Nicolas bowed to the young woman, "If my esteem can change so much in thee for so small a thing, then perhaps I will endeavor to improve more my disposition in thine eyes." Amanda rolled her eyes and shook her head, but she couldn't hide the small smile that touched her lips at the over-the-top display.

Just then Aceso's radio crackled to life, "Is anyone there, can anyone respond, this is Ansuya. Is anyone there?"

Aceso thumbed the radio to life, "Ansuya this is Aceso, we're alright we're on the seventh floor we just escaped that blast."

"Aceso," Ansuya responded, "Thank the Gods you're alright. We're trapped down here on the fourth floor. We're trying to find a way up but it seemed like they targeted the stairways and elevators."

"Well, isn't it lucky for us that Efraim trained us in parkour," Nicolas said.

Aceso shot him a look before responding, "Can you get to any of those elevator shafts? That might be the best way to scale up the building."

Ansuya's voice came back crackled, "That's what we're looking for but it's slow going for us. Take your group and continue with the plan, floor by floor. No vampire leaves this tower alive."

"Understood, see you on the other side… and be careful," Aceso said.

"You too, Aceso, Ansuya out." The radio went silent.

"How many of us do you think got caught in that blast?" Charles asked.

"That's not something we can worry about," Aceso stated. "We have to assume that we are one of only a few, if not the only, group to have made it above the blast. We are on our own for the time being."

The group moved away from the stairwell and started their sweep of the seventh floor, wondering just how many Shape shifters survived, how many were hurt, and how many wouldn't make it home today. Kenneth would pay for it all, William silently swore to himself that if nothing else, Kenneth had seen his last moon rise.

* * * * *

"Well, this is fun. Don't you think this is fun? Mary? Are we having fun yet?" Acharya asked as he gripped to the still swaying elevator cables in the dark elevator shaft.

Mary shook her head wondering why or how they were even still alive. They had heard the blasts and explosions and Acharya had pretty much thrown them into the elevator shaft and they moved up, jumping along the walls up two stories before the blast shook the shaft they were in, and the elevator crashed down to the basement level, at least that's where they assumed the elevator had crashed down to, leaving free hanging elevator cables that they had clung to until the concussions from the explosion and the felled elevator faded.

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They were still in werewolf form, the Bultungin on the other hand, were in their human forms, clinging to the dirty cables for dear life. The only Bultungin who looked anywhere near as cheerful as Acharya was the Bultungin Matriarch.

Acharya noted the smile from the old woman, "At least someone else is having a good time."

The Matriarch looked up at the werewolf, "If one can't enjoy the journey, then life is meaningless."

"Well said, Matriarch," Aiman responded.

"Is everyone else, ok?" Acharya asked into the silence of the elevator shaft.

He got a few grunts and responses. It would be impossible to tell how many they had lost in the blast until they were on solid ground with some proper lighting.

Acharya kicked himself off the elevator cables towards a shaft wall, and using his legs, thrusted himself up to the opposite wall. From there he jumped over and used his claws to rip into the closed elevator doors. He threw one side open and stepped out of the shaft into a well-lit hallway. To his shock, there were vampires waiting for him. Ok, he wasn't shocked at all; he would have been shocked if vampires hadn't been waiting for him.

He dove straight into the firing squad even as they opened fire from their assault rifles. He threw himself up one wall and then kicked himself up to the ceiling and then dove onto the squad of three vampires from above, covering the distance between them and the elevator doors in seconds, and only taking a few grazing shots along his arm and shoulders.

He ripped into, and killed the three of them, in very little time, it could hardly be called an exertion on his part.

How many vampires were there in this place that they could waste so many of them in such small squads and with only small arms? Didn't they have any heavy crew serve or mounted weapons? He could have sworn that he had heard those types of weapons being fired around the building, but so far, his group hadn't encountered any.

Behind him, Aiman had entered into the hallway and was gripping the elevator cables and dragging them into the hallway, pulling the people clinging to it, up the shaft. Acharya came over and helped drag the heavy, oil coated, cable into the hallway. Eventually he was grabbing the claws of his people and hauling them out of the elevator and lifting up the Bultungin that had stayed with them, those that had survived the blast anyway. When the last of the group had reached the safety of the hallway, Aiman kicked the cable back down the shaft.

"Are they really willing to blow up their own tower just to kill us?" Tara asked as she flexed her tired claws and shoulders. "What other tricks and gags do you think this fun house has to offer?"

Acharya looked down the hallway and then towards the ceiling before responding, "I don't know. We are deep in enemy territory here and the vamps have all the advantages. But we aren't completely helpless either. All we can do is keep our eyes open and keep moving."

"They would be foolish to not be watching us," the Matriarch said looking around the hallway.

"If the vampires are watching us, Matriarch, then you are in danger. We have to get you out of here, now," one of the female Bultungin said in her native language Oromo, who was still in human form. Her dark eyes were determined and sharp.

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