Nightly Lessons III: The Book of Brotherhood

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Mikeal just shrugged and nodded as he scooped an arm under Bruja's belly. The white puppy gave a small whined yip as she was plucked off the ground and held high above it by the other male. She sort of knew what a Master was, her mother had explained it to her in their own language just as Klonoa had. Of course, they didn't call each other by the same names as the vampires did, but that was beside the point. Her mother had explained that they were to serve their masters, that that service was different for every hound. Her father for example served their master as a protector, a Keeper in a sense. And the same could be said about her brother Klonoa though he was only a Keeper. Her mother though was there to comfort their master. She didn't fight or guard the home beyond her pups. Her job was to be there when the sadness fell over their masters. However, Bruja wasn't sure what her rule was yet but her parents assured her that she would find it soon when her master would show her what he needed.

For now though, she needed only to worry about being a puppy.

"Her collar was probably too loose on her neck, Janus," Mikeal commented as he gave Bruja a firm rub. She wagged her tail in pleasure, enjoying the attention. "She's not wearing it right now, so she probably just slipped it off. No harm done."

Lupus just looked dis-trustingly at the grinning dog before returning his attention to Janus. He had no doubt in his mind that Mikeal could pay for any damages the pup might do if let loose, but he just didn't want to start all his work from scratch again. Sure, Thing and Blade helped out a lot fetching things or cutting, but still... some of his work lay out in the open and he didn't need to be set back because one of the Dornell hounds was teething.

"Right then, over here Janus."

And so began the new form of torture as Lupus pulled out his pins and started to tailor the suit to felt Janus to the 'T'. If Alice thought Lucy took a long time fitting her gown, her first three hadn't been custom or form fitting gowns after all, it was nothing compared to Lupus. Every time Lupus put in one pin, he would order Janus to twist, walk, jump, and do all sorts of odd moves to make sure the suit was form fitting but not so it would fold odd or be uncomfortable.

"You sound excited about going to this party," Lupus muttered between the pins in his mouth. Thing was standing near by with the pin pillow on his base. "Lift your arms. From what I've heard, she's being very hush hush about it all."

"Oh, have you been hearing things?" Mikeal asked as he returned inside, barely avoiding Blade's hook from catching his shoe. Loopy just grinned. Seemed it was feeling playful today. "Has she enlisted your help was well?"

"No, but Lulu has," Lupus answered as he moved several pins so that sleeves of the jacket weren't cutting into Janus' pits. "Other then that, I've had the Tepes boy here for a suit as well as Dimitrius to have one of his old suits mended a bit. They've been sharing a few details here and there, but generally it seems she's keeping a tight lid on things."

"Well, she putting a lot of work into it all." Mikeal quickly grabbed a bald pin cushion and rolled it away from him, cause Blade to give chase after it. "It means a lot for her to give Aleks a nice surprise."

"Lords knows we all could use some proper entertainment," Lupus muttered. "After all the Festival was not only cut short because of the Traitor but all spoiled the mood for the fledglings too."

Mikeal had to agree on that. The Blood Moon Festival was a rather important event for the vampires and lasted for nearly a week, though the Elders were known for stretching it out for well over a month sometimes. It was a time were families met distant branches and Sires presented their fledglings to others with either pride or contempt. Mostly it was pride, the right to not only brag that they had a fledgling, but also what skills they had learned since being turned. Alice and Janus had made quiet the impression when they had a fencing match, one which still made Mikeal both smile and turn green with envy.

[Peeker]

While the older vampires were chatting, Janus was biting his lip and trying to ignore his stupid brain. As friendly as Lupus' words were, the man was a professional, and he wasn't going to have the boy slow him down. As a result, he was poking and pushing him around like crazy, as he slipped in pin after pin and corrected every little motion of Janus'. The boy felt like he'd been drafted into the awkward pose army, and the second Lupus started to fit him was the second he wanted to shred the clothes to pieces, just to escape the man's grip. He knew he couldn't of course... but this was ridiculous.

