California, USA

Sora was preparing himself for the doors to open, when he heard Jonathan's 'plan' in his head. Turning to the figure, NO! I'm not leaving you! You forget the reason I here. The clue is in the name. El-e-men-tal. What a small lighting bolt gonna do to me? I wouldn't be the first time I've been hit with one. He smiled slyly, full in the knowledge that he was gonna be in a lot of pain very soon...

Kiko kept his head down and followed the others, ashemed of them and of himself. 'They could of been killed,' he thought. He kept on walking in his leopard state, whimpering at anyone who noticed him.

((OOC- I’m sorry for taking so long guys. . . ))

Azrael may have been left out of the multiple mental-conversations floating around in the room right now, but it didn’t take a genius to tell that they were completely screwed over. The scent of adrenaline was almost overwhelming, that to mention the fear leaking off of Sora. But most of all, even with Rebecca attempting to stay calm and lack of pulse, it was obvious the vampire was stressed and in pain, a bad combination for anyone.

“Yeah, I can drive well enough, let’s go,” he said, heaving Rebecca up so he could carry her in one arm. As he passed Kiko, he grabbed the leopard by the scruff and slung him over his shoulder. “Come on, Kitty Cat, this is no time to wallow in self pity.” Running to the van, he glanced at Sora and and shook his head, uneasy about leaving the elementalist behind. “Don’t do anything stupid Runt, got it?” he said before running off, getting himself and his hitchhikers safely inside the van by basically plowing through any guards stupid enough to get in his way. In his early years in high school, let’s just say he had a promising career in American Football.

Kiko yelped as the werewolf picked him up.

“Come on, Kitty Cat, this is no time to wallow in self pity.”

"Sure..." He let Azrael put him over the werewolf's back, and just sat there. He actually liked being carried like this. He purred a litle, but only quietly so Azrael wouldn't hear him.

(Eleera gave me permission)

Jonathan watched as everyone got into the van. He smiled as Minnie's eyes met his. He could feel her fighting back tears and, if he could, Jonathan would be crying too. He had never used this much power before and didn't know whether or not he would be ok after it.

Jonathan cleared his throat, disappeared to a distance in front of the van and looked menacingly at the horde of armed guards. He looked to Sora.
"You better be ready for this!" He turned back the the guards, their guns raised to him.
"Look at you all, you puny mortals. Here you stand with your guns." Rain was falling all around he and Sora. Thunderclaps echoed around their standing figures.
"We have been hunted just so that you all can add strength to yourselves...but you haven't taken into account that there are more of us than you can handle. *small laugh* We're only the tip of the iceberg." Thunder echoed again but far closer. And again, 'CRASH!'. 'CRASH!'. 'CRASH!'.
"We can handle this power. Can you?" He knew his eyes were fully white now as he was calling on a lot of power to draw the electricity close. The men looked scared and some were looking around in terror. Others were chalk white. He raised his voice louder, letting it grow in volume, getting louder and louder the further he went on.
"I pose you that question again, 'Can you handle this power?'. We certainly can. And now I tell...no, I dare you...I DARE you to even try and..."
He raised his right hand to his left shoulder.
"WITHSTAND THIS!!!!" He threw his right hand up the sky and the biggest bolt of lightning he had ever seen hit it with such force that it nearly knocked him to the ground. He slammed his hand down on the ground and an even bigger wave of electricity pulsed through the ground. The screams of all the guards broke through the night air. All the guards dropped and Jonathan dropped with them. Darkness filled his vision and al sound distorted before slowly dying. all that was left was the quiet shout of Minnie.

Sora, gulped, realising the error of his ways. But, it being too late to back, he tensed his fists, and trying his best to worsen the storm lashing them around.

WITHSTAND THIS!!!!

