Tempore, Monsters: Chapter 2

Canada , the small town of Nelo, it was once a peaceful picture-perfect town , in its history it had only six murders, citizens had been able to enjoy the beautiful Canadian forest and lands around it.

In the space of a few days , Nelo had became a seedy town, if you looked close enough, with whore houses, sweat shops, protection businesses , body guard services , bounty hunters, a Guild branch, along with dozens of other businesses.

Athanasia is the puppet master , making things work, she barely got away from the transport with her life. Vinsent was still recovering from the shock that had disable the aircraft, he was confined in a wheel chair for now.

When the Canadian military advisors came to Nelo , those seeking sin and vice , found it, but at the same time those seeking wholesome , and peaceful town, found it as well. The mayor had done an amazing of selling the town to the Canadian military advisors .

Peter Vinsent’s small house , nestle in the middle beautiful suburb, Athanasia sits with Vinsent, saying,

“Your shipment from New York will arrive , later this week.” Athanasia informed him, the goat-man, nods , “Good, I owe you so much , you saved my life.” Athanasia nods, “I arranged for a Major Jason Defoint to oversee the military project, he will want to use your services.” The goat-man watches Aprilette, serving tea, enter the room, Athanasia feels for the girl dressed like ‘I dream of Jeanie’ chained to the house itself.

Vinsent begins to sweat , Athanasia watches him , as she begins , “We begin to recover bodies, yesterday, thus far , we have no sign of the assassin or her allies,” Vinsent watches her, then says, “At the nightclub is killed a lot of soldiers, survived a blast of energy there, survived a blast at the Nightshade vault .. I have no doubt she alive.” Athanasia, shrugs, “I doubt she knows you are here. And I doubt she will in any condition to come after you if she did survived.” Then Athanasia says , “It puzzles me that nobody has heard of an assassin matching her description,”

Two days later,

Major Jason Defoint arrives in the seemly sleepy town of Nelo, he and his men , found the town to their liking. He was rather pleasantly surprise to find that the military base , and factories were being built with varies slave labors. The military uniforms , and clothing were being done in sweat shops.

Though the mayor down played the slave labor , and sweat shops , Major Defoint had been around long enough to know better. But he didn’t care , he’s job was to get the base finished as quickly as possible.

Along with the base , they would have two factories for producing Warmachines since Canada could now make them without Nightshade.

The mayor’s house , a little after midnight,

The mayor a heavy set man , who spoke with a thick french accent , watches Athanasia, he says , “I’m a bit concern about the amount of construction going on, you are working on a mall, and expanding the town. And..” Athanasia , smiles at him, he pauses , then says , “And the military base,” Athanasia , nods, “The town will become profitable, you don’t need to worry, I will control the problems,” Athanasia really doesn’t care too much about the normal citizens, after the Nightshade invasion of Canada , work had become next to impossible to find, as well as major companies goes bankrupt for exploiting Canadians.

As far as Athanasia is concerned she is doing the town a favor, and providing a service.

Somewhere in Canada , several miles from Nelo, in large cave,

The green haired girl suddenly comes awake to something, batting her nose. Her eyes stare into the face of wolf cubs , she screams , the cubs scream , and soon the entire cave is filled with howls and screams.

A hand covers her mouth , gently turning her face, the Chinese girl, watches her. Wolves , massive in size , bulk , they stand over five feet tall , their bodies more muscled then normal wolves, slow appear inspecting the cubs.

Her name is Green, not that she knows what it means , she just likes the sound of the word, she is the Alpha female of the largest pack of wolves in North America. Unlike other wolves , she and her siblings , clan mates and lovers , were changed through Evacska Eztli.

They had come north from Wyoming , after the changes had begun, settle into an area with a lot of different game , including several herds of moose changed by Evacska Eztli.

She watches the female humans , then through her power of telepathic control , she orders the pack ‘Go back to your post, humans frighten so easily,’ The wolves in her pack , listen to her, slowly moving back to where they have been assign to sleep , through the pack society order.

Green did not take the humans in out of love , or humanity , she did so because she respected the human girl in black’s combat ability, and she also wanted to help Symphony. She and her pack had seen the big flying thing fall , she had seen the Chinese girl slide Symphony and the green haired girl down a series of chords to the ground.

