The End Is Near

They were both about seven feet tall, and yet they seemed to condense imperceptibly to fit through the shattered doorway they came through. The skin stretched over their muscles was a deep shade of blue, almost black in the erratic lighting of the destroyed room. Each of them was carrying a massive broadsword strapped across their backs and one had Aleksander’s staff in his hand. But the most chilling thing about the two monstrous creatures watching Aleksander with smiles on their faces was not their color. It was their faces.

Or rather, his face, and his brother’s, colored blue and fitted onto someone else.

It was a terrible fear that spread through Aiden’s limbs at the thought of fighting something that looked like him. There was nothing to be done for it though. Alex was still laid out in the wreckage of a pool table, stunned by his flight through the steel door. Making a quick, sure decision, Aiden took a deep, calming breath, and then he unleashed, kicking the ground and flying sideways through the room.

Within seconds, the only sounds in the room were the blurring and heating of air atoms as Aiden pushed himself to his highest limits, spinning knife after knife out of the holsters on his chest as he flew sideways through the air, nearly forty of the deadly weapons slicing paths through the air toward the dark Twins standing in the door.

Not even looking up as he landed, Aiden immediately rolled to the side and drew out the small metal box he had hidden under his shirt, opening it and shoving his hand into it, screaming in agony as he did. There was no other way to win this battle, and there was no way Aiden would lose, even if it meant losing his life.

As the knives traced paths through the air, the dark Aleksander easily dodged them, his companion being less lucky as several of the knives pinned him to the wall through quite a few of his vital organs. Shaking his head in disgust, Dankin, as the dark Aleksander look-alike was truly called, ripped some of the knives out of the wall and aimed them straight at Aleksander’s head, throwing them with a might few could match in this world.

And they stopped dead in the air, caught in a gigantic red hand that seemed made from blood. Faster than the eye could follow, the hand slammed into Dankin where he stood, throwing him back through the air into the room where his lord, the Drammon, lay waiting.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?! KILL THEM ALREADY!!”, Screamed the frantic Drammon, afraid that his ultimate bodyguards would fail him this time. He knew that they were very rare, these two being the only ones born within the United States in over a thousand years. Replacing them would be hard, but he’d prefer it to having to bear the terrible torture he’d face at the hands of the Brothers.

Shaking his head, Dankin leapt to his feet, stretching his neck quickly as he watched for his opponent to enter through the door.

“You’ve fucked up for the last time.” came the unearthly voice of Aiden, his normal bass rumble laced with a chilling alto echo, making every word seem to hang in the air. Suddenly, the lights began to flicker, and that was when the newest of the monstrosities showed it’s face.

Aiden must have gained at least one hundred pounds of muscle in the last few seconds, and his skin had begun to glow a ruddy red color, akin to drying blood. In his hand was held a gigantic battle hammer, and his eyes were glowing a ghastly green under the dying fluorescence of the lights. His mouth was unnaturally wide in a grimace of ecstatic pain, and every inch of his skin seemed to writhe in unholy movement, as if there were demons trapped beneath the surface. The teeth in his mouth had been replaced by grotesque fangs, and the drool dripping from his jaws steamed and burned holes in the floor.

Dankin beheld this sight, and held his ground, having no other choice in the matter, since his blood oath to the Drammon held him in service until death. Raising his broadsword, he saluted his enemy in the style of the knights of yore and let loose a scream of pride, fury, and fear, launching himself forward toward the apparition before him. Leaping into the air, he brought down his blade in a mighty over-handed slash.

And his blade was brought to a sudden halt on the haft of his enemy’s hammer. With a grunt, Aiden pushed him back and brought his hammer around in a blow that would have crushed Dankin’s leg’s if it had connected. Leaping up, Dankin barely missed being ripped in half by the blow, bringing his sword around to the open side of the apparition and slashing for his unprotected ribs, hoping to win in a single slash.

Bringing around the hammer faster than should have been possible, Aiden parried the blow and knocked him back, letting loose a mighty cry as he slammed his hammer down over Dankin’s head. Rolling, Dankin managed to escape the brunt of the blow, or so he thought. With a scream of anguish, he felt the hammer slamming his arm into the floor and knew he was done for. Faster than he could think, he saw the hammer come around and his world exploded.

The Drammon watched his last guardian be slammed into a pulpy mess on the wall, his hopes destroyed and his will broken. Looking up into the face of the red-skinned beast before him, he barely had time to mutter his last prayers before his world disappeared in a haze of pain.

Panting, Aiden stood still, his body locked as his will and the one that had entered him vied for control, each thinking this body theirs by right, the victor determined by which could force his will upon the whole body. Chasing the other will through his neural pathways, he slammed it around, roughing it up and hoping to scare it off before it did any more damage. Seeing an opportunity, he pushed it out through a cavity, sealing the wound with his last strength before his will gave in and his body collapsed, slowly reverting to the form it was used to.

Shaking his head, Aleksander stood, looking around at the carnage in the room. There were bodies everywhere, and as he stood up woozily, he watched a red-skinned apparition sink to the floor unconscious, knowing that it was probably his brother. Stumbling into the Drammon’s quarters, he set to work, clearing out everything that they would use and grabbing the punctured Ever for further study of his bodily systems and powers. Within hours, he was ready to go, and started transferring things out to the car. Grabbing his brother last, Aleks sighed and phoned in a “Spic N Span”, which was code for a nasty cleanup crew, driving off before anyone wondered why he had an unconscious man and several bags in his sports car.

Getting onto the highway, Aleks leaned back and relaxed, knowing the ride home would be short and he would be able to soak out all his aches within hours, just in time for his date later that night.

Finding Narcissism

The day had been quite a strange one for Aiden. He’d had to change his body twice already, which was something that would have paralyzed him before Aiden blessed him. It sometimes scared him how amazingly powerful he was now, but he could feel that there was still some sort of limit built into him. He guessed that it was just however much his body could put up with that would stop him now. His body felt strangely alive now though, and he knew that he wouldn’t be happy without a kill to wet his throat.

Leaping up into the ceiling vent, he crawled through the building, watching for a fun sort of person to destroy. Catching sight of a couple relaxing alone in a side room, he watched them for a few seconds, contemplating what they were.

“Oh Derek, I love you so much! You’ve always been there for me, even when those creatures showed up for the Master. You’re my hero!” the girl rambled on, a bright smile on her pale blue lips, her palely glowing violet eyes locked with her companions.

“Not nearly as wonderful as you, my sweet darling. You are my reason for being, and I could never ever leave you, not if I died right this moment!” the man replied, little realizing how silly his words were about to sound.

Having heard enough to know they were his targets, Aiden slammed his way out of the ceiling, dropping to all fours before the couple. Growling at them, he stood up slowly, his dark eyes watching them as he stood still, his strange legs wobbling a little as he accustomed himself to the strange feeling of backwards-jointed legs again.

“What do you want? We have no money, and we aren’t the leaders of this place.” The man stood up, putting on a brave face in hopes of impressing the girl behind him.

“What do I want? Well, there’s a very simple way to answer that.” Turning his attention to the girl, he smiled ferally and spoke slowly, his voice somehow menacing and sweet at the same time, “Do you know the fastest way to a man’s heart?”

