As the wolves continued running, this time at a much more comfortable pace, Judia pointed to a village in the distance.
   "Thats our destination, Florwella, home of the Fangdancers." introduced Judia.
   "Huh? The home of the Fangdancers is a village?" asked James in disbelief. Werewolves living in a village was not something completely unheard of, but it was extremely rare. A village dwelling werewolf would need to constantly interact with the people and has to stay in human form indefinately. Thus hunting for food would have to be done at night and it has to be done secretly but the risk of being spotting is usually very high. Humans are also known to be very unfriendly creatures who know nothing about the clan ties and even attack, injure and kill each other very frequently. There is much distrust in the human species itself and that is the reason why werewolves seldom live even near towns but rather live on their own in their dens.

    As the group approached the village, Judia instructed them to turn back into human forms. The rising sun was just appearing in the horizon and the orange rays was starting to shine its warm light into the houses of the occupants. The village was starting to liven up as doors opened and humans came out about their businesses. Judia led Jeri, James and Diablo into the inn after speaking a while to the accompanying Fangdancers who promptly dispersed into their own affairs.
    They entered the inn attracting many stares from the people inside. Judia went all the way up to the innkeeping lady and spoke a few words. The lady nodded in understanding and passed Judia a set of keys. 
    "There sure is a lot of people..." said Jeri nervously as she held on tightly to James who would be her only remaining family.
    "Here you go James, you all can go rest in that room over there. Whatever you do, do not wander around the village too much and remember not to go into werewolf form especially, no matter what happens. I will return shortly." instructed Judia sternly but softly as she pointed to a large door.

    The room was a warm large room with 6 beds all around. James lifted Jeri up and set her on the nearest bed. Diablo and James then took a seat around a table.
    "I know you have many questions Diablo, I guess it is time to tell you what i know." announced James as he saw the tired but questioning gaze of Diablo.
    "To begin, I must first say that I myself am unsure of what has happened in the past few hours but what i know is that you and your sister are the main causes of everything that has transpired. First of all, there is this prophecy known amongst the werewolves, that one day from amongst the clans of the werewolves there will be one whom will have magical abilitles that exceed even those of the druids and mages and her powers will lead to the destruction of all its enemies. The power is said to even rival the abilities of the High Mage council of the Elements.
   Rexus and your Alpha, seem to believe that it is your sister Claire but the reasons have been lost along with their deaths. However, it seems that the Nightclaws too, believe this story and have captured her for her hidden powers that they will harness to complete their goals. It is rumored that many have died, including your parents to ensure that Claire survives but I do not know anything beyond that."
   "Grrr..who cares about the prophecy? All i want is to get my sister back." growled Diablo as he thought about what his sister must have been going through.
   "I know Diablo, but both you and me know that we are not enough to stand against the raw power of the treacherous Nightclaws and whatever other spies they might have like Janz. We are going to need the FangDancers' help at least and we don't even know a thing about the Nightclaws like who is their leader or where are they cooped up." explained James as a matter of factly.
   "You have Jeri too!" yelped Jeri determinedly and Diablo, hearing that, responded by patting her on the head.
   "What I recommend we do now is to rest up and clean up and wait for Judia to come back to us. I have questions to ask her too." added James.
   Diablo nodded in agreement as he lay down on the adjacent bed to Jeri and thought about all that had happened and what his fate would be like...

   Immense pain shot through the spine of Diablo as they tore through the thick trunk of the tree severing it violently into half. The crushing weight of the tree missed Jeri by inches while Diablo slammed heavily on the ground with Janz on top of him. Diablo howled out in great pain as his body tore through the jutting ground of the forest and friction burnt his raw and lacerated flesh. Diablo however, was not going to die without a fight. He swiped furiously at Janz torso slashing off tender flesh as Janz pushed his rear claws into Diablo's stomach and flipped strongly backwards tearing out more flesh and muscle as his claws were drawn out of Diablo's shoulders.
   Diablo gritting his fangs in pain as he rolled over and struggled to right himself. He was already severely weakened by the sudden burst of pain and injury. Janz landed about 10 metres away from Diablo and spun quickly backwards to deflect the claws of James in midleap. James was deflected to the side of Janz and had to dig his claws deep into the ground to stop himself from slamming into another tree.
   "Hahaha! The last of the SearingFangs is just so pathetic!" Mocked Janz as he stood proudly staring down at a kneeling Diablo. James was too far to help him now and Jeri was just sitting there too shocked to budge. Janz thrust his left claws back into Diablo's shoulder and held Diablo's limp body up into the air. Diablo's battered body was regenerating ever so slowly but his strength was completely sapped from the onslaught of Janz. There was even more sounds of laughter, as Nightclaws began to appear from behind Jeri. 
   "Wow, Janz. I see you been having some fun over here. Anyway lets clean up this mess and get going. We have great plans for the girl wolf." suggested one of the Nightclaws. There was at least 4 Nightclaws around and one of them roughly pulled Jeri up by her paw amidst her screams. "Hahaha! We got a little play thing here too!" scoffed that Nightclaw as he threw her to another Nightclaw as if she was some little toy. "Well Diablo, its time to end your suffering as a pathetic creature in this world." mocked Janz as he placed his right claws directly at the neck of Diablo.
   Diablo scanned around and saw the impossibility of escape. James was blocked by two other Nightclaws and it looked like James would be sharing the same fate as him. Suddenly, Diablo caught the whiff of a strangely familiar smell. The grass behind the Nightclaws toying with Jeri suddenly gave way to three figures who flew elegantly towards them. Two slashed past the Nightclaws while the third caught hold of a flying Jeri. The two other Nightclaws immediately blended back into the surroundings and Janz, who was looking at the happenings behind, suddenly flew back away from Diablo. Diablo landed face up and saw the familiar face of Judia.
   "Come on Diablo, lets not waste time, we will get you to safety." assured Judia as she helped Diablo to his feet. "Come James! We got more enemies coming." yelled Judia as the smell of more Nightclaws got closer and closer. The three other werewolves started to move towards Diablo and Judia when black claws impaled through the one furthest behind. The two Nightclaws were still here and more were coming. They had no choice but to leave the wounded wolf behind as they fled away from the NightClaws.
    Judia took out some mud placed in leaves and begun to smear them over Jeri. The other werewolf gave the same leaf wrapping to James and Diablo.
    "Smear this over yourself. They won't be able to sniff you out after." instructed Judia as they continued their escape. As they moved for another 500 metres or so, Judia suddenly bounced off a branch and stabbed into the air behind Diablo.
    "There we go. We are now cleared of all possible Nightclaw following." annouced Judia as a dark furred werewolf flopped to the ground with a hole in his neck. "By the way, the rest of us are all FangDancers." introduced Judia as they continued their escape, out of the forest, into the rocky area leading towards the sea.

   The 2 werewolves stared at each other with bloodthristy intent and began to circle around waiting for the other to make the first move. Both their claws were already extended fully to nearly half a metre away and kept themselves just out of striking distance. Indeed each claw was like short swords with a hooked end that could easily pierce as well as slash. However, both were very cautious of making the first move.
   Jeri grabbed tightly onto the arm of Diablo as Diablo backed down knowing that it would be foolish to get into a fight between these two. They were both veterans of battles and duels to have made it to be the sub alpha or guard directly under Rexus the Stingclaw Alpha and would obviously been stronger then Diablo. Any aid would be nothing more then a hinderance to James focus and Diablo doubted that he could have done any damage anyway.
   The situation was intense. Janz suddenly laughed loudly, breaking the silence. "Hahaha, never thought this day would come so fast huh James? But you do realise that you do not stand a chance, and you never had a chance. Have you forgotten about all the duels you have lost to me? Or maybe I did too much damage that you can't remember anymore huh?" scoffed Janz mockingly.
   "At least I would have lived with more honor then you, treacherous dog! Betraying the very clan that brought you up, and the very people who have protected and helped you!" replied James agressively.
   "Honor? Hahah! What is honor when you are lying down bleeding and dying? What is honor when all you do is just to fight for your own survival and still die in the end? No more will we need to run, when we have the power of the tainted blood with us! With her powers, we will be the one killing, and everyone else, humans or vampires alike will be nothing more then prey to us! The world will belong to us werewolves and everyone else will just be our toys!" laughed Janz ambitiously.
   "Such a lack of realism you fools have. It has already been prophesied that such powers will be beyond our control and if left unchecked, you would have achieved nothing less then the destruction of absolutely everything. Reckless thats what you people are!" James insulted in return.
   "Haha! Thats why i say, werewolves like you are nothing more then hinderances that keep us from attaining our true potential and authority. And werewolves like you are just USELESS!" yelled Janz as he lunged forward at James. James somersaulted over Janz as Janz ripped through the tree that was behind. Upon landing, James rear claws dug deep into the ground as he pushed strongly against the ground propelling him towards Janz. Janz however was fast enough to meet James claws with his and deflected James into a tree. Janz was now positioned directly between Diablo and James. As James struggled to push away the tree that had fallen on him, Janz beckoned to Diablo and said, "Diablo, join us and your sister and we can have true power and dominion over the world. No more hiding from hunters. This time we can kill them! and kill them all!" 
   "W hat is this true power that you are talking about Janz? I do not understand!" yelled Diablo in return.
   "Diablo! Do not listen to him. The power that they speak of would require the sacrifice of your sister!" pleaded James
   When Janz saw the doubt and hesitation in Diablo, he laughed and lunged towards Diablo.
   Diablo saw the flashing of claws flying towards him as his eyes started to sharpen in celerity. However, he already did not have the time to dodge the blow as claws pierced into both his shoulders and his legs no longer touched the ground as they flew towards a tree.