Right now Janus was standing, legs apart, elbows lifted as high as they could go, resting his hands on his head just to put them somewhere. Instead of standing in the corner, like Lady Emily had been so fond of making him do, he was staring at mirrors, watching Loopy fill his legs with pins. The boy winced as he heard Bruja start to whine - she had been going to visit the Master and see what smelled interesting and tasty near him, and now the bigger Master was taking her away!

Outside, the night was just as it had been moments ago. Bruja yipped softly as her mother nuzzled her, and the big master re-leashed her. There it was, still dangling safely off the post, tied perfectly tight. How in the world had she gotten out of that? Once safely on her leash, again, Klonoa began barking excitedly at all those people across the street. Someone leaning up against a wall in a large coat, trying not to look like he was staring at the dogs. Yay! People!

Back inside, Janus listened to the exchange between the two adults. His muscles strained jealously as he watched Mikeal toss the pincushion along for one of the puppets, and roll out of his line of vision. "Spoiled the mood?" Janus made a face at Mikeal's reflection in the mirror. "Why the heck would we care about the mood? We got attacked by shadow monsters and locked in the Master's house for like six months. I don't think any of us really cared about the festival, at that point..."

Janus realized he sounded bitter. Well, no wonder. The war had turned every bit of his world upside-down, what with his being shuffled from place to place and lied to and having lost almost everything important to him in the process. The fact that, in the blink of an eye, everything had been 'fixed' - the fact that other than he, himself, nobody seemed to have been effected by how much things had changed. Even Mikeal didn't really 'get' what Janus had been through without him.

"Ow." Janus' eyes flashed a little as a pin poked his calf. He flinched, and looked at Lupus' reflection. He'd started brooding, and hadn't moved the way the man wanted, and then he paid for it. He tensed his body up again, trying to hold still for the man. "Sorry. Just doesn't... mh. I know. The festival is like... the Olympics, or something. It only happens every few years and its super-important for all the houses.... but its a party." --and being 'for fun' in the young fledgling's mind, he didn't know why it was still such a big deal for all of them.

Despite what the coven had just gone through, vampires were far more dangerous to each other in peace than in war - peacetime was when politics happened and alliances changed - the festival was where that happened. He just didn't understand that the things fledglings didn't see mattered even more than the things they watched all the elders worrying about in front of them. Everything was connected - and it wasn't a fledgling's job to understand that. Maybe in time.

Bruja was still barking outside. Even from here, Janus could hear her. The boy frowned again, feeling bad for being 'mean' to his dog. He knew he had to train her strictly, like the Master did - if not, it would mean alot more trouble for himself. ...but she was just a puppy - and Janus' first puppy - and a darn cute one, at that. It was only natural he wanted to be nice to her, to ensure she loved him as much as he did her. It was a pretty tall order for any kid, especially one with as ready a heart as his.

"How many more, Loopy?" Janus asked, wincing at the man's reflection again. His arms -really- hurt, now.

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

"Just a few more. Don't rush an artist," Loppy lightly scolded as he moved a few pins again. "Do you want to look good for this party or do you to look perfect."

"I'll give you a hint Janus, there's only one right answer."

Blade returned once more then the pin cushion in tow and Mikeal quickly moved to grab it and toss the ball once more, making an impromptu game of fetch. Anything to keep it's itchy hook and knife out of his flesh. The puppet scurried after the ball once more, Mikeal having given it an extra hard toss.

"And I'm sure Janus wasn't to look amazing given it's Alice who's hosting the party, hmm?"

Both vampires gave cheeky grins at the youths discomfort at their light teasing. Janus had always proven several times in his short two years that he fancied Alice, even if she was a little clueless about his crush. It certainly wasn't a secret after the boy had risked his neck and hide following the girl into a Fury Hive, a little venture which had ended poorly for both of them as Alice suffered a broken arm and Janus a broken fang that had to be ripped out. Mikeal still shuddered as he recalled the poor boy had to suffer immense pain getting the tooth pulled and if he hadn't been frightened by dentists before, he was now.

"Do you know what her gown is going to look like?" Mikeal asked Lupus who finally seemed pleased with all the pins he had placed into Janus suit, and while Mikeal knew Janus probably wasn't happy in the outfit it was all well worth it. Now that it was fitted to the nth degree, Janus didn't look like a boy dressed to the nines. He looked like a young gentlemen or royal who was being presented to the world. That or a young James Bond. "Looking good."

