Supernatural: Legacy - Snowfall

Like a gently falling snow, fingers brushed across her face. Aurora opened her eyes and squinted up into the face she'd been desiring and dreading to see more than any other.

"Larka?" she murmured. Larka smiled - just like the sweet smiles she used to give. Larka always had the most beautifully elegant smiles, while hers were simple and plain.

"Yes, sister," Larka replied. Aurora moved to touch her, to make sure she was real, but her movement was halted. The fog over her senses seemed to lift, and she realized she was chained to a pew in a church.

"I apologize," Larka said at the look of growing dismay on her features. "But I had to make sure you wouldn't do anything unreasonable."

"Larka, please..."

"You want us to be sisters again. So do I," replied Larka. She brushed Aurora's hair from her face and smiled.

"The world will be ours, Aurora. Yours and mine. But first, we have to stamp out our enemies."

Aurora finally noticed the movements around the edges of her vision and realized what they were.

"Then," she said, eyes flashing. "You'll join me, Aurora."

"I really think you should not get involved." Said Hannah, "You might fight against those similar monsters and this might reveal what you really are. All that hiding might come to an end."

Mati knew what she meant, the demons might come for him. Angels, even with God's promise, they might come for him as well; it will be all out war between hell and heaven again and he might be the center of all this.

"You had hard time against that demon, remember? How are you going to fight the swarm of demons?"

Mati stayed silent; Hannah curled her lips, unsatisfied. "Now you are going to play the silent type?"

Mati sighed, and he finally open his lips, "I will fight the creatures without revealing what I am." Hannah crossed her arms, "But that being knows you are not a human." Mati bite his lips, it was true, he had revealed that he was not a human to Larka. "Even then I will try to fight like normal human." Mati assured Hannah, "You will die if you do. Just try your best to stay alive." With that "command" like statement, Hannah disappeared.

Mati bite his lips again, he was really risking a lot by putting himself in this mission, he could only hope Aurora was able to convince her sister to turn away from this path.

But would Larka do that? From what he had saw, the answer came to him clear as a day. "No".

Unfortunately, Mati do not think Larka would be convinced by her sister; she would probably convince Aurora that they should work together...

Mati sighed heavily, his car just passed the sign "Welcome to Minnesota"

It was closing in on dusk when Mati finally pulled into White Lake. It was a small, quaint town, currently covered in a fine dusting of snow that was still drifting lazily down from the sky.

It also appeared to be deserted, aside from the four figures standing in the center of Main Street.

"About time you got here," Jordan said, smiling at him. "We've been waiting for hours."

And an uncomfortable few hours it had been. Pip and Ava stealing glances at each other when they thought the other wasn't looking had been bad enough, but their fourth and unexpected companion had brought a heavy presence to the group.

Jordan stole a glance over his should at Bram Van Helsing, who stood motionless as he gazed up at the sky. Snow was settling into his grizzled hair and beard, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Place is a ghost town," he told Mati. "Haven't heard a sound in ages, other than our own."

"I think we'd be safer off if it was ghosts," Pip sighed, sounding exhausted.

"We set up shop in the sheriff's office across the street," Ava told him, hooking a thumb over at the building. "Come on."

The four started to move toward the building when Bram finally spoke at last.

"We're wasting time," he said, turning to stare at them. Pip frowned.

"We're not supposed to make a move till Sera arrives. And you need our information as much as we need your skill, so let's not make this any more difficult than it needs to be."

Bram's eyes narrowed at that, but he turned and followed them reluctantly to the sheriff's office. The other three went inside first, but a cane on Mati's shoulder stopped him from entering as well.

"It seems we've crossed paths again," he said quietly, surveying Mati with his keen grey eyes. "This is going to be the most challenging case you've ever taken. I know my own secrets won't stay buried for long. I wonder how long till yours surface. These things always seem to have a way of making themselves known."

He removed his cane, then brushed past Mati into the building, leaving a trail of snow in his wake.

Mati was glad to see Jordan, safe and sound. He was also glad to see Pip as well as Ava. However, he was not so sure how he should feel about meeting Bram.

To be fair, Mati understood now why Bram wanted to find Larka so badly. He could understand, to some extent, why he wanted to kill her or remove her from this world.

Then again, he could not help but believe there's something in everyone's heart, family.

He just hope that he had bought enough time for Aurora to find her sister first before they do.

