Asclepius nodded towards Mary and Tara, "He's going to need to eat, and soon, otherwise you know how weak he'll get. I don't suppose these vamps have any sort of kitchen or cafeteria, do you?"

Malikah sniffed the air around them as Bultungin started to come up from the parking garage and filter into the hallway, "You might not believe this but I am smelling food, it's not on this floor, maybe a floor or two above us. It might be a cafeteria of some sort, but vamps can't eat food why would there be anything like that here?"

"If I had to guess," The Bultungin Matriarch interjected as she stepped off the elevator, "it's to appear more human. A building this size must have lots of employees. It wouldn't bother anyone if there wasn't some kind of cafeteria or café here. But, if anyone ever looked at the cost and revenue records of this place, not having any kind of craft or food service expenses is the kind of thing that just might raise suspicions. And what vampires love more than anything, is the ability to not raise suspicions about anything." Mary and Tara both nodded towards the Matriarch.

Asclepius shrugged his shoulders, "regardless of why it's here, we should be grateful it is here and get Acharya there soon, so he can eat something, dragging himself on the ground out of hunger won't help any of us.

* * * * *

Huan Li moved up through the staircase. He led the group of Shape shifters from the City under the Sand. His side burned, but it had stopped being anything more than a soft incessant throb that he was forced to acknowledge. Since he had been healed already, none of his people could do anything for him. Huan Li was going to have to deal with the fact that the Shape shifters from the City under the Sand had given him a permanent wound, nothing that would hamper him, but it would serve as a constant reminder of what had transpired and just who he has insulted. A fitting payment, he supposed, for the loyalty of a City and aid in this fight. He would never forgive them for this, but he wouldn't protest it or call any more attention to it either.

The first-floor door off the stairway was unlocked and he pushed it open a crack so he could see into the room beyond. The room looked to be some kind of banquet hall or just an open space, maybe a room where cubicles would be set up for office work. Whatever the final form this room would take was beyond his concern, the open floor of the cavernous dark room yawned out in front of him. He stepped into the room and moved along the wall. The werewolves from the City under the Sand followed him, pressing along the outer walls, ready for any sort of ambush.

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They crossed the room to three doors that branched off from the main banquet room. Huan Li took the farthest door while other werewolves took the side doors. Huan led three packs through the double doors in front of him. The door way opened into a small foyer leading to two mirroring, stainless steel elevator doors.

He looked back into the large room they had just exited and watched as the other two groups disappeared through their respective doors. He turned back to the elevator and pressed the call button.

An eruption of sound and flashes filled the somewhat cramped space. Bullets whizzed into the space and tore through the werewolves standing there. High caliber rounds exploded and ripped through fur, bone, muscle, and sinew.

Huan grabbed the first werewolf he could and threw her back into the room they had just come from. She crashed through the double doors and skidded along the smooth floor of the still empty room. Huan took several rounds in the back and as he reached out to grab another werewolf's arm, as a round ripped through Huan's bicep. Huan lost all strength in his arm and tried to shoulder charge into the other werewolf, but the werewolf wasn't standing anymore. Only half of the Shape shifter's head was still on his neck. Huan Li tried to force himself to face and understand what he was seeing, but a blast exploded in front of him and ripped into his own chest, throwing him back against a wall.

His vision was filled with muzzle fire from 50. Cal gatling guns, spitting bullets towards them from recessed alcoves, revealed by sliding sections of the walls.

* * * * *

William laid in a heap in the bottom of the broom closet. His pack hadn't been able to get to him and those vampires were still out there, making their way to him. He looked around the small room and groaned silently as his body ached from the bullet holes and wounds he had suffered.

He knew that Aceso wouldn't just leave him there, but there was not a lot they could do. They hadn't been able to bring weapons of any kind with them, and now, in their tower, the vamps definitely had the upper hand.

He heard footsteps, they were still a way off, but they were getting louder. He was pretty sure, with the way he was now, he wouldn't be able to fight off a squad of vampires with guns. He leaned his head back, hoping that maybe Aceso and his pack might come to his rescue.

He knew that that wasn't something he could really count on, not that they wouldn't try, they just wouldn't be able to.

He forced his legs to untangle themselves as he got upright, crouching in the closet. Depending on how many there were, and he could count at least four different sets of footsteps walking towards him. He felt a little head rush as he crouched there, trying to focus his vision and keep himself steady.

A muzzle poked around the corner of the closet door jamb, and William launched himself at the gun even as it started spraying its bullets. He caught a few more rounds in his stomach but he wrenched the gun free from his assailant and tackled the vampire who had been holding it into two others.

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