Pepper watched Neal leave, thinking he couldn't do much now. It seemed pointless to the zombie to rush off only to find a cold body- or a newly turned vampire. The only harsh consequence that rang through her senses at the moment was the fact that Eslatar must have broken Terrance's rules. The kitten leader would have to kick the vamp out now...

---

Zaref nodded and entered, taking a seat. "So...you nervous?" he asked, folding his hands. Marriage seemed so strange from this end of the spectrum. Immortality put an odd taint on everything for Zaref- even this.

---

"Yeah, well pardon me if I don't take a vamp's word as fact," Udi answered. "So why do you hang out with a lot of undead anyway?" he asked Satin.

"They're just like-" Satin stopped. She'd been ready to unfurl her Unnatural rights banner and give the big speech but this latest experience was too fresh in her mind. No matter how much she tried to deny it, vampires were not just like humans...and they never would be. "I want to help if I can," she offered finally, "Vampires don't all need to be destroyed, people would see that if they tried."

Udi shook his head, nonplussed.

---

Naomi was taken back by Indigo's attitude but figured she might be acting the same way had her whole family been kidnapped. She nodded curtly and transformed into a reddish werewolf smoothly, picking up the pack with her mouth after.

Not waiting for Indigo to follow suit, she headed into the trees.

---

Dellan slowly managed to sit up and stared back at Sparrow as she spoke. He wasn't sure how to respond, so much time alone had robbed him of conversational skills. "He's busy with something else," he offered finally, talking of Savage, "Something else...more important than me...he said."

---

Lark nodded and then shook her head alternately, dazed and unresponsive to Brick's words for several seconds. Her hands trembled as she looked down at them again.

"I remembered," she began, "I was awake this time and then I remembered it'd happened before. The white room and the scientists..."

---

Curse frowned, "I don't think so. They love each other. Love can last that long."

Selena hesitated before answering. Sitting down across from him, she shrugged slightly.

"I don't really see the point in being nervous. No matter what happens, at the end of the day we'll be married and that's what matters." She smiled slightly.

"I'm assuming by your question that . . . you're nervous?" she asked after a moment.

----

"I don't like drinking human's blood," Pavel spoke up timidly. "If I could stop being a vampire I would." He hunched closer to Satin, keeping his eyes on the ground and thinking he did not like this Satyr very much.

----

Indigo slipped out of his cut-offs and shifted into his large black wolf form. Taking his pack and cut-offs in his mouth, he bounded quickly after Naomi, making up for the lost time swiftly. He ran alongside her, watching her carefully to check himself when she changed direction. The entire time his thoughts were only on Brick and Lark. But unless Brick was in shifted form, he would not be able to speak to him, no matter how close they were.

----

Sparrow started and her head came up slightly. She tilted her head to once side, wondering what Savage could possibly be doing that would be more important that working on the Mrina, his favorite subject so far.

"Do you have any idea what he meant by that?" she asked in a soft voice.

----

Brick clenched his fists in his lap, gritting his teeth, his jaw working back and forth as he struggled not to explode. Instead he took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Do you know what they did to you?" he asked in a low voice, not sure he wanted to know but asking anyway for the sake of offering comfort. Hesitantly he laid a hand on her shoulder, still not quite used to physical contact between them.

----

Caerwyn frowned as well and pursed his lips but did not say anything. He wanted to believe her, but after what had happened with Gwendolyn . . . it just was not very realistic to think that way. He moved away from the doorway and went to stand by the window, looking down at the forest beyond the Manor.

If you say so.

He thought about the many couples he had seen fall apart in his years of traveling. Still, he did not really want to burst Curse's bubble on the subject of love and marriage the way his skeptical eyes saw it.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

The possibility of Satin being killed by Eslatar.... or turned into a vampire made Neal remember Serrena. I can't let that happen again. I won't let that happen again... Neal thought as he hurried through the forest. The Darkling suddenly stumbled upon his quarry, barely keeping from running into Pavel.