The Chinese girl hands the green haired girl , a piece of raw meat , the green haired girl whispers, “Ewwwwwwwww,” The Chinese girl , pulls out a small object that looks like a pen, from her belt , pops the cap and produces a small flame to heat the meat. The green haired girl’s belly rumbles, with a sigh the green haired girl bites the meat , after it had been heated for a bit.

In the dense cold air , Symphony sits watching the sky , Green comes out and sits with him. She has many lovers , for now coupling is more than an act of survival, but she has taken a liking to Symphony , her voice telepathically touches Symphony’s mind , ‘You go soon?’ Symphony’s mind , replies , ‘I must,’ Green pads over to him, nuzzles him , she knows that he following his human owner , she knows that is all the family he has, but she can’t help wanting him to stay, for her.

Symphony nuzzles back , he is still too young to understand coupling , or love, but he likes the female wolf. They sit on the hill, together in the cold and darkness.

In the cave , the green haired girl , watches the Chinese girl before asking , “You ever gonna talk to me? My name is Kestrel,” The green haired girl, Kestrel offers a hand , the Chinese girl , smiles , in Chinese says , ” Kimi” Kestrel watches her , then asks , “What are we doing here,” Kimi, just shrugs, then gets up.

Kestrel is following her , she cast a look back at the wolf cubs.

Green watched as Symphony left, with his human friends , the pack members followed them for a distance before turning back. Green , had wanted to compel them to stay , but didn’t wish to own Symphony’s heart in that fashion.

Through the cold , and darkness , Symphony , Kestrel and Kimi moved towards the town of Nelo. Symphony’s animalistic mind whispers ‘Will return someday?’ Symphony’s mind , nods, ‘Indeed,’

The snow begins to drop faster , the darkness enfolds them , Kestrel begins to trip and stumble , as the cold begins to sink into her. She watches Kimi who’s body suit is providing some protection from the cold.

In the darkness , Symphony growls deep in his throats, Kimi draws out a handful of throwing knives , since her katana has melted to the transport. Kestrel rises her gauntlet , as shape begins to appear.

A small collection of women and children are huddled around , a broken down Warmachine. They turn as one when Symphony enters into the light of their fire , a large man , with a AK-47, steps up.

Symphony moves , dodging the gunfire , then tackles the man , he slumps over.

The truck driver , turns as Kimi appears , she ducks under his rapid burst of AK-47 fire , her hand crushes his windpipe , then her kick , breaks his knee. He slumps over in pain.

At the back of the truck , Kestrel stands in the bed of massive truck , “Who are these people,” Kimi whispers, “Slavers” Kestrel jumps down , as the collection of women and children appears backing up from Symphony.

Kestrel tells them , “Its ok , no more slavers,” The collection of women and children just stare at Kestrel , then move back to the truck , and huddle close to it.

“Come on people you are free,” Kestrel watches them , then sighs , “What is your problem,” In broken English , one of the women , explains , “Free to go where?” Kestrel is about to open her mouth , when Kimi drags her away.

Kestrel watches Kimi , sitting on the warmachine , her torch flickering from time to time. Kestrel turns to the huddle masses , that have gathered around the man that Symphony had knocked down.

Canada , the small town of Nelo.

His name is Castle Zdzislaw, Athanasia gets violently sick anytime this man calls on her, he is the Anti-Christ as far as she is concerned. The man makes his living off the backs of children, drugs, and pain. Often times mixing them together, into a sickening compound.

What makes him so dangerous is mind , he bends and twist the law to his own designs , the FBI has had video tape of him personally selling children at auctions , but the judge deemed it was legal within a obscure law. Castle in the last few years had become a major player in Japanese Criminal Cartel , in fact , he had army larger than that of a small nation.

