Looks at last update date: 7/2/2010.

Holy shit. Well, I won't let anyone who's been waiting for this wait any longer. There's a longer author's note at the end. Many thanks to Wommera, LordCrutchCriket, mckeown, lamyka, and Sleepy Nerd for their reviews.

Chapter 14: All Gone Wrong

"Hey, Nathan, is Ivy home yet?" Ravyn asked as she rummaged around through the ] lab's stores. The bite wound on her arm had reopened and she knew there were extra bandages somewhere around here.

"Yeah, she got back about an hour ago," he replied, not looking up from the lab log, "Sleepin' I think." Despite his curiosity leading him to perform often-disastrous experiments, Nathan was fairly good at maintaining the guild's lab, prompting Ivy to leave him in charge of monitoring various experiments… with strict behavioral guidelines of course.

After the Duel, she'd offered to have Tarn'se come back the next night for the nightmare binding procedure. Jonathan had called after she got back, telling her that the guild meeting had been extended a day due to the outcome of the Duel and the hunters were staying at their secure location for the night. The meeting wouldn't start until close to midnight and Tarn'se had arrived just after sunset, which gave Ivy plenty of time to put the block in.

"Can you get her, please? Aha!" she held up the elusive bandages and tried to wrap them around her arm. After watching her struggle for a moment, Tarn'se stepped in and began to wrap the bandage firmly, "Tell her I'm sorry about the early wake-up call but we need her Professor X powers."

"Why?" Nathan glanced up, head tilting to the side. At Ravyn's bugger-off look he muttered, "Alright, alright, I'll go get her." He hopped out of his chair and up the steps. Within a few minutes, Ivy came thudding down, dressed in a baggy t-shirt and sweats, looking thoroughly rumpled. Her jet lag was showing.

"Hey Ravyn, Tarn'se," Ivy shuffled towards them, "Nathan said you needed me?'

Ravyn glanced up from Tarn'se's bandaging at Ivy's tone. Usually spunky in nature, Ivy's voice betrayed something deeper than exhaustion, a sort of resignation or depression, "Everything ok?"

"Mmm, no," Ivy snorted, "Eve's more off her rocker than we thought. I can guarantee she's not coming back."

"Damn. On the bright side we've just finished kicking some lycan ass, so we've got the Moonsong pack behind us, and likely Jazel and her posse's support as well. We'll hopefully be able to put up a fight when Sebastian stops screwing around and comes in for the kill. From what Jonathan told me the meetings have been going well." Ivy gave a non-committal grunt and Ravyn's eyes narrowed. Something was definitely up with the psychic, but she knew better than to press. Ivy would come clean with what was bugging her in due time, " We just need a quick mental wall and you can conk out for however long your heart desires."

Ivy blinked, "A mind wall? For… you?" her eyes locked onto Tarn'se who nodded.

"He's been getting some pretty sick nightmares featuring our favorite deceased blood sucker. One actually turned into a daymare when a vamp bit him the other day. Blacking out into lala-land when you're being jumped by a vamp typically doesn't end well, so I told him you might be able to help."

"Hmmm," Ivy nodded, "It became a daymare? How long have these been going on?"

"One of your years, a little more," Tarn'se answered.

"So not too soon after you were almost turned. I guess it could be a side effect, though the fact it manifested when you were bitten is… nothing I've heard of before," Ivy shrugged, "But putting up a block shouldn't be too difficult. Here," Ivy gestured towards a long stainless steal table set away from the delicate lab equipment, the head of which was flush with the brick wall of the basement, "Hop on."

Tarn'se chose to delicately set his wait on the table, thinking that if he did any hopping the table would certainly collapse. Ivy gestured for him to lie down, "Now try to let your mind go blank and, if you can, try to calm yourself like you're falling asleep." Tarn'se snorted lightly, as if he could truly be calm enough to sleep around humans, though he glanced at Ravyn's watchful heat signature and complied by shutting his eyes. He sensed Ivy's approach towards his head and was surprised to feel his thoughts beginning to become scattered and sluggish. Had they drugged him, or was this part of Ivy's abilities? His concentration wavered as his mind darkened…

… And he was kneeling, exhausted as he stared down at the three yautja lying before him. Two males, one female, they slept like the dead, their hearts not beating but a hint of warmth radiating from their forms indicating that they were far from deceased.

As he had Turned his first fledgling, Nacht had ghosted around the clan's settlement, finding only two other yautja that clung to life. She had brought them to him, and he had willingly offered his blood to Turn them. Nacht had warned him that they may not react well to their new form when they awoke, but she assured him that it was likely at least one would accept what they had become, the immortality and strength had been gifted to them, especially once they had fed.

