Phoenix, Arizona

Judith:

I walked into the large office building. Tracking several members of Jacobson had led my sisters to send me here. I walked in hunched over and wearing a worn dress with a blue bonnet. My white hair wig was matched to my head perfectly and my cane was the final touch to sell the disguise. I walked through the building and over to the front desk.

Behind me was a wall of glass and all around me were doors leading to office areas or staircases. I looked up to see the person behind the desk... my eyes widened. I knew this man from wanted posters all over the park I lived in.

"Devon...?" The dark-haired man turned to look at me. "What... how did you get here?"

Everything went dark...

(***)

Devon:

The banshee girl slowly woke up. She looked at me groggily.

"A needle of sleeping drugs. I didn't knock you out with my fist." I listened to the water dripping behind me and looked at the pipes all around. I tapped on the stone behind her. "Yes, we're in the sewer."

"Why am I here?" she asked weakly.

"Well, after leaving the Tracers I looked into their history and found there was one additional member of their team out in the world. The girlfriend of the werewolf, a young banshee." she looked at me, confused. "You see, I did not escape the Tracers, they let me go."

She sat up straight as her body finally seemed to be recovering. "I don't understand. Why would they help someone out of banshee custody?"

"Because I'm a gargoyle," I said, surprised at my own flippancy in the statement.

"Oh... guess that makes sense."

"So- do you share their acceptance of my kind?"

The girl shrugged. "Pretty much. So... the story of you and your family being taken by Jacobson?"

"Greatly exaggerated- to say the least."

She smiled. "Well don't worry, my lips will be sealed... whoa" she tried to get back up but fell back down. "But if you like them, why go after me and not them?"

"Because I wager they're being watched- especially for if I happen to show up. However, you are currently separate."

"Banshees require training, so I can't travel with them on indefinite adventures like their crusade against Tyrin."

"That's over, so I imagine you'll be hooking back up eventually, yes?"

"I guess- did you really bring me down here to look after Jaden's relationship prospects?" she gave a slight grin.

"No," I said, shaking my head. "Though, I am delighted to hear there is a relationship, I only knew you were with the team." She blushed. "I'm here to finally really come clean. Upon thinking about it, the Tracers risked everything for my family- I was led to believe there was no hope for unity between gargoyles and the other races- now I have cause to doubt that. I'm not sure if I will then switch sides or not. Still, your friends are entitled to a warning."

"A warning about what?"

"The FBI has been arresting Jacobson operatives, destroying their organization. Good news, yes?" she nodded to my saying this. "Not so fast. See, as their agents are being arrested, we are using OUR connections in the bureau to analyze their funds and... secure them. See, the FBI didn't find things out by coincidence- though they believe it was all anonymous tips that someone happened to put together. We of course well..."

"Who is... we?"

I sighed. "Judith, up there, I saved your life by taking you out of there. Be careful who you reveal this to-do you know who is in that building?"

"No... who?"

"Tell your friends- but do not rush to them. Anyone else you tell, choose extremely carefully."

"What's going on?"

"I shall tell you what happened here two days before you arrived..."

(***)

Flanked by two figures, I entered a large office building. As we entered a large open space some twenty men moved to surround us.

On my right was a man in a large black cloak, a hood covering his face in shadow. On the other side of me was a man with gray skin standing some seven feet tall. He wore a large black overcoat that dragged on the ground when he walked with a black hood over his head.

"Did you not read the sign?" came a shout from a man dead ahead of me. "It said, "do not enter". What are you doing here?"

"I have come to claim what is mine," said the cloaked figure beside me.

"You lose something?" asked the same man.

"No, I have lost nothing. I have gained much," said the cloaked figure. The man on my left pushed his hood back, revealing his gray skin, yellow eyes, and flat-top cut orange hair. He smiled, his teeth sharpened, looking like those of a shark sized for a human head. The cloaked figure continued talking. "You all work for me now. You will commence helping me find all Jacobson safe houses, depots, and management facilities."

The men, as if on a cue, suddenly all took several steps back, all twenty drawing handguns from under their business coats. The man in the cloak held up his hand.

My heart was starting to race, even as a gargoyle, that many rounds could still kill me, especially if they went for my proudly displayed head.

"I don't want to attract attention," said the man who I was starting to assume was the leader of the mob around us. "So, just today, I'm going to give you the chance to just walk away and never cross my sight again- whoever you think you are. I recommend taking my offer."

The cloaked man snapped the fingers on his raised hand.

Several rounds were fired at us. I expected to feel the impacts, but instead, I watched as the bullets fell to the ground around us- melted. The man on my right reached into his huge coat and pulled out- I had a hard time believing my eyes.

It was the sword of Chaos, wielded by the right-hand man of the king of gargoyles- Lord Maelstrom.

I had thought I was with two normal enforcers, but... the king and his bodyguard were actually in the same room as me. Even as a soldier of theirs, terror started to grip my heart.

The sword was so large it was pulled from under the large man's arm rather than from his hip. It had a blade on the hilt, and, as one would expect, its main blade was the scary part. Nearly six feet in length, it was a massive scimitar with three large hooked yalmans or teeth on its back instead of the traditional one without a hook.

The blade even looked somewhat impractical even as its size made it intimidating, but anyone who knew the blade dared not comment on its utility. The Lord swung his blade to the right.

Five of the men on my right suddenly screamed as their skin and clothes suddenly turned black. The human figures collapsed to the ground as piles of bones and black ashes. Maelstrom smiled at the man standing wide-eyed and frozen in front of us, the Lord pulling his lip back to reveal as many of his sharp teeth as possible.