Shaking her head fearfully, the girl whimpered a little.

Chuckling softly, he winked at her and said, “Right through his fucking chest!” And with that, Aiden slammed his clawed fist into the man’s chest, shattering his ribs as he forced his fist through the soft flesh of his organs, grabbing and squeezing his still-beating heart and ripping it loose of his blood vessels, a dark spurt of ichor spraying out as he did.

Tossing the heart into the girls lap, he giggled softly to himself and spun on his heel, round housing the dying man into a wall and leaping back into the air ducts above. Moving on through the tunnels, he licked his hand clean to the sound of a heart-shattering scream of sadness, his feral grin never budging.

Walking off through the halls of the building, Alex tried to figure out where he was so that he could find where he needed to be, but every hallway looked the same, and every attempt to use his mental powers was blocked. It seemed someone else in the building was stopping that option. That meant it was down to his normal skills.

Not the first time someone had tried that. This one would fail just the same.

Following the staircases upwards, he ended up on the fifth floor in not time at all, and came out of the stairway into a big nest of trouble.

The room was filled with pool tables and televisions, and there were almost thirty Evers using them. Standing in the doorway, Aleks looked just like any other Ever there, except he wasn’t wearing the same uniform they were. Within a minute, everyone had stopped to watch him, wary of what he might do.

“Well, where’s that little bitch I came to this shithole to kill? Cause I’m missing American Idol standing her chatting to you pansies.” Aleks yawned, looking around the room for the person he was here to defeat.

Before he could look at everyone’s face, the first one came running at him, yelling at the top of his lungs, a squat little man with dark skin, his legs carrying him slowly. At least, they were until they suddenly began stretching in midstride, along with his whole body.

Acting fast, Alex rolled to the side, his staff whistling into his hands in a blur of motion. Almost faster than Aleks could follow, the creature skidded around, his arm already much too long and grabbing his staff. Working hard to move, Aleks ran in circles around the stretchy man, tying him up in his own arm and smiling.

Suddenly, the other arm shot out and slammed into Alex’s gut, knocking out his wind. Struggling to catch his breath, Alex blocked another punch to his kidneys, his eyes bugging out some. This guy was getting the best of him, and that wasn’t in the plan.

Suddenly standing up straight, Alex grabbed the man’s hand on his next punch, wrapping the fingers around his staff and twirling it quickly, watching as the man slowly got wrapped around the long stick, mercilessly stabbing knives through him to keep him in place. Finishing, he grinned around the room and took a big bite out of his new, fleshy cotton candy.

Grinning, the man’s blood and flesh still in his teeth, he let the body loose and beckoned for them to attack him.

With a collective roar of rage, the rest of the room ran at him in a huge wave, their powers forgotten in their mad rush of fear and pain. With a flick opf his wrist, Alex the his staff into the air, twirling through the smoky room.

With all of the Evers watching his staff, he worked fast, drawing both of his Desert Eagles, his fingers wrapping around the triggers as he blew shot after shot into every one of the Evers closest to him, using up all 14 of the bullets he had in the guns within seconds, half the surviving Evers mown down in one go, huge holes blown in their anatomy.

Enraged even further, the surviving Evers threw themselves at Aleksander, their howls of pain filling the room. Drawing his two short blades from their sheathe, he grinned and set to work, slashing and splitting everything in sight, quickly beginning to toss sheared body parts back into the crowd, his evil laughter rising to drown out the shrieks of his dying foes. Soon there was nothing left of the Evers who had opposed him.

Breathing hard, Aleksander grabbed his staff from the floor and started walking toward the steel door at the other end of the room, blood soaking through the hardwood of the room that had so recently held guards for the Royal Drammon.

Now, a little bit about the man the twins were there to kill.

The Ever known as the Royal Drammon was a normal Ever for most of his life, having been discovered sometime in the early twelfth century by a crazy soldier in the Middle East. Raised among the armies of the Crusaders For Christ, Drammon learned the sword at an early age, if poorly. Eventually, he realized that he wasn’t the same as anyone else, and he set out on a journey to find his destiny, figuring out his power along the way. Eventually realizing that people had a habit of following his orders, he began an army of his own based upon his charisma and self-aggrandized military prowess, working in secret to spread his taint across the world. After repeated failures in Asia and Europe, he came to America in the later 1980’s and began to work on building himself a new army.

Notorious for his self-absorbed lifestyle, he has numerous paintings of himself strewn through his headquarters, and some of his minions are so brainwashed that they think he is a God.

His current funding comes from a nameless man in a black leather coat who never lets his face be seen, just his eerie looking eyes. His funding comes at the price of research specimens that Drammon must collect for the nameless figure.

Walking into the destroyed parlor, Aiden examined the wreckage and gore that was obviously left behind by his brother. Only Aleksander was this brutal, excluding Aiden himself. Smiling to himself, he looked up just in time to see his twin brother come flying through a dented steel door at the other end of the room and slam into a pool table.

What came out of the door next was enough to freeze Aiden’s dark blood in his veins.

Gatecrashing The New World Order

As they awoke in the morning, the brothers went through their morning routine once more, putting themselves through the strain of an extra two hours of physical training before taking a shower and getting dressed, today dressing in matching combat fatigues, Aiden’s slightly lighter than Aleksander’s. After tying their boots, the men went to their personal weapons and training room, a large gymnasium laid out in an obstacle course on one side. Walking in, the Brothers were surprised to find someone was already there, a human by their scent, although a strange one. Both of the Evers were on their guards immediately before they remembered that the Military wanted them to go on a Recon Mission to Korea, and that they were to be escorted by some of the humans of the base. Letting their muscles untense, both of the men moved towards the armory right off the main room, ignoring the soldier for now, browsing through their large personal collections of weapons and ammunition.

 Aleksander chose out a long staff for himself, along with two long, thin knives in crossed sheathes on his lower back, made especially for slipping between pieces of armor or an enemy’s ribs, hidden under his shirt. Along with these weapons, Alex drew for himself a shorter, thicker knife, forged specially for his grip as a sword-breaker, sliding it into his belt and pulling down a holster holding two Desert Eagle .50 Caliber pistols, wrapping the holster belt around his waist and checking the guns, which fit perfectly in his massive hands, built larger for this purpose. Grabbing a couple of clips of ammo and slinging the staff across his back, Aleksander turned to walk out at the same time as Aiden did.

Meanwhile, Aiden looked through his collection and pulled down two large scimitars, made specially to fit his large, slender-boned hands, taking a few practice swings before placing them on his back in his X-sheathe. Turning to another shelf and pulling down a long chest belt of throwing knives, he strapped it across his torso and tightened the straps, grunting in satisfaction. Grabbing a small metal case off a shelf full of such containers, he turned to go just as Aleksander was doing the same across the room.

They then walked together over to the human, who was still standing where he had been when they entered, dressed in combat gear with a heavy machine gun hanging at his side loosely. Saluting, the man watched the Brothers walk over, announcing himself as they drew close enough to hear him, his voice strong and rich, “I am Sergeant Brent Gonzalez of the U.S. Army, Ranger Division. I hear I am to be reporting to you today sirs?”

