Chapter 12 - Blood on the Dance Floor

The Glade, as always, was absolutely jampacked.

Julian climbed out of the Cutlass and the pounding bass was already making his werewolf hearing ache. The line was out the door as always, and Julian didn't have his police badge on him this time, so he grudgingly got in line behind a pair of small fey men who were drinking heavily from jugs they had apparently brought from home.

"And I- hic- I tolds 'em, if they don't get their arse out me fuckin' wine cellar, I'll beat them over the head with me wine bottles." one of the fey told the other, laughing uproariously. His companion seemed to think that was hilarious, and they both tilted their jugs up over their heads and drank noisily.

They looked like leprechauns, to be honest, but the lack of a bushy beard and the typical Lucky Charms-type outfit made him question. It sounded stereotypical, but leprechauns really were just like that. These guys were somewhere around two feet tall, and their ceramic jugs were as big as they were. They both had very pointed chins, and wore some white button up shirts with the buttons undone revealing hairy chests, which was funny because neither one had a whole lot of hair on the top of the head, though the one on the right wore a little Robin Hood-style hat on the corner of his head.

"Ugh, clurichauns." grumbled a female voice behind Julian, and Julian glanced over his shoulder to see an auburn-haired hamadryad talking with a couple of her friends. Julian wasn't an expert on fey and nature spirits, but he did know hamadryads, they were tied to a specific tree, unlike normal dryads which were more like general nature spirits. Somewhere in Los Angeles was a tree that if chopped down, this hamadryad would die.

One of the hamadryads' companions, a pretty brunette faun girl with curling horns and furry goat legs, giggled looking at the drunkard clurichauns. Julian didn't recognize the name of the little alcoholics, but there were countless fey creatures from the Land of the Young, he couldn't hope to know all the different types. The line moved sluggishly, and the clurichauns were drinking profusely the entire time from those big ceramic jugs they toted around.

"This is taking forever!" exclaimed a high-pitched voice that dinged like a bell, and Julian couldn't help but glance towards the source. A tiny four inch fairy with blonde hair in a slutty pink party dress showing off her tiny (but proportionally big) breasts was pacing along the hamadryad's shoulders impatiently. Julian looked back forwards, fighting a laugh. It was crazy the variety of supernaturals that turned up to the Glade every night. Julian often steered clear of places like this, he was a bit of a recluse from both the human world and the supernatural world. But every now and then, it was good for Julian to get a reminder of the people he was protecting by doing this whole detective thing.

Beings like the clurichauns and the fairy and the faun wouldn't be here if the sídhe were all destroyed. It reaffirmed Julian's desire to help protect them from whatever bullshit was happening in this city right now. That thought did make Julian think of Ciara, and of making sure the other sídhe were well-defended. As he understood it, the others didn't have an aos sídhe like Niamh Sinclair looking over them, but they were presumably being watched over. Something else he'd need to look into, he thought with a mental sigh. The clurichauns finally reached the front door, and they haggled with the bouncers about bringing their ceramic jugs of whatever it was they were drinking into the club.

"Look, matey! We cannae just leave our jugs here, they were gifts from our mams!" proclaimed the clurichaun without the Robin Hood hat.

"Each other's mams!" crowed the hat-wearing clurichaun, making both fey break out into boisterous laughter.

The bouncers, a seven feet tall smartly-dressed Cyclops and a bare-chested jackal-headed man like those statues all over Egypt, looked at each other.

"I'm not taking the jugs from them." the jackal said, lifting up his human hands.

"Ugh, fine. Go in." the Cyclops grunted, gesturing into the club.

"You're gentlemen and scholars!" the clurichaun in the Robin Hood hat cheered, and both fey dashed into the club.

Julian stepped up next and was waved inside without much fuss. He gave the bouncers a nod and entered into the club. He entered into the familiar big open first floor club. The lights had been pulsing green when he'd been in here last, right after finding Miguel Ortiz's body, but now they were flashing yellow and blue. Bizarrely, there was an Irish folk jig playing rather than normal club music, and Julian was unsurprised to see the clurichauns absolutely busting out dance moves in the middle of the dance floor. Those little bastards worked fast.