"Good? He looks amazing!" Lupus scuffed as he gentle aided Janus in peeling the clothes off with pricking himself. "The Magus will have to blindfold his girl so that he doesn't sweep her off her feet. Now Miky, your turn."

"Don't call me Miky," Mikeal scowled but moved to try on his suit. His was a charcoal gray piece with a more brass gold colored vest so that the brother's wouldn't match. There were no dragons on Mikeal vest either, but Mikeal suspected that the crest was pressed into the coat somewhere if he looked hard enough. For now though he suffered the wrath of Lupus Fairebrook and his pins. "Now, Alice's dress-"

"Hey, Lucy doesn't share her projects with me and like wise," Lupus scolded. "You know how she is about client requests and Little Ms. Harker has asked her not to tell or show anyone, including Lord Marvist. And he's the one that's taking her to the appointments so that's something."

* Meanwhile outside *

Bruja whined as she strained against her leash. She had just gotten out of it too before the Big Master put her back outside. Her mother didn't mind it though and just assured her to be patient and wait for the Masters. That they would return again soon. But they were taking so long!!! She just couldn't wait forever and specially not when the big Master was losing the ball again. It was such a strange thing too. Why was it they could hold onto socks and treats and leashes so well but whenever they got a ball or a stick, it always seemed to fly out of they hands. Thank goodness for dogs because otherwise they would loss tons of them.

It was while she whined though that Bruja finally noticed something in the shadows of an alleyway some three buildings down. Pausing she stared at it until she realized it wasn't an it, but a them. Two people were standing under the cover of the darkness, hiding away from sight. One of them was old, thought not as old as the Big Master, and the other was small and young like her Master. Only this little person wasn't like her master, but more like her Master's friend. Wagging her tail, Bruja changed her tactic from placing her paws on the store door and strained against the leash's hold as she yipped at the people in the shadows. Who knew, maybe with luck they too would play with her.

[Peeker]

Janus snickered something about 'Mikky' under his breath, and finished pulling his jeans back on. As awesome as that suit was going to look, it wasn't very comfortable, so long as it was filled with spikes. It made him wonder why the Master had never used something like that to teach him better posture - it seemed sadistic enough to suit him.

Suit him. Get it? Hah.

The boy was seriously considering turning that into a pun with which to wound his brother and friend, when he heard Bruja yipping wildly outside. Frowning, he knelt to tie his shoes, and glanced at Mikeal's reflection. "I'm going to go outside and see what's up with that crazy dog. I thought being with Lu and 'Boose would keep her calm. Must be too much stuff going on, she's getting excited."

Janus was starting to realize just how hard it was to train a puppy. How Alice had done it, and how Mikeal had done it.... Bruja was getting bigger, and smarter, and more energetic every day. This might have been a little bit after Alice had gotten Klonoa - he wasn't really sure exactly how old he'd been when Mikeal had given him to Alice - but the sleepy little fuzzball that Janus' ghost hound had once been was getting herself more curious and fearless every day. He wondered if maybe he was spending too much time with her, especially since she still had her parents to watch her, too, but Mikeal hadn't said anything about it.. so that was probably just his imagination. Klonoa followed Alice just about everywhere he could, after all.

The air outside was a little bit cooler than Janus had remembered, compared to the stillness inside Lupus' store. The first thing he saw was little Bru stretched out halfway across the sidewalk, barking her brains out. Janus followed her gaze and squinted - it was a little dark across the street, because of how the streetlamps were set up, but there were definitely people over there. Two of them, walking along, or just hanging out? Well it didn't really matter - crazy-puppy mattered.

"Hey! Bru, relax girl. Shush." Janus knelt over the ghost hound, petting and shushing her. The little creature's attention quickly flagged when he began rubbing her belly, and she squirmed up into his arm, much to his satisfaction. "Ah-- that's better, hm? Good girl. Shhh. Those people across the street aren't bothering anybody."