Aleksander smiled, returning the salute lazily and speaking strongly, “Why yes, Sergeant. Your job today is going to be making sure you and your men don’t get murdered. Our job will be the extermination of all life that isn’t American. I think our jobs might just coincide on this particular day.” He grinned, revealing his sharp, evil-looking teeth. The Sergeant didn’t even flinch as the Brothers stood before him, their powerful might evident in their very stances.

“Yes, well, today, I think I can do my job just fine. Shall we sirs?” The soldier gestured for the Evers to go first, standing aside. As Aleksander passed the man, he instantly knew something was off, every nerve in his body suddenly going tight as a high wire. Stopping with a silent command to Aiden, he moved suddenly towards the Sergeant, stooping down as he froze the man in place, locking his muscles where they were with a simple pushing in the neural structure of his brain, leaving only his tongue and eyes free to move.

“What are you?” Aiden spoke in low, measured tones, staring at the man over Alex’s head. His bright green eyes had taken on the hardness of two chips of emerald, and his voice was giving a hint of a snarl, menace seeming to pour off of him in waves.

“I’m the last thing you’ll ever see, you filthy maggots.” With a snarl of pain and fury, the creature broke Aleksander’s mental blockage, springing forward like a cat to attack Aiden. As if time were slowed down, Aiden noticed every single change that took place in that split second of time.

As he flew, Sergeant Gonzalez changed. His ears pointed and his teeth sharpened into long fangs, the rest becoming sharp but short. His nose seemed to recede into his face, leaving slits for nostrils and his eyes grew larger, the iris disappearing as his brown morphed into a bright teal color. As he reached the apex of his graceful flight, his body seemed to writhe and change, becoming more animalistic and feral, growing hairier and thicker of muscle, his knees cracking as they reversed their directions. The thing that landed before Aiden was taller and much scarier than Brent Gonzalez. It stood almost as tall as he did, and it stank of the moon and grass.

Smiling, Aiden suddenly held up a hand to the Wolfman. As expected, the beast tore it off and ripped it to shreds. Aiden simply giggled as it regrew, watching the feral creature hesitate. This, he hadn’t been told to expect. With a smile as evil as it was shiny, Aiden reached up and wrapped a hand around each half of his own jaw, ripping it open like a snake’s right before devouring a mouse. Suddenly, his whole body rippled and his jaw distended and became wider, his teeth and lips growing to accommodate his new jaws, the rest of his face becoming lupine as his whole skin began to sprout long black hairs, transforming him into a larger, darker Wolfman in seconds. Growling triumphantly, he lunged forward, biting for the other man’s neck. Regaining his senses, Brent leaned out of the way, moving to tackle Aiden. But Aiden gripped his waist from behind, lifting him into the air and dropping him on his head. As the Wolf lay there dazed, Aiden clawed open a gash in his chest, howling hungrily.

As Brent tried woozily to stand, Aiden ripped into his neck, severing the jugular in a single snap of his jaws. Whimpering in pain, Brent sagged as if he were a deflated balloon, all the fight gone from him in seconds. Twisting his neck sharply, Aiden ended his life, his body slowly returning to normal as his anger receded.

"Well, you really can't trust anyone these days. C'mon Bro, we're already outfitted, let's drag this bitch up to the Sergeant and pick up some assassinations. Maybe this time we can get rid of that crazy old coot in Ohio who's started that cult of the darkness up again." Aleksander said, smiling slightly. He had hoped this would be the case anyway, so they could get back by tonight

"Yeah, and maybe pigs will fly. You KNOW the Govs won't let us touch him yet. They think he's harmless. Plus, it's only a few more days till we leave for good anyway." Aiden said, grabbing the corpse’s left foot and dragging it behind him as he began walking towards the inner compound.

"Yeah.. Sounds good to me. We're set up for a killing spree anyway."

As the Brothers walked, they thought silently of later that night. Each had different plans for a romantic evening with his own special lady. It was a night where they'd blow alot of their back pay and be happy about it. Utter bliss.

As Aleksander wandered into General Yerna's office, Aiden dropped the remains of Brent on the Generals floor.

"Oh come on! Another one?" The General exclaimed, looking up. He didn’t seem surprised though, this sort of thing happened a lot.

"Yeah. Called himself Brent Gonzalez. Real good at it too. He almost got us with his Ranger act." Alex said quietly, flopping down in a chair and stretching his legs. He folded his hands and watched the General as Aiden began picking his teeth with a fingernail, popping out a piece of vein after a second.

The General sighed, speaking slowly. "You want another assassination? I've got one fit just for you two if you do. We've got a drug dealer from up in Vermont, he's hiding out in our city. Forty Ever protection detail, twice that in humans. All the humans are gunning, and most of the Evers are tough cookies, a lot of special mods and high end mercenaries. Think you can pull this one boys?"

Aiden looked disgusted and Aleksander just yawned. "If we couldn't, why would we bother asking you for a mission Yerna? We know you try to keep us entertained. We appreciate it, we really do." He got up and walked out of the room, a grin on his face.

"Yeah, we do. So, like, don't hold dinner for us. And lock the door after we leave." Aiden giggled and winked, back flipping out the door after Aleksander’s retreating form.

"Show off!" Yerna yelled, grumbling about teenagers and their antics, his thrown knife thudding into the wall a second too late.

On the uneventful drive into town, Aiden and Aleksander discussed the best plan for the infiltration of the enemy stronghold. After going through several plans, including the famous Boondock Ceiling Trick, and the Let’s Split Up Ploy, they had settled on the most simple, direct route. Kill first, ask questions never. It had never failed them before, so why should it now?

With that settled, they resolved to enjoy their drive into town, Aiden by sharpening his blades and Alex by dodging through traffic like a maniac and screaming at other drivers. In this way, time passed pleasantly enough for them both.

Pulling up a couple of blocks from their target, both of the brothers checked their weapons, making sure that everything was in order. With that settled, they started to walk down the street, carefully keeping a leisurely pace so as to attract as little attention as possible for them. Waving to passersby, they both managed to blend into the crowd, staying unnoticed for as long as they possibly could.

As they approached a building set out from the others by it’s shabbiness, the two noticed there were several men casing the crowd, watching for anyone who didn’t belong. They were set apart by the tribal markings scattered about their faces, placing them instantly to any other Evers who saw them. Approaching the door alone, Aiden smiled at the men without stopping, his manner extremely confident.

The man at the door was a burly Ever with dark eyes and a mace hanging at his belt. Without even glancing twice, he stuck out his hand to stop Aiden in his tracks, a bored expression dulling his eyes. Smiling, Aiden reached out to the hand and grasped it, slowly bending it backwards. Noticing him for the first time, the man still didn’t comprehend who this teen-seeming man was. Exerting his strength, he sought to rip off Aiden’s arm.

With a gasp of pain, he suddenly found that his arm just wasn’t there. Neither were his legs.

As the Ever dropped to the ground, Aiden wiped his blade, smiling around him at the new arrivals. His sword was amazingly fast, and the men who were staring at him were still trying to comprehend what had happened. The other crowd-watchers were gathering around him in a glaring mass, leering in anticipation of an easy kill. Drawing his other blade, Aiden beckoned them to attack him, a cocky grin gracing his lips.

