Rain threw up a pale mist in the fading day. Torchlight became golden orbs in the gloom, dancing in the enchanted braziers at the whim of the wind, as raindrops pelted down in fine almost frozen shards.

The figure was a mere smudge, black on black against the wall, as she slipped down to scurry unseen between the Vulten guards. To normal sight, the thief seemed a flicker at the corner of the eye, a dancing shadow on the wall or floor.

The Vulten were well known for their female-dominated society, and the brutality of their elite warriors, the Freyas. The shadow slipped by two such soldiers in gleaming plate and fine scale mail, their wickedly shaped halberds and heavy pistols of little concern to the thief. After what seemed like miles of rose-colored marble and cathedral ceilings, the shadow finally reached her target. The room was dark, swords and other bladed weapons resting in racks, rifles and pistols in cases and lockers. In the center of the room was a pedestal, a single light illuminating a slightly curved blade of what looked to be a scarlet liquid.

The shadow peeled away from the wall, colors and features filling in the form of a lithe woman, skin like porcelain and hair like ebony. Her crimson eyes nearly glowed in the darkness, as she crept up to the blood sword, pale fingers wrapping around the black leather grip. She hesitated a beat, as alarms rang out in warning of attack. Perfect timing, the diversion would keep most of the guards from stopping her exit. Without wasting time, she slipped the sword into its sheath, and strapped the sheath to her back, just in time to face the guards that rushed into the room.

The first guard, a woman thick with muscle, stabbed forward, driving her spear with enchantment enhanced speed, aiming to drive the demoness back. Too slow, the guard was unable to stop the shadow from throwing herself into a slide that carried her under and past the guards into the hall. The thief rolled back to her feet and into a run without losing any momentum as more alarms began to ring out though the palace and city streets.

A Freya blocked the hall, her wings spread to prevent passage as she fired twin sunripper pistols. The hissing roar of the chain revolvers deafening in the high-ceilinged palace, but if it bothered the shadow, she showed no sign of it. Instead, she ducked to the side, drawing a tiny dagger as the marble pillar behind her exploded. Time slowed as the shadow darted forward and jabbed her blade into the gap between the Freya's handplate and armguard. She could see the individual droplets as she retracted and whirled to administer an identical attack to the other wrist. Time snapped back to normal as the shadow continued past and crimson painted the walls and floor. Freyas were not defeated so easily, but by the time the armored woman spun to pursue, the demoness was gone.

The pale woman finally found a window, as she gulped air in an attempt to recover from the heavy magic usage. Luckily, she was able to twist and slip out the window, a feat that would be impossible for the Vulten to mimic.

The night sky was teaming with the winged guards and aerial vehicles, and the shadow could see the rest of her team escaping. With a smirk, she threw a cloak over her prize and disappeared over the wall, the rain covering her passage.

Xas frowned, making his already hard features that much more stern. Beside him, Taes, his younger brother smirked at the stoic Freyas, their golden eyes watching the pair of Stelanian males as they entered the palace. Xas had little patience for his brother's antics, they were there to work, not to poke fun at the female dominated society. Of course he could almost hear Taes' mellow baritone of a voice saying what he always said,"As long as the job gets done, who cares?" Xas cared. Stelanians were known for their professionalism, save for one of the blade god's more famous offspring. And they were even better known for their unshakable honor that was second only to their battle prowess.

"No need to look like that," Taes chuckled as they passed under one of the golden arches and between another pair of Freyas,"Its not like I'm gonna sleep with anyone."

Xas scowled, and flicked his gunmetal eyes toward his brother's pale golds,"Try to act like you're an officer of the law, not some Diflaecan playboy model on vacation. Besides, Vulten care about two things: stronger offspring and slaves. So don't kid yourself." He snapped his eyes forward again, and at the corner of his eye he could see Taes' shrug.

"I know. Did you notice the red wings?"

Xas looked over toward Taes again. He had in fact noticed that the guards stationed all along the hall sported red winged helms, rather than the usual white or purple. That meant that the Vulten queen had called her best trained back to the palace. Normally the high elite, many of which were nobility, patrolled the borders of Highinlas, but if they were all within the palace, it meant that the queen was afraid of something.

"I did. Good to see that you're not a complete idiot."

Taes smirked again,"Yeah, there's parts missing."

The corner of Xas' mouth twitched in amusement at the bad joke. Hopefully no one nearby understood the Stelanian language, or rumors that the warrior race were horrible joke tellers might spread,"Try to spare the," he spoke the title in common,"Queen," before switching back to his native language,"Your humor. I could see your jokes starting a war."

A male, standing about a foot shorter than the six foot Stelanians, scurried down the hall to meet the two, his copper wings brushing the floor as he bowed and cringed pathetically. Xas never understood how a race could suppress an entire gender like the Vulten had. The result was tall powerful women that stood even taller than the Stelanian males, and small cringing males, like the one that stood before them.