"Satin, thank goodness you're still alive!" Neal said as he stepped up to the ex-tavern owner. "What the blazes were you thinking going to see Eslatar!? You could've gotten killed or worse..." the Darkling said before stopping and taking a deep breath to calm himself. "I'm just glad you're alright," he said with a sigh and slight smile before noticing the new arrival. "Who's this?" Neal asked nodding his head towards Udi.

Mark sat against Brand, listening with his mind when he came across a presence, whar unnerved him is he could not figure it out, it felt sort of like a vamp and kind of like a werewolf… He couldn’t figure out, of course however he should of recognized it as Karl. However his mind was thinking of other things like; what is happening to Adam, Rebecca and Stella… Especially Stella… However that wasn’t important right now, finding out who this presence was more important… Warning Neal was even more important because the darkling had told him to tell him if he suspected something, “Neal, I suspect something is out on the edge of camp, it’s not any of our unnatural… It may be nothing but keep an eye out on the way back to camp”
---
Josh’s slim form slipped through the trees behind the two werewolves before he stepped on a twig and flinched, afraid of what the wolves response would be “Hello…” he said as if he were about to recite something “Um, As you now my brother made a pact with your pack leader and he has learned of this expedition so he want me to come with you… There was something else he wanted me to say but I was busy texting during the briefing, he’s weird like that sometimes” he said, confused “So anyways I’m Josh”
---
Steel sat by the fire, in the dim light with a cigar in his mouth and Bloody the ferret perched on his shoulder “What do you think we should do today?” he asked, the ferret squeaked “but we already did that… Ooh, frame the coven? I like where this is going” he said with a snicker and the ferret purred, he went over to his writing desk and began writing. “Dear police sergeant, the name is Steel, the one who assaulted the royal family and two of your officers, the other night. I did so under orders of the vampire coven, they were also responsible for the biting of Detective Kanti and the burning of the police station… And other assorted crimes this last month… Signed, Steel Hannibal
PS: Give my regards to my son, Captain Von Hannibal, thank you sergeant”
“There we go Bloody” he said and sealed the envelope, then Bloody crawled down and into his chest pocket, then walked out of his house towards the station “why don’t we stop at a bar on the way there?” he asked…
---
Von drove to the station; this was the first time in a month he had been able to return to work on the account of his injuries, he knew he had been at the mercy of his father at the end of the fight, his fathers fangs had been near his neck when suddenly Steel had pulled off. With perhaps a hint of compassion in his eyes, he doubted it was compassion however due to the fact that his father was a vamp. His trains of thoughts were suddenly interrupted when he hit a speed bump and his broken arm was bumped into the steering wheel, he cursed and pulled into the parking lot, opened the door of his car door and limped towards the door.
---
Matthew walked into a bar and sat down “One beer please” he said, the bar tender slid him a jug “Thanks” he said as he tossed the tender a coin, then spun on wheel, leaning against the bar and quietly sipped his beer when a small thin man in a sweater with a black hood came in and sat next to him “Martini please” he said. Now Matthew who was an experienced bounty hunter suspected something about this man “Hello good sir, what is your name?” he said acting like a drink “Steel” he said bluntly “Steel uh? Tell me about yourself..." he replied "Um... I have to go now..." Steel said in responce "Really?" Matthew asked "Where to?" Steel became ever figity "Look I have to-" "Ever Drink a human’s blood” he asked and yanked the man’s hood up to reveal red eyes then drew a gun “Like the taste of silver?” he asked.

