Aiyla propped her socked feet up on the dash board and leaned back in the passenger's seat. "Boring, absolutely boring." She grumbled, pulling her fedora lower over her eyes.

Rue leaned back in the driver's seat, flicking her ashes out the cracked window as she watched the warehouse across the street. "Least we stayed in the car." She said softly.

"True." Aiyla said, holding a hand over the heater. "How long now?" She asked with a yawn.

Rue checked her watch as she took a drag. "Four hours, twenty six minutes."

"Fuck." Aiyla sighed.

Rue chuckled and went to flick her ashes again, when she noticed two shadows creeping along the side. "Heads up Peaches, it's time t' roll." She said, flicking her cigarette out the window and pulling her gun.

Aiyla had already pulled her boots back on and was taking her own gun out of it's holster. "Finally, something to do." She muttered as she went to open the door.

"GIRL!" Rue pulled her down in the seat as gun fire reported and a bullet slammed through the windshield into the place Aiyla had previously been.

"BLOODY FUCK! That was a LOW move!" Aiyla snapped, crouching behind the door now.

Rue kicked her own open and slid behind it, peaking around to shoot back at the guy on the other street with the uzi. "Tell me about it! This is a loaner!"

"Guess you lost your deposit!" Aiyla replied with a grin.

"Oh ha ha, very funny, Aiyla." Rue replied sarcastically. On the break in fire, Aiyla stood open, taking her mark and firing. She dropped the guy with one bullet and Rue was already heading across the street.

Aiyla dove from behind the door and followed her at a brisk run. Rue toed over the body and searched it. "One of our guys." SHe said, holding up an amulet.

"Yep." Aiyla agreed, turning back to the warehouse. "We were on target then. Come on." She slipped down the right side of it, towards the dock. Rue stood a followed.

They slid down an alley in the shadows and made their way toward a door. Aiyla pressed her ear against it, tried the knob and opened the door. She motioned Rue in silence to cover her. Rue nodded and chambered another round.

She followed Aiyla inside, where they split to either side of the small dark room, moving toward the door. They both pressed themselves on to either side of the door and listened. They could hear chanting. Rue felt the prickle in the air and looked at Aiyla who nodded. Some one was using heavy magic. Black too.

Aiyla nudged the door open slowly, peaking out. It led on to a cat walk that over looked a basement floor of the warehouse. There was a light from below, wavering like flames. Aiyla and Rue crept along the cat walk in a crouch. They hid behind a panel still wielded to the old catwalk and looked down on the scene below them.

There was a group of a least sixty black rubbed figures standing around in a circle. In the center of the circle was a large pentagram chalked on to the floor. Beside that, stood four figures. Ond holding a large thome, another holding a chalice, another reading from the book, and the last about the slit the throat of a figure on the floor.

The chanting rose higher and a gloom seemed to over take the many pires around the room. "This ain't gonna be good." Aiyla whispered to Rue, who nodded her agreement with out looking away from the scene.

The figure slit the throat of the one of the floor and the one with the chalice began catching the blood in the cup while the other read out loud from the thome. The center of the pentagram began to glow.

"Necromancy." Rue whispered in awe.

"Oh lords." Aiyla breathed. "Shit! Worse then we thought..."

"Aiyla we either have to get the fuck out of here and get back up, or put a stop to that, but what ever we do, we need to do it now! Because once that thing is risen, we're in for it." Rue whispered back harshly.

"We don't have TIME to get backup." Aiyla replied with a tone. Rue had known this and gave Aiyla a serious look.

"You gotta plan?" Aiyla asked with a sigh.

"All we can do is try and break this up..." Rue replied, looking down, where the ceremony was still going.

Aiyla holstered her gun and pulled out a small, slim cylinder and pressed the botton on one end. "Fire in the hole." She whispered, before tossing the mini grenade over the rail.

It exploded long before it reached the ground, startling everyone in the room. Everyone began looking for the source. Some one spotted Rue and Aiyla and began pointing them out, yelling for everyone's attentions.

The four center priests tried to organize things, but some one shoved the one with the blood right into the light in the center of the pentagram.

There was a blood curdling scream, followed by a bellowing roar. Aiyla and Rue spun at the door, looking back, to see a thing that could easily reach the cat walk materializing. It had the face of a ram, with long tusks. It's chest was mainly human, but it's legs were goat legs. It's eyes burned with a red fire.