Turning in place a bit, Janus squinted through Lupus' front window. Between the darkness and the glare of the lights, and the decorations inside, he couldn't make out a thing. If he hadn't known better, he'd think the store was empty. The boy put an arm around Lucy, tugging softly on her ear while he snuggled her daughter in his other arm. The big old girl woofed softly, which was much better than loud, machine-gun puppy barks. Janus glanced across the street again. There were other people walking the street, despite the late hour: why it was them in particular, and not the cars, or other strangers, many of which were moving faster, and even on the same side of the street as Bruja, that was getting her attention, was odd. Janus knew they were smart animals - and also knew that thinking something was stupid just because it was young was a mistake that adults had been making with him for as long as he could remember.

So he couldn't just -ignore- Bru's crazy-puppy antics. He glanced casually across the street again, trying to get a better look at the two dark figures, and to figure out why they had Bruja confused. Maybe they were carrying food with them. Right now, Janus was so hungry that he'd probably start barking if someone walked by with a take-out bag!

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

The figures in the shadows seemed to stiffen when Janus peered at them. Surely they hadn't been spotted, had they? They were Watchers after all, trained in the art of deception and the use of shadows. Okay, so maybe they weren't fully trained yet, but they weren't some damn newbies either, they had been in the field once before. William was a oldest of the pair, being the ripe age of 30 something. He was a mope of thick brown hair which was graying on the sides from stress and an acne scared face from his youth. His partner however was a young woman, just brushing against the age of 25 with pretty dark brown locks of hair and teal eyes. They were both dressed alike in their uniforms, a black tank and slacks with a matching venal trench coat to shield them from the cold night air. And each of them carried on them the proud seal of their order.

And yet, despite all their training and the fact they had been following their target for months without it noticing, a fucking puppy was blowing their cover.

"It's seen us." The girl whimpered in a whisper as she pulled farther back into the alleyway. "It's seen us."

"Shut up, May," The man hissed. "It hasn't seen jack shit."

"The dog's noticed us, Bob!" May snapped as she watched the puppy get distracted by her master for about a milla-second, then returned to yipping at them. "The damn dog's noticed us!"

noticed us."

"Shut up!" Robert snapped at the younger woman. "You're attracting the adults now!"

From their place on the corner, Caboose and Lucy ha been ignoring their puppy's antics, allowing her to be exactly what she was. There was no danger in her barking, and if anything it would probably tire her out with time. Now though, they were both starting to growl as the scent of nervousness filled the air. The two shadows were too far away to be nervous of them unless... Caboose was the first to rise to his feet, crouching low and growling deep in his throat as he stared across the street. There passed a moment where he suddenly stopped growling, jerked his head in surprise, and then snarled menacingly as he allowed his fangs to flash in the dark night. Lucy, sensing her mate's unhappiness of the strangers, started to growl low as well and tried to place herself between the shadows and her pups the best she could. It was rather hard given her leash wasn't very long.

[Peeker]

Caboose's barking sent a chill into Janus' heart, and jolted all of his nerves into high gear. Bruja getting excited wasn't anything special, but Caboose was just too well trained, and too darn lazy, to react unless it was something dangerous. If Caboose was growling and snarling, showing fang, it meant there was something out there he didn't understand, or which was too dangerous to ignore. When Lucy joined in, it was all Janus could do to scoop Bruja up in his arms protectively, to quiet her down. The adults barking was one thing, but he didn't need her yap distracting him from whatever they had recognized.

There were two choices. One was to run inside and get Mikeal - he and Lupus had probably heard the dogs already, and wanted to know what was wrong. The problem there was that Janus didn't know what was wrong. He wouldn't be able to give them a good answer. So Janus' other choice was to figure it out.

Standing, the young man cut a picturesque figure. Flanked on each side by a huge, terrifying, snarling hound, protectively holding a puppy in his arms - in one way vulnerable, with his clean clothes and his young frame - but in the other, rather unsettling - those cold Dornell eyes gazed across the street suspiciously, looking for answers - his expression was stony, cautious, and unsettling. Caboose was straining against his leash just a hair - not trying to tear across the street, but using the heavy chain to emphasize his ability to reach out, showing just how far he could go to protect his young Master without even trying.