Steal growled and grabbed Matthew’s arm and twisted it, Matthew dropped the gun as Steel forced him into a chicken wing, then pushed him to the ground and stepped on his head, Bloody ran down the vampires body and onto Matthew head “How do you like the taste of lead?” he asked and drew his own gun. Meanwhile the tender had called 911 and the bar had cleared out of all except those who have drunken more than they could swallow Matthew squirmed and then drew another gun that was loaded with lead and shot Steel in the shoulder, Steel growled and jumped out the window-Bloody just behind- to avoid being arrested.
---
Adam lay on the floor of his cell, not really caring how much pain he was feeling right now he was only thinking of Stella and Rebecca, if they did this to him, what would they do to them? He pushed himself up to sit against the wall and closed his eyes, trying to contact either of the elves via mind connects to no avail, their minds eluded him… That failed but it didn’t mean this wouldn’t “Mark, this is Adam… I’m still alive; I don’t know about Stella and Rebecca…If you hear me, please come and help… Goodbye Mark” he said in defeat, Mark was to far away for him.

Rebecca sat propped up against the wall; silent tears flowed from her eyes. The pain was excruciation but she closed her mind walls to keep the pain from flooding across their mind link to Adam and she was sure that he was experiencing his own fair share of pain; she not pushed herself up and walked over to Stella who seemed to be unconscious and put her arm around her shoulder “Its ok… We will get through this”

((I'M BACK!!!))

Zaref wasn't sure what to say. "I mean...You're ok with...being stuck with me? Forever?" He knew they'd gone through a lot of emotional ups and downs since they met and there'd probably be even more trouble in the future as two vampires without the protection of a coven. Just by marrying without permission he was defying Talullah...but his biggest worry was simply that he wasn't good enough for Selena, especially now that he was struggling with bloodthirst.

---

"More competition?" Udi asked Satin, looking a bit flummoxed as he ignored Neal completely.

"Sorry Neal," Satin offered with a frown, "I just thought I might be able to talk to him...once he'd been fed, but-"

"She was almost killed instead," Udi deadpanned, looking bored with the whole conversation.

Satin rolled her eyes, "I've known Eslatar longer than any of you. I just thought I could help him somehow. I was wrong, but I'm not giving up. He's in there somewhere, we just have to find a way to bring him back."

"That's a fatally optimistic opinion," Udi muttered.

"Excuse me- I don't even know you Mr. Satyr, so back off, alright?" Satin replied angrily, "Yeah I know, I'm the stupid human," she said with a scowl and marched away from the group.

---

Naomi raised a wolf-y eyebrow at Josh and then nodded her head slowly. She wasn't about to transform in front of the both of them just to finish off some pleasantries. She nodded her head towards the way they were going and then continued through the trees, expecting that Josh would keep up.

---

Dellan shook his head. The Mrina couldn't imagine what might be keeping Savage so involved, but he had a feeling it had to do with all the new captives that the madman had captured. Maybe his work with them was finally giving some results...that or they were just more fun to torture. Dellan had begun to doubt long ago whether Savage really cared about the conclusions of his experiments at all.

"We're running out of room," he said after a moment, looking over at Sparrow, "Soon he'll have to get rid of those he can't use...One by one we'll all just disappear."

---

"I'm pregnant Brick," Lark said, looking up into his eyes, "I don't know how...or why- why? Why! Why would they do something like that," she finished, shoulders heaving with silent, choking sobs.

Back in the observation room, Savage smirked. He hadn't expected Lark to find out so soon, but the techs must have miscalculated how effective the sedatives were. It made it easier anyway- it was dangerous to keep putting her under when she was pregnant.

---

Curse looked down at her hands and frowned. Did nothing really last forever?

---

Kanti pulled into the parking lot of the old Ditto Town library. It had been up for demolition before the police station was demolished. Since then the police had moved all their operations to the old building, trying to recoup what information they could through the shared government files. It was slow, agonizing work but there was nothing else Kanti could do in her current predicament. Ms. Scope had made it clear that the police officer would have to face trial, with or without approval from other authorities.

Sighing, Kanti locked her car doors and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her trench coat. The stomp of her boots over the parking lot was a comforting sound that distracted her from the whirling dance of her thoughts. She reached the doors and pulled the non-squeaky one open, entering the darkened entryway of the library.