   More transparent figures begun to materialize in the Den itself. Diablo could count about 20 of them, all covered with slick black fur with red eyes that seemed to glow as the wolves stared directly at Diablo. Diablo heaved a sigh of relief when he saw a bloodied but still alive white furred Claire as she pushed her way through the black furs.
   "Diablo!" cried Claire as she leapt forward to embrace Diablo. She helped Diablo to stand as Rexus started to speak.
   "We have no time to lose, the boulder is going to get breached soon. I want all those who are able, to leave through the tunnel that we built. Its narrow but we should be able to get the younglings and those who are in good shape out." Diablo could see the Giganwolf nodding as he realised that this would be his last battle, but he would go down with honor. The boulder holding the intruders out was starting to vibrate as spells continued to bombard the boulder. Rexus continued,"Stingclaw s and all those who can help, may i ask that you stand with me?"
   Diablo could see the influence of Rexus as a leader as the remaining Stingclaws and all those who were injured took position around the boulder. Rexus then called Diablo and a blood soaked James to him. "Diablo, the battle here is lost, but not the war for the survival of the werewolves. James will take you and Claire out of this place and bring you and the younglings to somewhere safe. I doubt any other wolves will follow, they grow tired of running. The Nightclaws will help us hold the enemies back, and make their own retreat after." said Rexus gravely. Indeed besides Claire and a few other female wolves who were guiding the younglings to the tunnel, the rest stood battle ready for honor and death regardless of their clans.
   Rexus pulled Diablo close and whispered, "Be very careful, after you get out of here, for you have more enemies then you think. Now GO!" Rexus ordered as he pushed a confused Diablo towards the tunnel just as the boulder gave way erupting in a hail of rock. Immediately there was howling and yelling as battle erupted yet again in the confines of the den. Diablo stopped hesitating and ran as a spear of ice pierced into the female Stingclaw who was running past Diablo to join the melee. Diablo ran past the Giganwolf as he grabbed another huge boulder and hurled it towards the throng of hunters and mercenaries. A ball of fire met the boulder in mid air and blew it into pieces as a armored spearman leapt gracefully over the crowd and thrusted the spear into the chest of the Giganwolf. The ground shook as the Giganwolf howled and thrashed in pain trying to get the spearman off him.

   Diablo managed to stumble into the opening of the tunnel and rolled accidently onto one of the younglings that was hesitant to leave his parents in the battle. "Jeri, comeon lets go." said Diablo as he realised who the youngling was, and grabbed her hands to lead her in the tunnel. James entered the tunnel directly after Diablo and with his sharp claw, he stabbed into the rocky ceiling muffling the sound of battle with the rocks covering the only escape route.
   "Come, Claire and the others should have made it through to the other side by now." James announced as he walked past a stunned Diablo and Jeri. Diablo could see why James was entrusted with the task of bringing him and Claire to safety. James was indeed like Rexus, who would do what was against normal emotion and yet necessary to get the job done. 
  
   The 3 of them had quite a gap between them and the other escaping younglings as the 3 saw nothing but emptiness and darkness for a some time. Finally, the 3 saw the end of the tunnel thanks to the moonlight that was streaming into it. Jeri scampered hurriedly to look for the other younglings, who would be her only family, at the exit of the tunnel. When Diablo and James emerged from the tunnel, the area around them was empty except for Janz.
   "Janz! You're all right? I heard that your group was taken out pretty quickly when they met with the main 5 of the hunters." exclaimed James as he approached Janz excitedly.
   "Sadly, our ambush fell through as they managed to catch sight of us all too quickly... We hardly stood a chance and I was forced to leave the wounded behind... Anyway it is great to see you, James." declared Janz as he too moved closer to James.
   Diablo realised that they were approaching each other too cautiously and was about to greet Janz too when Janz's claws suddenly elongated towards James c hest and was stopped by the superb reflexes of James as his claws started to grow longer too.
   "Janz, you weren't at the ambush were you? Never did i expect you to be the traitor..." announced James as he violently pushed Janz claws away pushing Janz with his back rear claws grinding against the ground.
   Never did Diablo suspect that there would be traitors in the same clan of werewolves...
  

   An silver arrowhead connected to a silver chain glistened past the head of the swordsman and impaled through the skirmish leader who was at the rear of the escape. To the horror of the other wolves, the arrowhead upon passing through the chest of the skirmish leader, opened up and hooked and dragged the skirmish leader towards the source.  
   "Cain!" Yelled an escaping Stingclaw as he stopped on top of a huge branch and glanced back only to see a silver blade plunging into the skirmish leader as he squirmed pitifully on the ground. Gunfire rang out as bloody splotches appeared in the chest of the stopped Stingclaw as he stared in disbelief before falling into the muddy ground below. 
   "Keep running!" Yelled Diablo as they sprinted at high speed away from the skirmish area towards the den. The attack group of 8 was reduced to 5 and from the howls that rang out through the sounds of battle, it would seem that many wolves, like the skirmish leader had already lost their tomorrow. The stench of humans had already filled the air all around Diablo and his group.
   "Damn!" cursed Diablo as he stopped on the edge of a small clear that led to the entrance of the den. Instead of the clear path that Diablo left behind as he went to his ambush point, the path was now littered with bodies human and wolves alike and more bodies were added to the pile as claws met leather armor and mails, while spells of all elements as well as other arts and techniques snuffed out the lives of wolves. The battle however was already taken into the den itself as more hunters and mercenaries entered the path from the forest areas. Thoughts of Claire in danger flashed through the mind of Diablo.
   "NO!" screamed Diablo in his heart as he lunged recklessly into enemy filled territory. The other 4 Stingclaws realised that it was over for them as Diablo had recklessly blew their cover. They too lunged forward and followed Diablo's suicidal lead.
   The gap between Diablo and the Stingclaws begun to widen as celerity took effect on Diablo as he moved faster and faster till he begun to blur into the surroundings. This was the speciality of the SearingFangs, the extreme speed reachable by celerity that was unmatched by any other werewolf clans.
   "What..." gasped a mage as Diablo's right claw sliced cleanly through his neck and in milliseconds, Diablo's left claw gutted an archer who was too focused on the battle in front. However, the Stingclaws behind were too striking as they were too large and slow in a group and bullets, arrows and magic spells engulfed them. There was hardly a chance for survival given the amount of projectiles flying at them.
   Already halfway to the den, Diablo managed to leap on another hunter burying his rear claws just below the shoulder of the hunter slamming him hard onto the ground. However, as soon as Diablo's front claws landed on the ground, a huge armored foot kicked Diablo backwards with great force landing Diablo sprawling on his back surrounded by hunters and mercenaries.
   Sneering and mocking, the hunters and mercenaries closed the circle around Diablo contemplating how they would torture him before his death. Diablo turned round and round snarling, but he knew his end was imminent.
   "S word Art... Shimmer..." chanted a swordsman but he was unable to complete the chant as a claw as black as darkness plunged into his belly lifting him above the ground and tossed him into the mystified crowd behind. Almost immediately, other black claws took down targets all around Diablo and these black claws continued to attack targets all around Diablo.
   A shady figure begun to appear before Diablo revealing a slick black werewolf.
   "Diablo, I presume, Rexus send me here to get you back into the den." introduced the black werewolf as he grabbed a stunned Diablo and dragged him through a path created by the other attacking black claws. However, Diablo realised that the black claws were only interested in helping him escape as they stopped attacking as soon as Diablo was a safe distance away.
   The black figure threw Diablo onto the ground as they entered the den while a huge stone closed up the entrance to the den, courtesy of a wounded and bleeding, but still alive Giganwolf.
   A wounded Rexus sat against the side of the den near the entrance. He looked at Diablo, waved towards the black werewolf and said, " ;Diablo, I introduce to you, the NightClaws..."

