Frank Sheen's Story

A harrowing day.

That is what it was; a harrowing, trying day

The woman, mostly feline by then, had laid her clothing, a jade green with silver designs and patterns, dress of asian sort, almost arabian, but even then revealing in appearance alone in a bundle near the fire. The now white tiger laid on her side near the fire to sleep. Sure to bring her prey into her grasp.

But she was not expecting who was going to arrive first. Nor what the man was going to do

Frank Sheen was tired, cold, and hungry. He'd been searching for his son for awhile now, ever since his wife died about 5 years ago. He'd retired from the Navy and now travels the world in search of his son. He looked around for a place to make camp for the night, the sub-zero winds howling, chilling him to the bone even through all the layers of clothing he wore. Looking around he spotted a most curious sight: a white tiger laying by a campfire but no sign of any person who might've built the fire. He began to gather the materials necessary to pitch his tent, including a pile of leaves for underneath the tent to provide insulation. He looked back at the white tiger curiously, noting that it seemed to be young and doesn't seem to have enough fur to survive cold weather like this, remembering that most mountain lions would nest in caves in the mountains. So he took out a spare thermal blanket and placed it over the tiger and went back to work making camp, not seeing what had happened next.

The massive cat never moved; a steady purr however was heard. As the blanket was laid on her the woman; or rather the white tiger, murred and rolled over, snuggling under the blanket. As the man went back to building his tent the woman shed her fur under the blanket. long brown hair cascaded across the ground where she slept framing a angular yet delicate face. under the blanket the woman was nice and warm. The fire flickered dangerous as if ready to die out

At the edge of the clearing voices were heard; Still in a thick fur of a white tiger the woman was clearly humanlike, but still strongly feline. She never woke up hearing the strange mutterings around them. Her prey were getting closer.

And she had no idea of the man who'd laid a blanket over her

Frank paused in his work as he heard voices and sighed, hoping they were friendly but ready to put Masters Hung and Chang's teachings to good use, turning around he was startled at the sight of a woman where once the tiger had been. Now what's going on here? How'd that woman get there and where'd that blasted great cat get to? he wondered as the source of the voices began to become visible as they got closer to the campfire.

About a half dozen or so men entered the clearing, they didnt appear to be armed with naught more than pistols, clubs and some other weapons. two of the men went right to the firepit and started warming themselves, a third went towards Frank to ask for directions, the last three kept watch. The woman never moved under the blanket

With the one man seemingly distracting Frank, two of the three keeping watch gave a careful look towards the white furred woman-cat thing under the blanket. "ya rb, wa'aetaqid 'annana wajadna laha" The man said simply imn Arabic. Which translated was said 'Hey Boss, I think we found her"

"husana, yawqazha, ghabi" Replied the boss, meaning "well, wake her up, stupid"

The man did just that, leaning towards the naked woman, the naked fur covered woman to wake her up.

Of course by then their true intentions were clear as one of the men withdrew a wicked looking sword and moved towards the woman

Frank watched everything. The things he was taught when he studied martial arts coming back to him. First rule, be aware of ALL your surroundings. He saw the man approach but also saw them go after the woman. He stunned the guy approaching him in a couple of deft moves and then, quick as lightning, whipped out hidden throwing stars, one of them nailing the sword wielder in the hand and 2 others having been nailed in the throat, main arteries to what passed for their brains being severed. He took out a throwing knife and quickly threw it and nailed another of the goons smack dab in the middle of his forehead and proceeded to fight the rest using a combination of the styles he'd learned from Masters Hung and Chang, styles like Wing Chun, Northern Fist, and Drunken Fist.

The sword hit the ground dangerously close to the womans face, nearly stabbing her had it not stopped, had anyone been watching as the sword stopped a hair from her nose before a gust of wind knocked it aside without harming her would have wondered just what was going on. The man who held the sword turned as he was struck, only to get nailed in his throat, dropping like a sack, more men swarmed from the surrounding woods

Some of these men were pale, their eyes red with bloodlust and fire. Vampires to be sure. One fo them stumbled near the blanket as a silver claw slit his tendon, hamstringing the man cleanly as the blanket moved, a foot stabbed the vampire dead in the heart with such force the vampire screamed and faded into fire. The woman stood, her body slender and tall. Long brown and black hair whipped around her in the wind as ash began to fall like snow.

