As stealthily as they could, the Himura contingent slipped into the outskirts of Hanford Forest to track down the imminent threat. Thanks to their incredible speed and amplified strength, vampires could move at an almost-impossible rate to strike down their enemies even before they would know what hit them. And with Tek on the team, it would even take less time to track down the enemy having the ability to greatly enhance his speed. Like himself, Hans noticed his abilities aware that some vampires are gifted with special powers.

Suddenly Thorian, leading the team, raises his hand for the others to slow down. He glances ahead, into the thick darkness. Save crickets chirping and toads croaking, the night was quite silent. But Thorian could tell they were not alone and that the enemy was just ahead. Using the trees as cover from being spotted, from the strangeness of what was unveiled, Thorian wondered if the enemy was mobilising to defend themselves. Hans didn’t have to be told to understand the importance of the looming danger. His own anticipation was spot-on.

“They are just ahead, it seems,” Hans acknowledged, waiting for the order to attack.

“Hold,” Thorian ordered.

The others remained where they were somewhat flustered by the command.

“What is it?” an agitated Vellesca enquired thrown off by the sudden pause. Her blade was at the ready, held to cut cleanly through whatever lay ahead.

“Something’s not right here. I believe they may have detected our presence; I find their reaction somewhat unnatural,” a suspicious Thorian revealed.

With his sharp focus and predatory instincts, Thorian gazed with anticipation at their enemy’s next possible action. The others followed suit, awaiting their leader’s next command. Thorian glanced toward Hans who nodded his head. He knew what he needed to do to help the cause. He vibrated his ears which gave him a unique ability to feel his milieu as far as a kilometre without even having to use a trance. He didn’t need to glow his eyes. In fact, he was the only one who didn’t need the extra visual boost.

With the aid of a trance-like state, vampires’ eyes glowed in the darkness which gave them a visual replication of the whole area. It however revealed their location, more often than not.

Thorian couldn’t be more right as the enemy was convening all right, albeit in the most innocuous of manners. He nodded his head, as if he had come to some fresh knowledge. “It all makes sense now,” he muttered.

As much as his team was eager to strike, he wasn’t in the mood to kill off the enemy in one swoop. It would be best if they vanquished them just enough to find out about their mission in their territory. That would be the wisest course of action – one he knew his team would totally be against.

He could feel the enthusiasm that coursed through the bodies of his fellows – they were at the ready to spill some blood. Still, as much as he wasn’t ready to deprive them of that incomparable feeling, he wasn’t going to rush into battle without being equipped with the necessary details either. He battled a heightened level of uneasiness in his mind, one he wasn’t predisposed to prior to this moment. Vellesca is the most anxious of the team. She was enthused to spill guts, blood and brains. She wanted to feel the warmness of blood glowing in the moonlit night against the dead-sharp edges of her blade. Giving the signal to charge, the team formed an entrapment formation, charging from all sides to keep the enemy in a loop.

Vellesca saw five beings. She couldn’t conceal her disappointment as they were only a few metres ahead. From the look of things, they appeared quite noble and undaunted. They refused to move an inch even as it could be possible they already sensed the war they were bringing to the land.

Hans caught sight of one of them – a young female who seemed unflustered by their menacing approach conversing with the other four. She was very attractive, so much he temporarily forgot she was the enemy. Her infectious smile got to him even as large blades were about to be swung against the beauty and her companions beside her. This destabilised Hans. He could tell he was being ensorcelled.

Sensing the tides to crash, Thorian was the only one who could tell their supposed enemy could be as old as they were themselves. He could smell that they were rare blood types, beings capable of regenerating damaged tissue much like a vampire. They had been in existence for centuries as well. However, they rarely took up arms against the vampires.

In the middle of the five lingering ahead was the leader of the contingent and family. A man of average height with black hair – Marimbo Lovecraft. Aside that he seemed to share the same build with Thorian, he too appeared to be of a similar age. He looked like he was in his early twenties, albeit by the way he carried himself, it was apparent he was an old man whose wisdom had helped to guide the underlings around him and shape the existence of his supposed family. After all, vampires and other rare blood types could remain youthful for an eternity, unless killed.

