Kate threw up her arms to cover her head and made herself as small as possible as Aarón attacked the vampire, and they disappeared down the other side of the alley. Then the screams and the fighting faded to the background. She crawled out from behind the dumpster to Darius's side. His body was already beginning to crumble to ash, but he was intact enough that she could roll him onto his back.

Tears streamed from her eyes down her cheeks once again. This was all her fault. She should have just gone to the catacombs right after Cyrille left. If she had just listened to him and Celeste, Darius wouldn't have even been there. Khalid wouldn't have found her, and that vampire wouldn't...

She looked down the alley where he and the werewolf had disappeared. Was he a vampire? Yes, he had to be. She smelled the venom and saw the fangs, but... his power was so strange. It felt like vampiric magic at first glance. It was strong and potent, centuries older than it should have been, but definitely vampire.

Until she mentioned Charlie, or Rhiannon, or whatever they wanted to call that stupid dragon, and his magic flickered. But the flicker did not compare to what she felt when she looked into how he repelled the archangel from ripping out his soul. Just like Aarón and Danika, she could feel his soul in there, protected by his mate. And she could feel the nullifying effects of the Ancient-killer bullet lodged in his abdomen, eating away at his magic and preventing him from healing.

And in the void left by the parasitic power of a vampire was... something else. Something much stronger and a thousand times more volatile. If she didn't know better... Kate almost thought it was... dragonkin magic...

"Kate!" Danika's voice nearly made her jump out of her skin. Her friend was at her side the next second, taking her hand and gripping it tightly. "There you are! Oh my God... What the hell is going on?"

Kate looked back down at Darius. Every second that passed a little more of him crumbled away. Soon, he would be nothing but a memory. "Envy sent his Counsel puppet after me," she answered in a dull, emotionless tone. "Your old boss was with him. Aarón went after him."

"What? Why is he here?"

"I don't know. He said my aunt was in Paris, but I don't think he actually knows anything."

The blood drained from Danika's face as Kate's words clicked. Kate just stared at her guardian of the last five years. He'd be so good to her, and all she had done in return was give him attitude and sarcasm. He loved her like family, and she... she never once told him how thankful she was to have him in her life.

"Kate," Danika shook her hard. "Katie, snap out of it. We have to get out of here! You know what it means if your aunt is here. You know she would have come without backup. Which means..."

Templars.

Kate's head cleared in an instant, and she was able to focus on the one thing she was good at. Running. "The catacombs," she said, getting to her feet and checking on the fluttering spark of life growing inside her. It was reacting to her emotions, but it was strong, and relief washed through her. "They can't follow us through the gates."

Danika just nodded, took her hand, and they started running back towards the main street and the entrance of Tentation. Before they turned the corner, Kate looked back at the dead werewolf one last time. Thank you, Darius. For everything.

The patrons had emptied out of the club like ants, feeling from the violent brawl of demons inside. But, judging by the sheer volume of shrieking coming from the club, Khalid was somehow still alive. Kate had to admit that she was impressed. Even though incubi and succubi weren't exactly the best fighters out of the various breeds of demons, an entire club full of them should have been able to take care of one djinn.

Several police cars were pulling up in response to the fight and, more likely, gunshots. Far-off sirens warned that there would be more, and Ancient law enforcement would undoubtedly be with them too. So, the girls morphed into a crowd running the other way and jogged with them at a human crawl of a pace. They could have bolted and run full tilt down the street, but the goal was to blend in, go unnoticed, and get underground when they could. The catacombs were interconnected in a vast maze under Paris, and once they were there, Kate would be able to find the entrance by following the magic.

They didn't make it more than two blocks when shots rang out again, and three of the humans running with them fell. Blood sprayed out, the rest of the crowd screamed, and both Kate and Danika took off, running towards the next street as fast as they could, zigzagging at random moments to try and stay out of the line of fire. Even as Kate skidded around the side of a building, the concrete where she had been a fraction of a second before exploded.

"Son of a bitch!" Danika swore as the wall near the supposedly random corner they were about to take also exploded in a cloud of brick and mortar. "What are they even aiming at?"

Kate slowed, looking around. They had three choices. Go back the way they came. Continue the way they were going. Or go down the street that Danika was just cut off by. She stopped at the crossroads, breathing heavily.

