Travis sat at his small kitchen table wishing that for once they could have comfort food like pancakes and bacon or waffles and sausages, instead of fruit salad. Kyle had kept him up most of the night talking, not like he could have slept anyway and deep down he'd known Kyle couldn't either, but damn son he was tired. He could use a greasy breakfast chock-full of protein and lots and lots of fat and empty calories.

He simply refused to think of it as a last meal, but how could he not draw the comparison. Last time they went head to head with Liam they'd had their assess handed to them on an epic scale.

After immobilizing every single one of them with a flick of a finger, Liam had said and done unspeakable things to Megan. Thank God Lauren found the counter-spell for the immobility spell soon after, because it would truly suck to be helpless in front of Liam and his misfits again.

Every time he'd tried to sleep last night he'd pictured that freak kissing Megan against her will and laughing cruelly at her tears and it made him for once actually want to hurt someone. Nope Liam most assuredly did not bring out his passive side.

It was Sunday the day the family volunteered together to make a difference in their community. Today they were signed up as part of the city's beautification crew -- which simply meant they'd go to the city parks, walkways, and bike trails and pick up trash, all day. And to say his heart wasn't in it would be an understatement.

It was raining steadily outside and it looked like one of those rare cold days for spring in San Fran. Who knew what could happen tonight -- not to be a drama queen or anything, but today could be his last day on earth. Did he really want to spend it cold and wet picking up litter, on the affluent side of town? Oh yeah, it was no coincidence their crews always got sent there.

No, he'd much rather spend the day working with Lucky. If he only had one day left to make a difference he'd want it to be saving a life. That decided it for him.

"Bruno, Bo, "Travis looked at both his foster parents, "would you mind if I go into the shelter today?"

Travis explained all about Lucky and the dog fighting ring and the other dogs that hadn't made it and finally sadly that if he couldn't rehabilitate Lucky he'd suffer the same fate.

His foster parents loved animals almost as much as he did. You could tell they missed the animals on the farm, but still you could have knocked him over with a feather when they said what they said next.

Bo looked at Bruno and smiled her big infectious smile. The one he could never resist and said, "Let's adopt him Bruno. It could be so great. He could come out with us every day to the gardens. It would be great therapy for him. Can we really let that poor animal suffer that fate because humans can be cruel?" she beseeched him with her eyes.

Bruno could never say no to her. He loved her that much, "Okay but only if Travis can rehabilitate him. We can't have him attacking other animals or humans at the gardens."

Bo leapt into his lap and kissed him full on the mouth. Soon they were all smiling and laughing. He just loved these two. It wasn't surprising to him that they were willing to take in a stray; they'd taken in two already, and they had provided a good home for them ever since -- turns out lucky was aptly named, because he'd be damn lucky to have them, just like Kyle and him.

Travis didn't waste any time he left for the shelter right away. The longer he could work with the dog the better. When he got there he excitedly told the weekend staff that his family had agreed to adopt Lucky.

They seemed please but the on-call weekend vet seemed doubtful. Dr Brown was a tall man in his mid thirties with a porno 'stache and a long angular face. He had the darkest brown eyes Travis had ever seen and coal black hair. He looked like the bad guy in a bad b-movie but in contrast he was the quietest guy he'd ever met. He said even less than Travis if that could be believed.

"I could help." The Doc suggested.

The dude was seriously kind too and not just to animals. When he offered to help Travis work with the dog today he only confirmed it.

"It's not very busy today I have nothing on the board scheduled and all the animals are stable."

Travis was so happy he enveloped the guy in a bear hug burying the slight guy in his massive embrace, "Doc with you on the case I'm sure we can do it," he exclaimed excitedly.

"Travis," he squeaked out, "You're crushing my vertebrae."

"Sorry Doc, "Travis backed away from him quickly while the doctor groaned and gave him a suspicious look -- Like he was trying to figure out if that much strength was normal.

They worked with the dog all day and by the end the dog allowed Travis to sit in the open door way. He'd even come over to sniff him several times. The good news was he hadn't tried to eat him, which was a marked improvement over the first day. By the end of Travis' shift at 6pm, the vet was even hopeful, and promised to recommend a stay of execution. He'd even written a message for Doc Jones and left it in the log book for her to find on Monday morning.

Travis left the shelter at 6pm with Ryan and Kyle feeling happier than he'd felt in a long time. They stopped in at Mcee Dees. He ordered three Big Macs and two large fires and scarfed them down before getting on the bus.

They all planned to hang out at Lauren's house until the alarm went off. In anticipation of a very late night he'd called Bruno and Bo to let them know they would be going to a friend's and wouldn't be home till late.

Like he said they were lucky to have them. They never had a problem with their late nights as long as they knew they were safe, but if they knew they were up to the things they were, he wondered if that would stay that way.

When they got to Lauren's not everyone was there yet; so Travis took the rare opportunity to crash in one of the comfy chairs. He was bone tired and weary from his lack of sleep last night. His eye lids felt like they weighed a ton; so he decided to inspect the insides of them to see what the deal was and soon after he fell asleep.

He woke a while later to the sound of laughter, but when he went to open his eyes he found a sheet of paper over his face. When he snatched it away he found the gang hovering around him and laughing their asses off.

He looked at Lauren the only one with magic like this and she was laughing hard enough to piss herself.

"I told you he snored loud enough to wake the dead." Kyle joked.

Xander with tears of laughter in his eyes hit replay on his phone and thrust it in his face. He watched at first when everyone tried to talk over his loud snoring and failed, and then Lauren getting up and whispering a word and waving her hand over a sheet of paper on the coffee table. It floated over to him to hover over his face. With each rough inhaled and exhaled and ruckus snore the paper flew up and back down again.