Dropping low and spinning, Aiden sliced up and through one of them, his blade jerking slightly as it passed through the body, his left arm slamming the other blade into the stomach of another. Ripping his blade out, he leaped upwards, powered by his awesome strength, coming down behind the remaining three and spinning into a massive roundhouse kick. As his super-powered leg slammed into them, the three men were smashed into the wall, dying without a sound.

Landing in a crouch, Aiden flashily sheathed his blades and whistled for Alex to join him. As he walked up, Aleksander just smiled, shaking his head and muttering, “Showoff.”

Walking into the building, the brothers looked around themselves. Alex had an uneasy feeling about this, and so did Aiden. There was no way that the other Evers could doubt who was here. There wasn’t anyone but an Ever who could have ripped the door guard apart like that, and Aiden was famous for his twin swords. The simple fact that there was no answering attack was giving Aleks the creeps, and it was notoriously hard to do that.

Seeing movement flickering down a hall out of the corner of his eye, Aiden took off after it, darting through the hallway, bent low and moving as fast as he could without losing control. Right on his heels, Alex took off after him, dodging around corners at top speed in an effort to stay alongside his brother.

As the two ran through a doorway after the blur they had chased all this way, they both skidded to a stop, looking around bemused. This was unexpected.

“Oh shit,” Said Aiden, his hands already reaching for the blades on his back, “I think we messed up this time bro.”

“Yeah, I think we did.” Aleks answered, his eyes moving fast as he tried to count the Evers lining the walls and the balconies around them. He had the count at one hundred to one, and still more were coming in behind them and from other doors around the theatre. His hands moving like lightning, Alex pulled his staff out of its holster on his back and spun it once, getting a good feel for the weapon as he did.

He had a feeling that this wasn’t gonna turn out very well for them.

 “We wish you no harm, brothers! Lay down your weapons and we shall teach you the proper way to view the world, without fear or anger for your fellow being.” The delicate voice seemed to be coming from everywhere at once, one of the Evers on the highest balcony the apparent source. He was slight, and very effeminate, his finely chiseled features suggesting a nobility and sweetness that made the person receiving his attention feel gifted. The one thing that spoiled it were his eyes, their depths deep and horribly ancient, belaying him for the beast he truly was. There was no mercy in his eyes, only pain and torture.

“How about you come down here and we’ll see how many chunks I can slice you into before you die?” Aiden replied, making his voice childishly innocent and sweet, his mouth stretching wide in a feral grin below eyes like acid, their depths showing a creature with no need for morality when it came to a decision of death to a killer.

“Or I can shove my staff up your ass till it comes out your nose and watch you die slowly! I think I’d like that.” Aleksander added in, his grin predatory and his eyes like gleaming sapphires in his pale face.

With an obviously fake sigh, the pale wraithlike Ever frowned down at the twins, his voice taking on a barely veiled edge of steel as he spoke, “Then you shall die. Attack my Brothers! The first to bring them to me alive shall eat at my table tonight!”

With that, the strange, short Ever spun on his heel and stalked off into the recesses of the building. As soon as his words had left his lips, there had been a sound of weapons being drawn all around the theatre, Evers of every description leering greedily at the two brothers.

Aleks sighed softly and tucked his back against Aiden’s.

“I guess this is it Bro. It’s been nice knowing you.”

“What do you mean? I plan to catch you up on the other side so we can have a good laugh at what we’ve accomplished.”

With a quiet laugh, Alex answered in a soft voice, “If there even is another side…”

And with that said, the mass of Evers pressed in close, and the melee began. Oddly, all of the Evers were surprised to discover that these “Immortal Twins” they had all heard so much about were easy to fight. They seemed no stronger than anyone else, and were easily defeated and knocked unconscious, only killing ten others in their flailing fight.

Or at least, that’s the impression they gave.

The first thing Aleks noticed when he awoke was the lack of memory for a long period, which he expected. The second thing he noticed was the heavy breathing about twenty feet away, which he also expected. That should be Aiden.

He should have noticed the third thing first, since it was holding a knife to his throat pretty darn hard.

Keeping his eyes closed and his mind blank, Aleks tried his hardest to figure out what kind of a situation he was in. There was a rather heavy individual sitting on him with a knife pressed to his throat, its edge painfully sharp. There seemed to be a lot of people around him, one of them a still-unconscious Aiden. It looked like their plan had worked out, fooling their gullible foes. The enemy believed they were beaten, and Aleks just didn’t have it in him to prove them wrong.

Yet.

As if on cue, the heavy weight was lifted from his chest and he was pulled up by his hair. At the same time, Aiden grunted as he was dragged awake by the same sort of treatment. Apparently, they hadn’t made too good of an impression on the boss.

“Open your eyes. We know you’re awake you pompous fools.” Said a slightly nasally voice, somewhere in front of Aleks. He sounded very royal, and he also sounded like he was about 7 feet in front of Aleks.

Opening their eyes, the Brothers both looked around, sharing their eyes for a few moments as they took in the room around them.

It looked like someone’s ego had exploded in here, multiple times. Every wall was covered in the same likeness, done over and over in every artistic media imaginable. On one wall was an original Impressionist-era painting sitting right alongside a modern digital-frame picture. It was amazingly self-centered and callous, the ultimate narcissistic display of self-love.

There were five other Evers in the room, and a human serving coffee off to the side. The nasal-voiced Ever, the same one from the painting and the theatre hall, was standing above them in all his aristocratic glory, triumphantly sneering at his captives. To either side of him were two more Evers who looked as if their swords were literally fused to their arms, their expressions blank in the way only the severely Programmed could be. Only a Programmer could suck out all the humanity of a person like that and still leave them as a working individual.

The last two Evers were nearly as tall as the brothers, and each had a massive Glock held to one of their heads. They weren’t Programmed like the bodyguards, they were just scum of the earth, trash that had taken up work so they could get paid cheap doing something that brought them sick pleasure.

Exactly the kind of trash that Aleks loved to take out, his role as garbage man of the earth his most fulfilling.

Unfortunately, the brothers were tied up tight, and it would be a while before they’d be able to get a chance to kill these freaks. Instead, they decided together to just listen and see what they could find out without saying anything. Words would come later. If there was a later.

“As you can see, your useless powers were no match for my glorious soldiers. You were fools to even consider the thought that some human’s little pets could make their way into my keep and not be caught and overpowered. Every Ever here saw you coming a mile away, and every single one of them was ready to kill you as soon as you arrived. I made them wait, simply because I like your style. I’d like you to join my forces, and in return for your services, I will spare your lives and make you my top generals. You will live in the lap of luxury,” The nasally voice of the Ever droned on for what felt like eternity, although Aleks knew it hadn’t been more than five or six minutes, “ and never shall you want for anything. You will lead my armies to greatness and domination of this puny planet! Together, we shall usher in the age of The Evers!” The nasal voice reached an impassioned crescendo, his eyes staring off into the distance as he spoke, seeming truly mired in his dream of world dominion.

