📎 A/N. Welcome to the weekend my lovelies! Hope you had a fantastic week and accomplished everything you needed to :-)

Thanks for all your support, it has been wonderful. This week we have been joined by readers from Zambia, Lebanon, Cambodia, Georgia, Hungary, Austria, and Czech Rep. Welcome to you all!

Enjoy, and have a safe rest of your weekend.

 ❤ ℳ

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From his vantage point he counted a total of nine guards. Two shooters on the roof, three near the front entrance, two roaming the perimeter, and two more standing guard at the dock.

Dismissing the almost non existent security as an actual threat, he resumed his assessment of the property.

A satisfied expression overtook him as he continued to explore the location it had taken him so long to find.

This will do just fine.

The sprawling Mediterranean style villa was a rich man's paradise. No expense had been spared - from the expansive granite terrace, to the grand two storey arched doorways which led to a spectacular marble floored groin vaulted gallery.

The house boasted five en-suite bedrooms, state of the art kitchen, lavish first floor master suite, media room, gym, game room, hot tub, outdoor fireplace and grill area and a dock at the rivers edge. Two garages flanked the building with parking for ten cars.

The waterfront estate in New Hampshire, nestled away in a secluded part of the area, and well hidden by the surrounding dense woods that were signature to this part of the state, had taken him nearly six weeks to find.

At one point he had almost given up hope of locating them in time. Sniggering quietly to himself, he had to admit - the dozen or so humans they had to play with to get to this point had more than made up for the delay. What was more enjoyable was that only a fraction of his playthings had been located.

If the humans knew the true number, they would really have something to write in their silly little newspapers.

Elijah surveyed the area once again to ensure that there were no others lurking to disrupt his grand entrance. Settling back into his hiding place he grimaced as he glanced across to the pristinely kept outdoor area.

"I'll never understand humans," he muttered as he looked between the Infinity Pool and the beach a short distance away.

When he had finally located his destination the previous day, he was fully expecting state of the art security. Much to his surprise he had discovered the only electronic security monitoring the property was along the outside perimeter of the massive wall that flanked the large estate.

Once inside he found he could move unimpeded through the overgrown vegetation and trees until he encountered the armed guards.

The small number of security testament to the fact that his prey was convinced that the true nature of their business and identity was concealed from the general public and authorities.

Glancing across at the area resembling a small carpark, he counted the number of vehicles. Cars had been arriving at regular intervals for the past hour. The tenth had only just arrived and the sole occupant had disappeared into the house shortly after.

He had to admire their constraint. Rather than flashy sports cars and high end luxury vehicles that their money could obviously buy. They each drove nondescript middle class saloons and SUV's. The driveway was littered with Ford Escapes, Dodge Durango SUV's, Chevrolet's and Cadillac's with a Lexus thrown in for good measure.

Elijah waited thirty more minutes to ensure that all those invited were present and accounted for. No further participants had appeared, and he began to prepare for his final assault.

Knowing he would need to take the shooters on the roof out first, he cautiously made his way to the side of the house, careful to keep out of the line of sight of the ground based security.

Quickly scaling up to one of the first floor decks, Elijah stealthily traversed the short distance to the roof. Once there, he efficiently and quietly stalked towards the guard who was perched on the opposite side of the large brick chimney rising majestically from the house.

Before his unknowing victim detected his presence, Elijah had snapped the man's neck. Quickly putting the dead man back into his position, the Werewolf made his way to the second shooter who was vigilantly watching for any approaching cars up the lengthy driveway.

The second man was disposed of as efficiently as the first. With little fuss and no discernible noise.

The remaining five were all dead within the next two minutes. Their bodies dumped where they fell.

A smug grin on his face, Elijah made his way towards the front door. An additional guard posted in the foyer died with a surprised look upon his face, caught unaware, he was unable to raise the alarm before his life was abruptly taken from him.

The Werewolf's heightened sense of hearing provided him enough information to detect another guard standing vigil in front of a set of closed doors. An intense discussion was being carried out in the sequestered room beyond.

His wolf, pushing to take part in their favourite pastime, was quickly squashed back.

No, you can't come out yet. We will have our fun... later.

Elijah had burst through the double doors and had snapped the three nearest men's necks before the young guard had dropped to the ground.