He sits across from Athanasia, a Japanese man , with dark black hair and dark eyes, he begins softly , “I was talking to a friend , when he passed me this picture of your assassin,” Castle continues, “I know the girl , at least I think I do, it was a few years ago in China, a family of women , eight total , put up a fight against my clan members,” He then says, “The oldest ones where ninjas , or samurai , I am not sure totally clear on which , but they had amazing skill. We managed to best them, and the oldest ones where beheaded. The youngest ones , including this girl were sent to America , to be sold to Randall Saffron, but most of the lot died in-route to America,” Castle shrugs, “Randall , plays to rough with his toys , normally breaking them every six months,” Castle then says , “Then my people started dying, Randall was murdered , nearly the East Coast slavers where faced with attacks by a vigilante,” Castle watches , “I remember this girl , took a picture at Randall’s with all the major players including myself and Vinsent,”

Athanasia watches him , as he says , “My men will be ready when she comes, and make no mistakes she will come.” Athanasia , ‘But why are you here personally? You never come to Americas,’ Athanasia nods , “Vinsent has a spare house,”

Vinsent’s house , Aprilette has been crying since yesterday, Vinsent’s friend a man , named Ragnor Vanmera, small geek with huge glasses , had arrived two days ago. During that time Aprilette had snooped into his belongings , and found a video tape with her mother in it. She had been unable to tear her face from the video , and her mother , as she was tortured and raped by a fat military man and other men.

Ragnor had caught her , told her , “I want to do the same damn thing to you,” then Vinsent had come in , saying “She really likes dogs,” Aprilette had begun to chew the wall around the bolts and iron that held the chain to the wall.

In the stillness , the chain finally gives way , Aprilette drags and bundles the chain into her body , over fifty pounds , then she begins to move through the house. She can hear Vinsent enjoying himself , as one of the workers had come over.

The door gives easily , then Aprilette , in a thin t-shirt and short shorts , steps into the night air. The snow chills her bare feet , she very quietly begins to move away from the house.

Vinsent, Ragnor and Major Defoint begin to chase after Aprilette, after being alerted by Major Defoint’s soldiers who are patrolling the city now. The night air is chilled , so they borrow a snow mobile.

Aprilette begins to feel the cold seep into her body , her feet become numb , her eyes blur with cold wind , she stumbles and cries. It doesn’t take more than thirty minutes in the cold , and night, for Aprilette to drop the chain , and begin to drag it.

Major Defoint really enjoyed looking at Aprilette’s body , so he had been in constant contact with Vinsent and Ragnor, trying to work out something. Now he had the edge he needed, he had called up twenty men to search for the girl.

Athanasia lies awake , her pistol in hand , a knife in the other hand , someone was in her room. She let her eyes adjust to the darkness, as Castle , appears , saying “You might want to come see this, the girl Aprilette, escaped and Vinsent is giving chase.” Athanasia begins to sit up, in the darkness she can feel Castle’s eyes on her slim body , she wishes she had the nerve to kill him , but he could easily sink her operations in Asian.

Aprilette drops into the snow , suddenly to tired to move , she begins to see Jamie and her mother, she listens to the night , then a face appears before her, a canine face with pink bangs, she whispers , “Symphony.. Symphony,”

The snow mobile slows , in the growing snow fall , they can’t see very far , but they had catch a glimpse of something in this area. Major Defoint having no idea what Vinsent had faced in the days past , jumps out , eager to take his prize.

He draws a custom made , fifty caliber assault pistol , as he stocks towards shape. As he gets close , Symphony moves on him , the Major Defoint barely has a chance to get a shot off , then the creature is on him.

Major Defoint feels teeth crush his shoulder , then rip flesh and clothing. He howls in pain , dropping the gun, the creature’s big paws bat his arms and legs aside , as he struggles. Then teeth sink into throat , crush it , he twitches once before dying.

Vinsent jumps off the snow mobile runs in the opposite direction , screaming. Ragnor first instinct is to fight , he begins to fight , he draws out a submachine gun , and begins to fire , Symphony dodges the bullets , then rushes into Ragnor. The tackle throws Ragnor straight up into the air , in the next instant Ragnor feels Symphony pounce on him. Ragnor struggles , as a bite sinks into his neck and skull from behind.

Kestrel appears on a huge wolf , she screams , as she races past Symphony , chasing Vinsent. Her battle-cry breaks , when she screams , “Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!” Symphony backs up as Castle, with around fifty figures dressed in snow colored ninja clothing break from the snow. They chase after Kestrel then slow as they see Symphony.

