September 13th, 12:10 am - Seattle
It was more than a week later that the bait was finally taken. As most martial arts teach, strength is easily redirected, often to the attacker's detriment. Lobo didn't seem to mind getting thrown. He didn't even try to break his fall. It was as if his heart wasn't in the fight. Likely it wasn't but he attacked anyway, unable to resist a will more powerful than his own. Leia barely had to use any of her real strength to send him sailing into the gutter.
Police responded immediately from their positions but it wasn't the preternatural squad that reached the scene of the crime first. Shifters had a natural speed that gave them an advantage when it came to sudden reactions and there were those within the shifter community that were faster than most.
Morvan and his chosen few had been staying with Suki as much to keep him out from underfoot as to keep him informed. When the alarm went up that Leia was under attack, he was out of the car and moving even before she had a chance to tell him to wait. Whether it was eagerness to finally face the Ulfric or desperation to protect the Swan Queen wasn't clear but he definitely seemed to want to be first on the scene.
He had competition.
The rats moved through the shadows like dark bolts of lightning. Nick had brought his best warriors and, although he wasn't expecting that they could face down the werewolf leader, their goal was not to kill him but to contain him and to try and restrain the vampire.
The wolves too had reason to move quickly but it was the Peacemaker who led the pack forward. Their goal was clear. They were here to reclaim their own and the vampire wasn't going to be able to do anything to stop them.
Even so, they were all beaten.
How long they had been ready no one could say but there was a flurry of wings and Leia had company. Four women, wearing nothing but determined expressions, surrounded her, each in a ready stance. Leia smiled and joined them, striking a picture perfect Crane position even as the last of their feathers disappeared.
The vampire actually had the good grace to look shocked.
On the ground Lobo whimpered, shook his head and rolled to his feet. He looked like Hell. His eyes were feverish and his hair unkempt. He wore a week's worth of beard and his clothing was the same thing he'd been wearing when he'd been taken. It seemed the vampire wasn't particularly gentle with his servants either.
Nor did he value them, it seemed, because he turned and fled, leaving Lobo to fight a delaying action. The werewolf didn't have a great deal of free will but it was clear he was exercising every ounce of it, because instead of attacking the women, he turned to face the next available threat. He caught Morvan mid leap and, just as Leia had done, used his own momentum to propel him into the nearest wall.
"That's gonna leave a mark," Morvan gasped, barely able to draw a breath before the Ulfric was upon him and the fight began in earnest.
It was a curious battle. Lobo was obviously in a weakened condition and not in peak form but Morvan was doing his best to try and not hurt the man, who obviously was far more interesting in getting himself killed or disabled than in killing his opponent. It was barely half a minute before the wolves showed up, armed with tasers and other subduing weapons. Morvan swore when a missed shot took him in the arm and he barely managed to block a blow that would have taken his head off. Perhaps fighting the Ulfric hadn't been one of his best plans but as long as he as on his feet, Morvan felt like he was holding his own.
Others went after the vampire, including Leia's small flock of swan maid bodyguards. Two took to the air, flowing up from the ground into flight in a motion that was nothing short of breathtaking. Several of the rats tracked him as well, leaving Lobo to the wolves and the wereleopard.
The Peacemaker moved to cut off the vampires escape. He'd chosen his route based on what he knew of the area and it was his best guess as to where the vampire would run to. It was fortunate that this one didn't have the ability to fly. Now that he'd seen them, Tom didn't give much for the swan maid's chances against a vampire in an aerial dogfight, with or without their advantage of greater familiarity.
He knew he'd chosen correctly when he suddenly couldn't hear. He smiled. He was going to enjoy this fight.
"I lose one wolf only to find another. How delightful." The voice slithered through his head like some unclean thing, almost as if it were leaving a trail of muck and filth. Tom somehow knew that this was how it had taken Lobo, building up too much sludge for Lobo to fight through. By time the Ulfric would have recognized the danger, it would have been too late. But Tom recognized that. Lobo would have just shuddered and tried to make the fight physical when it needed to be spiritual. Tom allowed his inner calm to flow through him, washing away the vampire's control.
"You have no power over me," he said aloud, even though he couldn't hear his own words. That too would have disoriented Lobo.
"Ah but you are mine to claim, mine to use and command. Serve me and I will show you things undreamed of."
"I call those nightmares, not dreams," Tom replied. "You are nothing. You have no power. No strength. You can neither claim nor command me, nor shall you have any of my wolves." He could feel the power of the vampire growing, trying to crush his resistance by sheer force of will.
"But I shall." Something tried to push its way through, something Tom knew wasn't going to be pleasant. It was almost like a sexual assault of the mind, he thought and in that thought he found the key to the vampire's defeat.
"You are a fool," Tom said, his grin widening. "I know you. I have found you out. You feed on sexual depravity and the fear it causes, the revulsion and the terror. You will find no such fear in me. I do not fear what you might be able to do to those I protect because you are going to be in no position to harm them. I will not bargain my services for their protection. Your defeat will be all the protection they need."
There was an audible snarl and the vampire launched itself at Tom. It was a foolish, desperate move, born from what was likely the first defeat the vampire had suffered in decades, if not centuries. Tom met the attack directly. He was an Alpha werewolf. The vampire had lost on his own playing field. Now he would lose on the Peacemaker's. He caught the vampire by the throat and struck back, not with his fist but with all the love he felt for every one of the werewolves under his protection, from the lowest sub right up to Lobo.
The vampire let out a wail and tried to pull away but Tom held on, forcing thoughts of peace and love into the twisted mind of the creature. He could hear the footsteps of others coming to join him but he didn't stop. By the time the wererats caught up, the vampire was on the ground, a quivering, sobbing puddle that Tom had pinned to the ground by the throat. "Somebody fetch the Executioner," he said softly.