He cast his weary gaze at Nacht who smiled benevolently at him, her fangs pressing into her lower lip, "Very good, my child. They should awake at sunset." Nacht glanced around at the structure they had taken shelter in. It was the inner chapel of the temple of Cetanu, a room devoid of any openings, with the exception of the large metal doors that barred the entrance. They would be safe from the deadly light of the twin suns that his planet circled.

She turned back to him and her face softened, "Turning three fledglings in one night is quite a task, even after such a feeding. Here," she pulled back the delicate red lace fabric of her gown, exposing her wrist as she offered it to him, "Drink."

Tarn'se hesitated at the honor. Vampires gave blood for two primary reasons: Turning another being and as an act of intimacy. Nacht raised a delicate brow and took a step closer, "You will be weak upon waking if you do not feed before you sleep. I will not have my consort pallid and feeble when he takes his children on their first feeding. Drink."

Unable to deny her, Tarn'se gently accepted the offered hand and bit down on the wrist, Nacht's blood spurting into his mouth and down his throat. It was an elixir, tasting of heat, time, and vigor. He purred as it aroused a mix of battle and mating lust in his mind as he sucked on the wound and drew the blood deeper into himself. He only faintly noticed the feel of Nacht's fingers slipping through his tresses while her cold high laughter rung through his lust-dulled mind…

Suddenly, there was pain. The images and feelings tore apart and everything shattered into razors that carved into his mind and set his thoughts on fire. He shrieked in agony, not knowing what this torture was or how to stop it.

And as soon as it had begun, the pain ceased as his eyes snapped open and he found himself staring at the ceiling of the hunter's dwelling, the back of his head pounding. His entire body ached and he growled softly, clicking in annoyance when he realized he was no longer on the metal table. He must have fallen off, which explained the majority of the pain in his backside. He quickly became aware of Ravyn's voice, high and frantic as she shouted the human Ivy's name.

Struggling he turned on his side and was surprised to see Ivy's prone form on the floor. He started; what the pauk had happened? He remembered the dream but no one had mentioned that the binding procedure would hurt. He was a warrior, used to pain, but he sensed that something had gone very, very wrong.

Ravyn sighed in relief when Ivy moaned, shaking her head and cracking open her eyes. As she pushed Ivy into a sitting position, she was surprised by the small trickles of blood ran out of Ivy's nose, running two red streams down her face and dripping off her chin. Ravyn ran over to where she had left her bandages and tore off a piece, bunching it up staunching the flow, while tipping Ivy's head forwards. Ivy reached up and replaced Ravyn's hand, holding the bandage herself. A loud bird-chirp sound drew her attention to Tarn'se who was beginning to stand, "Was the pain… purposeful?"

Ravyn blinked, "It hurt?" At Tarn'se curt nod she frowned, "It isn't supposed to. Did you dream?"

"Yes. The dream continued… then much pain."

"I don't understand. There shouldn't have been any pain… at all! Something must've gone wrong."

"There's a block," came Ivy's muffled voice from the floor.

Ravyn looked at her, confused, "The block you put in?"

"No," Ivy pulled the bloody bandage from her nose, "That nightmare isn't natural. It was put there, kinda like when I put up a block, only this thing had a god-damn electric fence around it." Ivy turned to Tarn'se, "That was the pain. I found where the dream was coming from, deep in your subconscious, but when I started to cover it with other memories and tried to burn away the neural path to it, another neural path was set off, wired to your nervous system, specifically the pain receptors. It also gave me one hell of a shock."

Ivy grunted picking herself off the floor, "But that's beside the point. I can't help you." She frowned, "Someone or something put that dream or whatever it is in your head and made damn sure anyone trying to tamper with it would either kill you or themselves, before it was removed. I'm sorry." She hung her head and, for a moment, Ravyn though she was going to cry.

Ravyn stared, wondering what was up with the purple haired hunter who seemed almost frail in her emotional state. Yeah, this sucked for Tarn'se, but hunters didn't cry about that shit. They found a way around it, "Who could do something like that? Implant a dream in someone else's head?"

Ivy sighed, "Another telepath, perhaps a vampire if it was their gift."

Tarn'se hung his head, shuddering at the idea that he would never be able to sleep soundly again without continuing the story of his and Nacht's conquest of his home world. He didn't like the feelings the dreams prompted in him, and those emotions were becoming stronger in each.

So immersed in his thoughts, he almost missed that Ravyn and Ivy had gone silent, and were looking at him. He saw Ivy look at Ravyn and shake her head, moving towards the stairs, "Good luck. I'm going to bed."