Athanasia lies on a hill , with a sniper rifle watching ,her finger rest on the trigger guard. Her eyes take in the scene , she reaches into her pocket to long range listening device and begins to control her breathing. She has no intention of jumping into the assassin’s business unless she is about to kill Vinsent.

In the darkness , Kimi appears , Kestrel watches Castle , “What’s the deal with the rejects from an American Ninja movie,” Castle watches , “I would watch your tongue girl , or I will cut it out,” Castle turns to Kimi , “I am very disappointed in you. Do you not have a clan?” Kestrel whispers to Kimi , “Who is he, old boyfriend or something?” Castle watches Kimi , “I heard you took your great-grandmother’s title for a name, Kimi. I have been watching for a time, even for a girl you lack skill and ability. I wanted to wipe out your clan once and for all , I guess you are the last,” Kestrel whispers , “Just come and try,” Castle watches Kestrel , “For someone who lets others do your fighting for you , you are very brave. This has nothing to with you,” Kestrel watches him , “I fight,” Then to herself , “not very good but,” then to Castle , “Kimi is my friend, and she saved my life,”

Castle whispers , “Kill..” Suddenly wolves , normal ones , and Sylph ones begin to appear. Green telepathically whisper , “She has a clan,” Castle watches his men , draw their weapons , then says , “Kill them,”

The ninjas , and wolves clash , bites and slashes are exchanged , the ninjas , have a 2 to 1 advantage , but the wolves work in teams much better. The ninjas begin to fall , as wolves use team work to whittle them down, into even fighting numbers.

Athanasia watches a huge wolf , tackles then tramples a ninja , then another wolf is tearing a ninja to shreds. The battle , is joined by Major Defoint’s soldiers and Vinsent.

The ninjas even through superior in number and skill, are not ready for telepathic illusions , telepathic commands , which the creatures follow without a question. Their numbers begin to thin out , as Major Defoint’s soldiers and Vinsent enter the battlefield.

Many of the Canadian soldiers , don’t enter the battle , they shoulder their weapon, as they know what has been happening in town. They turn away from the battle and their teammates.

Kestrel uses her gauntlet , at point blank range to blast ninjas , dropping them quickly, she dodges , ducks , moving backwards , she trips over a body , her gauntlet fires a cord , it strikes a tree , and yanks her from the clutches on two ninjas.

She then turns , discharge a series of metal needles into the ninjas. She is takes shots at soldiers who enter the battlefield , providing suppression fire , until wolves can close to melee.

The battle begins to thin out , Kimi faces Castle, he watches her, “You haven’t master your katana yet. I was hoping for a challenge ,” Castle pulls out a custom made katana , then rushes into Kimi , she dodges then throws her katana , that she picked up from a ninja, then pulls out a straight blade , that is nothing more than a cut and wielded bladed weapon from the Warmachine.

Castle smiles , as she blocks , then counters , she moves into him, swinging , then blocking. Castle , dodges , blocks , then kicks her, stunning her , then brings an elbow down on her skull. She pulls back from a second elbow , then blows a wide swing , she ducks under the swing , then punches him in the gut.

She begins to come in with another punch , but he blocks the blow , then brings his blade down to barely miss her, cutting her chest just above her breasts. He begins to pound away at her, the blade , coming down , causing Kimi to block , and back peddle.

Castle forces Kimi onto the ground , he rears back to drive the blade home, when Kimi , kicks him knee, then upper cuts him with an open palm. He pulls back , then blocks as Kimi begins to hack away at him , he moves just barely from a wide swing , that cuts the tip of nose.

Then Kimi thrusts , Castle catches her arm , twist it , then breaks his forearm down on her elbow , causing her to scream in pain. She tries to pull from him , but he steps into her body , blocks her movements, he smashes her face with head , then drops his katana , as he presses and wraps a leg into her leg then begins to bend her backwards.

Castle lets a knife slide from his belt , he ties her up, so that her right arm is tangled with his left arm, his right side of his body , has forced her left side to twist , so that if she moves too much she threatens to fall on the ground , or to become further tangled.

Castle places the knife against her throat , “You shouldn’t have come after my people , it was a mistake,” Then Castle watches as Kimi drops , before he knows he is flying throw the air , she manage to turn his holding move into a throw.