Of course, Aiden couldn’t let that continue for long, being the cheeky asshole that he was. With a bored yawn, he spoke, “Well, that’s all well and good, but I’m afraid that we can’t stand for another competitor for the world. We’ll have to respectfully decline your offer.” With a sarcastic smile, Aiden spat at the regal Ever, his aim surprisingly good as he hit the man dead on in the center of his forehead.

With an outraged cry, the Ever screamed out to his guards, “Take them to the dungeons! I will watch them executed later. Personally.” With a disgusted noise, he stalked off, the two Programmed guards following him like loyal dogs after their master.

With guffaws of nasty satisfaction, the two Evers with the guns dragged the brothers off down many flights of stairs to the dungeons, stripping off their weapons and tossing them carelessly aside. Throwing the two into a cell, they wandered off, laughing at their own clever use of force.

“Buffoons. Stupid ones at that. They didn’t even bother to lock the cage.” Aiden snarled, working at his bonds in earnest.

“I wonder why that happened, brother?” Aleks grinned, ripping the chains off his feet and standing up, “I’m not completely stupid. I paid attention to the worthy details.”

“Good job bro. Now let’s get out of here and have us some fun.” Aiden grinned ear to ear, kicking open the cell door with a bark of happiness, his features growing slightly lupine as he walked towards his weapons. His hair grew thicker and his nails longer, and by the time he had picked up his swords, his legs were longer and more adapted to running. With a last wink at his brother, Aiden loped off with a parting, “I’ll see you at the throne room, Bro.”

Shaking his head with a grin stuck on his face, Aleks watched his brother lope off before picking up his gear and starting off in the other direction.

It was gonna be a while before they found the throne room, but it would be a fun while.

Sadism and Sacrifice

As Aleksander drove the disguised vehicle back into the underground garage and parked it beside the elevator that led down to the living quarters where all employees of the base lived, Aiden sat up a little straighter and tilted his head, seeming to listen to something nobody else heard. Aleksander opened his mind up again, since he had closed it to interference when they left Gio’s Café. He preferred to block out humans when they were traveling, since every person who came near couldn’t help but project their thoughts at him.

      In a blaze of mental light and sound, Alex had an awareness of his younger Brother, Adrian, in a way he felt was familiar, as if he had once done it before. Adrian was somewhere in Europe and searching for a woman he believed was the key to his research into Evers, a person whose power was unbelievable. At the moment he appeared to be in Italy and was confused and amused at the same time. It made Alex want to giggle like a madman, probably an effect of the sudden contact.

      As quickly as it came, the connection was gone, vanishing faster than it had come. Alex shook his head and got out of the vehicle, telling the waiting humans where to park the Chester and what needed cleaning in it. It was almost comical watching the meter and a half tall humans trying to drive a machine built for someone as tall as himself. Of course, it helped to be short sometimes. Like when you want to kiss a pretty woman.

      Aleksander’s mind suddenly reeled from the unexpected thought, unsure where such a thing could have originated. He’d never before thought about women, or anything to do with them, except maybe how to kill one fastest. He was built to be a killing machine, every bone in his body devoted to it, his whole life spent making himself perfect for it. Hell, he made dismemberment an art, just as Aiden made eating like a pig his hobby. Women simply had no place in such a life. But there it was, he was thinking about them now.

      Now, something to remember about Alex and his brothers is that Evers grow the same as humans. Proportionally. So a two and a half meter(Roughly seven and a half foott) tall superhuman had a correspondingly proportional body in ever respect, including the one that most human men think most important. And Aleksander had no clue what women and men did together, aside from the deadly fights he had with a few female Evers. He never knew how babies were born, and was never interested in the human way because he assumed Evers either did it differently or didn’t do it at all, so why bother learning? But now he had sudden urges to find out, deep inside of his mind, forcing him to become nearly obsessed with it in an instant. He made a note to ask Adrian, since he had made the most research into Ever biology and probably knew anything anyone would ever need to know about things pertaining to them.

As Alex came back to himself, he found himself back in the elevator, riding it down. Mentally shaking himself, he moved to lean against the railing at the side, watching Aiden trying to chat up the two girls with little success.

“So where are you two from? I’m from… Well, as far as we know, it’s part of Russia now. Pretty place, but cold as fuck. Could make a polar bear want to migrate south.” Aiden said, grinning. Suddenly, still grinning, he let out a burst of perfectly pronounced and inflected Russian, speaking like it was his natural language, which it wasn’t.

The blonde girl suddenly looked at him sharply and responded with exactly the same mastery of Russian, her eyes blazing, ending her short speech with an angrily said, “And don’t ever make a remark about our bodies like that again, you filthy little bastard!”

Aiden looked slightly stunned, his eyes widened slightly as he watched the girl chew him out. After a couple of minutes stunned silence, he began to giggle quietly, staring at a spot above the doors of the elevator, obviously thinking of something else entirely.

Alex looked at him, smirking before looking at the girls and speaking quietly in German, bowing at the end of his sentence. The black-haired girl watched him with a thoughtful expression, the blonde with one of confusion, obviously not having any idea what he said. As he kissed her hand, the black-haired girl smiled and spoke in a soft, low voice, answering his German with a profound comprehension before switching back to Ever and speaking slowly, “My name is Natascha, and my angry companion is Glacia… What’s your name?”

Aleksander smiled, feeling Aiden’s burst of annoyance as he answered, “I’m Aleksander. This is my twin brother Aiden.” He straightened up slowly, holding her eyes with his own. He had the feeling that something was passing between them, but he didn’t know what it was, and didn’t care. It felt right.

As the elevator stopped, Alex broke the gaze and stepped out, beckoning the others to follow him. The four Evers traversed the hallways until they got to the Brothers’ suite, walking in without a word. Aleksander pointed to the two rooms on the far left side and looked at the girls, signaling that they could stay there.

“Those are your rooms. Do what you like with them, you won’t be bothered. Aiden and I will be dissecting one of the humans of this base in about an hour for past transgressions. You may join us if you wish, or stay in your room.” He smiled and bowed once more, walking with Aiden into their room to gather supplies for the ritual.

Over the next hour, the men set out surgical tools and other implements of pain, laying the comatose Handler from earlier in the day on an operating gurney in the middle of the room. The girls simply watched, flickers of expression crossing their faces as they watched the concentrating Brothers working.

As night fell on the surface of the world, Aleksander and Aiden stood on opposite sides of the gurney, all their tools set out and shining sinisterly in the light of the lamps in their underground home. Joining hands carefully, the brothers began to speak in low, slow voices, the Latin words rolling off their tongues as they spoke an ancient prayer for the dead, it’s elaborate syllables rolling off their tongues. The two gigantic men bowed their heads in silence as the human on the table slowly began to wake up from his nightmares, released from the wasteland that had been his world for hours. Looking upon the grim visages of the two Evers, the Handler, whose name was Robert, felt a shudder of fear strike him to the very core of his being. In that one instant, he knew that he was about to die, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

As they worked, the brothers reverently spoke prayers in languages long dead, ancient when they had come into being. They placed incense and candles around every bodily vessel, cleansing his soul as they went, never allowing him the peace of death until they removed his heart. With the loss of this most major organ, Robert passed into sweet oblivion, his mind dying as he soared into the great beyond. Walking over to the girls, each Brother had his own private conversation with one of them.