Julian looked around the club, letting his eyes glow as he adjusted his night vision to the darkness. The flashes of lights messed with his sight a bit, but it was better than not having the night vision going. Unfortunately, he did not see Corinne anywhere. He got out of the way of the flow of people coming in the entrance and scanned the dance floor, but he definitely didn't see the pretty blonde vampire. He did see a Mexican girl he was pretty sure was in Ellen's pack who was absolutely throwing it back on a grinning satyr, but other than that, there was nobody he recognized.

A hand touched his shoulder, and Julian jumped, wheeling on whoever had just touched him. Standing there was a deathly pale girl of maybe twenty-three with platinum blonde, almost white hair. She was looking at him frostily with her dark silver eyes, her head tilted slightly to the side. Her lips were ruby red, and it matched the red dress she wore which showed off absolutely insane cleavage. She looked Russian, if Julian had to guess, though he admittedly struggled to keep his eyes off her big round porcelain tits, they were just crazy, and so in his face, too.

"I am Tatiana." the girl spoke in a Russian accent. "You are Detective Julian Anderson, yes?"

"Uh.. I am." Julian nodded slowly.

Tatiana smiled, but it was devoid of warmth. It looked merely pleased that she had found him, it was definitely not a friendly smile. The smile did reveal her sharp fangs though, and Julian had a feeling he knew what this was about.

"Wonderful." the Russian vampire said. "Highsire Alexandra Blackwood is awaiting you on the third floor. If you would?"

Tatiana offered her arm in quite an old-fashioned way, and Julian blinked but he linked his arm with hers. Tatiana led him forward across the crowded party room, but the clubgoers who saw Tatiana melted out of her way like the flowing of a stream. Tatiana did make for an imposing figure in her floor-length red gown with its' deep sweetheart neckline showing off her very large breasts. When they reached the steps, Tatiana reached down with her free hand and lifted up her dress so she could ascend the steps, revealing high heeled shoes that she walked in gracefully.

The third floor, Julian knew, was the VIP area. He'd never been up there, as he was decidedly not a VIP. A vampire clan Highsire would definitely count as a VIP though, Julian should have realized Alexandra would be up there. They ascended to the second floor, which was a little less full than the first floor, but was also a smaller area than downstairs was. It had a big bar that had three bartenders working it, and a dance floor, but mostly the second floor was an overflow area when the first floor was too full.

Tatiana barely glanced into the second floor area, she just turned Julian on the staircase and kept leading him up to the third floor.

"Do you know what I was called here for?" Julian asked.

"I do." Tatiana said without looking at him. Julian waited, but she said nothing else.

"No hints then, I guess?" Julian tried, and Tatiana's ruby lips quirked just slightly, more in wryness than amusement.

"No, there will be no hints. I have not achieved my status by running my mouth when I should not." Tatiana replied.

"And what status is that?" Julian wondered.

"I am the right hand of the Highsire." Tatiana said with no small amount of satisfaction or smugness. "Many vampires covet my position, but I alone hold it."

"Well, congratulations." Julian cleared his throat, and Tatiana inclined her head in acceptance. She weirded him out, Julian decided. She was stunningly gorgeous in an ice queen kind of way, but the way her face moved, the way she spoke... she was too cold, almost like she'd forgotten how to appear human. She, more than any other vampire he knew, seemed inhuman. Alexandra may be terrifying, but at least she still seemed human. Tatiana seemed more snow and ice than flesh and blood.

The doors to the third floor VIP area were guarded by a bouncer, one Julian recognized as the red-skinned devil who had been on the front door when Julian visited the Glade last. Julian nodded at him, but the devil was more focused on Tatiana.

"Ms. Petrova." the devil said, inclining his head respectfully. Tatiana nodded curtly at the devil as she swept past, leading Julian into a dark room lit only by neon purple lights on the walls. There were several couches, most occupied by pale men and women who eyed Julian up curiously as he entered with Tatiana on his arm. Or on Tatiana's arm, depending on how they looked at it, he supposed.