It began racking up hand fulls of men who screamed, and it chumped at them, tearing legs and arms.

An arm landed by Aiyla's feet and she looked at Rue. "Ah fuck.." She groaned. "That's not exactly how it was supposed to go."

Rue pulled her desert eagles. "Time to earn our pay." She replied, turning to the cat walk.

"The things I do." Aiyla sighed looking heaven ward a moment, then pulled her own colts, running after Rue.

They opened fire on the demon, gaining it's attention. It bellowed again and swiped a taloned paw towards them. Rue rolled over the hand, still firing. Aiyla threw herself into a slide as the hand began to rise again and slid under it.

"Keep it in the warehouse!" Rue yelled over her shoulder as she bolted down another set of cat walks.

"Right..." Aiyla shouted back sarcastically, breaking down a cat walk a little further down from Rue's.

They ran directly across from each other, down the two cat walks, firing on the demon, who tried to reach both at them at the same time. At a cross roads, they cut diagonally across each other's path and continued running down opposite cat walks, while the demon slammed into the rusting and crumbling middle walk.

They ran down the stairs, meeting each other right infront of a large double doors, catching their breath, before turning four guns on the demon. He skidded to an unbelievable hault and began smashing through the cat walking blocking him.

"Eleven hours in the tin can, there's GOT to be a better way!" Aiyla growled.

Rue smirked. "See if you can't reach Sylvie."

Aiyla touched the earring in her left ear and opened a two way. "Yeah, we need back up, like NOW! We've got a great big nasty on the loose." She gave Sylvie their location. "Lets keep this thing busy till the boys get here." She told Rue.
"I'm all for that." Rue replied, holstering her guns and pushing back her duster, pulling slim and wicked looking sword.

Aiyla holstered her own guns and produced a pair of metal fans which she snapped open. "You take the right, I'll take the left and we'll meet some where in the middle." She told Rue.

"Right on." Rue saluted her with her sword and lunged in, slicing at the demon's flanks.

Aiyla ducked a swip and slid in, stricking at the demon's other side. Both girls kept dancing in and out of it's swiping talons, slicing at the creature.

They both jumped back in to the corner, catching their breath. "Fuck." Rue swore. "We're not even denting the fucker!"

"Know any magic?" Aiyla asked.

"A few tricks, you?"

"A couple. Any in particular?" Aiyla asked, fanning herself and Rue with the fans.

"Fire..."

"If you want fire, then you need Lex." Aiyla replied.

"We'll see." Rue winked, she pulled something from her pocket. A tiny crystal orb. Inside the orb seemed to be a small flame.

"That?" Aiyla asked with a look.

"Hey, you ain't seen nothin' yet." Rue said, then turned to the demon who was still trying to tear through the cat walk to get to them. She chunked the orb at it. It shattered and a fire began spreading over it.

The demon howled and thrashed, breaking more catwalking, allowing itself to get a good shot at the two women.

"Duck!" Aiyla yelled, jumping out of the way of a taloned paw. It swiped the hand, knocking into Rue and sending her crashing into the broken steps. "RUE!" Aiyla regained her balance and ran past the demon, sliding when it went to grab her. She grabbed Rue's body and pulled her around behind the stairs.

"Rue honey, this is not the time to play possum." Aiyla said, smacking Rue's cheek. When it became apparent that Rue was not going to come around, Aiyla touched her earring again. "Sylvie, man down! Where's that fuckin' back up!"

"They're coming!" Sylvie replied. "How bad?"

"She's unconcious. I can't hold this thing by myself!" Aiyla replied, wincing at the demon roared in frustration, trying desperately to grab at them.

"Hold on, I know they're coming." Sylvie told her.

Aiyla groaned, still holding to Rue. The demon ransacked the warehouse, trying to tear it down around their ears. Aiyla pulled Rue further back against the wall and huddled with her.

The seconds seemed like hours, the minutes like days. The catwalking and stairs wasn't going to hold much longer. Aiyla sent the PTB a prayer and kept her eye on the demon.

Then there was a sharp report of bullets from the other side of the warehouse, followed by a pair of fire covered chakrums. Aiyla saw Lex run past the demon, toward her and Rue, catching the chakrums. He dropped into a slide and slid right behind the stair case with them, leaning over Rue.

"Sorry to take so long, we were in a void when Sylvie told us you had a man down." He said quickly, looking over Rue. Nate was keeping the demon occupied. Lex pulled a small vial from his pocket and cracked the top off it, waving it under Rue's nose.