"Luck?" he asked, looking to Ravyn, whose face glowed brighter under his scrutiny. He trilled at her, wanting a response.

Ravyn sighed heavily, "Just please hear me out. Can you do that?" At Tarn'se's affirming nod she continued, beginning to pace, staring at the ground, "I'm going to be completely honest with you. This war that's coming, isn't gonna be pretty. We're fairly well prepared, but Sebastian is a tough son of a bitch. I told you before that he's a strong believer in the manifest destiny, take-over-the-world idea and the fact he's moving in here is essentially step one of his plan for vamp dominion. Nacht was the only other true super-power on this continent and, as much as I hated her, I didn't realize that she was all that was stopping Sebastian from trying takeover of this continent. The other vampires in Europe, Asia and elsewhere are too isolated, hell even apathetic, to interfere here. By the time they realize what's happening here is affecting them, it'll be too late for them to do anything.

"And you know humans as well as I do. Once the truth about these monsters comes out, I wouldn't be surprised if we start a nuclear war. We can't lose this fight, and right now it's way too close to call who's gonna be the winner. We need something to tip the scales." She stopped moving and looked at him, "You and your friends might be just what we need to win this."

Holding back a derisive denial of her request, Tarn'se shook his head, "I cannot help you in this." His mask had managed to translate most of her speech and it took all of his respect for her not to silence her once he realized where all of this was going.

"Why not?"

Tarn'se hissed. Humans and their whys. Most warriors didn't question obvious logic, but he drew on his patience, "What I am doing with you, this partnership, is forbidden by my kind. You have proven yourself trustworthy and honorable to me, but I am not a standard of my kind, but an exception. My fellows would sooner look at you and your clan as prey than equals. Only by my request was your clan forbidden for hunting.

"And this is no long a hunt. We are ordered to capture the Bad Blood and leave the planet."

He expected her face to fall, not twist into what he had begun to recognize as a thinking expression.

"So… If I proved myself trustworthy to your group, they might agree to help."

Tarn'se snorted and shook his head, "Even then, you forget our quarry."

"I can almost guarantee if you help us, you'll find your crazy chick."

That comment drew out a laugh, "You expect to succeed hunting down a Bad Blood where dozens of Arbitrators have failed?"

Ravyn smirked, "We're not tracking her down so much as attracting her. Think about it: This place is going to get very violent in a few days time. Your kind is attracted to that. What makes you think she isn't going to be drawn to the carnage?"

She had a point, but the mere possibility of the Bad Blood showing up wouldn't be enough to prompt Far'hnde into joining in alliance with a bunch of humans.

"Besides, aren't you the leader of these guys? Can't you, I don't know, tell them what to do."

Tarn'se growled, "I will not order my warriors into a battle against their wills."

"But you won't even ask them whether they'd be willing to fight? Hell, isn't that what you're all here for?"

"Ravyn." The growled name was a warning.

"Besides, I'm not asking you guys to even reveal yourselves. Just… show up and do what you do best: kill some vamps and lycans. I don't get what the big deal is!"

"Ki'cte! Enough!" Tarn'se roared, "Your desperation does not become you. I will not discuss this anymore."

Ravyn opened her mouth to argue when a scream echoed from somewhere above her, "What the hell?" She listened and heard shouting, recognizing Nathan's voice calling her name.

"Nathan!" Ravyn ran up the stairs, jogging through the hallways, trying to follow Nathan's shouting. It seemed to be coming from the front of the house. As she turned a corner, she caught movement and noted that Tarn'se was following her.

She turned the corner and came to a halt in the entryway, pushing her way through the small crowd that had gathered at the front door. The figures parted and Ravyn froze at the crumpled form on the doorstep: Jonathan.

He was alive, barely. A dark smear of black blood covered upraised concrete patio and steps that lead up to the house form where Nathan must have dragged him. The lack of a blood trail indicated he had been dumped there. Nathan was currently curled around Jonathan's form, the Guild leader's head and shoulders cradled in Nathan's lap. Nathan looked up at Ravyn, his eyes red and face wet with tears, "What do I do? I don't know what to do!"

Ravyn pointed to a hunter and barked at him to get Ivy and the other medics, but she knew already that the order was hollow. No hunter could lose that much blood and survive. Kneeling gently, Ravyn reached out to touch Jonathan's face. His eyelids fluttered and he took a light rasp of an inhale, "Ravyn." His pupils dilated and contracted, trying to focus on her face as his arm clumsily lifted in an attempt to make physical contact.

Ravyn caught his hand in hers and squeezed tightly, as if she could feed him her strength through her grip, "What happened?"

