Before Andy was even properly in through the bar’s doors, Quinn was already motioning her over. “Let me guess,” she began as she sat across the bar from the elder vampire, “Your contacts found nothing and I’m just crazy after all?”

“Not at all. As a matter of fact, even from your initial description something seemed familiar, but it’s been so long...anyway, I had to be sure. So, I went to the Keeper of the Tomes-”

“The who-of-the-what now?”

Ice blue eyes fixed her with a look that made it clear interruptions weren’t appreciated, but Andy couldn’t help if she was a curious person by nature....and currently her brain was working at like half capacity max.

“Oh! Yeah, her. I think she just goes by ‘head librarian’ though...” she added, “Sorry, continue.”

“Right. So I spoke with The Keeper of the Tomes and with Ripley, the Guild member that tried to help you with your little issue.”

It was Andy’s turn to look less than impressed. That nigh had caused nothing but headaches, though she couldn’t bring herself to fully regret it if it meant Miles was no longer a threat.

“And?” she prompted for Quinn to continue.

For her part, the elder vampire brought out a book and turned it to a marked page. Tapping it she asked, “This look like what you saw?”

Andy could only stare at the page, her mouth slightly agape. The images were faded from time, but they were in fact exactly what she’d seen in Caspian’s lab. “Yeah...uh, the wolf looking one they had was emaciated and missing large patches of fur, and the other one was also emaciated and its wings were all fucked up. Like someone had taken a knife or scissors to the webbing to....”  Her brow furrowed as a realization dawned her, “...to keep it from flying away.”

Without further prompting Andy turned the page and read the entry on these creatures:

𝕭𝕰𝖅𝕰𝕽𝕶𝕰𝕽𝕾

The term Berzerker is used to collectively refer to any werwolf or vampire of a feral nature. However, the term was originally coined in reference to the original werewolves and vampires from which modern werewolves and vampires descend from. The overlap in the terms, comes in the fact that the original creatures afflicted with the respective curses of lycanthropy and vampirism were in fact basically feral creatures themselves.

𝔚𝔢𝔯𝔢𝔴𝔬𝔩𝔣 𝔅𝔢𝔷𝔢𝔯𝔨𝔢𝔯

An original werewolf bezerker differs from its modern descendants in the fact that a full moon is what triggered the original curse; however, these creatures did not have the choice to revert back to their human self once the moon passed. Their transformation was also not as close in resemblance to their animal counterpart, which was intended so that they would be easy to distinguish from regular wolves and be easily picked off by hunters.

 Unfortunately, this also allowed them to be more dangerous as they tended to move around upright and had the dexterity to hide both among the trees of the forest, as well as up high in its branches. This would allow a wolf bezerker the unique ability of not being restrained to just one approach when going on a hunt.

Wolf bezerkers -and modern ferals- are known to be the only werewolves that still hunt for sport. The only way for more wolf bezerkers to come to be is by mating and birth as they are not known to leave any of their ‘prey’ alive. It is believed that a cursed werewolf managed to leave his human lover pregnant leading up to the full moon, but prior to their complete transformation, thus passing along what is now known as the werewolf gene.

True wolf bezerkers are something a guild hunter will rarely come across, as corrupt hunters have dwindled the population down over the many centuries.

𝔙𝔞𝔪𝔭𝔦𝔯𝔢 𝔅𝔢𝔷𝔢𝔯𝔨𝔢𝔯

An original vampire bezerker differs from its modern descendants in many ways, though the most obvious is appearance. As pictured above they are rendered to a hairless, humanoid form with talons replacing fingernails on each hand, eyes that are attuned to actually see the blood of its prey (as opposed to just smell as a modern vampire might), a jaw capable of distending like that of a pythons, and a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth and two longer fangs (which are not retractable). Perhaps the most distinguishing features are the two bat-like wings that protrude from its shoulder blades allowing it the ability of flight.

Other notable differences are that they are bound to the curse that created them, and thus feel immense pain when hunger is denied and not sated immediately, their healing factor is affected by the blood they consume, making it to where a steady diet of human blood will guarantee near immediate healing, animal blood will slow it down, and supernatural blood will allow for healing on the spot. As such, it does make human blood their preferred diet and supernatural blood practically addicting.

They do still have heightened strength and speed, along with other senses; however, they are susceptible to sunlight. It is believed that modern vampires were the result of a feeding frenzy that was interrupted by hunters. This would have led to bezerker bloodshed on or near a human that was on the brink of death.