"Kate!" Danika screamed at her, already twenty meters ahead. "What are you doing? Let's go!"

Something wasn't right. Kate took a single step back towards the club. A shot rang out and shattered the cobbled street at her foot. "They're herding us," she called back to Danika.

Another shot and another explosion of concrete and rubble. They started jogging again, this time at a slower pace. "They're trying to capture, then, not kill," Danika panted, looking up and around. They couldn't see the snipers, and they were surrounded by tall, unending buildings that made up central Paris. "Which probably means hallowed ground where you're powerless. Where's the nearest church?"

"It's Paris. There's a church every few blocks," Kate reminded her. Then panic struck her chest. She skidded to a stop again, even as another bullet lodged into the street beside her. It was fine if she went on holy ground. Yeah, it would hurt, but she could handle the pain. But... it wasn't just her, was it? "Danika, the baby's too little. It won't survive hallowed ground."

"Fuck!" Danika let out a stream of additional curses and spun around, looking wildly around.

They had to get off the street, out of sight of the hidden snipers. Yet another shot exploded at their feet. Kate shrieked in rage, picked up a loose chunk of stone, and hurled it as hard as she could in the direction of one of the shooters. "This is horse shit!" she screamed, the power in her voice bouncing off the buildings around them and making them shudder. "Just shoot me already! I will never go back there, so just get it over with, you fucking cowards!"

"Kate, what the hell?!"

"No, fuck that! You have Aarón, and I have Cyrille and this baby. I am not my mother. I'm not just going to roll over and give myself up! And I'm not giving up on you, my mate, or my child!" she threw another piece of rock. It caught on the edge of the building and exploded into dust. "Come on! You want your weapon back! Come and get it!"

The street went quiet for a minute. A second later, ropes were thrown down from the rooftops on either side of them. Danika pulled her knives free and adjusted her stance. A dozen men came sliding down the ropes, all of them in identical padded leather combat suits, and each of them with a bright red cross embroidered over their hearts. They, too, carried karambit blades, varying only slightly from Danika's. "No guns," Danika muttered, glancing up again. "Hardly a fair fight with snipers trained at our heads."

"It was never going to be fair," Kate's voice rattled as she called on her magic and true form. Her mouth ripped open, fingers grew into talons, and the blood lust and hunger made her heart race with anticipation. "That's fine. Their blood will taste all the sweeter when we rip them apart."

"I like this new side of you. Promise me she won't go away when this is all over."

"Danika Schell," one of the Templars called out. "Our orders are to recapture the Entity. Consider this your only warning. Lower your weapons."

The Templar thought he was being kind. He thought the girls would hear that and surrender. Instead, all either of them heard was 'we have orders not to kill either of you'. Meaning the knights would be holding back while Kate and Danika could go all out.

So they did.

Danika kicked off with every ounce of strength she had, and the street cracked under the force. The Templars trained her to fight smart and to adapt. The vampires taught her speed above strength. Aarón gave her the confidence to live for herself. None of that meant that the fight would be easy. No matter what magical advantages she had, she was still young and inexperienced. The additional gold embroidery around the red cross told her these were the highest-ranking knights the Order had to offer.

Kate recognized the ranks, too. She also noticed the masks they wore over their mouths and noses, trying to combat the effect of her pheromones. If she really was just a succubus, that would have been enough. She dug her talons into her forearms and ripped open her flesh, spraying blood onto the street and filling the air with the sulfuric scent. Then, instead of getting in close, she dug into the cracks Danika made, ripped up the cobbled street, and started throwing blood-soaked stones at blinding speeds at the Templars.

They backed up a few paces, giving themselves space to avoid the projectiles, and each pulled lengths of thin, iron chains from their belts. Were they going to try to lasso her like a bull at a rodeo? Seriously? She laughed, a harsh, rattling sound, and raised her arms in a welcoming gesture.

The Templars hesitated. The ones fighting Danika were in their element, locked in a fierce blur of limbs and sparks of clashing knives. The ones facing Kate weren't quite sure how to handle a demon that they couldn't exorcise, couldn't maim, and who was keeping her distance. They didn't realize the longer they waited to do something, the weaker they got.