Jonathan coughed and his eyes shuttered close, "Sebastian. He found us. His people. Burned bastard." He fell into a fit of coughing, and Ravyn glanced down his form, noting the leather clothing he wore was split as if by knives as was the skin below it. His face was gray with blood loss, which made the purple-back bruises on his face stand out starkly. She saw no burns. Whatever he was talking about burning was in regards to the enemy, "They're all dead."

Ravyn exhaled slowly, "The Guild Heads."

Jonathan's head dipped, "Slaughtered. Contact the seconds. They're coming. I'm sorry." Each phrase was punctuated by a gasp and rattle. His eyes opened again and fixed on her face, "Good luck, kiddo. Kick some ass." His smile was more of a grimace, but Ravyn forced a grin as his grip on her hand tightened one last time and the light behind his eyes was extinguished.

Ravyn bit her lip, not minding that it bled, reaching forwards and setting Jonathan's lifeless hand on the ground and sliding his eyelids shut against the dark sky. A patch of pure white stood out against the blood painted black leather of Jonathan's armor. Ravyn snatched at it, tearing the paper from the pin that had been stuck to Jonathan's jacket.

It was a rather thick paper; parchment was Ravyn's guess, sealed with wax and an insignia: a dragon rampant with crossed axes in the background. She tore the paper open and scanned it. It was an absurdly scripted writing announcing a formal attack on the Ash Guild house the next night, promptly at midnight, unless the hunters vacated their claim to the area, dropped everything and left. Sebastian was betraying his colonial roots in these announced attacks. He wanted a gentleman's fight, though he insured that those who most threatened him, the guild leaders, were dead first.

Crumpling the letter, Ravyn stood and looked to the hunters who had poured out of the guild house and formed a ring around her, Nathan and their fallen leader. Ivy and two medics stood in the doorway and she could see the glimmer of Tarn'se invisible outline behind them. She pointed to Vince, his figure at the front of the crowd, "Call the guilds and tell whoever's left to get their people out of there and to gather here. You're in charge of organizing them into sensible groups. We aren't safe on our own anymore. Ivy," the crying scientist looked up from the body, "Get a hold of Darien and Laura. Tell them to prepare."

Ravyn straightened her spine, her voice not quite rising to a shout, but loud enough for all to hear, "The rest of you, get your armor on and your weapons sharpened. Sebastian and his army arrives tomorrow," she held up the crumpled piece of paper, "And win or lose, I swear to you all, we're going to make him pay for this with his disease-ridden blood! For Jonathan!"

The speech was short, but Ravyn's enraged cry sparked others, some the shouts of Jonathan's name, others cursing the vampire and his ilk, many just wordless screams promising violence. Two hunters stepped forwards and gently lifted Jonathan's body amid the racket and carried it inside. Nathan remained curled on the ground, relenting to Ravyn's tug as he allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.

"Nate," the shorten name caught his attention through his grief, "I need to you to go to my office. On my desk, next to the computer is a small envelope with a phone number. Call it and tell whoever answers that the Guilds agree to the Jazel's proposal. Go, now." She gave him a little shove and he seemed to be eager to do anything that would take his mind off of the death of the man who had been a father to him.

The hunters dispersed, leaving Ravyn alone on the doorstep. Well, almost alone.

"You're leader fell with honor," came Tarn'se's mechanical voice, "His passing will be marked by the gods."

Ravyn clenched her teeth and nodded, "He was the best leader we've ever had. He was the one that found me, when vamps killed my family. He trained me, taught me how to be a predator, not prey. But that's what we'll be," she turned back towards the entrance, "All our leaders are gone… ambushed by that cheating son of a BITCH!" She slammed a punch into the doorframe denting the aluminum. Her hand flexed as she pulled it back, knuckles bloody, "And so we will fall with them, but not without a fight." She shuddered, battling down the rising primal panic that every animal felt when faced with their approaching unavoidable demise.

She moved to go inside, but an electronic beeping caught her attention. Tarn'se was tapping something into the gauntlet on his wrist. There was a pause, and guttural noises spilled from the device.

Tarn'se tapped out a signal in his gauntlet, sending a call to Far'hnde, his resolve unbendable. He quickly shut off his translator, not wanting the Arbitrator to know of his current company by wondering why he'd need an active translator. The Arbitrator answered quickly, "Leader Tarn'se, have you found a sign of the Bad Blood?"

"No, Arbitrator Far'hnde. But I believe I may have an idea where she may be hunting next."

"What is it?" Tarn'se picked up on Far'hnde's ravenous tone. The Arbitrator really wanted this Bad Blood.