"This one's mistress bids a great welcome to the Universal Law Enforcement. She grants you permission to enter her personal chambers, though she wishes for you to leave your weapons with her sisters," the slave bowed again, apologetic, as if he expected the brothers to kill him where his stood.

The two exchanged a glance, and Xas could see that Taes was serious for a change. The older brother slightly shook his head and took the heavy blade in its sheath from his back, dropping it into the waiting hands of the woman who stood waiting. She seemed as if she was a statue of a goddess cast in bronze and copper, and wrapped in the finest silks. He didn't miss the fact that the woman wore Stelanian under armor beneath the translucent silks, and a curved blade on her hip. Even so, she nearly dropped the sword, clearly underestimating the weight of the hyperdense metal. On the other side, Taes had dropped his rifle into the hands on an identical woman, who seemed equally surprised at the weight of the blue metal. Once disarmed, the slaveboy led the brothers though ornate doors covered in golden eagle designs. Inside the room was dim, everything cast in a rosy light as the setting sun filtered though the pink curtains. Large pillows filled the room,a few male pleasure slaves lounging about near a small pool filled with clear water and brightly colored fish. The queen herself reclined in the center of the room, incense sending curling smoke to make a silvery crown for her. She was bare chested,a translucent blue robe covering absolutely none of her bronze athletic figure.

Golden eyes sparkled and white teeth were shown in a welcoming grin, the Highlinian accent thick in the spoken common,"Ahhh, Spayce Pohleece. Come, seet, relax. Ah shall send thee boyee to get you some dreenks. Waht breengs such handsome males to mah home?"

She motioned to the slave that had brought the two in, the boy scurrying off to take care of his mistress' desires. Xas spoke first, giving a slight bow, his eyes firmly locked on the Vultan woman's eyes, his voice echoed his desire to get to business,"We were informed of Red Death activity in this area last night. We understand that something was stolen in the small skirmish, but there were no details given."

The queen's grin faded as she stood, brushing aside the males that had been snuggling against her. They scattered to the edges of the room as the woman stood to her full seven and a half feet, and folded her wings,"Stelanians. Ahlways so seery'us." She sighed softly, motioning for datascreen to be brought to her. The flat book-sized computer was placed in her hand, the male darting back to the room's edge again as the towering woman stepped lightly over the pillows toward the brothers,"A sword was stolen. We deed not theenk eet to be off much eemportants, merely a vampeereek blade. However, we know thaht thee Red Death dohs not steel theengs thaht are not eemportant, so ah fear waht thees could mean."

An image of a longsword formed from what could only be described as blood somehow shaped yet still liquid. While it was slightly unusual, magic was common, and enchanted items could be found throughout the Coast and universe at large. So why would such a large crime organization go after something so common?

Xas handed the datascreen back to the woman,"What are the sword's origins?"

She waved dismissively,"Eet had bean in thee ahrmaree for as long as mah familee remembers. Eet was prettee, so eet was on deesplay. We thought notheeng off eet."

Xas looked over at Taes, who looked a good deal more flustered than Xas. Clearly he wasn't quite so good at ignoring exposed breasts. Even so, Taes frowned,"Without the sword here, there's no way to know what it does. We'll have to try and bring this to a redfeather."

Xas nodded slightly,"Knowing Red Death, the seer won't like it, though. They have a habit of throwing out whatever they can."

Taes nodded in return and faced the queen again, clearly working harder than his older brother to keep his eyes where they belonged,"We'll take our leave then. Expect contact from the Stelanian government, and possibly the Atlantians."

The queen nodded slightly,"Ahm sure you wheel understand eef ah preefer eef ah could send mah own escort weeth you."

Xas spoke first,"Of course m'lady. How much time will your people need?"

"Unteel morning. Ah wheel have rooms made for you unteel then."

The two gave a slight bow and took their leave, the weapons returned to them as soon as the private quarters' doors closed behind them. As an escort lead them to their rooms, Xas kept his voice low and leaned in to speak to his brother,"Keep your guard up."

"Yeah. I know."

Something was up, and Xas had a bad feeling about it.

[wrong location]

The room given to Xas was much to decadent for his liking, with silks hung on the walls, deep plush carpets, and the light scent of lavender in the air. The bed was large and covered in pillows, and there was a fireplace that took up half of the wall, though in the warm summer months it was left unlit during the day. Sun filtered in though a skylight of stained glass, depicting half-naked vulten men, with outstretched wings and poses meant to show of shapely figures. In a male-dominated society it probably would have been half-naked women, but either way, Xas didn't give much attention nor care toward any of the room's amenities.

Well, he had to admit, the large deep bath did hold a little interest to him.