"Yeah, let's go." Said Mati as they mention about the temporary headquarter in the sheriff's office. As they went towards the destination, Bram commented it was waste of time. Mati, inside his heart he agreed with him, however, as he wanted to buy more time for Aurora, he did not say anything.

Pip actually surprised Mati when Pip spoke to Bram in that manner, 'I thought he was his role model?...' thought Mati, but he shrugged it off. Thinking that Pip might have realized something about his role model that made him feel betrayed.

As they were about to enter the sheriff's office, Bram stopped Mati; Bram spoke about his secrets won't be buried for long and soon it would be Mati's turn next.

After Bram entered the sheriff's office, Mati let out soundless sigh. "Well, someone told me that there wouldn't be a word for 'secret', if no one could find out about it. But, they always do. I always been aware of it." He muttered, remembering what his father had told him about the 'secret'.

Mati entered the sheriff's office, to wait for Sera and also to find out what others know about the case so far.

Inside the office, everyone gathered together to catch up to speed.

"You said you had information on Larka that I needed," Bram said, seating himself and holding his cane between his legs. Pip, the acting leader in Sera's stead, nodded.

"Larka, as I'm sure you know, is a nosferatu. It's an Old World vampire, more powerful than the kind we typically get over here - hypnotic gaze, transfiguration, exceptional strength, and more. They have more weaknesses as well though. Daylight and holy ground hamper their powers, and a stake through the heart is enough to kill them."

Bram grunted impatiently, as though he knew all this already.

"Because of this," Pip continued on like he hadn't heard, "Larka has been experimenting with ways to negate these weaknesses. Even more, she seems to be chimerizing monsters to try to gain their strengths as well."

Bram looked up sharply, stunned. Pip suspected that his laser focus on finding and destroying Larka might have kept him from considering what her goals might possibly be.

"And has she succeeded?" he asked. Pip looked grim.

"We know she's successfully chimerized monsters, yes. Whether she's found how to get rid of their weaknesses as well, we can't be sure."

"If she has, can we even stop her?" Jordan asked, frowning. Pip gave a strained smile, showing the stress he'd been under.

"I had to do a lot of digging on that. Just because she removes all known weaknesses from each particular monster, it doesn't mean she can't be killed by something known to destroy any monster. It took a lot of searching, but I figured it out."

Ava beamed at him, and he blushed faintly.

"You have something like this?" Bram inquired, his eyes narrowing. Pip smiled.

"We do. But Sera had to do a lot of digging in the Men of Letters' vaults to find it," he said. "It's why she was delayed in getting here. It's scarce though, and incredibly rare, so we won't get many chances with it if it comes down to it."

Bram's expression was pure iron at these words.

"I only need one chance," he said.

Mati was not so sure what to make of it. He could only make an educated guess.

"Phoenix's ash....?"

Mati knew its existence, but did not know its full power of it. He was little bit skeptical how it would be effective against Larka.

However, Mati did not raise his opinion about the matter.

Bram looked serious that it could be effective against Larka, but Mati, he was not so sure.

And to think that only one chance is enough to kill her?... Mati could only think that Bram was underestimating Larka and maybe overestimating his ability.

Then again, Mati was not so sure about Bram's ability as he only saw the part of his combat ability just like Bram saw just part of Mati's ability as well. Maybe Bram could take on Larka one on one?

Then Mati stared into his hand, remembering how he was able to take care of monsters that Larka had created so easily.

Mati shook his head, 'What am I thinking? I probably was lucky at that time, the monsters were just prototype back then.' dismissing it as he believed the monster he had fought back then was way weaker than the monsters he would have to fight soon.

Pip looked surprised that Mati had guessed, but nodded.

"That's right. Phoenix ashes."

Bram stood up, eyes wide.

"You managed to locate phoenix ashes? How is that possible?" he murmured. Pip smiled. Bram had been a hero of his, but his greatest heroes were the two brothers who broke the meaning of impossible.

"It involved Winchesters and time travel," he said, "but they did it. It destroyed the Mother of All, and they had just enough left to recover. If it worked on Eve, it should work on Larka and her chimeras."

"I get why it's important to have it," Jordan said, scratching at his stubbled chin. "But isn't it possible that waiting for it is only going to increase our chances of needing to use it? The safest thing to do would be to strike before Larka has a chance to become a perfect chimera."

"And if she already is?" Ava asked, hands on her hips. "Taking that kind of chance puts all our lives at risk."

"She might not even be here any more for that matter. While we're waiting around, she could skip town," Jordan pressed. Bram closed his eyes and tilted his head back, as though contemplating something.

