Lee moved over to Dag, placing to blood soaked shirt on his chest where he had been stabbed.

"Because we all love you Mellina, I save him this once for you in the hopes that Daniel hasn't suffered the same fate..."

The shirt burst into flame as Dag lurched, Lee trying to hold him down.

"The blood has healed the outward wound, but he will still ache from the pain. Go away from here...You don't belong here anymore..."

Karl helped Lee pull Ben up from the ground and out to the balcony, fading into the darkness and rain.

**

"...I suppose he is another problem to face..."

Daniel suddenly yelled as he fell to the ground, clutching his chest in his hands, tears streaming from his face. Armand looked startled towards Malloy.

"...Go now! Get Darren!"

Malloy was off in a flash, no more the solemn shadow. Darren met him on the street.

"Take me to him! There can only be one reason for this..."

When Darren saw Daniel, he immediately knew what had happened. Someone, most likely Ben, had tried to take the situation in hand. Blood fell from Daniel's mouth as Darren pulled him onto the bed. Dan's shirt was stained red from an invisible wound, but he appeared to be fine, stable heartbeat and breathing.

"Get me a mortal...He needs the blood..."

**

Mellina rested her head on Dag's chest, listening to the faint sound that was his heart. His breathing was shallow, but the blood had been cleared from his lungs.

"Mellina..."

Barely a whisper, she had heard it fine, looking up to his face. Blood had flooded his eyes, the gray now metallic crimson, and the whites as inflamed as the fire.

"Did he live?"

"Yes, Lee and Karl took him."

"Good, I want another shot at him...He didn't heed my warning..."

Mell helped him to his feet and into some clothes before letting him go back to the fire.

"Mell, I want you to go to the Westler Hotel uptown...I have a room there, and I'd like you to wait for me..."

"What are you going to do?"

"Clean up this mess. Be off with you, this won't take long..."

She hated leaving him, but knew better than to argue.

As soon as she had left, he set to preparing. He found a book of matches, cranked the gas on the stove, then opened the door to leave. He lighted a match and threw it inside, the gad striking and the carpet bursting into flame. He watched for a moment as the crimson of the blood faded before he shut the door. Dag walked to the end of the hall, pulling the alarm lever, then disappeared out the window.

**

Darren had to force Daniel to drink from the young thief that Armand had found. Dan took a long last draught and threw the body to the floor.

"Which one did it? Which one attacked Dagmantis?!"

"It was Ben...He sought to avenge Mellina...All three weep for her..."

"Dag took her?... I'm so sorry Darren...I shouldn't have brought you into this...Then she would still be with you."

"You can't take it back now, but she is still with me, her soul always will be, he can't take that from me."

Malloy came up beside them, staring blankly as always.

"Voices call to you, all over the world they hear. However, one cries above for you to go to him...He calls himself La Magra, the legend. Seek him in peace while the Wolf seeks you. He will now help you, as he has seen what power the is at work here...He knows..."