Perfect

The unknown man, who was already fighting the prey that came into her trap didnt see her just yetr as she plucked out of thin air a crossbow bolt and threw it at the man Frank was fighting, nailing the guy in the forehead. A flick of the wirst and silver claws ripped out the troat of another man while a well placed foot was surgically planted in the groin of another man. twenty pairs of eyes watered in sympathy as the man sank to the ashy ground screaming and holding his jewels. By then the woman was dressed. But fur still covered her body that Ferank could see.

Frank raised an eyebrow as this woman joined the fight with moves that, in his opinion, even his old teachers would've been hard pressed to match, making him very glad that she was not fighting against him as well as these guys, who were surprisingly strong and resilient until he caught the sight of their unnatural pallor and a split-second glimpse of pointed teeth. Vampires eh? Well I know just the thing for such unholy creatures, he thought to himself, grabbing a couple of branches lit with fire from the campfire and using them to fight and burn these undead creatures along side the admittedly beautiful lady and nodded in satisfaction as her crossbow bolt nailed the guy in the head with deadly accuracy. She'd make a great sniper, he thought. He nodded again as another guy's throat was ripped out and winced as she shredded another guy's wedding tackle. Her fur looked suspiciously like that he'd seen on that tiger on his way in. He got a befuddled look on his face at that as he continued to help fight off the guys with his fire-lit weapons.

Silver claws raked out the throat of another man, then stabbed clean through the heart of a vampire. Apparently these vampires were thankfully not the master vampires the Tigris was used to killing and hunting for hobby and also in some cases payment. These dumb freaks were low ranking to the point of newly turned. And also newly stupided

Aniother flick of the wrists and two vampires were swiftly turned to ash as their heads exploded from the silver clean claws of the woman. Finally there was one vampire left fighting with Frank, the man who she did not know. Lightly pushing off the ground the woman disappeared into the ash filled air, swiftly disappearing into the trees above.

Seconds later there came a loud roar of a white tiger out of the sky above that slammed down on the vampire from above, the creature screamed like a terrified woman and turned to ash quickly as its heart was split apart. However in the blind fighting the burning brand came down and was halted, barely before touching the white tiger's face.

A slender paw on his hands keeping the burning branch away from her face. A slender, thick white and black furred TIGER PAW was touching a mortal man. Yet.... she wasnt attacking him. Instead she was keeping him from burning her face

For the moment it was now just the two of them. What a way to wake up. "Are you harmed ?" came a soft almost clearly feline accented voice, but the tiger never spoke directly, instead her very female voice was heard in his head. The bodies of the men remained, she went over them carefully, tiger paws making swift work of the pockets, most of the contents were dumped onto the fire to burn

"I'm fine, just a little winded. I'm not as young as I used to be. Thanks for the help. I think even my old martial arts instructors would be jealous of your speed." he said with a chuckle as the adrenaline wore off. "That's a neat trick by the way," he said as he returned his "flaming swords" to the fire.

The white tiger stood up, at her full hight she was a good three or so meters tall, a purple and silver mist surrounded her form and the young woman was back, "That is good. Vampires have a nasty bite, but its nothing a Tigris or Eagle cant fix and remove their posion. But something tells me you are neither Tigris nor Eagle, nor Dragon. But Mortal ?" The womans voice was that of an oriental yet heavily feline accented. Her eyes were a crystal clear brown and catlike. She speared using her claws a piece of information, a list of orders.

They were hunting, her.

The silver claws from her wirst were where the arteries were. At least the onces that one went for when commiting suicide and aiming for the wrists. The claws were untarnished silver. They retracted without a sound and trhe woman started licking her hands and knuckles as if she were a cat. Which she was. The jade green dress she wore left a lot to the imagination. Tall soft leather boots were pon her feet, a pair of similar colored leather vambraces where on her arms. What appeared to be a belt of throwing needles was on her right leg above her knee. Her belt held a very simple weapon.