“This place is marvellous and I can’t wait to see our new home,” the female of rare blood whose name was Moriaty, said gleefully. She couldn’t conceal her joy at the bliss and the ambiance she felt in regards to her environment. No wonder Hans couldn’t keep his focus where it was meant to be – she, the innocent ahead was his own personal target.

“Agon and Salerius said they will meet us back home,” Brock, a rather large man commented. His physique, although grander rivalled most of the men in Thorian’s heed. Brock seemed to be their leader’s guardian for he stood right beside him. Hans’s thoughts about this threat in particular seemed to be the same. He couldn’t hide the smug look on his face especially since he believed they most likely both shared the same duty for their heads. He wanted to charge rashly toward them, the hunky man in his crosshairs. The Himuras charged forward ready to challenge the unwelcome company. It suddenly hit Thorian, who had been sceptical all day that more of the enemy group lingered. Somewhere the five-man team that had assembled had others concealing themselves in the Himuras local territory.

Thorian halted his men again briefly, preaching caution. “Just how many are there?” Tek, surprised, muttered to himself. Like Thorian, he was quite the cautious warrior. Even though they had surrounded their foes, it was too late at this point to pause or completely pull back because they had breached territorial boundaries that would trigger their current enemy’s awareness.

Slumping lazily, another member of the Lovecraft Family could feel an odd sensation in the wind. His name was Basil; he was a strange fella who often walked with both his hands tucked into his pockets. He looked rather unusual standing beside the rest of them – he was of mixed race blood. The Lovecrafts were all well dressed and regally presentable. He, on the other hand, dressed queerly and could be singled out by his odd personality.

One shouldn’t be fooled that he wasn’t alert of his surroundings because he was gazing into the distance. His hair was quite messy, unlike the rest of his group, making him much more noticeable as the odd one out. Being sensitive was more important to him than his leader’s bantering about such matters that bored him. When things suddenly didn’t feel right, Basil moved to nudge another member of the Lovecrafts in order to get his attention. That man was Sigmund and his lanky height often made his arms slant beside him. Yet, he had the build of a soldier. Basil only nudged Sigmund to awareness under life-threatening conditions. Sigmund’s heart skipped a beat as he stared toward Brock, alerting him of the impending threat. Brock clenched his fists until he heard the knuckles. They were fully sentient to the danger and combat-ready.

“Get down!” Brock shouted, shoving his leader away just in time. Marimbo was flung a few metres away from the rest of his group. With war chants ringing in the air, the Himuras descended mightily upon the Lovecrafts.

With his bare hands, Thorian lashed a deadly blow at Brock. Fortunately, Brock crossed his hands in time to avoid the lunge. Vellesca’s blade, called Companion, was at the ready. She swung it above her head roaring its name as she brought it heavily down on Brock. Surprisingly, her weapon failed her for the first time. They must have underestimated the defence mechanisms of the Lovecrafts family guard before attacking them. The blade slithered past the side of his body as he dodged it effortlessly. He turned toward her, gritting his teeth, his eyes were bloodshot and he felt like he was going to snap Vellesca into two. With a firm hand, he gripped her off her feet and flung her away. She was dazed but before she could break free of his hold is cast aside hitting a nearby tree which made her lose temporary consciousness as the tree snapped cleanly into two equal halves.

Realising the threat Brock posed at his team, Thorian unleashed another blow at him. Brock blocked it off once more; preventing the critical strike like it was nothing. He grappled with Thorian, breathing rapidly. Unlike the previous battles which they were used to winning hands down, Thorian could tell this was going to be quite the fight.

The Lovecraft beauty, Moriaty was caught unaware. As she got into space, barely able to think straight, she watched as the chaos was unleashed right in her presence. Her survival instincts kicked in right away. She dashed to her left only to find another enemy staring her down ready to cut her into two. However, she saw hesitation in their gaze – fear even. Hans was taken aback by her sudden reaction. Moriaty could tell these individuals were every definition of hostility – they were seeking to see the end of their lives. In a split of a second, she switched to defence mode, hinging her back a little bit to charge at her enemy.