"There is going to be a small war at the human hunters' dwelling. The lycanthropes we encountered where not a normal occurrence. They are part of a large vampire invasion. I believe the bloodshed at this event will draw her to this area. If it does not, I doubt she is still within this city. I am going to stay here and look for her in the melee." He would stay, not for the Bad Blood, but for Ravyn. With her leader dead, as well as those of the other humans clans, his honor would not allow him to abandon her, especially after his vow to aid her in times of crisis. He could only hope Far'hnde would not see through his plan and Ravyn's desperate argument regarding the Bad Blood.

He heard Far'hnde clicking with uncertainty, "A strange theory, though I suppose there is some sense in it. Zet'rov is known for her obsession with bloodshed, but whether she would be attracted to such an event is indeterminate. How do you know of this planned attack?" There was a pause, where Tarn'se didn't answer, then a growl, "Tarn'se. You wouldn't happen to be interacting again with that female you brought with you before, are you?"

"C'jit." Tarn'se cursed mentally. This wasn't going the way he hoped, "And if I am?"

"Warrior Tarn'se!" Far'hnde snarled, "We are here to catch a Bad Blood, not play around with humans! I admit to her usefulness, but this is not the time for such games!"

"I am not playing with them! They've been tracking the Bad Blood's human targets as well and I thought it prudent to see if the humans had found anything we had missed." That was a boldfaced lie, but what Far'hnde didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"Who are you talking to?" Tarn'se twitched when Ravyn spoke. He'd forgotten she was even there.

"YOU'RE WITH HER NOW!" The Arbitrator roared, making Tarn'se flinch.

"Is that that Matrix asshole?" came Ravyn's voice again. Tarn'se couldn't understand her without the translator… but Far'hnde could.

"Silence, you insignificant creature! This has nothing to do with you or your kind. Leave. NOW."

Ravyn bristled. Did that bastard just tell her to leave… over a radio? All the rage at Jonathan's death, at Sebastian's tactics, at Eve for abandoning her territory and leaving them with the mess, spilled over. Her punch at the doorframe had only been the tip of the iceberg. Something snapped in hr mind and she let loose, not thinking, "You arrogant, presumptuous bastard! You think you're so damn tough, but you don't know shit! You were trapped in that hovel by a couple freakin; lycans and I was the one that had to come save your ass! So, why don't you come over here and say that shit to my face, you ungrateful, cowardly motherfucker!"

Breathing heavily Ravyn felt her chest expand as all that had gone so wrong was made right just a tiny bit by her words.

"Challenge accepted," came the growling voice over the speaker. The yautja switched back to his native tongue and judging from Tarn'se's posture, Ravyn began to realize her death may meet her sooner than she thought. Uh oh.

"Tarn'se, bring your female to the ship," Far'hnde growled.

"What? Why?" The question was blunt, but without his translator Tarn'se could only begin to understand what had transpired between the Arbitrator and the human and if Far'hnde was requesting her presence, it couldn't be good.

"You female just issued a formal challenge to me, and I accepted. Bring her to the ship."

"She what! She couldn't possibly have known what she was saying! You can't be serious!"

"Serious as death," Far'hnde growled, "I take anyone who challenges me seriously, yautja or otherwise. I respected your relationship with her as much as can be reasonably tolerated, but this challenge and her arrogance cannot stand unanswered. Bring her to the ship or I will hunt her down myself."

The transmission ended and Tarn'se stared at Ravyn, knowing she's be dead within the hour.

So, I really don't know what to say in regards to my absence. There really isn't too much to say that could possibly make any of my loyal reviewers forgive me for such a long hiatus. It's amazing how busy life gets that you forget the things that bring you joy. I had to sacrifice most of my reading time and all of my writing time to survive my junior and senior years, and now, I finally graduated from college with a biology degree. For the first time in two years I had time to read as much as my heart desired.

I hadn't been here for a long time, and I was going through some of my old favorites as well as reading some new tales, getting frustrated when I realized that some excellent stories hadn't be updated for years, leaving the fates of the characters unknown. Then I looked at my stories and realized I hadn't updated in 2 years.

I was one of those authors.

That realization gave me a kick in the pants and now, with the time available, I was able to return to writing. It was scary how difficult it was to write creatively after not having done so in such a long time, but the words flowed more easily as I wrote and what you saw above was the finished product of that. I promise that I do intend to finish this tale, as there are some fun surprises I had always looked forwards to presenting to my readers, if anyone is still out there, reading this.

I hope you enjoyed chapter 14 and I am currently typing away at chapter 15. I have about 6 chapters left so this story should finish out at 20 chapters total.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you can, please review.