   Immediately there was silence throughout the den as the reality of the news sunk into the minds of all the wolves, whether StingClaws or one of those who were gathered here. This was it, the last stand of the wolves for the whole region of Verdana. The survival of the bloodline of the werewolves was to be determined here in this very cave.
   Wolves began to gather around Rexus. Even injured wolves forced themselves to their feet despite pleas by Julia and Janet to rest for now, as they limped towards the growing circle of wolves filled with wolves of all shapes and sizes and also all states of healthiness.
   Rexus raised his paw and silenced the crowd. "The Hunters whom have killed our brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers are coming this way. Their numbers are many, and ours are few. But just as how our ancestors fought and fought to ensure our survival till this day, today is our chance to contribute our strength and our blood, to ensure that our desendents have a chance to do the same one day. They might have weapons and numbers, but we have the power and with our blood, we shall show the Hunters the true might of the Werewolves, just like how our ancestors fought human and vampires alike AND WON!" Loud growlings and howlings arose from the fueled crowd.
   Diablo leaned close to James and asked, "Do we really have a chance?"
   "Well... indeed this number of wolves is the most i have ever seen and with such diversity and energy... we might live to see tomorrow's sunrise."
   Rexus slowly moved from group to group and gave them all very specific instructions. Julia and Janet beckoned to Rexus and mumbled something to him as Rexus nodded in understanding. Rexus then stood in front of Diablo and Claire.
   "You two, stay here with the injured and the FangDancers. This is where the battle will end in our victory."
   "But Rexus, i will be more of help outside!" protested Diablo.
   "But Diablo... can you stay here with me?" asked Claire hesitantly
   "You better listen to your sister. Don't worry, we have the outside covered. You will have your share of battle in here, and its better you protect them." advised Rexus as he pointed to Claire and the younglings behind and started to walk out of the cave. 
   Diablo gazed around the caves. The 80 or so StingClaws was reduced to about 20 StingClaws left in the cave of which only 12 were in fighting shape. However, upon counting the other wolves gathered in this cave, there would be at least 60 wolves in the cave excluding the younglings. Diablo stole a glance at Claire who was helping to herd the younglings into a larger hollow in the cave and quickly bounded out in pursuit of one of the many Stingclaws groups that was going to meet the enemy.
  

   "HEY! SearingFang get up here!" Growled a Stingclaw fiercely. Diablo snapped out of his trance in which he was contemplating the reasons why Rexus didn't want him out here where he knew he would be the most useful. Diablo immediately leaped up a tree and stopped beside the Stingclaw that called him. Diablo then realised how close to danger he was. The stench of humans was less then 80 metres in front of them, but Diablo could see that there was no way these hunters could detect them up here.
   "What are you doing here SearingFang boy?" asked the Stingclaw in annoyance.
   "Erm... Rexus told me to assist..." lied Diablo
   "Grrr.. whatever the case here is the plan... We are just going to kill as much of them in surprise and pull back quickly. We cannot afford to get into a full skirmish with them cause their reinforcements are probably just minutes behind each other. So just take out your target and we retreat. Get it boy?" explained the Stingclaw hurriedly.
   The stench was almost directly above them already. The skirmish leader quickly pointed to the target that Diablo was going to take down. He raised his hands and as he waved it down, the accompanying 6 Stingclaws almost instantaeously pumped themselves downwards. Diablo hesitated slightly, but picked himself out and carried out the maneuver perfectly. He leapt downwards at high speed and easily pushed the hunter's head firmly against the ground cracking his skull with a sickening thud. He then backflipped away from the body and rushed further back to join the StingClaws at the next ambush point. It was a perfectly executed ambush with all 8 hunters taken down with hardly a whimper of noise.

    The next ambush position was different. This time they were not perched in the trees. They were merely in the bushes. "Why did we change a position, ain't the trees good enough?" asked Diablo quietly.
   "Boy, never use the same method twice... if the group before noticed how the dead bodies were positioned, they can guess how they were killed and will be on look out for us." answered the Stingclaw impatiently. 
   In a matter of minutes, more hunters appeared. Diablo slinked low and prepared for the signal. The hunters were focused on the trees above just as how the Stingclaw had predicted. "GO!" huffed the skirmish leader as he shot outwards low on the ground with his accompanying Stingclaws. This time Diablo managed to catch the timing and was able to violently trip his target as his jaws crushed her windpipe. The hunter flopped down with a wide opened mouth but that mouth would never scream again. He took a second glance at her and slinked off along the undergrowth towards the next point of ambush.

   "S eems like we are doing ok... up to now no sounds of gunfire has been heard yet. Anyway this is our last ambush point, after which we are going to run back to the cave and defend from there. If everything goes according to plan, we should have been able to reduce the odds to 3 of them to one of us. And that is great odds for our victory." sneered the skirmish leader. They stopped about 300 metres from the cave itself and waited.
   "Strange... I remember the human stench just moments ago..." mused the skirmish leader.
   
   "F iery anger of earth, gather and decimate thy foes. FIREBALL!" chanted a voice as a flaming ball of earth flew towards the Stingclaw beside Diablo, smashing smack into his chest and propelling the Stingclaw onto  the tree.
   "What The..." The skirmish leader was unable to finish his sentence as gunfire sounded and wolves howled. 
   The other werewolves didn't hesitate anymore. They rushed out of their positions towards the origin of the fireball. Diablo managed to get sight of the spell caster as another fireball blasted a leaping Stingclaw right past Diablo.
   "Sword art... SHIMMERING SLASH!" yelled out another voice as two slashes appeared on the fur of another Stingclaw amid bright flashes of light. The Stingclaw howled in shock, but was able to stand as the slashes healed thanks to the healing properties of the wolf.
   "These are not hunters... they are mercenaries!" growled the Stingclaw that was initially hit by the fireball as he leapt towards the mage.
   "Strength of earth, protect thy son. EARTH SHIELD!" yelled the mage as dirt and rock formed a shield around him. 
   "Show them the power of the Stingclaws!" yelled the Skirmish leader as his claws suddenly elongated and went into the shield with a bloodied tip sticking out from the back.
   "Now we pull back!" ordered the skirmish leader as he turned and started to run.
   "Sword art... STASIS SWORD!" yelled the swordsman as ice started to materialise around the Stingclaw that he slashed. Diablo was unable to avert his gaze as ice blocks dropped on the Stingclaw and joined to form a complete blade shaped block encasing the Stingclaw in a state of stasis.
   Diablo drew his eyes back and ran...

   The atmosphere outside was a complete change from the day Diablo and Claire first stepped into the den. The first obvious fact was that all the werewolves seemed busy doing one thing or another. Besides the group being briefed by Rexus, the number of internal sentries was at least doubled if not tripled. Another big group of wolves were clustered in one corner while smaller werewolves shuttered water to and fro from a small storage within the den. Two wolves were in partial wolf form and were running from injured wolf to injured wolf, fiercely jamming claws into them and ripping out certain damaged tissue.

    “Hey aren’t those Janet and Judia?” observed Claire aloud.
    “Yep it’s those two FangDancers…&rdquo ; answered a voice from the side.
    “Oh! James!” said Claire aloud when she made out the face.
    “Haha… as you can see we have suddenly become very busy… After making contact with all the remaining werewolf clans in the area, Rexus decided that it was inevitable to gather all clans in one spot to increase our chances of survival. Of course in that process of gathering, many clans were wedged in by the sudden onslaught of hunters… in fact we have never seen so many hunters active in a region as small as Verdana. However, if past reports are of any significance, we can assume that the bulk of the hunters are here, just as how they have been to other regions before this, completely obliterating all werewolf presence there. It is safe to say that they want to do the same here…

   Anyway as you can see, many wolves have been injured during their transit here and our FangDancers numbers are too few to attend to the many injured werewolves.    

   Even with Judia’s excellent speed surgery skills, with so many, we are unable to remove the silver affected areas before the injuries become fatal. In fact we have already lost 5 Stingclaws… but the losses of the other clans are far greater. Anyway I gotta go count our present strength now… talk to you guys later.” commented James as he turned and walked away to carry out his orders that was probably from Rexus.
   Reality began to dawn on Diablo and Claire as they realized that the fighting was far from over.
   “Hey Diablo, I see if I can go help Judia and Janet ya?” asked Claire energetically.
   “Yea sure… I guess I will go around and see what else I can do.” Replied Diablo as he thought about the impending battle and looked around further.
  