Moriaty took awkward steps back – just enough to get that breathing space from her foe. Her long skirt made it difficult to adjust to combat means. While she initially saw hesitation, there was something intimidating about this young man before her. He became too confident and calm as he stared at her. She couldn’t read his mind nor anticipate his next move. The man who stood Moriaty’s nemesis was no other than Hans. A vampire who wasn’t used to taking out enemies unless he felt threatened by them and he could only feel the innocence within her heart. For a moment, he singled out Thorian who seemed well occupied with Brock; they matched each other, blow for blow.

Although Brock appeared to be the stronger of the two men in power and technique, he couldn’t match his opponent’s wisdom, experience and complex strategic attacks. Marimbo scampered to his feet moments afterwards as a gentle breeze whipped across his face. He was still faint from the shove. As he spurned to his feet, Hemphia high jumped toward him, trying to stab him in the back. He ducked to a side just in time to avert the strike. Marimbo was flustered. Discombobulated even.

What is this? He wondered, trying to understand the complexity of the situation. Taking advantage of his disarray, Tek came charging in with his daggers. Marimbo couldn’t dodge in time. One of Tek’s blades caught him in the shoulder. He yelped in agony as the pain seared through his body.

Bull’s eye! Tek muttered to himself. While Marimbo tried to remove the dagger, he was surrounded by both Hemphia and Tek. Basil appeared just in time to aid his master.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Fighting two on one is cowardly, don’t you think?” Basil argued. “Why don’t we try to make the fight fairer?” he asked.

Stunned by his chutzpah, Tek turned toward him, vexed. “Who’s the frizzy hair?”

From all indications, the Himuras were hell-bent on getting the stronger Lovecrafts out of the equation before focusing on the weaker ones. They would make a costly mistake if they were ever to consider Basil a weakling due to his uncanny appearance.

“You should take better care of yourself, boy!” Hemphia mocked him. 

Hemphia, who valued appearance, purity and grace over anything else, was repulsed by Basil’s presence. To rub her confidence in his face, she posed with her left elbow raised and bent placing her left hand on her thigh. As the wind blew past Basil’s face, he closed his eyes briefly. He made sure he kept the challenging Himura duo within his visuals so they wouldn’t come charging at him while he was unprepared. He held his hand up for a second before he abruptly pulled it to his centre, preparing for an attack. Tek was curious of the movement made with Basil’s hands. Under normal circumstances, he rarely paused for a moment during an assault.

From a measurable distance from his enemies, Basil threw a punch at both Tek and Hemphia. After shouting out “Wyndam!” a swift and deadly blow was received by his opponents. They felt as if they had been punched in the gut by a gust of wind itself.

“When did he…” Tek gasped.

“What the….” Hemphia mumbled.

Hemphia was rendered out of commission and unable to fight. The impact of the surge had harmed her inner body throughout that she could no longer stand. She had received the full throttle of the collision at a far higher output out of the two Himuras. Her ally had only been caught in the impact slightly and was able to avoid vital damage thanks to his speed.

“This is going to be much tougher than I thought,” Tek mumbled to himself as he sought to regain his balance.

As the battle continued, Sigmund of the Lovecrafts was left to do battle alone with Malcolm and Artemus. They were no match for his combat skills, still, they gave him a heck of a tough time. He tried his best to evade their charges while he lunged at them every now and then. To his surprise, a large dark figure rushed at him from the cover of the trees, before he could free himself from the hold of the Himura frontmen. Ukaid charged at Sigmund, his footsteps growing louder as he approached threateningly. Sigmund couldn’t conceal his fright and anxiety. As he awaited the crushing blow from Ukaid, Marimbo appeared out of nowhere, grabbed the titan with his uninjured right arm and hurled him over his head toward the frontmen. Sigmund freed himself just in time to leave the frontmen in the crashing path of Ukaid. Telepathy and teleportation were Marimbo’s special skill-sets – he could transfer himself a limited distance ahead so long as he could imagine it in his head. Shadow-stalking is what he called the power. With Hemphia literally taken out of the equation, Tek and Basil were left to go at it hammer and thongs with each other.