While it all happened in less than a few seconds, it felt like they were staring each other down for hours before one of the Templars finally moved. His whole body started to shake, and his pupils suddenly blew out in overwhelming lust for the demon in front of him. Then, dropping the chains, he tore at his mask and clothes and ran at Kate. The others acted quickly, catching him in the chains and dragging him back. He thrashed and struggled, whining and shouting nonsensically.

Then another lost his mind and did the same. The Templars started fighting each other, tearing at each other's throats for the right to claim the demon. Her puppets were quickly overtaken by the four others, but they were enough of a distraction for Kate to glide in and slit one of their throats wide open.

The smell of human blood mixing with her own tipped her over the edge of her newfound control. The edges of her vision blurred into tunnels, and she went feral. Her fangs tore through the padded leather like butter, and she moaned as the warm liquid filled her mouth. Their screams were the lullaby she would teach her children.

In moments, only her puppets remained, and they immediately started pawing at her. One pressed himself against her back, kissing her neck, while the other licked the blood from her hands. She turned with them to Danika's fight. Two lay dead in the road, but there were still four more. "Bring me their hearts," she breathed.

They both went still before detaching themselves and rushing ahead. Kate wavered on her feet, a slight smile playing on her lips. Forget venom. This was the high she was looking for. The high of the kill. Fresh blood, death at her fingertips. If only Cyrille was there to enjoy it with her. Her heart fluttered at the very thought, and his words came back to her in a rush.

You are carnage. Death and destruction are in your very name.

Slowly, Danika backed out of the fray, watching the Templars tear each other apart. "You couldn't have done that from the beginning?" she panted and turned to look at her friend. Her eyes widened. "Kate!"

Too late. The silent newcomer looped the chain around Kate's neck, using a pole to keep her well out of arms reach, and dragged her to the ground. Danika started towards them, but when his eyes turned on her, she slowed to a stop. They stared at each other, deaf to Kate's shrieking. Her eyes flicked down to the Cross on his chest. Instead of red, it was white, embroidered in red and gold. A chaplain. One of the highest ranks within the order itself. "D-dad?" she whispered, and Kate went still.

Joseph Schell pushed his hood back and his mask down. "You don't get to call me that," he spat at her. "My daughter died two years ago!"

Even though she knew that's how he would feel about her transition, it still hurt to hear it, and it enraged Kate. She started struggling again, snarling and snapping at the chain and pole. Joseph snapped the chain tight and lifted her head up just enough to slam her back down again. Pain exploded through her head and down her spine, stunning her momentarily. "Don't hurt her!" Danika pleaded, taking another step closer. "Please, dad-"

"Do not call me that!" he roared, drew a handgun from his belt, and aimed it at Danika. "I don't give two shits what my orders are. I will kill you. I should kill you for what you've done to my name! You have always been a curse, right from the moment you were conceived."

Her stomach twisted at the reminder. He didn't need to go on, but the rage and adrenaline were getting the better of him.

"A thousand years of tradition. A thousand years of firstborn males. A thousand years serving as Chaplains of the Templar Order. All brought to ruin by you. I should have made her abort you the moment we found out what you were. But no, she insisted we keep you. That was my mistake for choosing a woman outside the Order to bear my children."

"Oh, so abortion's only a sin when it's the woman's choice!" Danika's whole body when hot from the rage and hypocrisy. "Fuck you, you twisted bastard! It's not my fault you couldn't get over the fact that I didn't have a penis!"

"You were an embarrassment!"

"I was the best damn initiate the Order had seen in six generations! I was taking down teenagers when I was ten! I am the youngest person to ever perform a successful exorcism! I was better than you ever were! You pushed me away! The only reason I didn't run away with Kate was because of mom!"

"You should have left with the creature. It would have saved me time and energy better spent saving your mother's soul, and maybe she would have survived."

Again, the girls went still and stared at him in horror. "What do you mean survived?" Kate asked hoarsely, silently begging that he didn't mean what she thought he meant.

"Like you don't know, demon whore," Joseph snarled without looking away from Danika. "You infected my family with Satan's curse. My daughter sold her soul and turned into a monster. My wife turned her back on the Church. I couldn't save her mortal mind, so I saved what I could of her immortal soul and returned her to God."

Silence for one, two, three seconds.