“So how did you like the show?” Aiden asked the one named Glacia, leaning against a wall and looking her in the eye.

“Well, I don’t think I quite understand why you said prayers. I mean, why not just kill him and walk away. You disgraced him by removing his organs while he was alive, why not just walk away?” Glacia said in a low voice, her tone slightly heated. It was obvious she was disgusted with him, and it amazed him how much it hurt to know that.

“Because Evers may not have souls, but he does. As far as we know at least… Just because I chose to use him to relieve my aggression doesn’t mean he is undeserving of a decent afterlife. Would you rather I just ripped out his organs?” Aiden returned in a cold, annoyed voice.

“Perhaps. But I see why you did it…” Glacia looked away as she spoke, watching the body quietly. All the fight seemed to have disappeared from her in an instant.

“Look… I’m sorry for what I said earlier. I only meant it as a joke. I wasn’t sure you’d understand me…” Aiden said quietly, watching her.

“Is that thing supposed to be eating him?” Glacia said, still watching the body.

“What?” Aiden turned to look at Robert’s corpse.

At that same moment, a couple feet away, Aleksander was having a quiet conversation with the seductive Natascha.

“So what do you think of our little ritual? It may look primitive to you, but one thing we’ve learned is to have respect for the dead. Especially human dead.” Aleksander said softly

“I thought it was beautiful. You treated him so respectfully, even though he tried to hide from you something you wanted.” Natascha said in a low voice like velvet, her eyes glinting slightly as she smiled up at Alex.

“How did you know that was why we killed him?” Alex said, slightly intrigued.

“You let down your guard while you were praying. And he never had a guard to let down. It kept repeating all through the maiming in his mind, even through all the pain. He never said what it was though, he was beyond being coherent enough.” Natscha’s eyes were suddenly caught by something behind Alex and she said in a quiet voice, “What is that?”

Both the brothers turned at once to view a monstrous horror standing on the slab, chewing on the liver of the deceased Robert as if it were a delicacy. It stood about four feet at the shoulder and it’s whole body rippled with muscles, looking almost canine in it’s obscene strength. But aside from a muzzle full of sharp teeth and four legs, the resemblance wasn’t that of a dog, but far from it. The creature had scaly skin and dark violet eyes that seemed uncannily intelligent as it watched the Evers over a mouthful of human. From about the shoulder region of its body grew two long tentacles tipped with mouth like suckers, the wicked fangs inside of them snapping hungrily at the two.

Just as Alex began to relax, confident in the knowledge that he and Aiden could easily beat one of these things, 5 more stalked out from behind the gurney.

“Uh, Aiden, let me try something. I want to see if Little Brother really gave us the boost he claims.” Aleksander said, stepping forward quickly.

With a snarl, the first beast leaped forward, mouth gaping wide and spittle gleaming on the razor-sharp teeth. With a soft exhalation, Alex crouched and brought his hands together before him in a wide clapping motion. With a short yelp of pain, the creature was flattened as if between two steel plates, mental waves projected from Aleks’ awesomely powerful consciousness, its green blood leaking towards the floor from the flattened body. Giggling with elation, Aleksander stood straight again and assumed a fighting stance, flicking his fingers in an invitation to fight as the first creature dropped like an empty sack to the floor.

One of the remaining five made a kind of barking/purring noise at the others and they all suddenly attacked at once. With a smile, Alex sprang into action.

With a roundhouse enhanced by his extreme mental presence, Alex kicked  three of the beasts into a wall, their relatively strong bones snapping like twigs under the intense force behind his leg. As his foot touched ground again, he smoothly back flipped, kicking another of the monsters in the muzzle in the process before delivering an uppercut to another’s chin, snapping it’s teeth together and gashing it’s tongue open. As he surveyed the remaining Beasts, Alex lurched forward, running and leaping into the air, slamming his feet down on the head of one of them, killing it instantly and flipping away from the pitiful thing as it struggled to stand.

As he landed, Alex quickly leaned forward and mule-kicked 5 in the face as it charged at him from behind, bringing his foot forward as the Beasts face adhered and tossing it into the air, slamming a mental wave into it that threw it into a wall and splattered it. Standing straight again, he looked over the remaining three pitiful things.

“Time to stop playing nice with you, puppies.” Alex said, hardening mental waves around each arm and sharpening them into long, invisible blades as he ran at the remaining Beasts, his arms blurring as he moved. Kicking off the ground and flipping forward, Alex slashed the first two headless and landed before the last. His arms becoming even more of a blur, Alex concentrated hard and diced 1 into multiple pieces, ripping it apart.

With a grin, Alex let the blades go and went to the door, calling for someone to clean up the mess. Walking over to Natascha, he smiled and spoke, “Shall I call this our first date, or can I take you somewhere special later?”

“I think that we should maybe have a more formal date. Maybe without green-blooded monsters?” Natascha said, smiling demurely at Aleksander. She seemed impressed by his physical display.

“Glacia, will you forgive me at least? I’d love to take you somewhere and get to know you better…” Aiden said, feeling as if he already knew the answer would be no.

“Sure. I think I’d like that.” Glacia said, smiling at the look of shock on Aiden’s face.

The Brothers looked at each other and knew what they were both thinking without needing telepathy or any special bond to tell them.

They… Had… Scored!

Takeout And Takedowns

As the hole in the ceiling closed behind Adrian, the two brothers watched silently, lost in their own private thoughts, as they so often were these days. Moving at the same time, they began to clean up the mess their younger brother had left behind him when he left. As Aleksander moved the corpse to stem the trickle of blood and closed the vessels in it’s neck with his mind, Aiden began to grow long tendrils of metal from his body, tipped with patches of extra-hairy skin, mopping up the blood and discarding the pads inside the throat of the body, letting the alloys return to his self in a fast slither.

            With a sigh of relief, Aiden realized that he wasn’t in the least exhausted by what he’d done. Looking up at Aleksander quickly, he smiled brightly. “The little fucker wasn’t kidding. I’m already feeling stronger.”

            “I know Brother. I just discovered a new part of the human mind and a new trick, too.” With a wicked grin, Alex snapped his fingers and watched the body burst into flame.

            “Awesome! How’d you do that?!” Aiden exclaimed.

            “Just pinched a nerve in his brain and twisted... something... It kinda did it on its own. I’m not even sure how I know it.”

            “Nice. Think we should go take care of the prisoners now? I don’t particularly think they should be handed over to the scientists. Those nasty little bastards never mean well when they work on a new experiment.”

            “Sure thing, but I’m ravenous, so let’s interrogate them at Ringo’s. I’ll just put a locker in their minds so they can’t escape.”

            “Sounds pretty good to me, let’s get going.”

            The two men walked through the maze of tunnels, working towards the experimentation cells on the upper levels, where all current inmates of the Ever orientation were kept. As they walked into the hallway along which the cells were arranged, they saw a fat human guard sitting at a desk, stuffing down donuts while he watched the only three inmates there. Both of the girls were awake, and staring at the remaining inmate in some emotion between fear and revulsion.