The entire crew lost it in the video and once again in real life. He tried to look angry, but he couldn't hide his smile and soon he was laughing harder than the rest. What a relief it was to be able to laugh at a time like this.

Soon after someone recommended pizza and wings for dinner and even though he'd had that big meal earlier he announced, "I could eat."

Someone turned on Lauren's ancient TV. Seriously he'd have trouble lifting the beast. It was one of those ones from the 80-90s were it looks like it's pregnant, but in the back.

They surfed the channels until they got to the Space Channel. Half of the crew squealed when they noticed it was having a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Marathon, afterward they spent most of the evening laughing over the gross inaccuracies of the program.

At one point Marley snorted in derision "As if vampires would be nice enough to turn to dust when you off them."

Everyone laughed, but Marley looked far too serious about the subject. They all knew she had a notorious hate on for the creatures.

Later that evening everyone sat around watching the clock as the hands crested the top and started working their way down.

What a relief it was to not have to wait for something to happen at the school the weather hadn't improved any since earlier in fact it was much worse. The wind was really picking up and the rain was pattering against the window vigorously.

It was nearly 12:30 when Travis heart leapt from his chest at the sound of a baying animal. The mournful sound was deafening and eerie as fuck. He looked around to see all his friends scrambling around Lauren's living room to pick up their weapons and the bags of magical items Lauren had procured. Cam slung his duffle over his shoulder it contained the potion grenades he'd been creating and stockpiling since their first run-in with Liam's hateful crew.

Xander cocked his Sigs as Lauren muttered the magical phrase that triggered the invisibility of the weapons.

The port door appeared in the center of the living room. They'd discussed this earlier. Lauren would take them through to the back parking lot of the school one at a time and they would all wait there until everyone was through.

Lauren warned again, "Nobody and I mean nobody takes them on alone. If you see them do not engage them until we're all through. If you see them run?"

"Better yet, Zach added, "don't let them see you. We are relying on the element of surprise here."

Everyone nodded their head in agreement as Lauren took the strongest of their group over first.

They had determined the order that everyone would portal in from the strongest to the weakest. He could tell by the look on everyone's face they didn't want to travel last. Being chosen to travel last would be the equivalent to being chosen last to play in a sporting event.

Earlier when it turned out to be Kyle he complained noisily, saying, "You can all eat a dick," before flouncing off to sulk for an hour or two.

No one was quick to assuage his feelings though; this wasn't a popularity contest. They were trying to calculate their best chances of survival. If Liam attacked before they all came through, who out of all of them, had the best chance to make it out of that god awful situation with all their limbs and their life intact; the magic wielders and the strongest of their crew. It was a fact.

Who had a great chance of survival?

Donnie who was a shifter that could turn into a cat and run, and because of Kelly's tutelage was almost as deadly with his dueling daggers as she was with her throwing knives? Connor with just a touch of his hand could have them all groveling at his feet? Or a guy that swings a sling shot who's only magical defensive move would be to fling small change at his enemy?

Travis felt bad for him, he even offered to go last, but Zach kyboshed it stating the order was already determined.

Now that the time had come, everyone was looking around them nervously. They weren't professional soldiers they were a bunch of scared teens, but if they didn't safeguard the Ankh they would be conscripted early, not only to fight the berserkers, but to fight an immeasurable army of the dead and undead alike.

No way could they let that happen.

When it was Travis' turn to go through the portal he had to admit he hesitated. When Lauren reached out her hand to guide him he quickly rubbed it down his pant leg to dry his sweaty palm before he took her hand and thought, he might be able to hide its wetness but she wouldn't mistake the tremble for anything but what it was: gut wrenching fear.

They were so above their pay grade with this one.

He took her tiny hand in his and let her pull him through the port door into the portal where it scattered his body to the four winds and brought it back on the other side. That feeling would never be something he'd get used to, and he had to wonder if everyone felt the same way. If they did he couldn't imagine anyone would want to portal – ever. Maybe it was just the way Mountain trolls felt.

Lauren pulled him through to the back parking lot and he had to blink his eyes several times to get them used to the dim light. The lights above the parking lot were out and he had to wonder if that was thanks to his or Liam's crew. Either way it made them harder to spot with human eyes. However many supernatural's had no problem seeing in the dark so he got with the program pretty fast when Zach quietly whistled.

He ducked down and ran for the jersey barrier that his friends were hiding behind. There were just three more people to come through. Travis crossed his fingers they all made it before they were found out.

Then he heard it. A mid blowing crash followed by an even more mind bending groan. Like the screech of metal on metal.

He looked over to Zach to see if he was going to abandon the plan and decide to go in with who was already here, because it sure sounded like: if they didn't move soon, there'd be no need to even come out of hiding.

Please Travis begged the universe let that be the outer protective barrier of the school making that noise and not the entrance to the magical wing.

He had to wonder as Lauren dropped off Donnie. Why wasn't there any sounds of distant battle, but guessed that someone had probably thrown up a cloaking spell to mask the sound otherwise this place would be crawling with the real cops, instead of the fake ones in the school. The council wouldn't like that one bit. When Connor came through he started to get really anxious. Just one more person, and as soon as Kyle came through it would be on like Donkey Kong.

Lauren came through with a confused Kyle who looked around at his surroundings just like he had. Travis looked to Zach just as he stage whispered. "NOW!"

And they all started running for the front of the school.

****************** THANKS FOR READING********************

I hope you all liked this chapter.

Well the fight of their life is about to begin.

How do you think they will fair? 

Do you think they'll be able to stop Liam and the Beserkers?

Tune in tomorrow to find out.