The trail Nicolai followed led them deeper into the heart of the district. Though they managed to avoid any further “patrols,” it was clear that they were entering a truly dangerous area. Where other people had been sparse before, here they were completely absent. Oh, there were candles lit in windows, and every now and then a face could be seen watching the group go by, but no one left the buildings they were in. That was probably largely due to the fact that night had fallen during their travel, but it was still unnerving all the same.
“There's definitely something vile at work here,” Rodric said quietly as they walked, and even then his soft voice seemed to resound in Kai's ears, with the deathly silence that surrounded them.
The silence was suddenly broken by a scream, this time of a male voice. “That's just two or three streets over!” Nicolai said, his ears practically perking up.
“Alright then, let's go.” Rosa looked at each of them quickly in turn. “Kai, you stick next to Rodric. Nicolai, you're with me. Be careful.”
Heading into action in pairs, the team found an entire gang of people awaiting them. A full squad of no fewer than ten thugs cordoned off a side street, each one of them looking much bigger and stronger than the ones they had just fought. In the center of the street was a frightened-looking teenage boy, stumbling backwards away from a slender giant of a man with wild hair, and the two hooded figures who stood at his back like a pair of hounds. The man himself was bare-chested and bare-footed, wearing only pants that looked a bit baggy on him, though he bore strange markings along his chest and arms, which were currently crossed in an arrogant manner.
“...o use running, you know,” the tall man was just saying to the boy as Kai got within earshot. “I have a nice Dementlieuese wine that goes great with rib meat, but you're going to make it all tough and stringy with your panicked breathing.” His eyes caught sight of them as they approached, and he lifted his gaze their way to take them in; the boy was backing right towards his companions, anyway. “And just who in blazes are you? I'm busy now, so come back la-”
About half of his goons had turned around to intercept the new arrivals, but Kai and Rosa slammed into them like a crashing wave. However, neither managed to drop one right away; instead, all of the men started to mutate like the one Kai had fought before, taking on the facial qualities of a bat and becoming feral and wild. The melee quickly became a tangle, with Kai and Rosa each fighting several toughs at once, while Nicolai darted among them with his short blade and Rodric hung back to keep an eye on the big guy and his two other henchmen, the latter of which had moved forward to seize the boy.
Though he was busy fighting, deflecting an axe here and there and using the momentum to carry himself into a swipe of his own, Kai caught a glimpse of the leader's face. He didn't look concerned in the least; rather, he looked amused if anything. The smart thing for him to have done would have been to retreat with his prize while the fight was going on; why wasn't he running? Disabling first one, then a second, of his foes, he tried keeping an eye on the man as well. There was something very, very not right with him, and Kai could practically smell it.
Kai saw the tip of Rosa's sword appear through the throat of one of the men, and she dispatched another with an almost casual flick of her blade across his neck, just as Nicolai put both the blade he had been using and a dagger he had drawn into the kidneys of two more. The fighting was furious, but a few moments later they had dispatched all of the lackeys, and now only the leader and his two cloaked hounds remained. One of their arms, apparently hairy and very thick, covered the boy's mouth to keep him from screaming again, but his eyes remained wide in terror.
“Well, well. It seems I've found some interesting prey tonight.” The man's voice was slick and dangerous, and a light of pure hunger suddenly filled his eyes. “It looks as if that wine can wait; we'll be bringing home a melange tonight, gentlemen. Make sure that whelp stays alive, though; he'll be dessert.”
The hooded figure who was holding the boy captive clubbed him on the side of the head, and let him collapse into the dirt of the street, then threw back his hood, along with his fellow. Whereas the men who had just been killed bore some bat-like features, these two looked literally as if someone had stuck a bat's head on the body of a man. Their eyes burned with feral rage, and they roared out as they tore off their cloaks and charged into the fray.
“Stay...on your toes...!” Rosa managed out as she did just that, nimbly managing to avoid getting clawed, but only barely. Nicolai harried the same enemy from his blind spots, and together they managed to strike a few crushing blows on their foe, but he kept on attacking.
Kai wasn't having a much easier time. He and Rodric teamed up on the second of the two creatures, with the priest having finally drawn a sword, that he seemed very adept with. Considering that Kai could tell that he wasn't hitting as hard as normal himself, he hadn't expected that Rodric's blade would pierce the creature's hide very well – so it was a surprise when he actually noticed it recoiling almost as much from the priest's blade than from his own weapon.
A cry from Rosa and Nicolai's direction drew his attention suddenly, and he glanced their way when he had a chance to see the short man reeling back from a vicious bite into his shoulder. But rather than collapse, or even take another step back, he just glared up at the creature, and dashed around one of its swinging claws to put both of his weapons into its rib cage to their hilts. “Take that, you ugly sonuvabitch!”