   Indeed, the den was filled with members of other clans, but most of these members were hardly able to even walk properly although they have been treated by the FangDancers. However it was very interesting to see the many different traits of these clans. There was one with very large hind paws while there was another werewolf whose physique was gigantic. Diablo wondered to himself how that wolf was actually able to run fast.
   “D! D! That guy is huge right??” squealed a sharp voice shaking Diablo out of his daze.
   “Oh hi Jeri…” replied Diablo in a slight annoyed tone.
   “Rexus says that that guy is from the clan GiganWolves. The other one is from clan PiercingClaws. Rexus said that he once saw a PiercingClaw pierce through 3 fully armored humans with like little effort. He says that they might even be more powerful then us StingClaws. However I still think that Rexus is way cooler! Once I saw him taking down a hugehuge tree with one swipe just like that!” exclaimed Jeri enthusiastically as she imitated the swipe that Rexus must have done.
   Suddenly, a StingClaw stumbled noisily into the group that Rexus was briefing and fell flat before him. Rexus knelt beside him as he struggled to whisper something into his ear. Rexus then stood up and turned towards the inside of the den and yelled loudly, “GET READY! IT IS TIME!”…

    The Stingclaws were perfect in timing their leap with a gust of wind that caused the rustlings of leaves to mask the sound of their pounce. However, it was obvious that the stealth was unnecessary as the fastest two Stingclaws easily lobed off the heads of 2 humans. The other 2 humans stood there with mouths gasping but were unable to neither yell nor scream as claws burst through their bellies snuffing out their lives almost immediately. A shrill scream burst out from behind a wagon as another Stingclaw landed on the top of the wagon and slashed violently towards the source. The scream was prematurely cut off but only for milliseconds as the other Stingclaws slashed through the leather canvas of the wagons revealing screaming children. The tiny feet of the children could hardly attempt an escape as one by one, the children were brought to the ground even before their spilled blood touched the ground. Children who weren’t the first to be taken out experienced mere seconds of pure fright and terror as the werewolves practically bounced off the bodies of their first targets towards the second.
    Diablo took a quick glance over the blood-soaked field and realized that there were only 6 Stingclaws. As he focused in front of him, he saw a little girl who had managed quite a distance away from the wagon but towards Diablo. Diablo boosted himself towards the girl and sunk his teeth into the soft fabric of her blouse and ran as fast as he could, away from softening screams. As he gained some height carrying a now unconscious girl, a furry figure bumped violently into him and the limp body fell towards the hard earth below. However, the body never felt the impact of the earth as another figure grabbed her in mid air spewing blood into the air in all directions. Diablo knew at that moment that it was over. All the children would never have a chance to experience adulthood.
   As Diablo landed on the ground filled with the girl’s blood, the two figures landed just around him and he realized that it was the missing Stingclaw and another female Stingclaw. As the branches cracked and leaves rustled violently, more Stingclaws leapt over the 3 werewolves towards the direction of the wagon.
   “Ah Diablo, trying to stash food all for yourself? Hahaha…” Exclaimed the originally missing Stingclaw. The other Stingclaw had already laid the bloodied body on the ground and was beginning to feast.
   Diablo looked with disgust as he gritted his teeth and forced a laugh. The screaming was replaced suddenly by the howling of wolves. It was feeding time.
   “Erm, I think I will return to the den first.” Announced Diablo, turning his face away from the disgusting scene.
   “You sure you don’t want a bit?” offered the Stingclaw as he sucked out the innards with a sickening slurping noise. Diablo didn’t bother to reply and bounded off with celerity.

   As Diablo stepped back into the den, he realized that most of the other werewolves were already awake and even Janz and James had returned. There was also many other werewolves with different physical unique attributes that only meant that they were of different clans. Claire waved to Diablo expectantly as Diablo moved slowly towards her.
   “So where is the food?” asked Janz as he stepped into Diablo’s path.
   “Coming…&rdq uo; grunted Diablo as he gently pushed Janz away and walked past Claire into his chambers.
   “Diablo, what’s up?” Asked Claire with a concerned tone as Diablo’s shoulder brushed past her.

   “Don’t bug me…” hissed Diablo as he stomped into the deepest of the chamber and sat there, leaving a stunned Claire in the wake.

   “Diablo! I brought u some food.” Yelled Claire excitedly as she carried in what looked like a human organ into the chambers.
   “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Yelled Diablo as he flicked the organ off Claire’s hand into the air. “DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT IS?”
   “Deer’s liver.” Spoke a voice from behind Claire. Rexus stepped out from behind Claire giving Diablo a friendly wave.
   “SearingFang, forgive me for my ignorance. I forgot that the SearingFangs do not eat human… it just slipped off my mind…” apologized Rexus as he bowed slightly in sincerity. He paused for a while before continuing, “However Diablo, as you can see, these are not the best occasion to be overly concerned about our sustenance. We are in the midst of battle every single day. Our scouts have reported patrols of hunters every single day and it won’t be long before they discover this hideout. Furthermore, as you can see in the den, we have many other guests from all the other clans that are no more. In fact in the midst of this whole group here, only the Nightclaws’ Alpha and the FangDancers’ Alpha has not been killed in battle yet, at least in this region. I’m not sure about our brothers in the other regions but if we do not survive this, then there is nothing more to know.” At this point, Rexus gave a slight snigger that seemed to lack confidence.
   “Anyway, eat well, for we might not be able to obtain so much food in the coming days… and we have received news that the Nightclaws will be joining us soon leaving the FangDancers as the only Clan that is isolated… but we have more problems on our side then worrying about the FangDancers.” Advised Rexus as he walked out of the chamber towards a new group of waiting werewolves, probably to issue new orders.
   “Hmmmm… Rexus seems to know a lot…” mused Claire as she looked in the direction of Rexus. “I wonder if he knows our Alpha… and what he was like…”
   “Maybe we can ask him later… I mean he even knows our unique diet that I heard only our Alpha implemented… that means that Rexus should know Alpha personally…” thought Diablo aloud as he stared at the deer’s liver.

   “Hmmm… they seem rather busy.” Mused Claire as she continued to observe the surroundings. More wolves were leaping off the edges of their “rooms” and joining the big group in the centre. Those wolves that were on sentry had also stopped movement patrol and were staring intently at the group in the centre. It must have been a serious issue judging from the faces of the StingClaws. James could be seen nodding his head as Rexus turned to him and said some stuff. Those human form werewolves who were behind James were already starting to turn wolf as James turned back to face his gang while Rexus continued to talk to the rest of the wolves. As soon as the last human form werewolf was completely changed, the whole gang of more than 15 including Janz bounded towards the exit.. 
   “ What’s happening?” asked Claire to a female werewolf who was standing beside her.
   "Off to another battle…” replied the werewolf worriedly as one of the leaving werewolves gave a slight glance towards her. She then grabbed the hand of the youngling beside her and walked away slowly.
   “Sister!” yelled a smaller voice just below Claire.
   “Rexus told me to show you all around! Come, come, my name is Jeri!! Come follow Jeri!” she yelped energetically as she ran towards a playing bunch of younglings.
   “Apparently these kids have no clue what is going on huh….” Observed Diablo aloud as he and Claire walked towards the cheery bunch of wolves.

   Diablo woke up in the cool of the night and walked out towards the main hall from the chamber that was his new room. He caught sight of a small group of 7 Stingclaws gathered in the centre. One Stingclaw stole a glance at Diablo and gave him a wave. Diablo waved meekly back.
   “Hey SearingFang! You wanna go hunting with us?” announced another Stingclaw when he also noticed Diablo.
   Diablo thought to himself for a while. “Since we are already imposing on them for lodging… I guess it’s only polite to help them out in hunting…” reasoned Diablo to himself as he continued on towards the group.
   Diablo and the Stingclaws then bounded out of the entrance back into the moonlight of the full round moon.

   “Where are we…” whispered Diablo to the nearest Stingclaw when he realized that they have entered into stalking speed and were moving with extreme caution as well as silence.
   “Our prey is right there…” answered the Stingclaw with his eyes deeply focused on the 3 wagons that had gathered with some men sitting around the fire.
   “What stupidity… its gonna be a quick and simple hunt tonight.” mumbled another Stingclaw excitedly. At this moment, the 8 wolves had already completely surrounded the 3 wagons and the men were oblivious to their impending doom.
   “Gee… these 4 men won’t really be enough to feed the clan, would they?” asked Diablo quietly.
   “ Haha… the main courses are in the wagons…” answered the same Stingclaw as he locked his claw deeply in the branch in preparation for the attack.
   “But if there are more people inside the wagons… things could get a bit complicated…&rdquo ; asked Diablo tactically.
   “That isn’t an issue SearingFang. The humans inside are just children…”
    Reality dawned on Diablo. These weren’t humans first then wolves. They were hungry and merciless wolves first and humans later. Images began running through Diablo’s head rapidly. Images of the SearingFang alpha reminding them time and time again that no matter the case, one should never attack defenseless humans, especially children. Images of the alpha slashing a young SearingFang whose first kill was a young girl that he proudly paraded around the den to the horror of the older SearingFangs. Anyone with a human conscience knew how despicable it was to kill humans who had no idea what was going on, who were totally innocent of the ongoing violence of the world. There was just no reason to kill someone who had neither intention nor ability to kill back. That was what the alpha called honor and justice, that we should never stoop to the cruelty and injustice of the military men of the world. People who would stop at nothing to achieve their selfish goals. These were the instructions and creed of the SearingFangs.
   “Erm… the children…” Diablo said hesitantly but was unable to complete his sentence as the Stingclaws were already airborne over the small group of humans…