The room was mostly flat, but there was a small tiered area against the back wall, where there was less seating space, but there were some familiar faces up there. Alexandra Blackwood was reclining on one of the couches, though she remained poised like a tigress even when supposedly relaxing. She wore a blue party dress, one that actually looked modern, unlike Tatiana's princess gown. The dress showed less of Alexandra's snowy cleavage than Tatiana's showed of hers, but Alexandra's breasts were still flaunted plenty. The Highsire's black hair was elegantly coiffed tonight, spilling down one shoulder like a flowing waterfall of pitch. She smiled when she saw him, revealing fangs as her piercing blue eyes met his gaze.

"Detective." Alexandra said, holding up her glass of wine in greeting. Standing beside the couch Alexandra was sitting on was Corinne, who gave him a small supportive smile. She wore a pink bandage dress that clung nicely to her striking curves. Corinne was pale, but she wasn't absolutely pure white like Alexandra and Tatiana were. They looked like they'd never seen the sun ever, Corinne just looked like a girl who didn't spend much time in the sun. Then again, he supposed Alexandra and Tatiana had probably gone hundreds of years without sunlight, Corinne had only gone a few months.

Tatiana removed her arm from Julian's, and she lifted her dress to step up onto the raised area, where she moved to sit on the couch to Alexandra's right. The other couch on the raised area was also occupied, by a man Julian did not know. He looked to be fifty or so, but his skin was smooth and wrinkle-free. He had dark gray hair, neatly combed back and long on the top, with the sides shorn short. He wore a red satin suit, and his eyes were a cold green like glass.

"Detective, you have already met my left hand, Tatiana Petrova, my enforcer." Alexandra said, gesturing to Tatiana, who gave Julian the same cold, emotionless smile. Her lips moved, but there was no meaning to it. "I would like to also introduce you to my left hand, Victor Dupont, my tactician."

"It is a pleasure." Victor said, smiling in a professional way. He had a faint tinge of French to his accent, just like Alexandra did.

"Pleasure to meet you as well." Julian said, deciding a formal greeting would probably go over best with this trio of seemingly ancient vampires.

"I am unsure how much you know about vampire clan politics, but the three of us make up what is called the Court of a clan." Alexandra explained. Victor seemed mildly amused by the thought Julian not knowing what a Court was, and Julian decided he didn't like the male vampire much either.

"I know very little about vampire clans." Julian admitted. "Werewolves, especially lone wolves, don't interface much with vampire clans. This is, uh... a new experience."

Julian cast his gaze around the room full of vampires he assumed were all in Alexandra's clan. He spotted Colin amongst them, actually, off in the far corner of the room sitting beside a redhead female vampire who was sitting very close to him. Colin glared at Julian when their eyes met, and Julian looked quickly back to the Court before him.

"I can imagine." Alexandra said with a small, sly smile. "What have you learned about Niamh Sinclair?"

"So I guess you already know I agreed to look into her?" Julian raised his eyebrows, and Alexandra inclined her head.

"Indeed. Ciara Sinclair messaged me regarding an iron weapon of some kind." Alexandra answered. "I do hope you have more to tell me than that."

"I have a little bit more, but not a lot." Julian warned. "I'm not sure how much you already know about the situation, but the killer burned the whitethorn tree that Niamh was guarding, and they made off with the ashes. After conferring with, er, my magic specialists, we believe the whitethorn ashes are intended to be used in a ritual next week, either on the night of the equinox or the night of the Harvest Moon."

"Interesting." Alexandra said thoughtfully. "I was unaware of the whitethorn ashes being in play. I had not thought that the motivation of this killing would be the sídhe. Niamh's fame seemed the more likely motive."

"How do you mean?" Julian frowned.

Alexandra exchanged looks with Tatiana, who gave a little shrug.

"We have been made aware of a group of hunters operating in Los Angeles, hunting and killing supernaturals." Alexandra explained. "I have not confirmed it, but I believe these are the same individuals who kidnapped Ms. Parker."