Rosa finished the job as the thing reared back in agony, putting her sword right into its throat, but then another sound tore through the street, a vicious, bloodthirsty howl. It came not from either of the two beasts, but from the tall man himself. He had thrown back his arms, and his muscles suddenly had grown to dwarf even those of his two pets. They were practically beasts, and his other servants mostly human, but he was something else...something truly between. The same facial structure as theirs, but perfected; leathery wings had grown up along his arms, and his hands were wicked, clawed things. Clearly, he was a creature that had been made to do one thing above all else – kill.
Still pinned down by the assault of the remaining henchman, Kai could only watch as the werebat bounded over to Rosa. Despite that last strike that had helped fell the creature, Nicolai looked to be in no condition to continue fighting; several long gashes along his arms were visible from claw rakes, and he clutched painfully at one leg as he dropped onto his back. Which was most likely why the werebat all-but-ignored him for the time being, leaping towards Rosa and attempting to tear her apart.
“What luck,” he spoke, his voice still smooth enough despite his transformation to seem unsettling. “I usually find women all fluff and no real substance, but you look to be a strong one. I'm sure your blood will be delicious.”
“Not...a chance!”
The creature he was still fighting took a swipe at Kai as his attention was diverted, and despite being clearly on its last legs, it managed to put quite a bit of hate into it, raking him across the side of his neck. It cried out in pain as Rodric stabbed it again, though, and turned its attention toward him.
“Can you handle the rest of this?” Kai asked his comrade around the monster.
“Yes, I'll be fine.” Rodric's voice was relatively unruffled, and he did indeed seem to be just dandy.
“Good. 'Cuz I'm gonna go play.” Disengaging from that fight, Kai broke into a full-on rush as he headed for the werebat, clearing his mind and transferring as much of his momentum into his attack as he could manage. “Erste Streik!”
He had been pressing the attack rather forcefully against Rosa, but when Kai came blitzing at him out of nowhere, the werebat found himself on the receiving end of a grievous slice. Though he knew he still didn't get fully through his hide, Kai was confident that he had made him feel that one several times over, and if the roar he heard in response was any indication, he had been quite successful.
The beast turned in a fury, and gave him one in return, catching him along the arm with his claws and leaving a deep, stinging gash there. He tried to bite at his throat, but Kai managed to shove him away just enough to throw the attack off. “To think mere food is giving me such a hard time! I'm going to enjoy tearing out your throat, boy!”
“But I need my throat!” Kai found it hard to keep up with this guy. He was quick, way quicker than Kai himself, and if not for the fact that Kai's weapon was big enough that moving it to stop an attack didn't require as much distance, he knew he probably would have been hurting pretty badly by then. “Besides, your buddies are almost all gone. Can't you just go and get a nice steak somewhere, instead of eating people?”
“All gone?” The beast tried to bowl him over, but Kai out-bruted him somehow. “You speak as if I cannot simply make more. This just means I have to share less when I dine tonight.”
“Except you're forgetting that you're up against a team,” Rosa said as she stabbed into the creature from the side. “We're a lot more dangerous than a lone, defenseless teenager, you know.”
Snarling, the werebat took a wild swing at her after that, but she managed to duck out of the way. “Insolent rabble, pure and simple!”
“Why Gundarakite kids?!” Kai went on the offensive again, trying to get the creature off of his balance. “Why rile up an already tense situation?”
“I care little for this 'tense situation.' I just go for the people who won't be missed. Efficient, and rather elegant, in its simplicity, wouldn't you agree?”
“Man-eating scum!” Rosa aimed a stab at the creature's shoulder, her blade coursing with cold energy, but he managed to dodge back just in time to avoid having his arm severed, though it did leave a deep slash that bled profusely. “This ends, tonight!”
“Only for you, my dear.” Turning with preternatural quickness, the creature hit Kai with a haymaker just as he was closing for another attack, that knocked him through the air and into a wall over twenty feet away. “Now, how about a sample?” He then pounced onto Rosa, using his vastly superior mass to pin her to the ground, roaring right in her face as he bared his dagger-like teeth. “Neck meat is always so tender and juicy, but perhaps I should start with a thigh, just this once?”
“Like hell!” Though the wind was temporarily knocked out of him by the force of that attack, Kai retrieved his sword a few seconds later, and charged like a bolt at the werebat. Finding just the opening he needed, he carved several inches into the beast's hide, and succeeded in knocking him off of Rosa, huffing for air at the exertion needed to do so.