The stunned onlookers, too shocked to utter a sound, were frozen to the spot. The scene playing out to rapidly for them to register what was happening. Elijah's abrupt entrance and subsequent damage to their colleagues was completed in less than twenty seconds.

When he was finished, six of the eleven people around the table were lying dead - on the table or slumped in their chairs.

Quickly recovering their composure, a few of the remaining men rose from their chairs and looked to rush towards their attacker.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you," Elijah tutted at the first man who had stood, "unless you have a death wish, that is."

Recognition dawned on the individual at the head of the large conference table.

"I know you," he spluttered, "you were at the funeral."

A cruel smile slowly emerged across Elijah's face. "And I know who you are Ambrose."

The woman to Ambrose's left looked closer at Elijah, and a similar look of surprise and recognition was reflected as she struggled to stop a scream from coming forth.

Ambrose looked to Guido, one of the other occupants that was still alive, and made a slight nod towards their attacker. Both made a move to overpower their assailant at the same time.

Before Ambrose knew what was happening, the new arrival had grabbed one of the imitation antique ceremonial Japanese Katana swords from above the fireplace, and in an instant, had traversed the distance to Guido. A flash as the sword was raised, was the only thing that Ambrose and the remainder of those alive saw.

Not understanding what had just occurred, Ambrose looked across at the other man who had not yet moved. A look of abject horror and surprise was etched upon his friends face. There was no movement for what felt like an eternity. Then, Guido's legs suddenly gave out. As if in slow motion as the man's body swayed forward, his head tilted in the opposite direction.

Before their disbelieving eyes, the remaining four watched as Guido's severed head toppled and fell to the floor, hitting the ground before the rest of his body, with a small bounce and a slight roll as it came to rest against the leg of a chair.

A violent stream of blood erupted from what remained of his neck, now the top of his body. Arteries now severed, rushed to expel the still pumping blood. The pure force and volume ensuring everyone was coated in the warm sticky substance as the fountain engulfed and overpowered the room.

Briana, the only female left in the room alive, put her hand to her mouth to stop the bile rising and regurgitating from the pit of her stomach. To shocked to scream and to stunned to move out of the path of the torrent, she was quickly coated in her friends life blood.

Ambrose, emerging out of his stupor, grabbed his cousin and pulled her away from further torment.

Pushing her behind him, he faced their dangerous assailant head on. The other two men slowly edged their way towards Ambrose and Briana, careful not to make any sudden or threatening movements.

Ambrose, stood up straight and looked defiantly at the new arrival. "What do you want from us?"

Elijah, a sardonic smile as he looked down at his handy work paused for a moment before replying. "It's more what I can do for you."

Their attacker moved closer and, to their surprise, began to sniff the surrounding air. "Not long now," he stated to no one in particular.

Elijah casually strolled across the room and placed the bloodied sword back on its mount.

"So how have you managed to control the pain and uncontrolled shaking," he asked as he admired the pooling blood which was now dripping from the sharp blade onto the granite mantle.

Turning to face the others Elijah raised an eyebrow. "Morphine, or are you partaking in your own product?"

"I don't know what you are talking about," Ambrose denied. A slight nervous twinge now appeared in his demeanour.

Elijah headed back towards the table, stepping over a still bleeding Guido, and took the seat recently vacated by Ambrose. "You're lucky I found you in time. You certainly led me on a wild goose chase," he proclaimed as he smiled at his audience.

Raising his hand dismissively, he continued. "No matter - I'm here now and thats the main thing."

"What exactly do you want," spat out Ambrose, "money, drugs, weapons?"

Elijah burst out laughing. "Guns, you think I'm after guns. Great lot of good that did you today."

"Then what do you want with us?" asked Briana, finally finding the courage to speak.

"What I want is something you can definitely give me. Money, power and most importantly - an army. It was pure luck I stumbled on you two."

Elijah looked at the four humans huddled together. "Now where are my manners, how about you all take a seat," he said indicating the table.

No one moved. Unsure of where this was leading.

Elijah frowned. "I said SIT!"

Ambrose, Briana and their two colleagues sprung into action and threw themselves into some of the vacant chairs that were not currently occupied by a dead body.

Once they were seated, Elijah began speaking. "You see, your fathers were very special. They were from a family line that was a bit... how should I phrase it... mixed breeding."

Leaning forward and placing his hand on the table a disapproving look overcame his features. "Now, getting around to you all was taking its time. You don't know how hard it is to track everyone from your family tree. It was taking forever and, not to mention, getting on my nerves."

