He ripped his claws across the face of the first vampire, only to look up and see the fourth vampire, standing well back from the close-up assault group, open fire on him in earnest. William gripped the first vampire on the ground he touched and yanked him up to use as a shield. The undead corpse of the vampire was little protection from the bullets flying his way but it was better than nothing.

His legs were under him and he was sprinting down the hallway, with his meat shield tightly gripped in his claws. He ran blindly till he felt himself crash into the lone vampire and took them both to the ground. He sent adrenaline to surge through his arm and shoulder as he punched through not one, but both of the vampires' heads. William ripped his claw and arm free from what used to be the skulls of the two vampires, watching them fall lifelessly to the ground.

William looked back along the hallway, and saw not four but five dead vampires, and the distance of the hallway that he had run was a lot longer than he would have first suspected. He turned around and Aceso was running towards him, as he was just able to catch himself against the wall before slumping down, sitting down hard in the hallway.

He watched his alpha look over him and he felt her teeth sink into his fur and skin as he gasped with the sudden pain. Even with his adrenaline rush, there was no real reason why he should be alive. As if in answer, he heard a familiar snicker in the far back of his mind, 'I'm always here, and I'm awake more than I let you know. Remember that in the future. And by the way, we're still not friends.' His other, that which he had almost mercifully forgotten had once again saved him from certain death. Sometimes, even an untrustworthy ally is an ally worth having.

* * * * *

Ansuya ducked low and sprinted through a dining room. They were being pinned down by two vampires at the far end. The werewolves she led were throwing tables and chairs at the vampires, making their gunfire completely inaccurate and ineffective.

She swept one clean off his feet and sent him crashing into the wall directly behind him. The other was tackled to the ground and got his throat sliced open by a werewolf from the City under the Rock. Just when she was starting to think this might be too easy, high caliber rounds started spitting their way into the room from the hole that the vampire had made in the wall.

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Ansuya threw herself into a group of werewolves standing near her, taking them to the ground. The rest of the room dove to the floor and started army crawling to the sides of the room to get out through the doors.

She took out her radio and called into it over the sound of the gatling gun that was coating the room in a hail of bullets and light, "Anyone! MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY, we are pinned down in the first-floor banquet hall, they had heavy automatic weapons, Huan Li where are you?!"

Huan Li didn't answer, it was Acharya voice that met hers, "I would love to say I'm Huan Li but I'm not. We're also here on the first floor, I'm not sure we'll be able to get over there even with the Bultungin's help, we're a little busy right now.'

Ansuya nodded, it had been a long shot in any case, what ticked off in her mind was that Huan Li hadn't answered. That was troubling.

The gunfire stopped, and a thunderous silence settled on the banquet hall. Ansuya crawled to the wall where the gunfire had come from only a moment ago. Staying low she inhaled the air around them; she was met with a familiar scent.

"Aceso!" Ansuya jumped up and looked through the hole in the wall, seeing the alpha and her pack standing over a dead vampire who had been manning a fifty-cal mini gun and enough ammunition to assault a small town by himself.

The alpha looked over at the elder and nodded, it was Nicolas who spoke, "we heard you had a pest problem, something about parasites in the walls?"

Ansuya and several other werewolves close by laughed at the joke and the relief that they were all still alive. The elder looked around and was amazed at just how little damage had been done to them. That gatling gun should have been able to level the room, and everyone inside it. She had to assume that it was a combination of luck, maybe the vampire couldn't see into the room very well, and the clothed tables had seemed to give them a fair amount of concealment as well.

One of the alphas from the City under the Rock commented, "It appears these vampires were more prepared than we originally thought, or maybe this Kenneth is more paranoid than we first gave him credit for."

Ansuya nodded, but instead of answering his comment she called into the radio, "Acharya, Acharya are you alright, what's your location?"

Acharya's voice came back broken as loud gunfire threatened to drown out his words, "We're on the North….Th… tards have us…. down! The Bultungin are holding their own but… curtain… fire. Any… would be… ciated."

Without waiting for anyone's permission, William hefted the gatling gun off of its mount and Amanda grabbed a few boxes of ammo.

Aceso pointed behind her, "we'll go back that way and see if we can't flank them from the west. Ansuya you can go east and hopefully we'll meet somewhere in the middle."

Ansuya nodded and took off at a run to her right, leading a large group of werewolves with her. Aceso and her pack rushed back through the doorway they had come through and, meeting up with the remainder of the werewolves from the City under the Rock, moved around and tried to find a way to the north side of the building.

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