Danika shrieked and launched herself at her father. He fired, hitting her in the shoulder, but she was blind to the pain. They went down, Joseph losing his grip on the pole. Kate scrambled to rip off the chain to help. She didn't need any help. The years of rage and grief she kept pushing down exploded with the knowledge that he had killed her mother.

It didn't matter anyway. It didn't matter that he was the strongest soldier in the Templar military. He was still mortal. When they fell, the back of his head smacked against the concrete, rendering him unconscious. Danika gripped the sides of his head, lifted him, and slammed his skull back into the pavement. Over and over again, until she was drenched in his blood, and the streets ran red.

Kate rushed to her friend, grabbed her arm, and dragged her back. Danika's knees gave out, and they slumped to the ground. She screamed into Kate's shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably. Kate just held her silently. There was nothing she could do or say to comfort her now. She needed to get it out.

"Kate! Danika!" Celeste suddenly appeared, rounding the corner further down the street. She took one look at the girls, ran to them at top speeds, and dragged them both into a tight hug. "Thank the fucking gods you two are alive. Never do that to me again, understand?"

"Sorry," Kate muttered. "I didn't mean to make you do that. I just panicked."

"What? No, I mean stop fucking running, Kate. Gods damnit, don't you get it? When you run, you're alone. Together, we're strong."

Kate didn't know what to say, so she just wrapped her arms tighter around Celeste's neck and held her tight. "Love you too, Celeste."

The anger and worry rushed out of Celeste, and she deflated. "You're alright. That's what's important. Let's just go home. We're going into lockdown until Cyrille gets back. Danika... you should come too, if-"

"Kilo."

The three of them jumped and whipped around. A tall, slender male stood only a few meters away, the bodies of Kate's templar puppets lay lifeless at his side, and none of them had felt him approach. It was like he had just... appeared. Kate's legs felt watery as she recognized that hip-length white hair and pearlescent eyes. She took a step towards him, holding up a hand to stop the other two women from pulling her back. "Bravo..." she whispered. "They... they sent... you?"

"You are free," he said simply.

"F-free? The Organization is just... letting me go? After all this time?"

"No. Ashton Price has abandoned his post. The Templar Order is untrustworthy and cannot control you. The Organization has decided you are no longer valuable to them. Be warned. If you are ever within reach, they will kill you."

"You... You're not going to kill me now?"

"Those are not my orders."

He held out his hand to her, a USB stick in his palm. Slowly, she approached the much older, much stronger Entity. When she was about two feet away, still well out of grabbing range, he tossed the object into her hands. She frowned, looking at his lowering hands, then down at the device.

"One day, you will be called upon to fulfill your duty as an Entity. You will answer the call."

Kate stared up at him. His voice was unchanged, and his eyes never wavered. What was he trying to tell her? Then, Bravo turned gracefully and simply walked away. "What the hell was that?" Celeste hissed.

Kate shook her head, her mind racing. "I... don't know. It doesn't matter. We have a window to get to safety, so let's just take it and go."

"Agreed. Danika, are you coming with us?"

Danika looked guiltily at Kate, then down the road towards the club. "I'm sorry, I need to find Aarón."

"Don't be ridiculous," Kate shook her head and hugged her. "Go. I'll call you when things cool down a bit. Go find your wolf."

Danika mouthed a silent thank you to Celeste and took off down the street. They were finally free. No one was hunting them anymore. She didn't have to hide.

Home. A normal... loving life. Things were finally looking up.

Her optimism waned as she reached the end of the alley, hearing roaring, snarling, and the scent of blood heavy in the air. When the path opened into the streets, the scene before her scared her more than anything else she had seen that night.

Nolan Wes stood over Aarón, his face a bloody mess. There was nothing but pure, violent hatred in the vampire's glowing blue eyes. "Burn in hell, you son of a bitch," he snarled and raised the brick in his hand.

Danika took a single step towards them, reaching out with her hand and her mouth open and ready to beg for his life. Then the air rippled, and an ice-cold spear ran through her chest, stealing her breath away. And then the pain hit. Like her whole body was being ripped apart at the cellular level.

Her blood-curdling scream was only matched by the shriek coming from Nolan Wes, as the exact same sheering pain struck him in the chest. If she had the ability to think straight, she would have realized that her magic, the power given to her by the vampires, was gone.

~

Only two posts left. How is this going to end?