            The last inmate was a member of a small offshoot tribe of the Quaker Evers, who were genetic chameleons, changing their bodies as often as a woman changed her mind. The only thing that told them that was the snakelike shape of his face and the extensive modifications he had done to himself in the years he had lived, the apparent ones probably only a fraction of the full extent he had modified himself in his life.

            His eyes were slitted like a cats and sparkling silver, offsetting the nose ring he had probably put in himself. His hands were long-fingered and each finger tipped with a spike of bone crudely sheathed in metal, dark gray but deadly sharp. His tongue flickered between his lips as he watched the two girls, the triple-tips of it moving independently of each other as he scented the air. He didn’t wear shoes, since his feet wouldn’t fit after he had added a few extra toes to each foot, allowing him to run faster over rough country without falling. He had a long, prehensile tail encased in scaly skin, ending in a wicked barb of bone, once again sheathed in metal as had the claws on his hands. He seemed to have gills under his ragged shirt and his hair was mostly fallen out from the thickened bone on his skull. He looked like a cross between a zombie and a fish, his lower jaw protruding a bit from his upper, where long tusks grew up out of it at a slight curve.

            As the men walked in, both the guard and the Quaker turned to look at them. With falsely wicked smiles, they split, Aiden walking to the guard and Alex to the Quaker, both on different missions.

            Leaning forward, Aiden extended a long tentacle of wires from his wrist and picked up a donut, sticking it in his mouth and munching it contentedly. Looking away, Aiden heard the guard sigh in relief and right then, he struck. The tentacle moved faster than lightning, splitting into 8 different wires that each plunged into a different part of the guard with a wet squish. With a faint grunt, the guard was ripped into sections, painting the walls with blood and gore.

            As Aleksander reached the Quaker, he smiled more realistically. “Don’t worry, you’ll be free of your pain soon. I’m so sorry we had to make you insane, but I had to have a test subject to see what would happen.” Smiling more sadly now, Aiden disabled the creature’s pain receptors and twisted a nerve in his mind, watching him explode inside the shield he had woven. Sighing, he met up with Aiden next to the girls’ cell, his eyes downcast as he thought on what he had done.

            “We decided to interrogate you ourselves and let you avoid the experiments with these creeps. But we have a dilemma we need to solve.” Aiden said in Ever, looking back and forth between the girls, with a quick wave to the scientists walking past, “We need to leave the compound and aren’t sure if you can be trusted not to run off when our backs are turned. Can I have your vow not to run off while we are all off in town?”

            The girls nodded slowly, watching Aleksander with apprehension and fear apparent in their eyes.

            “Good. Now, I’m going to unlock your cage. Don’t do anything rash, and we won’t disable your powers and turn you into drooling idiots.” Aiden said with a smile, speaking English for the first time.

            The two girls watched him unlock the cage and walked out of it, following the two Brothers through the compound silently, their eyes wandering over their surroundings with interest.

            You get it planted? Aiden thought to Alex.

            Yeah, wasn’t that hard. They’re slightly telepathic, but not enough to beat me. Aleksander thought with a mental smile. He was very sure of himself in mental matters, and for very good reason.

            Stepping into an elevator, Alex hit the button for the garage and leaned back against the doors while Aiden started to talk to his reflection. The girls took turns watching them both, and Alex took this chance to get a closer look at them both while pretending to watch Aiden.

            The taller one had black hair falling over her shoulders and dark eyes, like chips of ice in the Arctic Circle. She looked just short of 6 feet tall and had an air of being angry constantly. He thought that it was kind of cute to see her snarl like that, baring her teeth at him. It showed off her beauty even more in his opinion. She looked to have a fairly curvy body, not too large but not too small either, just the right size in all the ways that mattered. He still remembered having to knock her out when they first met her. She had been angrily brave even then. He admired courage in a girl, and he admired guts even more.

            The other Ever was a little shorter, but more curvy than the other, her attributes seeming right for her frame even though she was a little underweight by human standards and nearly as well-gifted as her companion. Her hair was blonde and cut to her shoulders, matching her bright gold eyes, which watched Aiden with an apparent interest. She always seemed eerily calm, and got under his skin in a way only the supremely confident could, which was probably why Aiden was watching her through the mirror. Aleks still thought she was a little too confident though. She’d certainly annoyed Aiden with that rope trick of hers.

            As he felt the elevator slowing, he stood straight again and buzzed Aiden to get his attention, making a fire alarm go off in his inner ear. He turned smoothly, giving Alex the finger in the same motion he put his arms around both girls’ shoulders and started walking out of the elevator behind Aleksander.

            “I say we take the new Chester Nail.” Aiden said quietly, surveying the collection of rare and expensive cars in the room. They had a habit of buying things they liked.

            “What’s that…?” Said the dark haired girl, speaking for the first time in a slightly lower voice than expected, pointing to a dark SUV parked against the near wall.

            Aleksander smiled at her gently and explained, “The Chester Nail is our newest car. We acquired it from a military testing base in Washington State. Kinda like an SUV that’s been raped by a Jeep, a Hummer, and a tank. Completely stealthed though. Looks just like an SUV.” Aleksander walkedacross the garage to what looked like a large 4-Door Chevy Trailblazer. It was painted in black and chrome and seemed pretty innocuous.

            “That doesn’t look very scary.” The blonde one had a tone to her voice like she was sneering at you, but she looked genuinely curious.

            “Not yet it doesn’t, but watch this.” Aleksander said with a smile, sending a mental command to the custom-made console. He grinned as the whole truck suddenly shifted higher on it’s suspension. Guns sprouted from every possible place on the Blazer, it’s windows seeming to grow darker as the rocket-proof second pane came up and the whole thing got bigger. A third pair of wheels dropped down from the chassis and the whole thing looked a lot more menacing now.

            “That’s… Quite interesting. I’m guessing it does more?” The blonde one said, sneering for real this time. Women were never easy to please

            “Sure. It also completely rebuilds into a tank. This is emergency combat mode, for when something decides it hates us RIGHT NOW.” Aiden said, smiling down at both ladies. He sent a command to the truck that re-shifted the whole thing to normal again, adding in a little beep as if shutting off a car alarm.

            As the Chester drove over on it’s own, Aleksander jumped into the drivers seat and Aiden got in back with the two girls, sitting between them in a very obviously flirtatious move. As Alex revved out of the garage and drove towards New York, Aiden attempted to chat up the two girls, but they just stared out the windows silently, seeming not to notice anything he said.

            Crossing the bridge over into Manhattan, Alex navigated through traffic to a little alley off of Canal Street, parking next to a little restaurant that seemed to be invisible to all the people walking past. Smiling to himself, Aleksander hopped out and walked up to the front of the place, talking quietly to a stocky little man with tattoos everywhere on his body who stood there dressed all in green. Putting out his hand, he proceeded to read the mans mind and move him a couple of feet in the air. The man laughed and clapped him on the back, or as close as he could to it, letting him in with a grin and stepping into the entryway again. Aiden came up to the man and held out his right hand to the stout gentleman. As the girls watched, they saw his arm suddenly bulge and his whole hand exploded outwards, revealing a silvery-metallic limb in it’s place, flexing and moving. The metallic hand then dwindled slowly back into his arm and they all watched as his flesh began to regrow his hand. Clapping, the man let him in with a smile and turned to the girls, speaking a strange mash of languages at them. As they stepped forward, he spoke something intelligible.