   As we approached the base of the giant cliff which the StingClaws called their home, an oncoming group of 7 StingClaws rushed towards us and stopped James. After a few minutes of swift exchange of words, James turned back and nodded towards Janet and Judia. The FangDancers nodded in understanding and followed the 7 StingClaws as they rushed away. The speed which they were moving at indicated great urgency as they moved with celerity as soon as they were about 100 meters away from the opening of the Den.
   "What was that about?" questioned Claire.
   "Lets not waste time, its a long story... come the leader wants to meet you two." replied James emotionlessly. Janz and James wasted no time going into the large opening of the den. Claire and Diablo however, were amazed at the sight of the hugeness of the den. It was magnificent. The ceiling was extremely high and it was filled with holes that were the living quarters of the wolves. Unlike the SearingFangs, there were no 3 chambers. It was all one large chamber filled with wolves running around. A bunch of younglings were grouped in the corner playing an innocent game of catch, while towards the middle, the younger wolves were having some battle training. Unlike the SearingFangs, most of the people in this den remained in full wolf form which was not like the SearingFangs who were mostly in human forms. Claire and Diablo however, strangely felt more comfortable moving around in their wolf form.
    “Wow… we can finally just stay in our wolf….” Diablo stopped himself from continuing when he saw Claire’s swelling eyes.
    “Hey, come on… don’t think about it too much…” consoled Diablo while patting Claire’s shoulder.
    “Ah! Diablo SearingFang and Claire SearingFang, I see that you two have made it safely back here.” announced a loud voice authoritatively. Janz and James moved aside revealing an average sized werewolf but with extraordinarily sharp claws.
   “Oh sorry!” apologized the wolf as he drew back in his claws when he realized where the eyes of the two SearingFangs were focused on.
   “Anyway, welcome to the den of the StingClaws, I am Rexus StingClaw, and these other two whom you must have met are James and Janz StingClaw. This James over here is one of the better leaders amongst the StingClaws and Janz here is one of the mightiest, better in battle then even me, some might say… Haha!” Laughed Rexus to himself as he gestured to introduce James and Janz.
   “Anyway, I hope this den is to your liking and you all can just make yourselves at home. Anything you need, just ask this little guy here. Sorry that I can’t stay to chat. Come James and Janz, we got important matters.” Ordered Rexus as he led James and Janz away into a crowd of adult werewolves who were starting to gather at the side.

   As Diablo ran through the once familiar dark chambers that he once called home, many thoughts flew through his head regarding the recent happenings. It was not a dream. The bodies that Diablo clambered over could testify to that.

Many of the faces that stared back were faces filled with love and concern moments ago. But now they were nothing more then ‘Faces of death’.

   They weren't scary, they were his friends and family. Thought Diablo to himself as his claws sank into the unmoving bodies of his comrades and foes. But this was it. The SearingFangs have lost. Even the Alpha that everyone looked up to was lying in the midst of sneering hunters in a bloody pool with all kinds of wounds and projectiles sticking out of the body. The once proud Alpha was nothing more then amusement now and the SearingFangs were nothing more then a useless pile of bodies. Even the futures of the SearingFangs, the young wolves were slaughtered.

   "And the alpha once spoke of human compassion, the power to love and protect..." wonder Diablo as he winced in pain while the wound on his back continued to widen.”Nothing more then spineless worms without honor." cursed Diablo. However, the damage was already done and even Diablo was losing focus. The wound was too extensive and still growing and Diablo's blood continued to mark the trail he was taking. His eyes were growing dimmer and the light from the entrance was seemingly moving away. "Damn..." moaned Diablo as his fast paced dash was slowing to movement that was hardly a crawl.

   The fan stuck vertically out of the neck of the figure whom the hunter was targeting. It was the alpha. He was already fully in his human form, a form that was covered in reddish blood and flesh was hardly intact. It was apparent that he was in this state a long time ago and yet not dead.
   "Hahaha... he was such a fun toy to play with.."scoffed a chub by hunter who stood beside the lanky spiked hair hunter as he tossed a chained spiked ball around. The spikes on the ball were bloodied and red.
"Get out... all of you..." whimpered the dying mess that was once the noble alpha of the SearingFangs.
   Claire turned around to look at the alpha as another projectile flew past her ear and struck the alpha right in the forehead.
   "RUN!" yelled Diablo when he realised that the spiky haired hunter had his rifle trained on Claire. Diablo dug his claws deep into the ground and fired as much dirt and rocks into the path of the bullet. The bullet struck the ground close to Claire's feet as she turned around to flee.
   As Diablo completed the flip, he realised that the other werewolf was charging right at the podium. Diablo's claw dug deep into the ground as he projected himself forward towards the podium. The dark den was already becoming brighter in Diablo's eyes as dust flew up while Diablo charged past. Diablo leapt at the base of the podium as his claws sank into the hard rock walls and Diablo dashed spirally up the podium. Diablo could see the other werewolf about 2 metres above him and it was obvious that the hunters saw him too. Rocks flew past Diablo's cheek as they were dislodged either by the movement, or by the projectiles that struck the walls. Even Diablo too had to dodge the huge fanshaped projectiles that struck the ground much too close to Diablo.
   "Damn... this is risky." thought Diablo to himself, but it was much too late to back out. The other werewolf reached the top and leapt straight up to deal a downward slash. However, he was not prepared for the hunter armed with blades as she simply stretched out her arms and the werewolf lacerated himself directly on the blade and flew backwards, off the podium, past Diablo as his quivering eyes met Diablo's.
   The reality of this battle dawned upon Diablo. There was no way one remaining werewolf could stand against all these hunters. They were undeniably well trained. Suddenly, Diablo caught sight of the reflection of a scope trained on him. Behind the scope stood the familiar lanky spiked hair hunter. Diablo immediately sunk low and pushed hard against the wall of the podium. The bullet sliced along the skin of Diablo's back close to his spine. Diablo pushed with all his force and managed a high velocity backflip off the podium. There was no choice, he had to run. The other 4 hunters were visiblily amused as the chubby one patted John as he laughed. "You missed!!! Hahaha... did you see that guys, John missed!"
   Diablo however, had to rush off with a bleeding back and also a bleeding pride. Diablo was retreating...

   "Damn this place is dark..." exclaimed the other werewolf as he stepped into the den. The 3 werewolves had no choice. It was too dark to see without changing completely into wolf form. 
    "Gosh... the stench...." yelped Claire as her eyes focused in the dark den turning blackness into different shades of grey. The smell of dead bodies human and wolf alike, was overpowering. There was no way the wolves could use their strong sense of smell to detect anything in this situation.
    Diablo closed his eyes shut and opened it to reveal the new plethoral of colours, which were all different shades of gray. This was the true natural night vision.
    The three wolves walked slowly towards the 2nd den, taking care not to step on any of the bodies that littered the ground, of which some of the bodies were easily recognisable as bodies full of life just moments ago. Friends and foes alike lay quietly next to each other, with their lives snuffed out.
    "At least we took out quite many of them..." mused Claire as she passed by significantly more hunter bodies then werewolves. 
    "Yea this was the point where we still had the advantage of suprise..." explained Diablo as they entered into the 2nd chamber. This was a bigger chamber just before the residential chambers. Wolf bodies with burnt marks could be seen hanging from the jagged rock walls while the hunter bodies lined the center walkway.
    Claire however, realised that some wolves' bodies were tinier then the normal adults. "Even the young wolves..." wimpered a shocked Claire when she realised the cruelty of battle where death can come to you no matter your age or your race. The hind paws of the werewolves were now covered by the flowing blood from the battle. The entire ground was bathed in blood.
    The 3rd chamber was already in sight, but the strange thing was, not a single moving figure could be seen. "This is weird, no wolves moving around..." asked the other werewolf worriedly.
    "Hmmm keep your guard up..." warned Diablo.
    The 3 wolves stepped into the 3rd chamber and took a quick glance around. The 3rd chamber had large crevices cut into the walls for the wolves to sleep in, and the centre of the chamber was a high tower formation that the wolves used as the podium. The spiral staircase to the top twirled nicely around the rounded walls of the podium. And on the top of the podium...
    "SPLIT!" Yelled Diablo as a bullet flew ever so close across Diablo's shoulder and hit the ground below. The three werewolves split up into a triangular shape surrounding the podium on which 5 hunters stood, one of whom looked strangely familiar with his lanky build and spiked hair.
    "So these were the wolves that opened the door for us huh... they look pathetic." chuckled the hunter who was armed with a scythe.
    "Haha! I imagined them bigger, but like these jokes they sure look scrawny." laughed another female hunter who held blades that extended from the front side of her hand all the way up and past her shoulder.
    "This will be quick. We will rip them apart like their Alpha." said one more hunter as she threw a 3-fanshaped projectile to a figure behind Claire.
    Claire turned behind and upon seeing the target of the hunter, she grew weak in the legs and dropped to the ground...
   