The cloaked man started to laugh. "Go ahead, try to fight us again. Whoever survives, will have the honor of serving me." No one in the room moved, Maelstrom's sword held in the air to his right, held in place like it was merely a twig. "You may fight, or simply accept your places, and kneel."

The men around us each slowly took a knee.

(***)

Judith's eyes were wide hearing my tale. "You are with the..." her words caught in her throat for a second, but she eventually forced them out. "You are with the gargoyle nation."

"Yes. I am with your true enemy."

"Is this... is this you defecting?" she asked, some hope in her voice.

"No, not as of yet. You can flee me, I will let you go. Know that among the plans of my king is acquiring the powers of your friend Jessica for his lord."

"How?"

"I don't really know how he acquires powers for his enforcer, but whether or not I do, you now have a choice to make."

"That choice is?" she slowly stood up, starting to shake.

"You can try to fight me, but I don't recommend it. I will let you flee my presence and warn your friends if you like or... stay with me."

She eyed me suspiciously. "Why would I stay with you?"

"I am indeed thinking of defecting. However, if I do, my family and I will have to move even further under the radar. We will be searching for a man you know well. The only man I know who I believe could actually face down the lord. Stay with me and you can speak to no one. You must accept that you will disappear, and maybe even be mourned in time. I will need someone by my side who this man at least somewhat trusts."

"I... exactly who will you be looking for?"

"Another Lord. You probably don't know his centuries-old title, but I suspect you will have some recognition of the name; Lord Venice."

(***)

The tundra in the mountains of northern Norway, two weeks later.

James:

I walked behind the enforcer. We had been informed the giant of a man liked to be referred to simply as Maelstrom.

I shivered as the wind around me blew, it cutting right through my fur coat like I was naked. I pulled the near-useless jacket closer to my skin as I continued to trudge. Maelstrom walked ahead in nothing but a light jacket not even giving a single shiver, walking on, his tennis shoes long abandoned in the ice- yes, he was walking barefoot in the tundra without batting an eye.

We walked and walked. When this mammoth of a man had demanded I come with him on this trip, I had been too timid to ask why- but as we walked now, my fear of the man was draining as it was replaced by fear of the cold.

As I was considering my options of running away at risk of being turned to ash- well I would have been warm for a while anyway- the man finally just stopped in the snow.

Maelstrom drew his massive ugly sword and pointed it into the air. He looked back at me. "You should feel lucky. "You're about to be one of the only people alive who even knows of this thing's existence- let alone to lay eyes on it. To think, so many mutations out there- yet most of them have no idea from whence their power truly comes."

The air around me started to warm, subtly at first. I pulled the coat off quickly, the snow around us melting to water. Sweat dripped down my body, soaking my shirt in no time.

I looked around, seeing as for hundreds of feet the snow had melted, yellow grass now revealed all around, and dead ahead... no...

It must have been fifteen feet high with ragged fur and ears that seemed another ten feet tall each. Yes, I was looking at the head of a massive wolf.

The eyes of the creature opened as it growled, the ground around me shaking. Maelstrom stood looking at the beast, his ever-present creepy smile only growing, his eyes almost sparkling. "Morning Fenrir."

I stared wide-eyed as the massive creature stood up and shook itself, snow flying off in all directions, the ground rumbling both from the large snow clumps and the sheer force of this monster shaking. A voice seemed to come from the creature, even as its mouth didn't move. "I have asked before, could you be convinced to leave me be?"

"Not likely," said the enforcer. I was starting to wonder if I had been drugged. The creature started to- grow. In mere moments, if I had to guess, the monster had grown to nearly a hundred feet, towering over myself and Maelstrom as I dropped to the water-soaked ground beneath, eyes full of fear.

The creature threw its head back and howled, the ground shaking and my very bones feeling like they were shaking. Snow shifted and the ice cracked all around us.

The voice of Maelstrom seemed to crack, as he laughed, cackling at a high pitch. "Well- if you don't know how to make a man feel welcome- go ahead, attack, this should be fun."

The gigantic creature seemed to sigh. "I know well it would be futile. We could battle for ages, but neither of us triumph."

"Oh, I don't know about that. I think last time I had you on the ropes," Maelstrom's voice was now going up and down, deep then high pitched at seemingly random intervals. "But I'm not here for a fight, oh lord of wolves."

The creature shrank back down to his previous still intimidating size. "Then why have you troubled a great beast?"

"You're not the first I have bothered."

"Nor, I suspect, will I be the last. Again, what do you want?"

Maelstrom fished his jacket for a few moments, "Now- where is that thing?" he asked, seeming more irritated at having lost something than sensibly terrified of a creature that looked capable of killing us both by sneezing. Finally, he pulled out a color photo. I looked as he held it aloft to the creature. The picture was of a young black-haired girl. She was peculiar to look at, having freckles on only one side of her face. "Now, if you don't mind, lord of Ragnarok, oh origin of werewolves..." what.. what was he talking about? "Could you tell me which of your brethren is the master of this child?"

"You should be warned, the creature you seek is far greater than I. Far fewer children than I, so his power exceeds mine by-"

"His name- if you please," Maelstrom interrupted.

"Fine. The bane of the angel Thor. The king of serpents, Jörmungandr."

Maelstrom grabbed me from the ground. "Got it- and here's your offering!"

"I- wait- no- no!" I shouted as the head of the beast came at me, his maw opening wide and-