This was all Sora heard through the deafening winds. Suddenly, thing got electric. A large bolt of lighting struck the ground, easily overloading the earthy insulator, and electrocuting anyone with their feet on the ground. Which was mostly everyone. The bolt failed, however, to melt the tyres of the van, which seemed to be far enough away from the makeshift epicentre, Jonathan. Unfortunately, Sora was pretty close to him, leading to a good number of volts running through his thin frame. It seemed like he was the only one standing, including Jonathan. Moving to the ghost, he hefted the soul onto his shoulders, without much effort. He never thought that those thoughts would be going through his mind.

"Open the back doors and start driving!" He shouted ahead of himself, to the van, building up wind at his feet, preparing to use the volts to over-clock his muscles.

M
inerva watched the scene in horror as the biggest bolt lightning struck her brother's hand. He then slammed that hand off the ground and annihilated the guards before collapsing.
"JONATHAN!!!!" She kicked the van's back doors open, breaking her heels in the process, and screamed at Sora, who was bringing Jonathan to the van with him, to get in. As the elemental practically fell into the van with her brother she turned to Azzy.
"DRIVE!!" The van jumped to life and Minnie turned to her brother. He was barely even visible anymore. The force of that attack had wiped him out completely. She crouched over his lifeless body (no pun intended) and felt tears welling up in her eyes and lump in her throat. All her attempts to smother this emotion failed, and so, Minerva let her emotions run their course. She had never cried at death. Ever. Except at her brother's of course but that's different. Minnie watched her tears drop through Jonathan's body, if you could call it that, and turned to Azzy again and screamed,
"Why aren't you trying!"

Azrael scowled slightly, pressing his foot down on the accelerator as the car shot forward. "I'm going, I'm going!" he snared back, driving around the fallen guards so that the van would remain blood-splatter free. He glanced over to Rebecca that he had tossed over into the passenger seat. She still seemed to be edging with pain, but alive. He then adjusted the rearview mirror to see the commotion in the back, concerned for the other to guys even if he would never admit it.

Gradually he pulled into an empty parking lot once a safe distance from the guards and leaned his head against the steering wheel. "So what now?" he asked rhetorically, taking a deep breath. He could leave them now and just forget everything. That would be the smart thing to do. But then, the others had no chance of surviving with their injuries. He would have to stay, for their sakes.

"Well...for a start...who else is hurt?", Rebecca asked, turning round so she could check on the people in the back of the van. Okay...Jonathan to start with...Sora's in pain, I can tell that much, but not from external injuries...
She turned round again and flopped back against the seat. Then realised that was a mistake as her shoulder flared up again, and she bit her lip to stop herself from screaming. They didn't need that right now, for her to be in pain. She had to make sure everyone else was alright. With her arm in the state it was, it was unlikely she'd be able to do much to help, but she would do what little she could.
"Thank you...", she said quietly to Azrael. She knew he wanted to leave, even now...and yet...he was going to stay? For them? She didn't quite understand his motives, but Rebecca was grateful to the werewolf for that.

Sora was happy that everyone had made it to the relative safety that they had. He winched slightly as Beka sat back was more-or-less pain-free...excluding the agonising pain in his legs. He had seen this coming, he had the feeling that he was about to burn out his muscles. Worst case scenario, he's tore his ligaments to fragments and would have to pray for a miracle. Best case is that he's just pulled his leg muscles and would be fine in a few days. Neither was 100% true, but it damn felt like the former.

He started to drum his fingers quietly on the wheel-arch that he was using as a seat...

Misery sat down with her back to the metal wall. She looked around she could see that people were hurt, Jonathon was practically a crisp, Sora was in pain and Rebecca's shoulder was dead (not that she was not already but still). She did not want to just sit there and be the loose end of the group she decided she was going help the group and do everything she can to not eat the humans here.

She walked over the Azrael, put her hand on his shoulder and she thought the he thought that she might try and hurt him but really now that she thank about it she really did not or at least she could not be bothered. She smiled at him and surprisingly it was a genuine smile, not a faked one she would just put on for Rebecca's sake. She said

"My Thanks Azrael for getting Rebecca to safety and....