            “Y’all gots ta prove ye is Evers ‘fore ya can go inta the Bar.”

            They both smiled and demonstrated for him, the blonde one summoning a piece of stone from the ground and letting some water out of her pouch, turning them into a miniature waterfall. The raven-haired girl smiled the same and flipped out a lighter along her fingers and lit it, blowing on it to produce a flamethrower.

            The little man nodded and grinned, letting them in with a bow before continuing his streetside vigil, a grin sitting on his face.

            As the girls walked in, they spotted the men in a corner booth, talking to a waiter who seemed to have a tail swishing lazily behind him as he talked. The two women walked over and slid into the booth across from the men, watching them with blank expressions and blanker expressions.

            The waiter continued in faintly accented English, “… And then he said to me, ‘You need to be more careful Giovanni, otherwise next time, you’ll end up without a heart.’ I never realized physical mods could be so dangerous.”

            Aiden laughed softly, smiling at the waiter, “Well, I like the tail Gio. It really suits you. I think I’ll have the taco salad, hold the human fingers. And Alex says he wants his usual. He’s in one of his brooding moods today, the silly bugger.”

            “I understand completely sir. And for the ladies?”

            “Just get them a sampler plate. They’ve never eaten here.”

            “Gotcha.” The waiter bustled off to the kitchen, yelling to the cook in a mishmash of Italian, German, French, And Russian.

            “What is this place? And what’s with the security? I get the feeling he doesn’t speak Ever.”

            “Aiden, would you like to do the honors?” Aleksander said, seeming distracted.

            “Certainly. This, girls, is the restaurant of Reginald Giovanni The Fifteenth, Heir to the Giovanni Syndicate fortune. Evers only, hence the security. And yes, the man at the door is not an Ever. He’s not human either. It turns out, there ARE werewolves and vampires and such, other than Evers who act like them. He’s a… Well, he calls himself a Rambelfunctious. Pronounced Ramble-funk-shus. Claims to be from the Erie Isle, and his accent checks out, but we’re pretty sure he’s some kind of leprechaun, perhaps just got tired of the work. Probably got bored with the whole gold and rainbows thing, who wouldn’t?” Aiden shrugged with a sweeping hand movement that indicated it wasn’t his business.

            The waiter came back with four steaming platters of food, one of them a high-piled taco salad in a flour tortilla shell with sprinkles of blood on top. The two girls got a platter covered in variants on normal Italian, German, French, and Spanish cuisine, including a couple different kinds of German wienerschnitzel with blood topping and es-cargo fed only from the best virgin’s blood. Aleksander got a plate with something that looked like a huge crab-walrus crossbreed sitting on it, covered in a buttery-garlicky smelling sauce. As the girls began to try the food and Aiden fell to, Aleksander suddenly darted at the crawlrus on his plate, stabbing it through the middle and pinning it to the table as it screamed for a few seconds before he killed it.

            “Always taste better fresh.” Was all he would say as he began to munch on it’s innards.

            The girls resumed their meal and Aiden began to ask them questions over his food, being careful in his interrogation. As the meal continued, Aiden found out very little, considering the girls were only as old as they looked, or so they said. He found out only their powers and that they were unsure what tribe they belonged to, if any. They showed none of the marks of the known tribes, and there were too many different tribes to be sure if they even had one. Grinning over his food, Aiden began to tell the girls all about Adrian, watching their expressions as he spoke, carefully gauging their reaction to his spontaneous gesture of friendliness.

            As they all finished their meal, Giovanni came over with their check and said that he had to go attend to some things but it was nice to see the Brothers again, and that dinner would be on the house next time.

            Wandering out to the car, Aleksander started up the engine and the girls followed while Aiden paid the bill, giving the doorman one last pat on the back. Climbing into the front, Aiden suddenly gripped the seat tightly and looked at something the others didn’t see, his eyes flickering around their sockets.

            “Go… NOW!” Aiden screamed, his voice cracking. Alex obeyed immediately, screeching out of there and going into emergency weapons online mode, squealing into traffic and enabling his full mental presence, moving cars off the road ahead of them by force. Anyone who didn’t move in time was moved.

            Alex spotted a giant creature bursting out of the alleyway behind them, it’s skin seeming to crawl. It looked to be nearly two stories tall and it was grotesque. It’s skin, or whatever it was, writhed like a living thing and it’s face was nothing more than two mean eyes and a gaping slash of a mouth. It lumbered along with slow, long strides, it’s feet made of two toes in front and one in back and it’s hands like mittens that could separate into millions of tentacles. Despite this slow pace, it was catching up to them quickly.

            Suddenly, Aiden kicked his door open and said but two words before back-flipping out of the door. He merely said, “Watch This.” A cocky grin on his face as he fell out.

            Alex spun the car around in a skid and sat watching from a couple hundred feet back, unsure what his brother would do against such a creature as this. Clay Golems, especially ones this big, were normally almost impossible to kill, since they weren’t truly alive. The girls crowded closer, watching with blank expressions, as they had all day.

            As Aiden rolled out of the vehicle, he came to his feet and started running towards the creature, thinking quickly.

            “God I hope this works… Powers don’t fail me now!” With a deep breathe, Aiden roared as he pushed his powers as far as they would go. Suddenly, he felt the ground rumble and a subway train exploded from the ground under him, melting quickly and flowing into his hand, which had once again burst open, replaced by metallic alloys. Before his eyes, Aiden watched the metal flow over his body and suddenly, he felt invincible. Yelling in triumph, he leaped into the air and slammed his fist down on one of the Golem’s feet. Suddenly, right before the impact, his hand seemed to turn red and squirm, wrapping around the foot as if eating it. A second later, it cooled and returned, showing the foot to be blackened and cracked.

            “Let’s try something else…” Aiden pulled the metals back into his body and started to strengthen his muscles with his personal alloys, letting the subway car fall to the ground with a crash. As his whole body bulged with power, he leaped forward, diving into the Golem’s body, having an idea of how to eliminate him as a threat.

            As Alex watched Aiden dive, he felt sure he’d just lost a Brother.

            “You stupid bastard!!!” Aleksander screamed, on the edge of tears. Suddenly, he saw a movement in the Golem’s chest. Thinking like Aiden would, Alex checked the incendiary grenade rack and found one missing.

            “You crafty bastard. I knew it.” Alex said as he watched the Golem implode, first turning rock hard and then blowing outwards from a metallic sphere sitting within it, glowing as it sat in the air for a second before dropping and rolling away. Aiden sat up, shook off, and walked back to the car, sliding into the seat as his arms began to reform.

            “Let’s go. I need to wash off stupid magical douchebag. Ugh….” Aiden said, wiping gray slime off of his tattered clothes.

            “Sure thing bro.” Alex returned, driving off toward the military base they called home, a stupid grin on his face.

            The girls just sat watching them, having their own mental conversation that the two men had no idea about, nor even knew possible.