Alexandra made a gesture towards Corinne, who had been standing there, respectfully still.

"You don't mean the donkey and the pig, do you?" Julian asked, and Alexandra blinked.

"Pardon?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, uh, I'm working on a case regarding a serial killer who is targeting specifically supernaturals. We've found them with strangulation marks across their throat and strange runes on their hands in magical ink humans can't see." Julian explained. "I found out that the two men doing this wear a donkey mask and a pig mask."

"I was unaware of this." Alexandra admitted. "No, I speak of the Inquisition, not a pair of serial killers. The Inquisition has been hunting supernaturals since the 12th century, when it was a Catholic organization. The Catholic Church no longer has a hand in the Inquisition, but they remain fierce hunters of all things supernatural."

Julian blinked. "I hadn't heard about this. They're killing people?"

"Yes, and burning the bodies." Alexandra nodded.

"Niamh Sinclair wasn't burned." Julian pointed out.

"No, she was not, but she is quite a famous supernatural, there are several stories that mention her by name. I had thought the Inquisition discovered her presence in Los Angeles and had not been able to resist killing the famed Niamh Cinn-Óir." Alexandra explained. "They would have no uses for the whitethorn ashes, however, so perhaps I was mistaken."

"Well, I don't know about any Inquisition, but from what I've learned, any weapon that could kill Niamh would wind up tainted by the evil of the act." Julian explained. "I found a map in this place called the Endless Trove that can identify items of great evil, and it found three items. One in Marina Del Ray, one in Long Beach, and one in San Bernardino."

Alexandra exchanged significant looks with the other two members of her Court. "What you seek is not the item in Long Beach."

Julian remembered suddenly that Alexandra ran the Long Beach vampire clan, and he nodded slowly. "Not Long Beach, alright, that narrows it down a bit. I don't have a specific location, just the general location the items were at this afternoon."

"I see." Alexandra nodded slowly. "And you intend to search Marina Del Ray for the weapon?"

"I do." Julian said. "I'm not sure how much luck I'll have, but I plan on heading there tomorrow morning after I get some sleep."

"Well, I will try my best to save you time." Alexandra said, and she stood up to address her clan. "My sirelings, I seek a magical iron sword of great evil that is located in Marina Del Ray. I will give a boon to the first to find it. Share this with the rest of the clan."

The vampires all looked at each other, and there was a rush of whooshing noises as the vampires began to vanish in blurs, super-speeding out of the club. Soon, only Colin, Corinne, and the Court remained. Colin remained on his secluded little couch though, he did not come closer.

"They will be able to cover a lot of ground." Alexandra told Julian, reclaiming her seat.

"Uh, wow. Thank you, that will be a huge help." Julian nodded.

"Of course. I am deeply invested in catching this killer, you must understand." Alexandra said firmly.

"I do. And I'll do my best to help you find them." Julian said seriously.

"I appreciate this." Alexandra said. "Have you thought yet what you want your boon to be? For delivering to me the traitor who broke the Law of Blood?"

"I have, actually." Julian cleared his throat. "I'd like an invitation to Cassius Benning's Equinox Ball. Two, if you can swing that, but just one if not."

"Done." Alexandra waved a hand dismissively. "Benning always pesters me to attend, he will not deny such a simple request."

"Oh, you will be in attendance?" Julian asked in surprise.

"Unfortunately." the Highsire scowled. "He has always been insistent about his little galas, and I cannot deny all four invitations every year. I typically only attend the Winter Solstice Gala, but he offered me a gift to attend this one as well, and I could not refuse."

"What kind of gift?" Julian wondered, but Alexandra just smiled vaguely.

"That is no concern of yours, Detective. It endangers nobody, so worry not." she said in a little purr. "Cassius Benning is well past his prime, but he delights in having the rich and powerful attend his galas. I am far from the only person who received bribery to attend. I am curious though, what are you interested in his gala for?"

"It's related to my serial killer problem." Julian said vaguely. "Or at least, I think it might be."

"Hmm. Interesting. You do not think Benning is the serial killer, surely?" she asked, looking deeply amused by that thought.