Kimi drops the ground , breathing heavily , she flexes her body , and arm , then before she knows Castle is coming after her. She gets up , as he begins to throw thrusts and open hand attacks , she stumbles backwards from the attacks.

Castle watches then rushes in , Kimi takes a shoulder tackle , she is slammed into a tree, her head is rocked backed. Then she screams , as Castle drives the knife into Kimi’s shoulder and left arm. Castle then draws out two more knives , driving one into Kimi’s thigh , and driving the other one into her left hand. Castle grabs her face , then kisses her , “Shouldn’t have come, you might be able to mimic our skills to some degree but you aren’t even a novice,”

Castle walks back to his katana , kneels down , then he watches as the blade Kimi had used , the one of nothing more than warmachine bladed weapon parts, shakes , then slowly begins to pull free from the snow. It goes flying through the air.

“Are you a Sylph ,” Castle turns , asking , then he feels blade cut, he watches as the girl comes swinging and slashing , Castle feels his body being cut. He screams then grunts, as the cuts begin to draw blood through his body armor. He jumps backwards , in a flip then lands , a katana is thrown to him.

Castle watches as the girl approaches him , he brings the katana up in standard parry , but the girl’s blade melts through his weapon. He screams as hot metal melts into his clothing , then feels the blade cut and slice him. He coughs once.

Athanasia watches as Kimi , cuts Castle in half , then the girl is being set on by three ninjas , Athanasia takes out two of them , with two shots. She curses herself, it was a reaction , she didn’t mean to.

As the third ninja comes up on Kimi , she turns to face him, a huge wolf tackles the ninja , and then the ninja scream as the creature tears the ninja’s clothing and body.

Athanasia watches Vinsent being mauled by a dozen or so wolves. She takes aim, but a heavy paw crushes her into the snow. She turns her head, as twelve or more wolves have surrounded her, she sighs , and closes her eyes.

A few minutes pass , before Athanasia opens her eyes , her sniper rifle is gone. She watches the battlefield, the remaining ninjas are being mauled to death. She turns her face away , then nearly has a heart attack , as Green appears , she watches Athanasia , “thank you human,”

Days later,

It took a ton of resources and favors to clear up the mess and prevent an investigation, but the result was worth the effort, Major Defoint’s replacement is lazy , cowardly and a complete moron. Which pleased the soldiers and Athanasia, it allow them to do whatever they wanted to do.

The death of Major Defoint , and his soldiers had been chalked up to wild ‘early Sylphs’ that were left over from the war. The Canadian military was too thin to bother with searching for the ‘early Sylphs’ for a lesser Major who was a problem anyhow.

Castle Zdzislaw empire crumbled, in a few short days , without Castle directing traffic , there was a battle for power. Athanasia used her FBI contacts to shut down , many of Castle Zdzislaw’s children rings, she also had many of them killed.

The military base building area, Athanasia whispers to Kimi and Kestrel , “They won’t revolt,” Kestrel turns , then says , “They are slaves,” Athanasia , shrugs , “In a way yes, but they have food, warmth , a place to sleep , some money. Its more than most of them can hope for in their own country,” Kestrel watches her , “They don’t look like they are enjoying themselves,” Athanasia , smiles, “I doubt they are, its better than the what others do to them. If you want to ask them then go right ahead. But they won’t go with you, they have no place to go and have no wish to go back to their homelands.” Kestrel whispers, “You are taking advantage of them,” Athanasia , nods , “That is the way the world works , little girl,” Kestrel, whispers, “The world sucks then,” Athanasia , doesn’t say anything for a bit then whispers, “It depends on your place in the world , little girl,”

Kimi pulls out the old worn photo crosses out two of the faces , she looks down , at the last face of General Franklin. Kimi turns to Athanasia , as she walks pass , saying only , “those with the power are in control of how the world works, only the weak let bad things continue to happen without challenge,” Athanasia turns , then watches as Kestrel begins to follow Kimi , Kestrel says, “HEY come on you talk more to her than you do me!”

Aprilette sits with Symphony watching the snow, she whispers , “Jamie, Mom are dead.” Symphony nuzzles her to comfort her as best as he can , not knowing what to do. Aprilette hugs Symphony , and brushes his fur , before whispering , “Thank you for coming after me,”

‘He will stay,’ Green turns to her half sister who spoke , Green replies , ‘Not for me, for the girl’ Her half sister says , ‘I am the elder cub, he will stay for you,’ Green watches them, then she turns away.

