DISCLAIMER: This contains sexually explicit scenes; so if that offends you don't read it. The author and/or Nifty are not responsible for those under eighteen (18) years of age reading this. UNDERWORLD is property of the author and should not be used without the author's permission.
Agent Drake Bamford was sitting at his desk, poring over case files when Hallows peeked her head through his door.
"Bamford, you're gonna want to see this. Cave, now." The Cave was the main room of the Agency for Supernatural Affair's HQ in upstate New York. Bamford got up from his desk and followed Hallows and a couple of other agents down the hall and down the main stairwell into the rows of desks with countless computers and filing cabinets with plasma monitor-lined walls, all with stats and satellite feeds. At the center of the room, on a circular raised platform surrounded by more monitors and a computer used by the head technician, Marty, was the Chief. Both were looking at the screens, which appeared to be displaying case reports, with a few other agents. Chief noticed Bamford when he entered.
"Good, Bamford. Now a report just got in from your sector about a chase in progress in Battery Park city, Manhattan."
"Couldn't a routine road block with three units secure this? What even makes it stand out as nocturnal?" This situation hardly warranted such a meeting, there was vampire and werewolf crime going on all the time.
"Well this one involves a car with three vamps, and a werewolf. A changed werewolf."
"But... that's impossible, the next full moon isn't for another week and a half."
"Apparently it is only too possible. Here the camera at an intersection caught a shot of the wolf when the vehicle ran a red light," The image appeared, a black and white photo with a blurred, but fully recognizable, image of a changed wolf going after a black sedan, "frankly I couldn't blame them, that werewolf's making good time."
"What the hell do we do now?!" The driver screamed at his partner,
"How the fuck is this even happening!"
"How the hell should I know?" He thought for a minute, then turned and grabbed the shotgun behind him, loaded with silver bullets. "I'll try and get him from here, turn left!" He did so and as the car turned sharply, he opened the door, reached out one arm, and swung himself onto the roof of the car. Once he steadied himself on top of the moving vehicle, he steadied himself with the shotgun so he could get a clear shot at the behemoth chasing after them. It was about ten feet behind them. He aimed and made some close shots at the beast, but it would always nimbly leap out of the line of fire and start running alongside a wall of one of the buildings on either side of the street. "C'mon, you fucker," the vampire muttered to himself in frustration as he tried to get another shot in unsuccessfully. The wolf leaped up from the street and launched himself off a newsstand onto the facade of the row of townhouses on the right side of the street. As it ran along the wall, he tried to fire a few more shots at the wolf, but when it got close enough, the werewolf leapt off the wall and onto the roof of the car.
The impact of the creature landing on the roof caused the driver to panic and turn the car too sharply, flipping it. The werewolf grabbed the vampire' neck with one hand and with the other, jumped off the roof of the car and, as it was about to flip over onto the wolf, it grabbed the handle of the side door with the other hand and threw the car over its head to bring it down on its roof abruptly with a crash onto the pavement. After digging deep into the vampire's chest with its claws and lacerating his heart severely enough for it to bleed and starve to death, he ripped off the car door like it were made of paper, yanked out the driver, disposed of him similarly, and fished his briefcase out of the car. Just when the werwolf had gotten what he came for and thought he would be able to get away before the change wore off, he heard sirens. There were four black audis coming at him from all sides with their small, red sirens flashing. He knew these weren't ordinary cops, this was the ASA, the Nightwatchers, as most called them. He turned to run away, but a car stopped up right in his path and as he leapt over it, two agents firing guns with silencers, loaded with silver bullets, got out and got a couple of shots in. About eight more began firing similarly, running after the wolf. A few got in and slowed him down incredibly until he couldn't go on and collapsed. When one fires silver at a changed wolf, it just causes them to change back and heal, it doesn't kill them like if they were in their human form. So the body slowly morphed back until it was a naked man's body in a fetal position, covered in scars and dirt. One of the agents walked up to the body tentatively, gun at the ready, to see of it was safe to transport him. Upon a couple of nudges with his foot, he turned to the others and said, "Ok, bag him and get him upstate."
The Big Three once again found themselves around the familiar round table in the large, dark conference room. They were all there:
-- Hellion Sanger, the current chancellor of the Council, a new one is chosen every ten years. He is the owner of the Company Sangeo with a monopoly on all commercial blood distribution in the country. The only source of blood out of his scope is a fresh bite. His company ran a number of "Blood Silos" across the country, supplying the other clan's locations with preserved, enriched blood, sometimes even bodies in bulk. He came out of the wood work after about seventy-five years off the radar. The last records of his whereabouts was during the 1800s when he ran some factories. It's strange that such a businessman would suddenly take an interest in biotechnology. Nobody knows the secret partner with whom he developed the blood preservation techniques that made him the powerful figure he is today. He is the most imposing man if them all, with shoulder- length center-parted dark hair, equally dark eyes, and broad shoulders with a solid build. He is in a normal pinstripe suit, typical to his business-like personality.