She looked away and said quite low but she was sure that he could hear her.

"...also my thanks for staying"

She looked back at him smiling, quarter of her hated the fact that he was staying but there was more that was actually genuinely happy that he is.

She turned away and headed towards Sora, mostly to see if he was okay as he looked in pain. When she got to him she said

"Hello Sora, how are you?. Are you hurting?"

She didn't know why but this boy made her worry like a big sister would worry about her little brother. As she said this she got some memory of her self when she was younger (about 5 or 6) she helping a boy put a plaster on his knee . When she snapped back she looked at Sora and raised a hand to her head. She was waiting for Sora to answer her.

Minerva looked up from her brother, fighting back tears.
"I'd like to offer my gratitude also. If it weren't for everyone else...Jonathan and I probably wouldn't have made it out." She sniffed and closed her eyes.
"I know somewhere we can go...my...my aunts' house. Jonathan and I lived there when we were children, the house is so big it could fit at least fifty people. Not including us. Also, my aunts are witches so they should be able to heal our wounds. Plus, they'll probably make us midnight margaritas when we're better." She said with a smile, still remembering the many, many times that they had been woken up to the sound of a blender making the drinks (the alcohol didn't enter the body but they got some of the effects for theirs as they were teenagers).
"You'll love it there and it's not that far away. If we all want to go there then tell me and I'll cast a spell to lead you there. It'll be like a line of light that you follow. However, after that I'll need to rest for a witch can't cast too many spells a day without rest, especially the more powerful spells like the protection spell that should run out in a few hours." Minnie sat beside her brother waiting for their reply.

Azrael's golden eyes slid open to meet Rebecca's gaze, surprised by her quiet thanks. It was almost an unfamiliar word inside his vocabulary; he never said it, and it was absolutely never said to him. "My Thanks Azrael for getting Rebecca to safety and.... also my thanks for staying"

His eyes moved to Misery, shocked by her working up the nerve to thank him. He smiled casually and waved his hand, dismissing the words physically, although not mentally. "Don't mention it, babes. You guys are too fun to mess with for me to let you go and die. I'll just hang around a few days and make sure everything is spick and span before leaving you to your own devices," he said, a flicker of worry hidden behind his joking tone. How much longer did he have until the full moon?

He sighed and turned to glance into the back of the van. Yup, they were screwed. Completely. "Herbs, can't you just give me verbal directions? We need all the strength we can get, wearing yourself out now isn't going to do anything. You need to stay strong. . . For your brother. " He growled slightly, glancing away. Don't make the same mistake I did, he said in the privacy of his own mind.

Sora stopped his drumming to speak to Misery, "Hey...I'm fine. Not fine, but not, not fine..." He trailed off in his thought, "I'll get by." He finished with a smirk. He looked to the older girl and gave a small sigh. As much as he hated to admit it, out loud at least, the others in the van kinda scared him. He had seen their raw, strained power. He was hesitant to think about how easily any of them could leave him as a smudge on the wall if they wanted. He was also quite worried about his own strength, and what would happen if he lost control. He was a son to Mother Nature, and had displayed his potential power in the past. He had some more control over his abilities now, but that day would stay with him.

He shook his head to clear the thoughts, and instead focused on trying to get better. Moving to the back, he opened one of the doors and hung his feet out. He knew that once they started moving, the wind rushing past him would speed up his healing speed to a rate that would mean that he wouldn't have to burden anyone with looking after him.

"Umm...I'm ready to go when everyone else is..."

Misery looked at the younger boy, there was not much difference between them he was only a year younger and one big difference, she was dead. She was too wrapped up in her own thoughts she just caught the sight of Sora getting up and walking to the back of the immobile van. She walked up behind him as this boy worried her as if he was a little brother or something. As she got closer to the boy something told to her to give him some space.

