The headquarters of Steel Fangs was in a mid-sized hotel just off the interstate. It was a member of a chain of such hotels and was little different from those that could be found all across the Greater United States. In other words, it did not stand out from its surroundings. Waiting behind the hotel were Franklin, Victor, and two Thinbloods. 

Victor was a tall young looking Caucasian male with long dark wavy hair. His eyes glowed the rich green of an Adult.

Franklin had recovered from his debuff, his eyes now shining the yellow of a Young Adult once again. Of course, the Necromancer had recast the buffs on his allies the moment they stepped foot on the property. This time, he was ready to cast the debilitating spell with just a syllable. 

The Thinblood to Victor's right matched the description of Jenny given in Mr. Wiltshire's recounting of Nathan's life. In an effort to ensure her identity, the Necromancer called out "Jenny" only to have the young-looking woman shift her gaze towards him. 'Bingo!' he thought. 'So that's Jennifer.'

Standing opposite from him was a thin, short woman who appeared to be about twenty years of age. The brunette wore her straight, shoulder-length hair loose around her face almost as if she were trying to hide behind it.

Victor raised an eyebrow when he noticed Howard's presence. "And who might you be?" he asked. "Who is this who stands before the head of Dentes Ferrum?"

"Don't utter the name of your original clan, you cur," Howard exclaimed. "Dentes Ferrum exiled you fifty years ago. Your gang may call itself the Steel Fangs, but you are no part of that noble house."

"Oh, so we have a scholar amongst rising Moon, do we? What is it to you what we call ourselves?"

'He's stalling to make sure the buffs wear off,' Howard realized. 'I need to say my piece before the spell wears off.'

"I am who I am. And I am the friend of Nathan Wiltshire, an alchemist whose death you caused over thirty years ago. I have come to avenge him."

"Am I supposed to remember every human pawn that I use? I think not," Victor sneered.

"Jennifer, you remember him, don't you?"

Jennifer, after glancing in fear at Victor, responded, "Yes I remember Nathan. I remember him fondly."

"Then step aside," the Necromancer said. "I have no quarrel with you."

"Jennifer, stay where you are you worthless bitch," Victor snarled.

Jennifer visibly shook with fear at that simple threat. 'This bastard has tortured her so much that she is utterly afraid of him,' Howard realized.

"Jennifer, who do you fear more? Victor or the Necromancer?"

"The Necromancer!" Victor exclaimed, his disbelief clear in his voice. "He is far too busy to concern himself with the affairs of the DMZ no matter what the cause. Do you say you are the Necromancer? Then prove it!"

"Alright, I will," Howard said with a shrug. Then he said "Umbra" and his debilitating spell took effect on his foes.

As Victor's strength ebbed away, his eyes became large. "Who was this Nathan to you, Necromancer?"

"He was my best friend for thirty years. I just found out who was responsible for his death. Now you will pay." Howard then turned to Shannon. "Tear all but Jennifer to pieces."

"With pleasure," came her response.

---

The fight started off rather tamely. The Rising Moon Thinbloods quickly took down the one Steel Fang Thinblood. Then they sat back and watched the remaining two battles.

Franklin lasted for an unexpectedly long period. However, it was quickly evident that he depended mostly on his brute power and not on any sort of fighting skill. Now that the spell debilitated him, Franklin simply didn't have the prowess to fight off the empowered Fledglings he was facing. Eventually, he too went down.

That just left Victor. Shannon and he had squared off at the very beginning of the fray. They then spent about thirty seconds slowly circling one another, which was a very long time for a fight amongst vampires of their current levels. 

It was evident to Howard that Victor was still stalling, hoping for the buff to wear off. Just to get the fight started the Necromancer recast the spell and thus reset the clock. "I can do this all night," he said in a singsong voice as Victor snarled in resignation. Victor did not, however, make the mistake of looking away from Shannon. He had more sense than that.

Suddenly Shannon lunged forward, hitting Victor with first a right aimed at the temple and then a left jab targeting the jaw. Victor smiled as he swayed to the side, easily dodging Shannon's street fighting moves. He then followed up with several well-placed kicks to Shannon's abdomen, which caused her to stagger backward a few steps despite her superior strength. Even Howard could tell that Victor was a martial artist after that magnificent display. This was going to be a long struggle.

After the initial exchange of blows, Shannon became more wary, backing away even when Victor showed an opening. Instead, she circled around, waiting for her opponent to make the next move. After shrugging, he did just that, attempting to get her off balance with a leg sweep. However, Shannon jumped backward, and the blow missed by centimeters.