Rue inhaled deeply, coming up from the floor with a hiss. "Get that away from me!" She growled, fangs extended.

"What is it?" Aiyla asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Garlic, she can't stand the smell of it." Lex answered with a wicked grin. "Can you stand?" He asked Rue.

Rue climbed to her feet, dusting off her knees, cracked her neck and picked up her sword. "I'm gonna see this finished too." She replied.

"That's my girl." Lex grinned, getting up with Aiyla.

"Lets get this fuckin' nasty off Nate's oh so fine ass." Aiyla growled, loading new clips in her guns. Rue nodded to her. She slapped her wrist off Aiyla's and the other girl cackled, then bolted out of the hold up, firing on the demon.

Aiyla sprang over torn down rubble and ducked behind a beam, looking for Nate and caught sight of him in another hold up near by.

Rue lunged, spinning her blade and catching the demon across the knee. She slid in between it's legs and came up behind it, driving her sword into it's hip. It began turning to grab Rue, when it was struck in the shoulder by a flamming chakrum. It spun in the direction that attack had come from and got caught in the nose by the second. Howling it slammed it's fist down in the spot Lex had formerly been

Aiyla bolted behind the hold up with Nate and pounced on him, kissing him, while he was loading his guns. "I love it when you come to my rescue." She said with a giggle as she let him go.

Nate tipped back his hat with a crooked grin and replied. "Some one's gotta come t' yer rescue."

She laughed, touching his cheek for a moment, saying, "Glad it could be you, handsome." She turned her eyes back to the fight.

Lex had bolted up a still standing stair case and took a more direct approach with the demon, he skidded to a hault right infront of it's ugly face. Spinning the black and red chakrums, he launched himself over the rail, coming down hard against the demon, spinning the chakrums like buzz saws.

Rue kept slicing at the lower area on the demon, opening new wounds. She danced in and out of it's reach as it tried to tear at her, then at Lex who landed lightly behind her on her last strick. There was a trail of blood down both of the demon's shoulders and one horn was hanging on by tissue.

Nate and Aiyla came out of their hold up, firing steady on the demon's back. It spun around, pounding it's fists in the now empty spot as they broke on either side of it.

Rue spun her sword and looked at Lex. Lex nodded toward the demon and Rue nodded to him. Lex sprinted toward the thing, stopped, spun around and braced himself. Rue was running toward him.

At the last minute, she leapt up and Lex used his chakrums to push her even farther up. She spun her sword and drove it down, through the back of the demon's neck, digging her heels into it's shoulders.

The demon bellowed and staggered, threatening to topple over. Aiyla held her position, taking aim for right under it's neck. She timed the shot, waiting until it was swaying dangerously close and she squeezed the trigger, firing off a single shot.

The bullet passed clean through it's chin and brain. Rue twisted her sword, kicking off its back, will withdrawing her blade. Nate grabbed Aiyla's arm and yanked her back as the demon came crashing forward, shaking the room. Lex practically caught Rue as she came down. The demon dissolved back into blackness, leaving an oily stain on the floor.

"How'd ye know that'd work?" Nate asked Aiyla as Rue and Lex joined them.

"I didn't." Aiyla answered truthfully.
Nate gave her a look. "Ye were willin' t' stand there, just t' take the shot. Lordy, girl." He grinned at her.

Aiyla smiled. "A risk isn't a risk unless you're willin' to take it. After all, looking at Rue...that would have turned out messy if that demon had turned around." She said to the other woman.

"Yeah, that trick is a risk to try." Rue agreed with a nod.

"But nicely executed." Aiyla put in.

"Thanks...some of the credit is Lex's." Rue replied with a wink.

"So what happened?" Nate asked, holstering his guns and looking around at the carnage.

Rue and Aiyla quickly filled Nate and Lex in on the events leading up to their arrival. "We'd been careful not to be seen, but some how, they guessed right." Rue said.

"Maybe." Lex answered. "I thought Necromancy was a lost art."

"No, just outlawed in the courts." Rue answered. "There's a couple who still practice it."

"So any chance ya know who's behind this?" Nate asked.

"Not a fuckin' clue. I never kept up with that list." Rue replied flatly.

"Lets get back to the office. I think I've got a place to start." Aiyla said, turning and opening a portal before Lex could. He gave her a look but she just grinned in return. They followed Rue into the portal.