"No, no, I don't." Julian said truthfully. "I'm just following up on a lead."

"Fair enough. I will have your two invitations delivered to you within a day or two." she shrugged. "That is no difficult matter."

"Thank you, I appreciate it." Julian said, and she inclined her head.

"We are even now then, at least until you find Niamh Sinclair's killer." Alexandra said, flicking her hand towards Corinne. "I have heard of your investigative prowess from Ms. Parker. You have quite the admirer ever since you saved her from her Second Death."

Corinne blushed deeply, Julian saw, but he tried not look at Corinne too much with Colin giving him the evil eye from across the room.

"I'm just glad I was able to help." Julian shrugged. "I don't think it was a whole lot of my abilities though, it was mostly magical methods that helped us find her."

"And when it came to poor misguided Eli?" Alexandra arched an eyebrow.

"Corinne did all the work there." Julian shrugged again. "She knew the hotel he was likely to be at, I just tagged along."

"I'm not sure I've ever met a werewolf with so much humility." Victor spoke up amusedly.

Julian chuckled. "It's just the truth."

"Well, regardless, you have done well with your investigation into Niamh Sinclair's murder. Already I knew more than I did before you arrived. It is good I will not have to kill an Inquisitor, that does tend to rile up the rest of them." Alexandra said.

"Happy to help." Julian nodded towards the Highsire. "Did you need anything else from me?"

"No, that will be all." Alexandra shook her head. "Corinne, would you please escort our werewolf detective down to the main floor? I will not need you back here either, you are free to go join the search in Marina Del Ray or do whatever else you may want to."

Corinne bowed swiftly to the Court, and made her way quickly to Julian. Taking a note from Tatiana, he offered the sexy blonde his arm, and she took it, beaming. They made it about two steps before Colin whooshed in front of them.

"We're headed back to the nest now, Corinne." Colin said, scowling at Julian.

"I don't need to be locked up again!" Corinne protested, and Julian felt her squeeze his arm.

"Mr. Parker!" Alexandra interrupted, and Julian looked back to see she had stood up. "Your sister is a full-fledged member of this clan, and no member of my clan will have their freedoms restricted."

Colin blanched, and Julian could tell he was stunned that the Highsire had intervened. "I-"

"That is final, Mr. Parker." Alexandra said firmly. "If she does not agree to comply with your protectiveness, then you cannot keep her confined to the nest."

"I definitely don't agree." Corinne said, looking intently at her twin brother. Colin sighed, and he nodded slowly.

"I... I guess I'll go to Marina Del Ray then." he said, looking displeased with the outcome of this. He zipped away at super-speed, and Julian and Corinne continued out of the VIP area.

She exhaled angrily as they started down the staircase, shaking her head. "He's always trying to treat me like I'm fragile. He was bad before the kidnapping, but he's been insufferable ever since."

"I'm sorry you have to deal with that." Julian offered, but Corinne shrugged.

"Not your fault." she sighed. "I heard about what happened to you, by the way. Highsire Blackwood was furious at what that werewolf pack did to you."

"Really?" Julian asked, surprised.

"Yup." Corinne nodded, blonde tresses swaying. "I half thought she was going to rip out some werewolf hearts, but she told them that she definitely did not intend a kidnapping to occur."

"Yeah, well, I'm not sure that's going to matter. I killed one of their pack, and if I know werewolves, there will be retaliation." Julian sighed. "I've been pretty on edge ever since."

"Can't blame you." Corinne agreed. "I guess we have that in common though."

"Did you know about the Inquisition possibly being the ones who kidnapped you?" Julian asked.

"I'd heard Highsire Blackwood mention it, but I didn't know much about them." Corinne answered.

"Yeah... I'm sorry I haven't went after them as hard as I should. I looked, but I didn't have any leads or information on them, and with all of the other stuff I've been dealing with-" Julian explained, but she cut him off with a firm shake of her head.