"She hasn't left," he murmured. The others looked at him.

"You're sure?" Pip asked.

"Quite."

In a way, that was almost worse. If she was lingering here, it couldn't be for any good reason.

"Well, last time we faced her, she definitely made it clear that she is not the type that sits around and wait for us to strike first. She is the type that believes best defense is best offense."

Said Mati, remembering the last encounter with Larka Snow.

"We probably need to get ourselves armed as well, did Sera let you bring some arsenal that might be useful against those created chimeras?"

Mati asked, he was sure Sera would not have just send them here without proper weapons when the report clearly stated that Larka knew how to create hybrid monsters of her own.

Ava grunted at Mati's question and pulled out a machete from behind her, giving it a few cautious swings.

"Takin' the heads worked just fine back when we first encountered 'em," she said. Pip nodded, but looked concerned.

"Imperfect chimeras will have all the weaknesses of their combined components. Beheading will work for nearly all cases at the least, and having silver and iron around probably won't hurt. If she's made any perfect chimeras though..."

Jordan sighed and rubbed at his neck.

"Shrodinger's monster," he mused. "Is it perfect or imperfect? Can't say till we meet them."

Pip smiled a bit, but the reference clearly went over Ava's head as she stared blankly at him.

Bram, who had been sitting thoughtfully till now, suddenly stood up. His expression was frozen in a look of dismay.

"Impossible..." he whispered. "What is she doing here?"

The other three looked blankly at each other.

"Who?" Jordan asked.

"She's with Larka," Bram continued to himself, pacing. "How could she have gotten here before us?"

"Bram-" Pip began, but Bram rounded on him.

"Did the Men of Letters send Aurora on ahead? Does Sera Winchester know who she is?"

Pip looked completely blank.

"Aurora? Aurora Light?" he asked. "She was supposed to be on a case in Wisconsin. You think she's here?"

"I know she's here," Bram said. "I can smell her."

Jordan and Ava stared, brows furrowed in confusion, but Pip looked grim, as though he'd confirmed a suspicion.

"Smell her?" Ava asked. "You must have quite a nose."

She sniffed the air, looking around the sheriff's station as though expecting to see her there.

"It's one of the powers of a nosferatu," Pip said quietly. "They detect and distinguish the smell of blood within a certain radius."

"Are you saying...?" Jordan asked, turning to look at Bram. Bram made no effort to explain otherwise. He turned and headed for the door.

"Hey, wait!" Pip said, moving after him, but the door was already slamming shut.

"Mati," Pip said, turning on him. "We need all the man power we have. Can you go after him?"

"Alright." Said Mati; Mati had to know what happened to Aurora or what is happening to her, and whatever happens to her, he was responsible.

Mati quickly ran out from the office, but something bothered Mati right after he came out from the office; Pip said they needed every man power, then he send off another human hunter with a nosferatu, did Pip have full confidence that Mati was that capable or did Pip know he was not a human too?

Mati shook his head, 'Nah, I am probably thinking too much.' and quickly chased after Bram.

"Bram! Wait, I am coming with you!" Said Mati, quickly chasing after Bram, carrying his machete on his hip.

Bram didn't pause to wait for Mati. His face was screwed up in concentration as he tried to locate the source of Aurora or Larka's scents.

"Why?" he murmured. "I can't pinpoint it."

Bram froze as Mati approached from behind. Suddenly, he swung about, his cane an inch from Mati's neck.

"You were the only one who wasn't surprised to hear Aurora was here," Bram whispered, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Why?"

"Why would I? I thought every hunter should know where we are?" Said Mati, he was irritated that Aurora did not inform him anything about where she was heading to when she had her chances as well.

Besides, he was surprised. He didn't know that Aurora could track Larka this easily.

"Look, I only kept my promise with her. I never said where or how she could find her sister. If she's here, she must have found Larka by her own."

Mati sighed, "Even then, I am feeling responsible for it, let me help."

Bram lowered his cane and leaned on it. For the first time, he looked his age.

"That girl..." he sighed. "I should have known."

Mati wanted to ask what he meant, but there was no time. From the rooftop behind them, a chimera dropped down into the street. It opened its mouth wide, revealing razor-sharp teeth. Another stepped out from the shadow of an alleyway, raising its taloned hands.

"She's been waiting for you," the first said, his voice low and raspy.

"If you want to see her," the second said, her smile wicked, "we'll be happy to take you."