That was when Shannon decided to rely on her superior strength and she ran toward her opponent, apparently hoping to surprise him while he regained his footing from the leg sweep. Instead, it caused Shannon to be thrown against the concrete backside of the hotel. Within a second, Victor was on top of her, doing palm strike after palm strike into her face with a force that would have killed a human being. All it did to Shannon was stun her for a moment before she instinctively threw him off of herself with her outstretched right hand.

Now it was Victor's turn to go flying through the air. His impact left cracks in the asphalt of the parking lot as the material absorbed some of the force of the blow. This time Shannon jumped on the prone figure of her enemy and she landed a powerful right to his jaw, shattering it with the force of her punch.

Victor quickly rolled out from underneath her, his mouth hanging open and dribbling blood from his fresh wounds. It would only take a few moments for the wounds to heal, but the bones were a different story. They would take minutes to mend while he was a Young Adult and in the meantime, the pain would be excruciating. Shannon, on the other hand, would heal a shattered bone in a minute or two since she was now a full Adult. Thus, as long as the Necromancer's spells were in effect, Victor was heavily outclassed.

The only reason that Victor had lasted this long was due to his skill in the martial arts versus Shannon's relative lack of such skills. If she ever got a good hold on him, she could literally rip off his head and pull out his spinal column in one fluid movement. That was why he was keeping his distance as much as possible while inflicting as much damage as he could with fast, well-placed attacks.

The battle dragged on for another five minutes, with Victor dominating the attacking. Shannon, however, was able to absorb the damage with her raw power alone. The worse that she suffered was a bloody, split lip while Victor suffered significant damage every time one of her attacks connected.

Over time, Victor started to slow as even his vampiric vitality could not keep up his constant attacks. Meanwhile, Shannon was unfazed by their lengthy combat.

"Are you ready to give up?" Shannon asked during a lull in the conflict. "I may show you mercy."

"And I like to take long walks in the sunlight," Victor replied with a sneer. "Even if you decided to spare me I doubt that the Necromancer would show such mercy. It would hurt his image if he did so. You'd think he was Robin Hood with his persecution of the 'evil' nonhumans while healing the 'good' ones."

"Victor is definitely evil in my book," Howard quipped humorously. Then he continued more seriously, "After what he did to Nathan, he deserves to die for the second time."

"There you have it," Shannon said. "There will be no mercy. However, your fate is already sealed. If you surrender, I will make your second death as quick and painless as possible. Otherwise, it will be very, very painful."

"What is painless about having your heart ripped off or your head severed? No thank you," Victor replied. Then he spat upon the ground to show his contempt towards Shannon and the Necromancer alike.

"Either way, it is your funeral," Shannon said with a shrug. "I guess it's time to get serious."

---

What proceeded from this point forward was brutal, with Shannon using Victor as a punching bag. She finally began using her newly granted speed, thus making it impossible for Victor to land a single blow. Instead, wounds started to appear all over his body as she beat him well past the point that would have killed a human. Then the brutality truly began as she began ripping parts from his body one joint at a time. Eventually, there was nothing left of Victor but an eyeless, earless, noseless, lipless face and a limbless body. Shannon had ripped out his vocal cords early on to keep him from attracting too much attention, so his mouth opened to scream, but there was no sound.

The Necromancer watched it all, something Howard could never do. The stronger potions suppressed his humanity and allowed him to witness such horrific acts with a grim smile. Otherwise, he would have run away in horror early on. Instead, he was impressed by Shannon's thoroughness and the care that she took in utterly destroying her foe.

"It is enough," the Necromancer declared as he looked down at the quivering mass of meat that had been responsible for his oldest friend's death.

"Are you satisfied now, Necromancer?" Shannon asked. "I did it just like you ordered."

"I am satisfied. Are you?"

"Very satisfied," Shannon replied.

"Then this part of our bargain is concluded. Do what you will with this piece of filth. Torture it for decades if you will. But see that it is eventually destroyed. I do not want it to come looking for revenge because then I will have to get truly nasty."

Shannon shuddered upon hearing this. 'She will never cross me now,' the Necromancer thought. 'Sometimes fear is more important than loyalty, especially where vampires are concerned.'

Then, with a snap of his fingers, he canceled the strengthening magic that he had cast on his allies.

Shannon piped up and said, "Sir, you will receive the first batch of Rising Moon's blood tomorrow evening, if that is okay."

"Of course, it is my dear. Of course, it is."

---