-- Mr. Wu, leader of the Dragon Clan. The gang existed mostly in China until their weapons trafficking business extended overseas. Once the gang had established substantial roots on the West Coast, Mr. Wu, in a daring move, brought the Dragon Clan eastward. There he linked several small Chinese vampire gangs already operating in Chicago, St. Louis, and New York and built them up through further turnings, Eventually becoming leader of the entire USA Branch. Their business still mainly consists of smuggling werewolf-hunting weapons and ammo from their Chinese stronghold for use by the rest of the vampire community. Lately, however, their practice has included human smuggling for feeding purposes, as a supplier to Sanger's Bloodbanks. He is a thin, venomous looking gentleman with a bony face, goatee, and tight ponytail. He is in a black suit with a white tie, his gang's uniform, as well as a black fur coat and black fedora and a cane bearing his gang's symbol, the Imperial Dragon. Despite his austere persona, he still has a fairly flamboyant taste.
-- Nathaniel Carrion, leader of the Chiroptera clan, that of Kyle and now Damien. Real Estate is the source of his influence. He owns all the vampire-used property in all the major cities. He came to power after making the huge transition of converting each of his clan's headquarters across the country into nightclubs. His were now famous and frequented by other cells in the area. Because of his bustling business, he gained much of his influence as one of Sanger's greatest clients for his blood. Thus, Sanger usually lends his support to Carrion. He is an albino, interestingly enough, with slicked back white hair, dressed in a black suit with a red shirt that matched his his red eyes.
Each of the members had their own exit door, with each door guarded by their own two bodyguards on either side. They spoke of business.
"Wu, I'll need another load of handguns and ammo for my New York location." Carrion began.
Wu responded in accented english, "unfortunately, production has been slowed, a couple of our factories in the southwest were raided this past moon."
"A cruel coincidence, as that is exactly why I must build up the arsenal in Manhattan, they were also visited."
"I understand, gentlemen," Sanger intervened smoothly, "How you have felt the effects of these past raids, as have I. The healing requires blood, more blood than I can supply at this time. It has become clear that the wolves' tactics have evolved, therefore, so must we. Which is why I have dedicated more manpower to the study of how to annihilate the Wolf Problem."
"We've already got labs in Nevada, constantly upgrading our weaponry. I don't appreciate being outsourced to your own, unseen scientific facilities." Wu interrupted defensively.
"Don't worry, Mr. Wu, I understand your function and your weapons are more than adequate. The effort to which I am dedicating my own resources works on a far more grandiose scale."
"Don't tell me we're back to Project Omega."
"Indeed that is to what I am referring. Now before you begin again, I must once more beseech your support in this effort. The war has gone on long enough and no matter how close we have come to destroying them, they always rebound, this time more forcefully than ever. What I am planning will work on many levels over a period of time in a series of targeted attacks. I cannot implement it without your help."
Wu and Carrion weighed their options, and came to the simultaneous conclusion that Sanger was offering them what could be their only chance to salvage their businesses. When each arrived at their own conclusion, they shot a couple of mental messages at one another ensuring that they were on the same page. Carrion responded first, "Very well, count the Chiroptera in."
"The Dragons as well."
"Excellent," Sanger's smirk gave away his pleasure at having their support, "Now first, I assume you've all heard of the out-of-cycle wolf that's been causing all the trouble?"
"Yes, they call him the Renegade. A wolf unleashed by the moon, so to speak." Wu answered.
Carrion elaborated, "the Nightwatchers finally nabbed him, I hear."
"They have, and that's not the half of it. Listen, I know who he is, what he's been after and, most importantly, why we must get him before the Nightwatchers have a chance to interrogate him."
"How do you know they haven't already?"
"My people tell me they caught him a few hours ago. Assuming they used the standard silver darts to bring him down, it'll be at least another couple of hours before the chemical wears off, and even longer before he regains enough energy to be of any use to them." Now Wu asked a question.
"So how, exactly, do you propose we break into the top-security headquarters of an agency that is supposed to be helping us remain secret, and rob them?"
"Well, Mr. Wu, that's where you come in," Sanger answered tentatively, noticing Wu stiffen immediately at his response. He continued defensively, "Well, the Dragon Clan has all the necessary resources for this kind of operation."
"True. Alright, I'll offer my manpower." Carrion interjected, hoping to be of some use himself.
"So, do you need a place to keep him? Because I've got some prime interrogation rooms in downtown New York."
"That would be helpful, yes." Sanger nodded in his direction.
"Now Sanger, I feel that we've gotten off track here. You say you know who the Renegade is?" Sanger smirked again, glad that someone had finally asked.
"Oh, I've found out more than that."
Across the country, in a Sangeo lab in downtown Seattle, a man in a white lab-coat slouched over ancient texts interspersed with more recent files on a light-board, looking them over through a magnifying glass. He was very clean cut in appearance, with only taught wrinkles and grey streaks in his hair betraying his age of nine hundred years. In German, he muttered to himself, "Finally, the Hybrid will be mine once more."