There have been no known survivors of a vampire bezerker attack in modern times, due much in part to the creature’s tendency to rip off their prey’s head before feeding.

Much like with true wolf bezerkers, true vampire bezerkers are something a guild hunter will rarely come across, as corrupt hunters have dwindled the population down over the many centuries.

By the time Andy was making her way out of the hotel’s back exit, she had been within the walls of that building for nearing thirty-six hours straight. Between having to address the issue with ensuring Miles was off the premises, to having to review every single piece of security footage in the hotel from the moment the man checked in, to the moment she walked him out, to then making an assessment on what needed to change on the security front, to then meeting with Leo personally and getting the stamp of approval. Though really, what had felt like the longest task, was actually personally briefing each and every member of her team. This was, of course, stretched out due to the fact they all worked in shifts.

She’d be lying if said claimed she hadn’t also been dying to be the one to address the employee that had allowed the breach of the top floor personally as well, but Leo reminded her that fell under the manager’s purview...and well, honestly the last thing she felt would make her less -how had Leo put it? oh- bitey, would be an awkward situation with the other woman.

She was almost at her car when she felt a familiar sting in her neck, and things went dark.

When she came back to, it was with the familiar haze that came after being tranqed by hunter’s dart. Made every single hangover she never got have seem like they might be a welcome reprieve. Lucky for her, Caspian’s ‘modifications’ -as the nut himself called them- made it to where the after-effects of the usual stuff only lasted about a minute or so.

Andy heard his heartbeat before his voice made her long for the oblivion of the tranquilizer again.

“You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you?”

She knew it was a rhetorical question, but he was also right and she couldn’t leave well enough alone so, “What can I say, second child, restless child and all that jazz. Not to mention the whole ‘doing my fucking job’ bit.”

The look on his face was enough to let her know that her new friend MD, here, was not only not expecting an answer, he probably wasn’t expecting one that was coherent enough to have snark. To his credit, he was able to play it off fast enough.

“Right. Head of Security. What does the list of responsibilities for that entail exactly? Is ‘Fucking the Hotel Manager in her Office’ on there somewhere?” he asked, a smug grin on his face. He clearly thought he had something on her. Andy was almost certain that ninety percent of his confidence came from the fact that she was currently bound to a steel chair, her hands behind her back, and each leg bound to one of the chair’s.

Her mouth was still very much free though.

“It might be, considering my boss technically created the position for me and I get to pick the duties. But if it’s my professionalism you’re concerned with, I can assure you the only person who got fucked that afternoon was you.”

For all the abilities she gained from her transformation and her captor’s procedures, invulnerability to pain was not one of them. So when the bat met her jaw, it may have bent in half, but fuck did she still feel it.

Andy was smart enough not to react though, and watched with satisfaction as the man tossed the ruined bat aside like some petulant child. He ran a hand through his hair, before returning his attention to her.

“Let’s just cut to the chase, shall we. You kept me from finally getting my hands on the one thing I’ve been after for years. It got away from me once before, and when I finally tracked a fucking snow leopard shifter down again, and it also turns out to be the same girl that got away before...YOU HAD TO FUCKING GET ME BANNED FROM THE BUILDING!”

She watched him take a deep breath and regain his composure. “No matter. Something tells me a former Cruz witch turned vampire is a much rarer item to add to my collection.”

Almost as if to say ‘you done?’. Andy proceeded to very easily snap the chain restraining her right leg, and brought up and over to cross over her left. The look of surprise on his face would almost be comical if she weren’t already so very fucking pissed.

“You still don’t get it, do you? I am only here right now because I want to be here. No sooner did your lemon of a car drive off my lot than I had Avraham security do the most thorough background check on you that they had to send me an external hard drive via courier to ensure it was all the information. I know all about your hunter daddy, your abandonment issues when he obviously didn’t want a shifter kid, how you always wanted to prove you could still be just like him. I guess bastards really do come in all shapes and tiny sizes. Because that’s what MD really stands for isn’t it? Mini-dong. I mean, what else would a rat shifter have?”

When he turned around and walked off in a huff, she definitely knew he would be coming back with something worse than a bat, but that did little to prepare her for the crossbow he came back with, much less the sudden sensation of having it fired directly into the middle of her chest at close-range.

Her head immediately dropped to her chest, and Miles seemed to take that as a sign he’d won the fight, because he went on to share his next move like the complete and utter moron that he was.