Rolling with the force of Kai's attack, the werebat still teetered a bit as he regained his footing several feet away, and snarled viciously as he looked at them. “Persistent little pests, aren't you? But no matter; I'll deal with you another night.” Spreading his wings, he pushed off of the ground with his powerful leg muscles, and soared up into the air, attempting to flee from the battle.
“Damn...he's getting away!” Rosa coughed as she got back to her feet. Rodric had sliced open the abdomen of the creature he and Kai had been fighting, and was now attending to Nicolai, who was still breathing heavily on the ground but looked significantly better already. “We'll need to come up with-”
“I've got this.” Spitting out a bit of blood from a nasty gash in his mouth caused by that impact against the wall, Kai glanced her way. “He's not getting away.”
Opening her mouth to most likely ask what he meant, Rosa looked more than a little surprised as Kai's armor shed its magical disguise, dropping its illusion of dark blue clothing. Covering him in hawk-branded, full-body steel, and folding out its razor-sharp wings, the Talon plate armor glinted in the light of the flawless moon overhead. “You sure you want to do that here?”
“Protecting these people comes first.” Kai's voice rang with that slightly metallic sound it held when his helmet was up and active. “Just be ready to beat feet out of here when I get back.” And with that, he launched himself into the air, and flew like a bullet towards the retreating werebat.
For his part, the lycanthrope looked wholly and unpleasantly surprised when Kai closed the distance in no time flat. At first, he tried to just flee, but when it became apparent that the intercept course was basically inescapable, he turned to brace for impact. “What's a dog of Falknovia's military doing all the way out here?!”
“I don't have to answer that.” The creature met his initial charge, but Kai could feel him giving way a bit; it seemed that those last few attacks had really taken their toll. “Just as my friend said, this ends tonight.”
For once, the man-bat didn't have a witty retort, instead concentrating his all into trying to fight off his foe. His claws slashed in a flurry, and he delivered more than a few gruesome bites, but even the attacks that went through had considerably less effect than before. The creature seemed to realize that Kai was not only faster now, but a lot tougher, and started trying to strike at him from odd mid-air angles. Blade clashed with claw high in the air, and more than once Kai felt himself nearly get sent plummeting back to the earth, but he never relented, always sailing back into the fray.
The bloody, frenzied melee came to an end when Kai managed to catch the werebat in a moment of weakness. Putting every bit of his weight behind his sword as it slammed into the lycanthrope's midsection, Kai followed through on the attack until they were both crashing towards the ground, and then pushed off of the creature in the last second or two before they would have hit, letting his wings carry him a few feet away to a safer landing as the werebat slammed into the dirt of the street in a bloody pile.
Letting first his helmet, and then the rest of his armor meld back into “clothes,” Kai suddenly realized just how exhausted he was, and fell over with his hands on his knees, gasping for breath. His wounds stung, and he became painfully aware of how many bites he had suffered. “The rest of you...okay?”
“Right as rain,” Rosa replied, walking over to examine his wounds. She had apparently already been healed, as the cuts she had suffered had all vanished. “You look like hell, though.”
“Then I did my job.”
“That's a job you can keep,” she said with a laugh. “Now, come on over here so Rodric can have a look at you.”
Once Rodric had healed them all up, they escorted the boy to his home – with a stern warning to stay inside at night when people were vanishing – and then set off on their way again, with Kai discovering that he didn't at all care for the taste of belladonna. With as large of a group as they had dealt with, Nicolai found following their trail back to their base of operations laughably easy. As suspected, the werebat had not been operating out of the Gundarakite district at all, instead holed up in a comfortable manor house that seemed startlingly devoid of the usual number of servants and attendants for such a lavish estate. Blood stains here and there hinted at what had happened to the original occupants. A number of goons remained on the grounds, though the team managed to dispatch most and send the others scattering with relatively little difficulty.
The cellar of the manor provided the remaining evidence they needed to wrap up this situation. For the werebat seemed to have been rather dutiful in the preparation of his kills for long-term storage; human corpses hung in various states of preservation like so much salted beef, well over a dozen, and all of them appearing to be young men of around the same age as the one they had saved that night. The fact that they had all still been alive when he started feasting on them, if the werebat's inclinations had been any indication, made the scene all the more bone-chilling.
By the time they finished exploring the grounds, it was still late in the night, with at least another couple of hours until dawn. So they stuck around; as Rosa had thought, more toughs had shown up as if for guard duty, so they were able to clear out a bit more of the rabble before the first lights of dawn filtered into the sky. As the job was more or less complete, it was time to head back to their inn.
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