The two figures were speaking more sharply to each other. Hell, one was just a girl, Janus realized - maybe his age, give or take a year. The other wasn't really that old either - not related, probably, but...

Janus hazel eyes went wide. The breeze had stirred just a tad - the traffic had stopped belching exhaust, thanks to the stoplight. ...and the hairs of his neck stood up, as a new smell was able to cross the street, and touch his nose.

Silver.

Lupus' storefront swung open, Janus pulling on the door hard. "Mikeal!" he called out, that chilly expression banished, replaced once again with the young boy, in over his head in a world of immortal blood-sucking monsters. "There's... there's people across the street. Staring at us. I smell silver on them. Not just a necklace, either."

Already, Janus had begun to think of humans less as equals, and more as... problems. Like the cops in a video game, when you're playing the bad guy - someone you want to avoid, not because they're a threat, but because it isn't worth the trouble of getting noticed by them. The fact that he smelt danger on them - the fact that the hounds smelt danger, really - turned that idea upside down. Whoever it was out there, Janus wasn't going to let them get any more of a look than they already had. His big brother would know what to do, he was sure of it.

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

Mikeal was mentally screaming as Lupus worked feverishly in fitting his shirt collar as close to his neck as physically possible without chocking him. Lupus was seriously too much of a perfectionist that it made Mikeal wish at times he was a woman instead so that he'd have to deal with Lucy instead. Surely she was easier. But at least, he was born a man and if his brother could stand the torture of the pins than by God so could he.

Still.... any tighter and his head was going to pop off!

"Look, do you want Gabby swooning or not?" Lupus huffed after Mikeal huffed for the millionth time. Mikeal shot him a look as if to ask what he was talking about but Lupus just rolled his eyes at the man. "Oh please. It's as clear as day for the rest of us as it is about those two Little Ones."

"Janus and Alice are just friends. They stand dear to one another because they are close in age and have been through a lot." Mikeal defended, though the blush on his face told another story all together. "No different then Lady Gabrielle and myself."

"Right... I use to have a friend like that too. You know what my father said to that?" Lupus muttered as he went about fitting the sleeves of the shirt. Honestly the man had made clothes to him hundreds if not thousands of times before. You would think he remembered Mikeal's measurements to a 'T' by now. "The only difference between friends and lovers is fucking."

"You're father was a noble, Lupus. He wouldn't have sworn." Mikeal shifted his arm fro a moment and frowned. "Too tight, Lupus."

"You're right, it was one of the Dane vampires, but it changes nothing. A crush is only the beginning of things and at the very least, your brother is going about the right way of getting the girl's attention," Lupus shifted the pin and frowned. Why did Mikeal always insist on his formal clothes being a little looser then needed? "Rather then cutting her hair off or setting fire to her gown, he's being a knight in gleaming white armor. If that won't win a girl over, she's either more trouble then she worth or she's playing for the other time."

Mikeal wanted to groan at this. Lupus also had one other flaw, a by-product of his time. Lupus came from a time where the Bible wasn't just a book, but THE Book, as in The Law Book. It was with the aid of the Bible crimes were defined and rules of punishment were made. It was because of this that Lupus didn't believe homosexuality was a chose, but just a new way for young people to make a right annoyance of themselves. He wasn't a hater though, but he certainly wasn't going to support the gay community either, and it was a subject that Mikeal happily avoided at all costs with the man.

"They are just friends, Lupus."

"Right, and Carmilla is the Blood Countess due to her wine collection."

They were about to start bickering with each other again when Janus suddenly came back into the store, the glass door rattling loudly on it's hinges.

"Mikeal!"

"Janus, don't-"

"There's... there's people across the street. Staring at us. I smell silver on them. Not just a necklace, either."

"What?!?"

Before any of the vampires could truly react, something thin and fast flashed past Janus' ear, nearly piercing his lobe before it thwacked into Thing, pinning the puppet to the wall. The arrow wasn't very big or wide, about the wide of a knitting needle or a dart, but there was an eerie deja vu air about the scene of a hand being trapped against a wall via a piece of silver. For a moment both men just stared in shock that the arrow had been fired at them, as if they were thinking 'I can't believe that just happened' while Caboose tore himself loose of his leash and charged at the two alleyway lurkers. Lucy yelped loudly as she struggled to get free as well so she could protect her pups.