On the ridge looking over the town, Green , hangs her head , ‘Mistress,’ Green turns her head to Symphony , he bows his head , ‘My master and the humans have decided to stay in human village, I wish to stay with the clan.. With you,” Green whispers, ‘You please me, come and sit with me,’

Somewhere in Kansas ,

General Franklin turns the letter in his fat hands, he reaches over the desk , pushes a button , “Greg , book me a flight, make that two tickets, as close as you can to Nelo, Canada,” Greg’s voice whispers back , “Yes sir,”

The miles , and hours slip by quickly , General Franklin, looks over at Lucy Ulrike, she has broken so badly she now willing follows any order he gives her. She also doesn’t react to much of anything anymore.

The plane lands in small town , just south of Nelo , a helicopter comes him the rest of the way into Nelo. He closes his eyes , ‘Vinsent has come through before, I wonder what he means by special treat,’ A black SUV is waiting on the helicopter, and the passengers.

In the SUV , General Franklin, watches as slender woman , sits across from him , he licks his lips, as the girl begins speaking , “My name is Athanasia,” Lucy Ulrike, stares blankly but General Franklin goes ashen white , he whispers, “Where is Vinsent?” Athanasia , smiles, “Dead,” She watches the General Franklin then begins softly , “A vigilante and her sidekick have taken up residence with us. She can be very troublesome, in fact she killed a number of soldiers and an entire ninja clan, ” General Franklin begins to sweat , “What do you want with me?” Athanasia watches him , then says, “You my friend as a bargaining chip, I am going to trade you for protection from her clan.” General Franklin gulps , then reaches for the door handle, Athanasia , “I wouldn’t do that, she is always about , you wouldn’t last two seconds out there,”

In small house , outside of the city limits , the SUV pulls up. Athanasia bodyguard knocks on the door, then waits , until Kestrel opens the door. The bodyguard a large ox of a man , smiles, “Athanasia wants to talk about a deal with Kimi,”

Kestrel waves them in , General Franklin is yanked out , then Lucy Ulrike is brought out, then Athanasia follows. They walk into the small house , the warm air embracing them, Kimi draws out her blade on seeing General Franklin.

Athanasia guides Lucy to her daughter , who staring at her with an open mouth. Then Aprilette grabs her mother , and hugs her tight. Athanasia whispers to Kimi , “Easy, I came here to talk about a bargain,” Athanasia pulls out a contact on legal paper, she hands it to Kestrel, who flips and turns it then crosses to Kimi.

Kestrel watches Kimi , asking “I don’t understand the words,” Kimi reads the document, then watches Athanasia, then looks at Kestrel. Athanasia whispers, “Its simple, I want Kimi and you, to lay off crimes that hurt noone but the individuals doing them. Anything that hurts the citizens is fair game. I also will increases wages of the workers from five dollars a day to two dollar per hour, with rain out payments.” She sits down, “I will give General Franklin to her, as well as, leak information to her from time to time involving criminal actives that affect her cause.”

Kestrel asks , “And the girl? She is part of the bargain?” Athanasia , shakes her head, “No, just returning her to her daughter, because I can.”

Journal entry 12 – 15 – 02

– Dear Lucinda

Be it because of Kimi , Symphony and Kestrel or just the Christmas spirit or God’s will. Athanasia changed , as did Nelo , the sweat shops while still not fair wages or fair hours had become at least safer and more profitable to the workers.

Random crimes became rare thing , even the ‘allowable crimes’ begin to lessen. Athanasia had begun to take in ‘slave works’ , as many of them find Nelo livable.

My mother still has yet to speak. She doesn’t seem aware of world anymore. All I can do is hold her. Sometimes I just sit with her , Symphony’s girlfriend , Green , shows me mom’s thoughts from time to time , they are happy ones , and I guess I am not so sad for her.

Oh Lucinda, I begun school today , high school too. Kestrel is a grade higher than me, we sit at lunch and I help her with her homework.

I have to go now, I am going to see Jamie’s grave and clear up whatever mess is left to me.