The police had set up operations in the back study rooms, so it was a silent journey through skeletal-like shelves to where any other human existed. She wasn't looking forward to the usual glances, but figured she could shut herself away in a room again with a boring stack of paperwork.

Von nodded to Kanti as she walked in then went to sit at his deck, confined to the same job as Kanti. Paperwork, he sat down and began filling out a report on the Steel and the attack. Then he picked up the phone and dialed Miss. Scope's number "Hello?"

Steel ducked out of the window and slid into an allyway then began making his way to the old libary.

Josh smiled and ran after the werewolves, quickly gaining on them, even in their wolf form most elves could keep up with them. Josh was one of the fastest.

Selena frowned slightly in confusion. "Of course I am," she said. Moving forward she cupped his cheek in her hand and dropped a small kiss on his forehead. "I love you," she added softly, letting her eyelids fall closed for a moment as she took in his scent.

----

"Satin!" Pavel yelped, hurrying after her. "I don't think you're stupid," he muttered under his breath, giving her a weak smile as he trailed alongside her like the faithful puppy that he was.

----

Indigo ignored Black, concentrating on where Naomi was leading him, memorizing the scents he passed, the placement of the trees and the shrubbery, so he would know the way to and from Savage's place by heart.

----

"Sparrow's magic is never-ending," Sparrow said with a concerned look. "She could make you better. Stronger. She could help you find a way to escape this place. Others have . . ." She remembered the children, Alice and Prospero. They had escaped when that other Unnatural has suddenly appeared in Savage's lab, and then just as suddenly had disappeared, taking the grumpy shape-shifter with her.

----

Brick stared at her in shock for a moment before shaking himself out of his stupor. Anger boiled within him, and a great shiver shook his body. Instead of shifting like he sorely wanted to, he struggled to control himself and instead hesitantly wrapped his arms lightly around Lark, holding her close.

"I'll kill him," Brick swore through clenched teeth. "Indigo will find a way to rescue us and when he does, I'll kill him nice and slow." He paused and glanced down at Lark, biting his lip uncertainly as he place a hand on her hair gently. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you better," he said softly, closing his eyes in pain. It had been his idea to play hide-and-seek that night. And he had failed to seek Lark in time to keep her from this awful place.

----

Caerwyn turned from the window to see Curse's downcast face. Guilt settled deep within him, but he brushed it aside quickly. Walking up to her, he place a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

Why don't we find something for you to wear to the wedding tonight? He tilted his head down to try and catch Curse's eye. He forced a small smile, hoping the prospect of trying on pretty dresses would cheer her up like it did most women.

----

Jason looked up as Detective Kavita stepped into the room. Speaking one last time to the officer beside him, he made his way toward her, frowning slightly when he got to her.

"You look terrible," he told her flatly. "Have you been sleeping okay?"

----

Ian sighed as he looked over the newspaper in front of him. How had Stanley York from Monstropolis Daily possibly have gotten the story of the attack on Detective Kanti Kavita and the bombing of the police station into the paper before them? They had worked all night to get that story ready for print!

He sighed a second time and rubbed his forehead, his headache from that morning ten times worse now. They were going to need to step up their game if they were going to get better stories than York and Daily.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

"Not completely stupid...." Neal said quietly as he watched Satin march back through the woods to the camp. So much for a quiet evening. the Darkling thought with a sigh as he turned his attention to the new, arrogant arrival. "Well, if you're looking for some food and shelter, there's a camp for Unnaturals just beyond these woods." Neal said gesturing in the direction that Satin had left in. "You're welcomed to the stay the night.... I suppose." he added in a flat voice. Saying that the Darkling "disliked" the new Unnatural would have been a major understatement.

"At least she has a guard dog now...." Neal muttered under his breath as he pulled his fedora brim down, watching Pavel run after Satin and then headed back to the camp. Mark's mental message reached the Darkling a few seconds later. Alright, thanks for the warning was all Neal said in reply.