"Blade!" Lupus snarled as he hold out his hand. For a moment it looked like he was calling the puppet but it turned out he was giving an order for his weapon.

Though why on earth he called a two handed mid-evil sword for a 'blade' was beyond anyone. The sword was so massive that he didn't even need to check if it was sharpened or not, just dropping it on someone would kill them, the stoned fossil seemed so heavy. Mikeal was no different, ignoring the hundreds of pins pinching his body all over, Mikeal grabbed Janus by the back his shirt and yanked him into the safety of the shop.

"Stay down." When he had called his sword, no one would know but one thing was for sure. Mikeal was pissed off someone was attacking them without giving a reason.

Across the street, Robert swore. Why had he brought this greenhorn with him? The boy had just been looking at them and smelled silver and she fucking shoots her arm cross bow at him! The least she could do was fucking hit the brat, one less vamp for them to worry about. But no, she fucking kills the pin cushion instead because they surely at the most dangerous creatures on Earth. NOT!

"Damn it May!" He snapped as he drew his own weapon, firing at the store front and the remaining adult dog. The little blood sucker shad seemed worried for his pet, maybe the others would too. "You have to attract the attention of the big ones too, didn't you?!?"

[Peeker]

Holy crap, are those assassins?

Janus was surprised at how calm his thoughts were. For one thing, he'd just been shot at. Like, with an arrow. Someone had actually tried to shoot and kill him. For another, Mikeal was flinging him to safety like a rag-doll, while Lupus was carrying what Janus believed to be a piece of metal roughly the size of a damn telephone pole out of his storefront.

Oh, yeah. Lupus was going to be in charge of all the Fairebrooke armies before he screwed up, and his Sire took that honor away. Janus remembered, again, quite calmly. No wonder he has a giant baddie-smashing sword.

It was at that particular moment that Janus' legs turned to water, and he slid down the wall, looking at the puppy in his arms. At least she was still here: Mikeal would have been seriously pissed if Janus had gone back outside to save his puppy... and to be honest, he was pretty sure that's exactly what he would have done if Bruja had rushed off.

Not feeling particularly good about the idea of standing up again, Janus crawled like a baby along the wall. Hiding between two suit-wearing manequins which could probably take an arrow for him, the boy peeked out between one of the statues' legs, to see what the heck was going on out there. Mikeal said 'stay down'. Sure. He was still kneeling - but like hell if he wasn't going to watch his big brother protect him. Or Caboose. Or like he wasn't going to figure out what the heck was going on and who the heck was shooting at him!

"They have to be assassins." Janus whispered to Bruja. "No one else would dress like that." those weird coats were the privilege of sci-fi-convention-goers and action movies. They looked like they'd walked straight out of one, or the other. Probably an action movie since they were, y'know, shooting at him.

Caboose tore across the street, living up to his name and his breed - he was as unstoppable as an oncoming train, and looked like he'd just broken right out of hell, to boot, eyes and fangs flashing. Janus fully expected the dog to rise up, and the man to go crashing to the ground - but when Caboose pounced... well... it was like someone had tied a string to him, and pulled. The man did something and Caboose went spiraling up into the air, crashing into a dumpster halfway down the alley, which did what all things do when hit by a flying hellhound: it crumpled like someone stepping on a soda can. Janus was immediately reminded of those super-defensive martial arts that work entirely on using your enemy's movements against you: Lupus and his giant sword were rushing across the street alongside Caboose, but when the sword moved, so did the man. He ducked, twisted, and flowed along the huge metal length, dragging the girl along with him out of harm's way.

Janus couldn't hear what they were saying --- but why would they be talking? They were about to start beating the crap out of each other, right?

[Kira_Wolf_Cub]

The vampires were fast, Robert had never once mistaken them not to be, but he knew it was only by the skin of their teeth that he and May hadn't been turned into shish kabobs by the dark haired male. Even now, he could hear the scraping sound of the rapier hitting the cement brick wall behind them as the vampire snarled in rage. Not that he could focus on them for too long. Panting his foot on the rear of his young partner in crime, Robert kicked May away from him just in time for the crud sword to hit the ground where she had been standing to two seconds ago. He struggled to reload his cross bow when he saw that the second hound was about to break loss and the first was getting ready for a second attack.