Bram frowned and released his hold on his cane. The next moment, he had grabbed the chimera by his mouth and tore the upper half of his head clean off. The bloody corpse hit the ground, the sound of it muffling the cane as it hit the powdery snow.

"If Larka thinks a pack of mutts is enough to intimidate me, she's sadly mistaken," Bram mused, turning as more chimeras filtered into the street.

Mati realized what kind of situation he was in, and had to frown upon.

"Well, I guess Larka want to see you really badly." Mati commented as he had his machete already drawn to draw blood.

"That being said, maybe one of them could may lead us or answer us some questions.." Mati's eyes carefully studied the hybrids, "I mean the only possible reason why you may not be able to find out where Aurora is because she may be with Larka, that's assuming the worst, of course."

Mati readied himself to strike any monsters that might have been provoked to attack him and Bram.

One of the chimeras snickered as Mati mentioned Aurora being with Larka.

"That's right," he growled. "She's one of us now. Are you going to kill her too?"

Bram's face was a mask of forced calm.

"I'll do... what I have to," he said through gritted teeth as he retrieved his cane. The chimera laughed and leaped forward, but Bram was already swinging his cane through the air. The chimera's head hid the ground before the body could even reach him.

--------------------

Pip paced the room, biting his lip. None of this was turning out well, and he could only hope Sera would show up soon with the phoenix ash.

Raised voices came from down the street, and he stopped his pacing to move over to the window.

"Mati and Bram," he told the other two. "Chimeras found them."

Jordan was immediately at his side, taking a look out before rushing for the door. Ava hovered at his side, unsure what to do.

"Go help them," he told her. She frowned, that look of stubborn determination coming over her face.

"No, look," he said. "Aurora could be in danger. She needs to be found as quickly as possible, and who knows how many other chimeras are around. I'll be fine here, and when Sera arrives, we'll come find you."

He headed over to the table and retrieved some headsets for her.

"Use these. I can stay here and coordinate you guys through the town. Should work better than wandering blindly."

"You sure?" Ava asked. He smiled reassuringly and nodded.

"Okay."

She returned his smile hesitantly, then headed through the door after Jordan. Pip bolted the door behind her, then immediately went to the table to set up.

"Let's hope this works..." he muttered.

--------------------

The chimeras had surged in, ruthless and feral. Bram and Mati fought like warriors out of legend, but the numbers were starting to overwhelm them.

A chimera rushed behind Mati and swung his claws at Mati's neck, but the next moment his head had disappeared in a spurt of blood.

"Need a hand?" Jordan asked, grinning. He turned and began to hack his way into the chimeras, with Ava working grimly from behind.

[OOC: You can finish off the chimeras in the next post.]

Even though Bram and Mati had inhumane stamina and skills, the numbers of the chimeras did not look like it was decreasing until the hunters joined the fight and turn the tides.

"Definitely." Said Mati, glad to see Jordan and Ava on time to help them out with the chimeras.

It was clear that these chimeras were not perfected, and hunters were outclassing them.

The final chimeras was struck down by Mati's machete; Mati was not so sure if it was really last of them though. It gave Mati a feeling that Larka could make chimeras easily.

However, Mati was not entirely happy that they all survived. He was rather felt heavy in his heart.

One of those chimeras said Aurora turned into one of them... That sister of hers, Larka, did not even respect the love that Aurora had for her.

"I do not understand, how could family wishes a family member to suffer the same curse? What's so good about becoming a being with a curse?"

Mati curled his lips, he was responsible for the fate of Aurora. It was his fault. He should not have kept his promises; why did he even believe that Larka may have a heart for her sister?

"Dammit." Mati cursed, and sighed.

If Bram wanted to kill Mati now, Mati was not so sure if he had any right to fight back.

The chimeras were finally dead, at least for now. Jordan sighed and looked around at the mess of bodies. It was going to be a hell of a job covering this whole case up, but that was Sera's problem, fortunately.

Bram was staring off into the distance, his body still like a statue. What was he thinking? The man was an enigma.

"Hey, Bram," he said, tossing the elderly man a headset. Bram caught it on reflex, then slowly turned his gaze to study it.

"What is this?" he asked.

"Pip is going to organize us so we can search and find Aurora as fast as possible," Jordan explained as Ava passed Mati a pair and put her own on. Bram's brow furrowed as he turned it over in his hand.

"Why?" he murmured. Jordan sighed and scratched his chin.

"Cause we're team players, even if you aren't."

Bram looked at all of them, his impenetrable façade slipping momentarily as he put on his own headset.