"When I discovered that your father, a prominent business man whose family business was still owned and operated by its original bloodline, had died I was overjoyed. Funerals are the few times that human families actually get together. When the obituary read that the burial at the cemetery was only going to be attended by family... you cannot believe how ecstatic we were. A shit load of new recruits all at once. It was going to be a smörgåsbord."

Smiling jubilantly, Elijah leaned back in his chair. "You can imagine my surprise when I overheard your conversation at the cemetery. The Don of the New England Mafia and a number of his Captains were going to be my new recruits. Well that was just the icing on the top."

Elijah looked directly at the feared and elusive head of the Mob. "I told you I would be coming for you," Elijah sneered, "did you doubt me. Unfortunately, you were a bit harder to track down than expected."

"A lot happened that day. So forgive me for not remembering every aspect of it," snapped Ambrose, subconsciously touching his leg.

Elijah stood and with confident steps walked around the table. Stopping as he reached Briana's chair he leaned forward. "You mean my little souvenir?" he said, touching a spot on the woman's arm. The area was covered in white gauze bandages.

A similar wound was reflected on Ambrose and a number of their relations. Each one having been bitten by an out of control dog at her fathers funeral.

She recoiled from the touch. "What do you mean?"

The Werewolf shrugged nonchalantly. "In order to trigger the change, I needed to ensure that the bites were deep enough"

"You set that rabid dog on us!" accused Ambrose, "Do you know how many people that animal attacked?"

"It was neither a dog nor rabid," came the sarcastic reply, "as you will soon discover."

Looking around the table he posed the question uppermost in his mind. "So, how many of you didn't heal properly?"

"Why? Why are you doing this?"

Elijah appeared to consider the question. "Look at it like this, I am giving you and your family a gift, one that will allow you to control your holdings for much longer and give you the ability to wield more power - without question."

Ambrose and the others were more than confused with the madman's strange words. "What gift?"

Taking a step away from Briana's chair, he began to disrobe. "Well - that is more of a show rather than tell," came Elijah's cryptic reply.

The witnesses were unable to move. Rooted to the spot as they watched his body contort and move from one form to another. The sound of bone cracking and popping as it moved and reset.

They began to doubt their sanity as they watched in horror the transformation from man to animal. Smooth skin was replaced by hair which grew from each expose pore. His face began a series of sudden and jerky movements as it elongated and canine jaws appeared with teeth that looked as sharp as knives.

The final shape that took form was the exact same creature that had attacked them a few weeks earlier. Each one wondering how they could have mistaken this beast for a dog. It's eyes as vile and insane as its human form.

Briana, unable to take the battering on her senses, snapped and began to scream uncontrollably. Her cousins Ambrose, Frank and Junior, unable to move from the shock, hardly registered her reaction.

A low growl erupted from the beasts powerful jaws as it swung his head towards the high pitched sound. Pouncing on the table, it slowly made its way to the woman, teeth barred and saliva dripping to the mahogany.

The beast snapped at her and leaped over her chair to land on the ground behind. Transforming back into his human form,

Elijah's expression reflecting the anger that had originated while in beast form.

Yanking the now hoarse women up by her arm from her sitting position, his eyes furious as he towered over her. "You my dear need to refrain from that in the future," he ground out.

Pulling her closer to him, Elijah licked the entire length of her face. Leaving a trail of saliva in its wake, he rubbed his lower body against her. "Because I just may need to show you what happens to naughty girls when I get upset with them."

Briana's eyes widened in fear. He was close enough for her to see that his different colored eyes were changing colour to amber and then back again.

She had no doubt he would carry out his threat. She was petrified and was now physically shaking in his grip, unable to control her bodily functions. The scared woman had never experienced anything as horrifying as this, but she was sure that this was the look of pure madness.

What had scared Briana the most was the recognition that the evil and malicious creature in front of her was, to the outside world, an entirely normal, good looking and virile - Man.

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A/N. ... well at least we know what Elijah's been up to ... :-(

... however, not sure I feel comfortable that he is creating is own Army ... out of mobsters no less!

... Gotta give him credit though, quite smart thinking really to piss of Elise, The Alliance and everyone else !!!

Next chapter will be posted late Wednesday (US PST). See you then.

Don't forget to vote. Every one counts.

Have a wonderful and safe rest of your weekend.

M.