A blood soaked whip

She spotted the blanket, gpoing over to it she mused thoughtfully as she picked up the fallen sword. "Some of them are learning..... Stupid vampires. I hate this planet already" She broke the sword in her hands then, it shattered into countless fragments

"Eh. It's not all bad. My old teachers are good people who I think you'd enjoy meeting," he said to her with a smile. "After that display I now know why they sent 20 of those vampire guys. Anything less would've likely been a death wish. And yes..I suppose mortal is as apt a description of me as any other. Why in heck were they after you for anyway?" He asked digging out some rations and water and offering her some of both.

"Most humans are just that, Mortal. Unlike a Tigris or Eagle, or both" She replied simply as if stating a fact, which was partly true. When he dug out rations and freshwater she held up a hand, as if asking for quiet, her ears twitched. Looking sharply towards Frank she took a step in his direction, her hand reaching outwards. Out of nowhere a body came flying into her hand. Pulled by the air; As if by magic.

As the mortal man landed in her outstratched hand by the neck, held off the ground a good foot and a half the woman stared the man in the face, "min arsullaha lak ?" She asked him, meaning 'who sent you ?'

"la turid 'an taerafa. quttatan ghabiatan!" the man replied, meaning 'wouldnt you like to know, stupid cat!'

The woman smirked, The man gurgled then as her claws stabbed through his throat, long silver claws all but seperated the head from the body as she then tossed asisde the dead.

She dusted off her hands then; "Why after me ? Because I may have either done one of two things, or both at once, insulted their master, or kill it. Infact now that I recall it I did do both because his bitch in command tried to kill me, I fought in self defense." The woman said. She stepped close to Frank, her hand now out to shake "Llady Hawkthorne, Lt, Guardians of Light. Who might you be, Mortal ?"

Frank took the proffered hand and shook it, impressed with this lady's skill. "Frank Sheen, traveler," he said. He also wondered if the legends were true that holy water was an effective weapon against vampires. He had some vials in his pack so it was possible he might have an opportunity to test that legend. "I expected vampires to be a little tougher than that. Was expecting them to have lightning speed and strength to match that speed," he snorted in disdain at the vampire corpses.

"A pleasure" Lady replied simply, her grip was firm, strong, for one soe frail looking looks were indeed deciving. She snickered, "Only in books and.... comics.... the Mortals like to tell stories, revil in tales of how supernatural creatures prowl the night with unmatched strength and speed. All tales of the mind, none of it true" But there were some parts that were indeed true, holywater, silver stakes, the wood stakes, all of it.

"Those that are left, those are their familaries, Mortals like yourself. men and womnen who, put themselves at great risk to work with vampires, and otherwise. Vampires turn into smoldiering ash upon death. Leaving no trace of their being there" she explained. Once slain with silver or similar or even a wood stake, a vampire turned to ash in a rather.... painful way.

"Though vampires are not what I am hunting. Far from it." Lady said after a moment of going through the pockets of the dead men. Finding no further information she stood and waved a hand towards the bodies, disolving them into burned ash. "What I am hunting is much more..... delicate. If I can find him."

"I'm on a quest of sorts myself. For what purpose is this hunt?" asked Frank.

"Kobolds; dragons of a sort" Came the reply. It was simple enough of an answer for sure; oddly Lady didnt care much for vampires, and loved to slit their troats when she could. They were scared of fire, but most other things, superspeed, superstrength, those were mostly myths depending on the vampire in question

"Traveler ? What are you seeking ?" She locked her feline eyes on him, the deep brown eyes glittered with a etheral light, "You have the look of a man seeking something, or someone"

"A someone, namely my son, Brad," he said.

Lady had turned back to the fire to toss more wood onto it when she stopped "Your son ?" She turned to him, A thoughtful look on her face as she carefully gazed at Frank, taking in every detail. "You seek him.... because you lost someone ? Someone important..." Little did she know how right she was. But then it didnt really matter too much now did it ?

Yep, it did.

Lady Hawkthorne herself had lost her entire family, at least as far as she knew she was the only one with the name of Hawkthorne, she had no idea she really had a younger brother and sister who were both quite alive, nor did she remember or know that she had a niece and nephew

"Why do you seek your son ?"

"He's all the family I have left, after my wife passed on about 5 years ago," said Frank sadly. "How about you? Any family left?" he asked curiously.