"Thank you," he said simply. Jordan nodded, then turned to the other two.

"I think it's best if you and Bram stick together for now," he said to Mati. "Ava and I will head off the other way."

"Alright, be careful." Said Mati, even though he actually wanted to go with Jordan and leave Bram to Ava, as he felt responsible for Aurora, he could not do that.

Moreover, it looked like Larka watned Bram really badly, and asking Ava or Jordan to stick with him, it would be telling them to go on suicide mission; Jordan and Ava are humans, they may become vulnerable fighting several chimeras, on the other hand, Mati had no problems.

He was a monster himself, and taking care of or slaying chimeras was easy for him. Well, so far, at least.

Besides, if he had teamed up with Ava... Mati shook his head, he was thinking too much of other scenarios.

"Let's go, Bram. We need to find Aurora and Larka." Said Mati to Bram.

Bram glared at Mati. As though he needed a reminder of that fact. Even now, he could have two targets instead of one.

He gripped his cane more tightly, trying to stave off the despair. Killing Larka would be difficult enough, but Aurora as well...

Bram shook the thought away. He couldn't afford to entertain those thoughts right now. He needed to stay in the moment.

"Hey, can everyone hear me?" came Pip's voice through the earpieces. "I'm looking at a map of the town right now. I've narrowed the possible hideouts Larka could be in down to a few. I'll try to guide you to them."

There was a pause as Pip consulted the map. Bram picked impatiently at the earpiece, his eyes scanning the snowy horizon for any signs of movement.

"All right," Pip said. "Ava, Jordan, you guys take the left side of town. There's a small lumber factory there that she might have set up in. Bram, Mati? You guys have the right side. There's a town hall pretty close to you. That seems like a good spot. Turn right and go down two blocks, then north three."

Bram said nothing, but immediately took off in the direction Pip had indicated.

--------------------

"You see?" Larka whispered. She threw away the listening device she'd been holding, paired with one her chimeras had taken to see Bram.

"He would kill you too. He never cared about you, or me," she said, kneeling before Aurora. Her sister had stopped struggling some time ago, and was now staring listlessly into her eyes.

"I would never hurt you," Larka continued, her hand brushing feather-light against Aurora's cheek. "Join me, Rory. It'll just be the two of us. Nothing will ever hurt us or separate us again."

Mati sighed, Bram definitely send a message that it was Mati's fault why Aurora was in this situation.

As Bram said nothing, but had on; Mati did not hesitate, but follow.

Mati could only pray that Aurora did not give in and was still fighting for her human part.

Then again, he was not so sure about one thing. It was siblings' bond. He was told that siblings' bond was really strong bond between family members, but for Mati, the word 'siblings' itself was a strange term. Since he was born, 'siblings' were something that he could not wish for it, and even he did,  he could not get one.

'Whatever.' Thought Mati, shaking it off. 'Concentrate.'

Mati quickly caught up to Bram; Mati had no right to interfere with this family matter any more as he was making it worse for everybody. He could, however, help them to be reunited under Bram's term.

Then again, Mati was not so sure. He was very impulsive and might interfere.

He already knew in his heart though, if Mati wants to interfere with this family matter, he might have to bet his life for it.

And Mati was not afraid to do so; but, Mati really wished it would not come to such point.

Ava led the way down the road toward the factory, using Pip's directions as her guide. It was good to hear his voice; that, at least, let her know he was okay.

"I've never known you to be this quiet," Jordan commented, keeping her back covered. Ava snorted and said nothing. It wasn't really any of his business.

Pip... He shouldn't be here. He wasn't a bad hunter by any means, but his true role was a Men of Letters. That was where he thrived. This was too dangerous. Any case might be a hunter's last. She could handle risk to herself, but...

"You hear anything?" Jordan murmured. Ava shook her head. Everything had been very quiet since that last wave of chimeras. Jordan seemed to be getting more tense the longer the silence went on. Maybe it was an army thing.

They reached the factory and peered inside. Everything seemed to be safe, but that was hardly something you gambled on.

Jordan took the lead this time, sidling up to the door. He peered inside, then motioned for her to follow. They slipped inside and found the same silence that had met them outside.

"Nothing," Jordan said, looking around with brow furrowed. Ava moved further in, inspecting the nooks and crannies. After several minutes, she had to concede that Jordan was right.

"Hey, Pip, the factory is clean," Jordan reported. Pip sighed.

"All right. Listen, Sera should be arriving any minute. Maybe we should just regroup and-"

He stopped. Ava immediately tensed, poised to spring into action despite the danger being blocks away.