"I'm not upset, not even a little." she told him, looking at him with her dark blue eyes. "You saved me, Julian. I couldn't possibly be upset that you didn't run them down on some vendetta. I'm safe, and that's what matters."

Julian smiled, and he nodded. "I'm glad to hear that."

They came out of the staircase down at the main floor, and the party was still in full swing.

"Do you wanna dance?" Julian asked, looking to Corinne. He wasn't typically the type, but Corinne had had that look on her face, like she hadn't wanted their time together to come to an end.

"I'd love to." Corinne beamed.

Julian let go of her arm, but took her by the hand and led her out onto the dance floor. When they made it out there, the thumping of the club music in his ears, the smile of a gorgeous girl, he was distinctly reminded of the last time he'd danced with a girl, where he'd fucked Ellen in the Wavelength bathroom. One thing was for certain, he was not going to fuck Corinne in the Glade bathroom. He was not gonna become the guy who fucked girls in club bathrooms.

Fortunately, Corinne heard none of those thoughts, she was just hearing the music. His eyes were almost glued to her as she got into the rhythm of the music. She grabbed his hands, laughing as she shimmied her hips to the beat. Julian found himself smiling too, it was just hard not to when Corinne was smiling. He had no idea how a vampire could possibly have such infectious happiness, but she absolutely did. There were moments when he forgot she was an unholy terror of the night, and he just looked at her like a normal, pretty blonde cheerleader-type girl.

Unholy monster or not, she looked damn good in that dress though. The pink bandage dress was practically adhered to her hips, and while she wasn't thick and voluptuous, she was shapely, and the dress emphasized that. It also emphasized her generous chest. Her big tits were bouncing rather nicely in that dress, he couldn't lie. The dress didn't have a ton of cleavage, but it had more than enough to hint at the size of those pretty pale breasts. Plus, she looked ridiculously good tonight. Her long blonde hair was falling in gorgeous waves down her shoulders, and her dark blue eyes were alight with happiness. Plus, that sweet pretty smile he liked so much seemed permanently affixed to her face as he spun her around.

She was far and away the better dancer of the two of them, Julian was mostly just rocking back and forth to the music, Corinne was the one who was swinging her hips and getting into it and actually dancing. Or maybe it was just that he was really enjoying watching her dance. Could be either or both. As Julian was watching Corinne, he felt a sudden tingling at the back of his neck, like he was being watched. He froze all of a sudden, and Corinne frowned.

"Is everything OK?" she hesitated, but Julian was looking around, his glowing eyes scanning the crowd until he found who was staring at him. It was an unfortunately familiar face. Ezra. The werewolf Inara had stabbed and supposedly cursed. He did look haggard, his hair was a mess, he wore loose clothes, and he looked absolutely exhausted. But he also, unfortunately, looked murderous. He shoved people out of the way as he made his way towards Julian. Several people threw Ezra dirty looks, but nobody stopped him as he made his way towards Julian and Corinne.

"Who is that?" Corinne asked, but he just pushed her behind him. He reached into the back of his jeans and pulled out his gun. He cocked it, then held it up, pointed at Ezra.

"Stop!" Julian called.

"Laddie's got a gun!" a familiar voice shouted, and Julian glanced sideways to see that one of the clurichauns (the hatless one) was pointing at Julian while chugging from his jug. Ezra snarled, but he stopped as people began to scatter.

One of the bouncers, the jackal-headed guy, came running in, looking fierce, but Julian held up a hand towards him.

"I'm a police detective, I'm here on business." Julian shouted. Ezra wasn't coming any closer, but he was stalking back and forth, his eyes glowing and his fingers had shifted into claws.

"You killed Zeke!" Ezra snarled, pointing a clawed finger at Julian. "And your little fucking bitch with the sword, she did something to me. She needs to fucking fix it! I haven't been able to sleep since she cursed me!"

"Grab him." Julian nodded at the bouncer, who made a move to seize him. Ezra reacted faster though, and with a savage howl that sent chills down Julian's spine, Ezra pounced. Julian couldn't shoot without possibly hitting the bouncer, so he swore and ran forwards, stuffing the gun back into its' holster. Julian was five feet away from the conflict when Ezra reeled back to dodge a punch from the bouncer. The werewolf, who was looking more and more lupine every second, lashed out with his furry clawed paw, slashing blood across the neck.