   The early rays of the sun shone horizontal through the clouds from the horizon. It was the beginning of morning. Diablo rose and shook the dew of his skin. The other two werewolves were still huddled together in human form.
   "Must have been over exhausted from yesterday..." thought Diablo to himself as he slid down the steep top of the den and landed infront of the den entrance.
   "It was so easy to seal the den... but now it looks like I'm gonna need some time to move all these rocks away." thought Diablo to himself as he picked up the smaller rocks and threw them behind him. After toiling for about 10 minutes, all the light rocks were cleared and all that remained was the larger and definately heavier rocks. The sun was already in full view with its light engulfing the entire entrance of the den. 
   "Ok its time to speed things up..." said Diablo to himself as fur sprouted from his back and even the heavier rocks were as light as the light stones. Diablo, of course was unlike the werewolves that humans understood. Those werewolves stories that were told to the children of humans said that werewolves only turned into wolves when there was a full moon was true, but not entirely. In fact all these werewolves could turn into their wolf form as long as they possessed the drive and it was dark. Furthermore, this story only talked about those werewolves who were of human origins, that is humans who converted to werewolves either by blood mixing or by rituals. However, Diablo, Claire and some of the other wolves in the SearingFangs were wolves first and humans laters. This means that they are not as affected by sunlight or other factors and are actually able to morph at will.
    "Hey Diablo! Need help?" yelped Claire as she bounced lively down and grabbed a rock and swung it away. The other werewolf followed suit.
    "You guys feeling better?" asked Diablo as Claire swung a rock towards Diablo.
    "Hahah what do u think?" asked Claire as Diablo simply tilted his head to the right while the rock flew across.
    "Good enough I see..." said Diablo as he keep to the task of removing the rocks.
   
    "What the?!?!" yelled Diablo suddenly as soon as a small hole allowed light into the interior of the den. Diablo had saw a figure but it darted off too quickly for Diablo to be able to make up the figure. Furthermore the ground was too densely littered with human bodies as well as werewolf bodies in all stages of transformation. The 3 wolves pushed harder and soon were able to excavate a hole big enough for them to step into the body infested, limbs strewned, bloodied ground of the first chamber of the den, with nothing more then darkness into the depths of the den...

   Diablo claws easily tore through the very first hunter's torso, spilling the guts as he charged through. Gunshots rang out from the rifles of the 4 remaining hunters stationed further away as Claire dodged deftly to the left while the other werewolf slinked under the bullet's path. Diablo leaped towards the next hunter and the hind paws met with the neck of that hunter as her windpipe shattered and Diablo backflipped away as a bullet wizzed past his muzzle. More hunters were rushing to the location. All three werewolves were trapped dodging bullets and were unable to advance towards the hunters any further. The hunters however were not taking their chances. With every bullet dodged, the hunters moved closer towards the wolves. "Damn... we have no chance in the melee at this rate...." Diablo realised. A hunter approached into the vacinity of Claire and grabbed the handle of his whip. Diablo attempted to move towards Claire but a bullet bit into the rock directly in Diablo's path and Diablo managed to only narrowly backflip away. The hunter was already too close. With a flick of his wrist, the whip flew back in preparation for the sweeping movement. There was no way Claire could dodge that. As she slid to the right evading another bullet, she could sense it was over, the whip was coming directly at her. In an instant, a ball of white fur crashed into that hunter and the whip narrowly swung across the top of Claire. Diablo and the other werewolf reacted immediately and dug into the ground as they sprung forward. Further behind another gray figure crashed into a rifle hunter. However, the hunters weren't slow to react either. The nearest hunter to Claire drew out his blade and slashed the white figure who was then rushing at him. The other 2 hunters drew their weapons and parried the claws of Diablo and the other werewolf. Further behind, the gray figure was joined by another smaller whitish grey wolf as they attacked the 2 rifle hunters. However, the furthest hunter was able to fire a shot into the chest of the gray figure which was actually the werewolf appointed to do the wolf howls. The white figure that saved Claire was now bloodied and limp. It was White, Claire's pet wolf. As Diablo finally managed to sneak in a thrust through the heart of a hunter, he caught sight of Claire backflipping as her rear paws violently knocked the head of that hunter, ripping the head from the rest of the body. At the instant she landed on the ground, her claws dug hard and leaped to one of the other rifle hunters, sinking claws from all of her 4 limps into the body of the hunter and ripping her apart into at least 8 differenty directions. "Her speed and strength.... uncanny..." thought Diablo as Claire turned back and stared back at Diablo with blood red eyes, the eyes hungering for blood and revenge. As the last of the hunters fell to the ground, Diablo realised that Claire was in a state of feral rage....

    There stood the skirmish leader werewolf. A gray furred werewolf who had the characteristic thicker and sharper claws of the StingClaws.
    Claire however, was uninterested in this new addition but was rather concerned about the werewolf who was shot in the chest. The silver bullet however, had already taken effect on the werewolf. There was no more regeneration in the area that was shot and it glowed bright orange as if it was burning. Silver was the only material w hich could actually hurt  werewolves. This was because silver was able to restrict one of the werewolves' unique&n bsp;ability which was the rapid regeneration of cells in the body. However, the heavy silver metal is able to bind around the genes coding for the regeneration of cells and completely render these cells useless. As cells surrounding the injury die, the silver diffuses into the nearby cells effectively making a small injury fatal. In this werewolf's case, it was fatal as Claire held his hand while he drew his last breath
    "Its over for him, but not over for you." said the leader as he looked at the  remaining other werewolf struggle to get up as the after effects of celerity wore out. Other StingClaws leapt past above Diablo and the other leader as they clashed with other hunter groups around the area. Claire however, stood over the werewolf who was shot in the chest as he breathed his last.
    "I brought 20 of my wolves here under the orders of our Alpha to aid you guys." explained the Alpha. An addition of 20 werewolves was a tremendous boost to the lower number in the SearingFangs defence. But from the looks of things, there was no way to render help to the werewolves who were currently in the cave as the StingClaws would not be able to reach as far as the entrance of the save to move inwards. Furthermore there would be even more hunters along that direction. A wolf howl rang out through the increased volume of clashing claws with weapons and gunshots.
    "Damn.. thats the last one... the battle is already in the main chambers. Thats the signal." reminded Claire shaking Diablo out of his formal greetings with the StingClaw leader.
    "Right... we gotta move... thanks for your assistance." thanked Diablo
    "Just move straight down from here. I sent my wolves down to clear this path." Said the leader werewolf as the shadows of the 3 remaining wolves disappeared into the dense forest.
    Diablo and group passed by scenes of battles and from the looks of things, the StingClaws were formidable opponents leaving few of their own bodies but plenty of mangled decapitiated hunters lay in a mess in the thick grass. Keeping true to the instructions of the leader, the group had a clear path directly to the foot of the hill that was their den. There was hardly even the scent of the hunters along the route. However as they approached the den, there was the smell of hunters as well as the smell of spilled blood. Blood of werewolves.
    "CAREFUL." Yelled Diablo as he dragged Claire aside and a bullet flew past Claire grazing her fur and bouncing off the hard rock further behind. The other werewolf leapt forward and with the right paw slashed away the gun and the other paw slashed across her torso. Hunters were disorganized on top of the den in an attempt to find an alternate entry to the den. There was a slight scent& nbsp;of Stingclaws clearing up the top of the hill just further ahead but they were relatively far away. The 3 werewolves had to settle their objective on their own and with the thickening stench of blood human and werewolf all over, it was hard to pick up any scent of hunters.
    "Comeon. The den depends on us." reiterated Diablo as he rushed in front towards the objective that was on top of the entrance of the den.
    As expected, the hunters had discovered the intention of the objective and there were about 5 hunters surrounding the pile of rocks.
    "Damn, we cannot get there undetected and we are running out of time." said Claire as she looked down towards the entrance seeing groups of hunters rush into the den while others stationed themselves at the entrance to prevent any wolves from entering. The Stingclaws had already reached the entrance too but were unable to push through the choke point and were instead reduced to killing the other hunters around the area.
    "We have no choice. We need to take the risk. Lets just rush them." said Diablo reluctantly as he realised that for every second then he spent deliberating, more wolves would die. This was the only way to end the battle for now. As the fact sank into their hearts, the thrill of the hunt got into them as they rushed at the 5 hunters stationed around the pile of rocks narrowly dodging bullets and leaped at the nearest while the hunters drew their melee weapons in preparation. There was going to be much bloodshed to save their brethren from sacrificing their own.