She looked around the van, everybody was doing there own thing. She decided to do some recon before they left. She slipped past Sora and out in to the twilight. Misery walked around the car park then something caught her eye. It was a sleek black SUV just a small way from the van and the others. She was in the space between the van and the SUV. Someone must have saw her as a man in a suit came out and pulled out something that looked like a trank gun. He aimed it at her.

She ran at full pelt back to the van. She pushed past an already hurt Sora, most likely causing some damage to his shoulder. As she got in the van she shouted

" AZZY!!! GO NOW!!!! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!!!! IT'S NOT SAFE HERE!!!"

Kiko awoke from his sleep. He was.....where was he? He looked around. 'Who put me on the top of the van? Azrael's idea of a joke, I guess.....or it could of been M-' He spotted Misery running back to the van.

"AZZY!!! GO NOW!!!! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!!!! IT'S NOT SAFE HERE!!!"

Kiko immeadiately jumped up and swung inside the van. 'What's the plan? Is there anything I can do?' He looked around, with fear in his eyes. The life of a escapee was definetly not the life for Kiko.

Minnie thought for a second and nodded. Most of her energy was gone but she had to do something to keep herself awake. She looked up when Misery shouted and moved to the back of the van. Minerva threw out her hands and the men coming towards them froze (as if time had frozen but really she had just slowed down the molecules outside of the van). Full of fear she turned back the the others.
"This should buy us some time but my power is temporary. I can't hold them like that for long. Take the first left up ahead and keep going Azzy. Now!" She turned to the elemental.
"Sora, could you help me please. Keep an eye out for enemies and if they come to near then blast them...if you have the strength. I don't want you to overexert yourself." She turned to the little kid asking if he could help.
"Ok pipsqueak, if you can change into any flying animals then you could fly above the van and keep an eye out for any enemies following or anything happening on the road ahead." She hoped that no-one minded her taking control right now, but the situation called for someone to take charge.

Azrael didn't need another hint to get his ass into gear. After checking to make sure that no one would fall out of the van, he pealed forward into the road. "Herbs, don't waste too much energy!" he shouted back, swearing as he looked into the rear view mirror to see the black SUV following him. He blinked once to see if his vision was correct. A motorcyclist came out from nowhere and, if Azrael's eyes weren't betraying him, was currently attempting to stop the SUV with its own form of artillery. Azrael ignored the motorcyclist for now, decided that if they showed up later, Azrael would just need to thank them personally for the escape. "Looks like we got an ally guys," he said over his shoulder. "Let's hope they just don't want us for themselves." He sighed, driving as fast as he dared without getting a ticket or possible harming someone. For the most part, it looked like they were in the clear. "Are you sure the house is safe? I don't want to involve anyone unnecessarily," he said, looking at Minerva with the mirror.

Minerva smiled as she remembered a time when she was seven and a demon had attempted to kidnap her brother. The aunts had come rushing in to find a burning figure. The walls had been enchanted to destroy all weaker forms of evil (or in the case of humans, block their entry into the house). Minnie had never known a safer place.
"Trust me, it's safe. There's not a human in the world who can get in there without their say-so. The aunts I mean." She looked out at their ally.
Why would they be helping us...? Do they want us for themselves...? Shut up Minnie and give Azzy directions! Minerva ran to the front of the van and looked out at the road. She closed her eyes and thought for a second.
Find a blood relative spell...it's the only non-verbal spell I know and it won't take up much energy She focused on a picture of her aunts and said 'Direction' in her head. The directions to her aunts' house appeared in her head but it took it's tole. She shook the weariness away and opened her eyes, determined to get them to safety.
"Left here. Then it's the fifth right before going straight. There should be a sign which has graffiti all over it. Stop there if you can and I'll call the Aunts. They may be old but they've still got life in them and they are none to happy with their family getting hurt. They'll be able to lead you to the house. Then...we'll be safe." She sat down and smiled. Their situation was dire but she could surprisingly find comfort in the fact that they were going to be safe soon enough as long as the people following them didn't catch up.