Julian scrambled to a stop, gaping, as Ezra completed his shift. Werewolves had two distinct modes. There was the default wolf, a normal wolf like someone would expect a werewolf to turn into. But werewolves had also learned over time that they could shift certain attributes to create a sort of half-wolf form, something they called their werewolf form. Ezra was currently a bipedal wolf, for lack of a better description. He was bulkier than he was in human form, with a snarling wolf's head and big furry paws with sharp claws currently dripping blood. His whole body was covered in shaggy gray fur, and Julian felt himself snarling in response.

Ezra howled again, and he barreled towards Julian. Julian rolled out of the way, reaching back for his gun, but Ezra hit him like a bullet train before he could react, slamming a furry, muscled shoulder into his chest. Julian hit the ground hard, his gun clattering away from him.

"Fuck." Julian sighed, and he let the change take him. As he got to his feet, he stripped his leather jacket off and tossed it aside as his body began to change. He quickly ripped through his clothes as his body changed. Julian had always been more muscular than Ezra had been in human form, and that carried over into wolf form. Julian howled as he felt his bones shift, his nose and mouth elongating into a snout, his ears growing and shifting to the top of his head as fur began to sprout from his skin. His fingers fused together to form paws, his fingernails lengthening into sharp, curved claws. His feet underwent the same transformation, tearing through his shoes as his feet became paws. All of these changes happened near instantly, the transformation between forms was always quick. It took a little longer to go from man to wolf rather than from man to werewolf, as werewolf was the halfway point. It was shifting the body to reflect the physical attributes of the wolf without letting the shape of his body shift yet.

In seconds, Julian had gone from human into a huge, bulky furry monster, with fangs, claws, and a rage at Ezra coming for him here tonight.

"You're going to pay..." Ezra snarled, his voice raspy and inhuman. Julian didn't bother to respond, he just lunged at Ezra. The other werewolf jumped backwards, but Julian carried through, bending so his front paws slapped against the floor and using it to propel himself forwards in a leap. He tackled Ezra across the floor, the pair of them rolling across the empty space formed by the fleeing clubgoers. Julian raked his claws across Ezra's face, but Ezra got his leg up and slammed his foot into Julian's chest, knocking him off of him.

Julian landed in a roll, jumping to his feet to meet Ezra there. He went for another powerful swipe across the smaller werewolf's chest, and Ezra yelped as blood splattered across his gray fur. In his rage, Ezra took another swipe as he jumped at Julian, but Ezra made Julian pay for it. It was Julian's turn to yelp as Ezra's claws sank deep into his pectoral and ripped sideways, tearing four long gashes across his chest, deeper and more brutal than any of Julian's swipes at Ezra.

Ezra was out for blood. The other werewolf tried to body slam Julian, but Julian caught him, using his superior strength to lift Ezra and slam him down onto the ground hard, smashing up the floor. Ezra, fueled by anger as he was, barely slowed down, despite the blood now matting his fur.

He hit Julian with a savage uppercut, knocking him backwards onto his back. Ezra tried to jump on him, but Julian rolled out of the way. He jumped to his feet and tackled Ezra to the floor. Julian didn't hold back this time, he went for the neck with his sharp fangs. Blood filled Julian's mouth as he got a savage bite of the thrashing werewolf. Ezra's elbow caught Julian in the gut, and he grunted, releasing Ezra's neck.

Ezra's claws swiped across Julian's throat before he could react, and Julian scrambled off of Ezra, both of them getting to their feet. They snarled at each other, before a pink blur slammed into Ezra. Ezra staggered, stunned, but he caught the pink blur in one hand as it went back for another attack.

Ezra lifted a struggling Corinne off the ground with one massive paw, then he threw her. Julian's vision went red, and he slammed hard into Ezra. Both werewolves went back down to the ground, but Julian was barely seeing Ezra. His claws tore into the smaller werewolf over and over, slashing his chest and neck to ribbons. Julian lifted his hands high above his head and brought them down hard onto Ezra's chest. Ezra let out a choking noise, gasping for air, whimpering softly.