   "The fight has already been taken to the 2nd chamber..." remarked a werewolf.
   "Damn... thats too quick... faster then we anticipated. We gotta get ready." warned Diablo. The 4 remaining werewolves had made it out of the deep throng of hunters but not without a sacrifice. However, now more then ever, they were too far away from the den and there was no way they could pass through the presently gathered hunter group that stood in their way to the den.
   "We can't stay around here... they are starting to move... and they are coming this way." exclaimed Claire as the deep stench of the hunters started to disperse outwards forming a big circle that continued to grow bigger.
   "Damn... they organized themselves so quickly and now they are prepared for us. We already lost the element of suprise. We must pull back further." said one werewolf as the stench of one group of hunters were headed their way.
   "MOVE!" Diablo ordered as he turned around in preparation to move further back. Suddenly one of the werewolves fell to the forest floor with a 'THUD'.
   "Damn... He over extended his celerity period. He needs some time to rest." announced Claire as she rushed to his side in an attempt to carry him. The stench of hunters was getting dangerously close. Diablo had to make a choice, a choice between the definite death of one, as compared to the possible death of 4.
   "Put him down! We have a fight to attend to." Yelled Diablo as he faced the oncoming stench. The other werewolf and Claire leapt onto the nearby tree branches and prepared themselves.
   "Diablo we gotta make it quick!" Yelled Claire as she detected another scent coming towards their direction. Bullets immediately wizzed through the bushes as Diablo slinked to the right in an attempt to distract the hunters away from the fallen werewolf as the other werewolf and Claire leapt from above onto the distracted Hunters below. The werewolf took down the hunter he fell upon with one slash right down his face to the body and jumped away as a bullet hit his right foot and another struck the righ t side of his chest and he slid across the floor of the forest behind a large trees as bullets struck the hard bark of the thick trunk. There were just too many hunters and too little werewolves. Claire missed her hunter by mere millimetres as the hunter drew a dagger and slashed. Claire dodged left deftly an impaled the hunter cleanly with her claws. However as the hunter fell to the ground, behind him stood another hunter with her rifle aimed directly at Claire's face. "This was it." thought Claire as she closed her eyes in anticipation of the pain. The rifle fired and missed as Diablo slashed right across the female hunter dividing her torso from her legs. But that was it, 2 remaining fighting werewolves in full view of the 7 remaining hunters who had their rifles trained on either one of them while another cloud of scent was approaching the battle from the side. There was nowhere else to run.
   Suddenly, another wolf howl rang out just beside the hunters and in seconds within the chaos that followed, all the hunters were speared by wolf claws that were larger then that of the SearingFangs.
   "StingClaws." greet Diablo as he stood up straight.
   "SearingFangs." greeted a similarly young voice behind Diablo.

   The moon rose high in the sky. The snoring of the little werewolves could be heard but in the den, there was much tension. The adults and teenager werewolves were pacing around the den. The alpha had called for a full alert and already a messager werewolf had been sent to the nearest clan of werewolves, the StingClaws. The younger werewolves were squeezed into the main chambers with all their pets on the pretext of a get together to which they happily obliged, all 6 of them. Diablo and another werewolf stood guard outside the den staring at the crescent shaped moon above.
A wolf's howl a distance in front of the den broke the slience of the night. However, before the wolf could complete the entire length of the howl, a gunshot broke through the slience of the night. Immediately, another muffled howl was heard to the right of the den and it too was halted almost immediately.
   "GO. Warn the others." said the werewolf as rough brown fur erupted from his skin.
   Diablo ran in, through the sparsely distributed werewolves who positioned themselves along the walls of the den. As he passed by each one of their werewolves, they nodded their heads in understanding as fur erupted from each of their skin. Young and old, male and female, all responded the same way as their unique fur colour sprouted out and they dropped to all fours. Diablo dashed through the 2 chambers before coming to the main chamber and there stood the bulk of the werewolf clan of the SearingFangs.
   "I guess there is no easy way out..." said the Alpha as grayish white fur erupted from his wrinkled skin. This was indeed a rare occasion. Everyone was in their werewolf state and this time, everyone had the common objective of protecting the den.
   "Positions everyone... this time we defend our home." announced the Alpha as the crowd of perhaps 15 werewolves and about 10 of their pet wolves roared in preparation. Even the young werewolves woke up and joined the ranks. After all this same den was their home too, and thats good enough reason for them to sacrifice their lives to defend it. "Carry out the plan." instructed the Alpha as 3 werewolves stood beside Diablo and Claire. They were going to go out to fulfil their objectives.
   "Remember, 3 howls." reminded the Alpha as the small group of 5 werewolves climbed vertically up a hole on the wall of the den. Upon emerging from the hole, Diablo kicked up a specially prepared stack of small rocks to seal that hole permanently.
   "Remember, our duty is to fulfil our objectives. Thats all we need." instructed Diablo as the group scampered into dark forest to the nearby sentry post.
   "The human scent is getting stronger. 4 of them." announced one of the werewolves. They ran through the dense vegetation taking care not to create too much noise.
   "No other scent here. The sentry is dead." announced another werewolf as they neared the human scent.
   "Go." ordered Diablo as they dashed out through the bushes while one of the other werewolf leapt from the tree top towards the unaware hunters. Claire was first in line as she rush past the hunter in point position claws outstretched and slashing him cleanly across the chest. Diablo leapt from the ground unto the hunter slightly behind as his fangs met the tender neck of the human and bit into his wind pipe. The human's companion was taken out in like fashion as another werewolf bit into her throat. The last remaining hunter at the back had his face slashed as the tree top werewolf came directly down on him and he joined his other 3 companions' bodies on the foilage of the forest floor.
   "Come we have no time to lose." called Diablo as he led the 4 wolves to the next sentry post. Their objective was to take out as many groups of hunters as possible as they had the element of suprise. A wolf howl rang out amid the gunfire and screams of humans and the wimpering of wolves.
   "We gotta hurry. The battle has been brought to the first chamber." instucted Diablo in a voice filled with intensity. As they neared the 2nd sentry post they felt the pain of the sentry wolves as the scent from the werewolves disappeared amongst the 5 human individual scents.
   "We move cautiously." warned Diablo as his speed slowed further down as they got dangerously close to the human scents.
   "Claire. Celerity and run past them to distract them. Don't pass by too closely and we will take care of them." directed Diablo.
   Almost immediately, Claire dashed out in full view of the hunters, her white fur standing out against the back drop of blackness. In their distraction, they didn't notice the 4 werewolves that leapt through the air towards their backs. In milliseconds, 3 hunters had their necks slashed and Diablo slashed of the head of the 4th one. The remaining hunter reached for her holster and pulled out a flare gun.
   "GET HER!" roared Diablo as Claire leapt from the back of the female hunter seperating her legs from the torso. However, it was too late as a bright flare flew out through the thick canopy of leaves, illuminating the sky.
   "Move out NOW!" yelled Diablo as human scents came into the air from all directions. The hunters were closing in.
   "Damn. Which way has the least hunters?" asked Diablo with a small measure of anxiety in his voice.
   "Here!" pointed Claire as she ran off in a direction away from the den.
   "Damn.. we have no choice... lets move. Celerity!" ordered Diablo as the werewolves rushed directly at the 4 scents that approached them.
   It was not long before they saw the 4 human figures who were prepared for them already. Claire pushed hard against the ground and boosted herself cleanly over the 4 hunters and in their confusion Diablo managed to spear one cleanly through the gut. Another 2 hunters attempted futilely to strike the 2 assaulting werewolves but in celerity, all the werewolves had to do was to dodge the first blow, and strike the life out of the hunters. However the last hunter carried out an evasive manoeuver by dropping back first into the ground as the werewolf flew slightly above her. Then she opened fire straight into the guts of the werewolf snuffing the life out of him. Claire came back and slamed her claws into her face returning the favour of death to that hunter. At that point, the 2nd wolf howl was heard...

   Dirt flew into the air as bullets wizzed dangerously by the two werewolves hitting the hard ground around them.
   "Damn... thats alot of them... we gotta split." commanded Diablo as Claire drew quickly away from Diablo as another bullet struck the ground where Claire would have been. 
   "We are almost there..." yelled Diablo as he leapt over a rock as one bullet bounced off the hard solid rock face.
   The shade of the forest was a welcoming sight as both wolves slipped through the trees into the safety of the forest.
   "Ok Claire now follow me... we gotta lose the trail." commanded Diablo as he slid right in front of Claire. Navigating the dense vegetation was no simple task as this forest wasn't the one near the den.
   "We will lose our footprints when we reach the river... then we go back." assured Diablo as the flowing waters of the river was faintly heard by the sharp ears of the wolves.

   The two werewolves returned to the den as the sun began its descent. The two dripping wet werewolves entered the den amidst the stares of the inhabitants, a majority who were in human form. In fact, there was no reason for any werewolf to stay in the wolf form in the den itself as there was no threat nor danger given the security by the sentry werewolves outside. A few wild wolves followed the pair for a while, but lost their interest when Diablo and Claire reverted to the human form.
   Claire slumped to the ground as her reversion was completed and a few concerned ladies came up to give her a hand.
   "What happen to you?" asked a concerned lady werewolf.
   "Bring her to her chamber to rest please... i need to talk to the Alpha." replied Diablo as his human form took shape. Diablo stared at Claire as she was helped back into her chambers as White, Claire's pet wolf came and licked Claire's leg as both master and wolf returned to their chambers.
   "Hey D... Whats happened?" asked a young werewolf boy.
   "Its nothing... wheres the Alpha?" replied Diablo
   "Diablo. Whats with all the commotion?" a voice rang out as the crowd gave way to reveal a stout elderly man.
   "Alpha. Its nice to see you." greeted Diablo as he struggled to stand up straight in front of the Alpha.
   "What happened?" asked the Alpha as he sensed the shock in Diablo's eyes.
   "The Hunters... they are here." stammered Diablo as some members gasped in shock.
   "So the rumors are true.... the Hunters have finally reached Verdana..." mumbled the Alpha. According to various werewolf messengers, there were a few clans that could not be contacted and the numbers of  uncontactable clans have been increasing slowly. It was rumored that each of these missing clans were completely wiped out, and the only group that would have such precision in objective as well as the raw power would be the Hunters, the fabled group of Undead and Lycantrope slayers.
    "So Cliff is..." asked one of the sentry werewolves.
    "Gone...he got shot while trying to get back to the den." replied Diablo remorsefully
    "Then theres no time to waste. Diablo how many of them do u estimate and how much longer do you think we have?" questioned the Alpha, his voice quivering ever so slightly.
    "I would estimate a pretty big gang if they were the very same group that destroyed our brothers. There were about 8 whom were trying to fire at us from the roofs of the houses when we were running across the field to the east side of the forest to try to lose them." declared Diablo
    "Hmmmm... there could very well be in the 50s to 60s... we have around 25 wolves here and another 10 out on sentry... ok Darcy, tell the wolves on sentry to be more alert. Max, you get the young ones to the main chamber for the night... I have a plan..." instructed the Alpha as he called all the available werewolves to his side... 