'Fuck!' He thought. He could handle the vamps just fine and their dogs if he was alone, but with May the fucking useless wonder to worry about, he wasn't sure he could risk it. "Bastards!"

He had to switch tactics and allowed the arrow to fall to the ground as an accepted loss. Instead he grabbed a few pallets between his fingers and just as Caboose charged again and the vamps were readying another strike at them, Robert tossed the pallets into the ground where they cracked like fire crackers. At first it seemed like it was all they were going to do, right up until the air filled with a dusty smoke cloud. It took Mikeal and Lupus three seconds before they realized they were pepper spray bombs with a hint of silver mist. It couldn't hurt them or make then ill, but the smoke irritated their noses, throat and eyes. Even Caboose gave a might yelp of pain as he snorted to get the smell out of his nose and both Mikeal and Lupus dropped their weapons as they were hit full force.

"AH! SON OF A-"

"GAH!"

Robert smirked as he covered his own nose, the gaseous mixture was just as irritated for humans as the damned. Too bad May wasn't fast enough to realize what he had done, because the bitch was coughing too. Glaring at the youngling hiding in the shop, Robert looked him dead in the eyes before making a slashing sign at his neck before grabbing his partner.

"May come on!"

"What is this stuff? It burns!" The girl complained as Robert pulled her along with him, but not before Mikeal grabbed a hold of her vest. She screamed and tugged away, allowing her vest to tear before she and Robert disappeared into the shadows, leaving two vampires wheezing after being maced.

[Peeker]

Janus was back across the street, the neck of his shirt pulled up over his face, long before the adults could get to their feet. He could tell they were coughing from something, and the dogs were too, but it wasn't like they were falling over and dying, so they were probably not being poisoned, so... so they needed help! Plain and simple!

"M-Mikeal! Are you ok-- khk!" Janus gagged: while the mist was dissipating quickly, it took very little of the stuff to start burning - Janus was only getting a fraction of what Mikeal and Lupus were, but his headstrong need to help still got him a bit gassed. Janus was quick to help both men to their feet, and then Caboose, too - the big dog whined, and licked his face, anxious to make sure Janus was alright: apparently slamming through a dumpster wasn't a big deal, but his coughing a bit, was.

The only other thing in Janus' ears, in the quiet, in the dark, was the echo of that girl's scream as she was dragged away by her mentor. The launched-arrow was a thing of the past. The adrenaline running through him was the most important thing he had to deal with.... and the second was his hunger. Wasn't it only a couple of minutes ago that Janus had been craving dinner? Well there was a potential dinner maybe a block or two away that had just tried to kill them.

Besides, standing in the remnants of the smoke bomb was pretty stupid. Janus walked himself over to the corner, in the direction he thought the two killers had gone. He sniffed the air. Thanks to his fear and excitement, the stink of silver was like a glowing arrow, pointing him in the direction of his prey.

Well. Not prey. Janus had been warned against attacking humans, and he was.... ninety-percent sure that he could control himself. The boy took a step around the corner, just breathing in the cool air, and wondering to himself how much faster the two of them would start running, once they realized they were being followed.

It wasn't really a good idea, no. But.... but still.... it would be so cool if they could go - all three of them - and hunt them down. Figure out why they were being watched. Who they were working for. What had any of them ever done to a bunch of humans, anyway?! Yeah. Janus started to head right back around the corner. He'd get Mikeal and Lupus, and the three of them would put the hounds on their leashes and they'd all figure this out togeth--

"Ooof!"

And that's when Janus smashed face first into Mikeal's chest, as the man had apparently decided to tear around the corner at a billion miles an hour, for some reason.

"Jeez! Mikeal!" the boy looked at the man, who was probably as hyped on adrenaline as he was. "You're okay, right? I think I can still smell them - we should find out why the heck they were attacking us! How do they even know what we are?!" he pointed down the block. "You can smell the sliver too, right?"