"Pip?" she dared to whisper.

"Ava," he said, "There's-"

A sudden shattering of glass interrupted his words. Ava was already bounding for the door, frantically tapping her earpiece.

"Pip? Pip!" she screamed. Her only answer was static.

--------------------

Bram and Mati reached the town hall, a handsome brick building at the end of a square with a fountain surrounded by evergreen bushes in the middle. At the other four edges of the square were the town library, the local school, and an old stone church.

Bram led the way inside the town hall and began to search, not bothering to coordinate with Mati. He wasn't searching any of the objects or passages, but merely sniffing his way through.

"She hasn't been here," he said. "Her scent is all through the air in this town, but too faint. I would say she's already left, but I know she's here. Close. The sire bond-"

He cut off his words abruptly. Before Mati could ask, Jordan's voice suddenly came through the earpiece.

"Guys, we have a situation," Jordan said. "Pip was ambushed back at HQ, and Ava is rushing back to help. I'm in pursuit, but I don't know how bad the situation is going to be."

Bram's expression grew hard, as though he were going to argue against this. But then he remembered Jordan's earlier words, and his resolve wavered.

"Well?" he asked Mati. What would the non-human decide to do?

"I have a feeling she is trying to distract us. Then again, I do not know this Larka that well. Nevertheless, I am going to help Pip. You could stay here and search further, and that may be what Larka wanted. For you to be alone. This might be just playing into her hands. Well I won't force you to do anything, so it's up to you."

Then Mati turned and spoke through his head gear, "Hey Jordan! I will be there soon. I have a feeling this may be a distraction, but then I don't think she will just send one small fry. So be careful!"

Mati gave a look at Bram once more, a look that asking Bram to make his own stand like Mati made his.

Mati quickly head off to their temporary HQ. Mati muttered to himself as he head back, "Hang on tight, Pip. I am coming."

Bram had a feeling Mati's assessment was only too accurate. Larka was trying to divert the other hunters off-course so she could get him alone. It was obvious from the first chimera attack that he was the one she was interested in. The others were merely irritants to her.

He would have felt the same way. They were interfering in what should have been a showdown between him and her. But the more lives were affected by her, the more he couldn't afford to see it that way.

Because her actions were his responsibility. If any of them died, if any more were turned... That was on him.

Mati was already out the door of the town hall when Bram caught up to him.

"I'm with you," he said grimly. They hurried down the steps and into the square when Bram suddenly stopped, eyes fixed intently on the church. For a moment, he hesitated, eyes narrowed at the building. Then, he hurried after Mati.

--------------------

Bram and Mati reached the sheriff's office. Mati was ready to charge in, but Bram seized his arm and pulled him into the shadow of a nearby building.

"It's not good," he said softly. The door to the station was swinging open, the hinge damaged. One of the windows was smashed open. Everything seemed quiet.

Bram raised a finger to his lips and signaled for Mati to follow. They stole up to the doorway and looked in.

Pip and Ava were nowhere to be seen. But Jordan was there, staying very still on his knees as a chimera poised a spiked protrusion against his temple.

Bram had seen enough. He stepped into the doorway, Mati at his heels.

"Took you long enough," the chimera spat. Jordan met Mati's eyes and shook his head imperceptibly.

"What did you do with them?" Bram demanded. The chimera laughed.

"Those two are with Larka now," he said. "She wanted you this message delivered: If any hunter but Bram is here after sundown, the hostages die."

Bram said nothing. He seemed focused on the doorway to the back office.

"Although, I wouldn't wait that long if I were you," the chimera said to Mati. "After all, who knows how long it'll take for him to turn? And who knows if you can even find a cure."

"You turned one of them?" Bram demanded, his voice becoming cold as ice. The chimera smirked.

"We were going to turn the pretty blonde thing," he said. "But that other guy was determined to be noble. So we obliged."

Bram took a step forward, and the chimeras grip on Jordan's neck tightened.

"Careful," he said. "Wouldn't want anything to happen."

The next moment, his head went flying. Jordan flinched and shuffled aside as the body collapsed to the ground.

"No," Sera said, lowering her machete. "We wouldn't."

Mati rushed to the Jordan's side, "You did all you could." Said Mati, trying to comfort Jordan. "That Larka had us good." Mati commented, his voice was cold and hot at the same time.

Mati looked at Sera, "I really am glad you are here at last." Said Mati. "Any plans on how to get them back?"