Mark stood and paced around, scanning the edge of the camp for a person but could not locate anything. He cursed and sat back down again, then muttered "Brisinger" and a small fire lept up in front of him. He began warming his hands on it.

Steel snuck up under a window by the old library and looked inside, both Kanti and Jason were in there "Perfect" said and tied a rock to the note and threw it through, breaking the window and scattering glass everywhere, then he sprung up and ran away.

Matthew had jumped up and pointed his gun out the window then fired a few wilds shots then tossed the bar tender a coin "Sorry 'bout the mess" he said then walked out.

Malachi ventured into the woods warily. He'd heard about the camp for Unnaturals, but he was halfway convinced it was some kind of trap set by particularly sadistic bounty hunters. Though generally an easy-going sort, Malachi had a paranoid streak. Normally being paranoid was a negative personality trait, but when everyone really is out to get you, being paranoid can save your life.

Malachi spotted a few guards as he entered the boundaries of the camp, but did his best to avoid them. They didn't look like Unnaturals to him and he wasn't taking any chances. Unfortunately for him, avoiding the guards resulted in him tromping through a ton of mud and some bushes with seriously long thorns. Malachi was reminded again that he really disliked the great outdoors.

Finally Malachi entered the clearing and looked around curiously for someone to talk to.

Mark jumped up at the visitor; "was he the- no, he isn't" thought Mark "Well I'd better find out who this guy is" he said before he walked over to him "You might want to act like you are talking to me before you have to sugar weeds" he said with wink "the name's Mark" he said and stuck out his hand.
---
Adam flinched as his muscles began bulging to the point where it looked as if he had lifted since he was four, with his already elfish strength he now could lift a thousand pounds if he wanted... "Strength enhancer I am guessing" he muttered and then passed out from the energy it took to build up the muscle in that short of time.

"Omigosh! It's another Unnatural!" A short person of questionable origin and gender popped out of the bushes behind Mark and scurried over to grab Malachi's hand and shake it enthusiastically.

"It's wonderful to see you here! No marvelous in fact, spectacular, or even stupendous!" The person babbled on. "I hope you'll have a wonderful time here, you know I do, in fact I was having a fantastic time just now until you came up, now it's even a more spectacular time, if you know what I mean, cuz I mean no disrespect to you saying 'until you came up' oh no-sirree-Bob! So where do you come from, eh? What is your ability? Can you squirt water out of your head like a dolphin? How about turn invisible? Can you turn invisible? What about flying? Can you fly? Flying would be so cool! It's like one of the best powers out there, don't you think?"

Finally the person stopped to take a breath and looked up at Malachi expectantly.

P.S."Brooklyn!"

Malachi looked a bit bewildered as he shook Mark's hand and listened to the other stranger babble at him.

"Hi, my name's Malachi. I can't do any of that. I'm not technically an Unnatural even. I'm a magic user, a fire mage. People don't seem to like magic users much lately, so I've been on the run for awhile," Malachi answered. "Um, is there someone I should report to? Should you take me to your leader?"

"Well then we technically have something in common; we both use magic and are not technically unnatural... What are you an alien?" he joked about the mans last remark... "I'll take you to Mr. T" he said then looked down at the strange unnatural whom he had never seen before "Um... Hello" he said.

"Ooooh, magic. My mommy told me there was no such thing as magic, but that's all she knew, right? I mean she was only human and couldn't understand things like that, right? You know what I mean? Huh? Huh? Ah well, Mr. T's not here right now. He's our leader. More or less. But more our leader than less our leader. But yeah, he's not here but you can come meet Pepper, she kinda like, second in command. She's this way."

The small person grabbed Malachi's hand again and began leading him toward the chapel, half-skipping, half-running. Short legs cause a person to do such when trying to match the steps of longer legs.

P.S."Brooklyn!"