   However, though the crowd was thick, the archery range had a strangely more dense crowd. 
   "Hey Diablo... there seems to be alot of people gathering at the archery competition area..." observed Claire.
   "Yea... weird haha... it wasn't so popular last festival..." replied Diablo
   "Lets go see!" piped Claire excitedly. In her excitement, she leapt unnaturally on top of a barrel and further up on to the roof.
   "Heyhey ... be careful... what if someone sees you." Hissed Diablo as he chased Claire to the top and grabbed her foot as he pushed her head out of the open view of the people.

    On top of the roof, the two werewolves could get a clear view of the archery. There were two distinct groups taking part in the competition. One was using bows and arrows while the other group was armed with rifles.
   "Let us now invite the first 2 members of the Hunters and the Amazons to take their positions for the finals of the ranged competition." a voice announced as one member of the hunters and another member from the Amazons took positions and aimed.
   "Gee... ain't gunpower weapons cheating?" commented Claire
   "Well the announcer said it was a ranged competition... who knows..." yawned Diablo boredly.
   "FIRE!" the voice rang out as an arrow wizzed through the air striking the target dead centre. Milleseconds later, the crackle of the rifle was heard as a bullet embedded itself in the exact centre of the hunters target as sparks were seen created by the impact. The entire crowd erupted in applause and cheers.
    "Wow... thats amazing..." exclaimed Claire as another 2 members from each team took their positions and aim.
    "Hey Claire... doesn't that guy all the way across look familiar?" asked Diablo as he pointed to a figure on the roof top a few houses far away.
    "Cool... hehe looks like Cliff is here to watch the show too." mused Claire happily as she realised that we were not the only ones to flout the rules.
    "FIRE!" yelled out the voice as another gun shot rang out through the noise of the festivals. This time, the fired arrow was slient but still as accurate as it shot through the first arrow right into the exact spot of the first. The hunters were not to be outdone as the 2nd bullet met the first and sparks emitted as the 2nd bullet pushed the first bullet further into the wooden board and bounced off with a 'clank!'. The crowd rang out in thunderous applause again and cheered as the last member of their group took their positions. 
    " Now we have the leaders of the groups themselves to show us what they are made of." said the announcer in the midst of the constant cheering.
    "For the Amazons we have Suba!!" and out stood a darker skinned Amazon as she drew her black and white striped bow and strung it with an arrow.
    "And for the Hunters we have John!!" as a lanky spiky hair guy stood forward, complete in his leather trenchcoat and he drew a silver reflective rifle and took aim.
    "Hey what is Cliff doing?" asked Claire
    Diablo looked to the direction of Cliff and could make out bristles of beige fur sprouting out of his skin.
    "Damn... is he crazy?" exclaimed Diablo as he looked at Cliff dash towa rds the forest before the den at supernatural speed on top of the village roofs, even faster then a normal werewolf.
    "Well at least he is using celerity..." said Claire as the figure became blurred due to the high speed of movement. Celerity was a werewolf's ability of overtaxing the adrenal glands to increase adrenaline as well as reduce the impact of lactic acids that would cause pain when muscles are overstrained. At such a speed, it is difficult to make out the entire silhoutte of the wolf.
    "FIRE!" yelled the announcer as Suba's arrow flew directly at the target's centre. The arrow cut across the 2nd arrow and hit the exact spot of the 2 arrows for the 3rd time. John took aim and hesitated slightly. With a sudden jerk, he took aim and fired, completely off the wooden target, at a figure that was much further away...
   

   Of course there was no way any ordinary bandits could have outran the werewolves. Especially werewolves who were filled with the thrill of the hunt, a state of euphoria whereby there was no more feeling of pain for it was overwhelmed by the anticipation of the feast ahead.
   A wolf howl rang out through the feasting sounds of the werewolves. It was time to go. A few of the werewolves picked up a body each. This was to feed the older and sick werewolves, those incapable of hunting. As for the other wolves in the den, finding their own prey for feeding was their own responsibility. Diablo, on the other hand, had already started on his stroll back to the den. Behind him was the town Copus Linx, an originally bustling town that was once packed with villagers. Now, a gloomy and desolated village stood in its place as occasional passerbys and adventurers set up camp as they travelled across the Land of Verdana. A prime place to ambush travellers, as the bandits found out but for now, Copus Linx would stay silent and somewhat safe.

   "Hey Diablo Diablo! The village is filling up with people!! You wanna go see?" yelled Claire. 
   "Huh.. its the festival already? Haha..." yawned Diablo.
   "Yea! Yea! Lets go see lets go see." screamed Claire excitedly as she pulled Diablo's hand and dragged him out of the den.
    "Geeezz... you better hope no one sees us." moaned Diablo as he struggled to keep up with Claire's pace.  

    Copus Lenz, the sister town of Copus Linx was the complete opposite to the current Copus Linx. After the internal war in the Kingdom of Yugest, most towns in opposition to the rule of Yugest were torched and left desolate like Copus Linx. Copus Lenz however had a fickleminded Mayor who switched sides and supported the Knights of Yugest as they travelled through Copus Lenz to destroy the opposition. The ficklemindedness of the Mayor saved the lives of the people but till this day many still hold a grudge against the decendents of the Mayor. Today however, Copus Lenz was a stop point for travellers and also a place filled with festivities. Today's festival was one of the more popular festivals amongst the adventurers and mercenary groups. It was a festival where groups would meet to compete with each other in their own respective specialities and with every winning group came recognition and fame. From simple competitions like archery as well as duels, to even more advanced games such as group competition to complete objectives. For example, one of the interesting competition was specially modified for groups that advertise their defensive capabilities. Wagons similar to those used by merchants are placed on both sides of the field as different scenarios are given to test them. From attacks of wild animals, to groups that specialise in raiding. This was one of the most exciting places to view during the festival. 
   "Wow look at the size of those guys armor." Claire exclaimed as the heavily armored knights stood in front of the wagon.
   "Deathshield... haha... intimidating name huh." laughed Diablo as he read the name off the board while some archers took their place to simulate a rain of arrows on the wagon. As the starting flag was waved, the huge tower shields of the 5 knights were pulled out from the wagon as arrows bounced harmlessly off the sturdy shields of the Deathshields. Ontop of the wagon stood a further 3 knights to repel arrows that had a good arc towards the wagon. It was a perfect defence.

   The thrill of the hunt had overcame Diablo again. Around him, the scenes of a battle had erupted. Claws of more wolves met the leatherhide armor of the bandits as bandits fell helplessly on the ground as the sharp claws dug right through the armor meeting tenderflesh, spewing blood. With every drop of blood that fed the ground, the wolves became more frenzied and uncontrolled. Soon, the outnumbered wolves had reduced the gang of more then 30 bandits to a mere 5 who huddled together, backpressed against the walls of the barn. They pointed their tiny daggers with their shaky hands towards the 8 wolves that stalked them. Above them, came the remaining 2 wolves who leapt off the barn roof, slas hing the faces of 2 of the bandits and as the other 3 bandits tried to comprehend the situation, the other wolves leaped forward and ended the lives of the last 3 standing bandits. The wolves could not contain their lust for flesh as they dug into the corpses to feast. Diablo on the other hand, slid in between 2 houses and sat down as the last of the fur went beneath his skin, hidden from view. The Alpha stood untop of the barn and said, "Feast now... and then we shall bring the remainder back to the den for the others." With that, the alpha too jumped into the midst of the meal that awaited him and satisfied his hunger for flesh. 

"Silly humans. To think that they and their pitiful weapons would be able to hurt us. Haha... they should have ran when they had a chance... haha... but they were our prey anyway..." Wondered Diablo to himself.

Hello all... this is diablo here... just created this blog so lets see how it goes :D Anyway gonna use this spot to try to write a story... so yea its try... haha i dun care... but anyway just for caution sake... if there is any names that belong to anyone else... this is fiction... so it ain you... probably.... and diablo is a nice game thats y i use the name.. so pls dun sue me blizzard.... Im a loyal fan... i tink... haha rights anyway other stuff like certain terms that i would use are not realistic true terms... if u want the realistic true terms it ain't here... i ain't no english teacher yea... hahah rights so hope u dudes enjoy...