"I shot Zeke in the head because he was choking the life out of my friend." Julian snarled. "And I'm going to kill you right here because you just hurt another friend of mine. I'm going to make you bastards learn this lesson one at a fucking time if I have to. Don't. Touch. My. Fucking. Pack."

Ezra's eyes went wide, and the last thing he saw was Julian's werewolf face snarling at him as Julian ripped apart his throat. Julian knelt there, breathing raggedly for a long few seconds before he staggered away from Ezra's body, reversing the change as he moved away from it. His form began to shrink, and he dropped to the ground as the severity of his wounds kicked in. It was a lot easier to ignore wounds in the werewolf form, it was such an angry form, the wolf's primal instincts and the human's emotions. Plus, it was just a lot stronger. As his body shrank back to human sized, Julian's throat and chest began bleeding profusely. His chest was scored with several bloody lines from Ezra's claws, one set of claw marks deep and brutal. Julian's hand went to his neck, clutching at his bleeding neck. His clothes were in tatters, his shirt was fully gone, and his pants were barely holding on. His boxers were shreds, but between the ruins of his boxers and his pants, at least he wasn't fully nude.

The pink blur whooshed in front of him again, and Julian saw the terror in Corinne's face. Her hair was in disarray, one of the straps of her dress had slipped off her shoulder, and her dress was scratched up and stained, though it looked more like spilled drinks than blood, thankfully.

"Julian, are you OK?" Corinne demanded, cupping his cheeks worriedly. Julian was admittedly feeling a little woozy, but he tried to give her what he hoped was an encouraging smile.

"Never better." Julian said, smiling with a mouthful of blood. It wasn't his, thankfully, but it was dripping down his chin and coating his hands, not to mention the blood from his wounds that actually was his. He could feel the wounds healing already though. It wasn't instantaneous, but as long as he didn't have silver in his veins, he'd heal quickly. It helped if he held the edges of the wound together, which was what he was trying to do with the ones on his neck.

"You look like you're about to pass out." Corinne fretted.

"You should see the other guy." Julian coughed, wincing. He'd been bruised a bit too, there'd been a lot of slamming and tackling in the fight, and Ezra's werewolf form was damn strong.

Corinne glanced over her shoulder in the direction of Ezra's big shaggy body and then she looked back at Julian. "That was one of the guys that kidnapped you, right?"

"Uh huh." Julian nodded. "He's the one who kept shooting me up with silver, actually, so we had some history. And then he hurt you, and..."

"He didn't hurt me." Corinne told him softly, reassuringly. "I'm fine."

"I'm glad to hear it." Julian said with a smile. "Don't worry about me, I've been through much worse."

A witch came forward to help heal Julian, but he waved her off, gesturing instead over at the bouncer Ezra had attacked first. Ezra had gotten a good swipe on his neck, and Julian didn't know if what the healing factor was like for guys with a jackal head. The bouncer hadn't been moving before the witch went over, but after she knelt there for a little bit, Julian saw the bouncer stir, and sighed in relief. At that point, his neck wounds had started to knit together. He was a little woozy from the blood loss still, but his wounds were closing up, and Julian just sat there on the dance floor feeling better and better as his healing did its' job.

"See?" Julian gestured to himself. "Never better."

"Uh huh." Corinne said disbelievingly. "We should get you home."

"I'm good to go home by myself, I don't want to inconvenience you." Julian groaned, shaking his head.

Corinne put her hand on his cheek, and he looked at her. She looked worried about him, but there was also a sort of eagerness there, a possibility of something happening at Julian's apartment.

"I want to help you." Corinne said simply, and Julian nodded slowly.

"Alright, fine." he sighed. "Just no judging my decor, alright?"

Corinne laughed, and it staved off a bit of the worry he felt. He'd killed two Inglewood pack members now... there was no question about it.

They'd be coming for him.