“One down. Now off to wait until my little cat makes her way back to the hotel so I can intercept her. Hopefully I can charm my way into getting to mount her twiughghg”

The sentence died along with him as Andy broke free of all restraints in the blink of an eye and ripped his entire throat off with her bare teeth. She was sure if weren’t for the flesh of the back of his neck, it may be considered decapitation...

Kicking her way through the doors of the Bridgeport, she didn’t even bother to hide her current state. Andy knew that by this time of night, Quinn had closed the bar to possible mundane patrons, and honestly she just needed a drink...and to tell Quinn why she had to kill a shifter, head of the vampire clan and all.

Turning to the only other two people in the bar besides the vampires themselves, she said, “I can provide you with the location of his body, and a recording of his confession basically, if that’s needed.” The Sheriff, who seemed like she’d had a similar night to her own just nodded her head  and said, “I’ll make sure to get a team out there, and if you can get me a copy of that hard drive you mentioned that’d be great.”

The woman on the other side of the Sheriff then spoke up. “So, is anyone going to address the arrow-shaped elephant in the room or...?”

At that Andy glanced down at her chest, just then remembering she still hadn’t taken the stupid thing out. “Shit. Dumbass probably thought it would kill me but, didn’t realize a metal arrow is not a wooden stake. Quinn, would you mind?” She turned and braced herself agains the bar as the older vampire pulled the arrow out in one swift motion. “FUUUUUCK me!” she exclaimed.

Andy started at the wall of monitors that sat before her. It would be impossible to expect any one person to be able to keep a proper beat on all of them, which is why they normally had no less than three people working the room, but as it stood, three of the overnight crew had fallen ill and she thought it a better use of current resources out on the grounds and around the building. Besides, Andy wasn’t just any one person. If anyone was capable of keeping command from the monitoring room alone, it was her. After all, she had the job for a reason...among many others.

A glance at the clock let her know that it was nearing three in the morning. “The witching hour,” she whispered to herself, a wry chuckle following. It had been so long since Andy had last placed any thought to anything even remotely relating to witchcraft, she was honestly surprised she still remembered tings like this at all. Not only did it feel like a lifetime away, it now was an entirely different life. One that was legitimately dead and buried, she had no one to blame but herself...

The usual sounds of a dinner between the families filtered in and out along with Andy’s own attention to what was going on around her. She had deliberately made it to the table mid-way through everyone getting seated to avoid being noticed too much and was thus far able to just sit there and occasionally move her food around to give the impression she was eating. It helped that her brother’s dog Charly was there to provide a helping ‘stomach’, if you will. She was honestly glad it was her mother’s turn to host, because there was zero chance she’d get away with this if it was Matteo’s cooking.

Inevitably, however, she her grandfather’s voice began to break through, his usual thinly veiled digs at her uncles’ ‘lifestyle’ causing her hands to still. She kept her eyes down on her plate, but when it became obvious that, once again, absolutely no one was going to say anything against the Cruz Patriarch -even though it was no secret that very few people at this table agreed with his antiquated views- Andy took it as her queue to be the spokesperson.

Setting down her cutlery, she placed her elbows on either side of her plate, and laced her fingers in the middle, setting her chip to rest atop so she could angle her head and offer her grandfather the proudest smile she could muster. Seeing the perfect opportunity, she spoke. “You know, Abué1, that’s exactly what I love about you. How you’ve always told us there is no bond that compares to that of a witch and their guardian. I mean, they have our back, we have theirs.” She could practically feel her parents’ eyes boring into her, but the quick glance at Apollo’s barely restrained smirk was all the encouragement she needed. “When facing threats, there has to be a very specific symbiotic trust, right? We have to trust that our guardian will ensure our lives, and in return they have to trust that we won’t let fear distract us from doing that which we need to do for the greater good.”

The white-haired man actually beamed at her words. “That’s very well said, Andromeda. It looks like a mistake may not have been made after all in allowing you to take this generation’s guardian.” Andy’s face remained the same in spite of the man’s words. Not like they were necessarily original. “Yeah, you know, I also remember how you always used to drive the point home, when talking to me and Apollo, about how the only drawback to being a charge is feeling like you’re sometimes split in two between because your spouse will never understand your relationship with your guardian, and vice versa. So in that respect, I suppose Uncle Ric and Uncle Kai have won the jackpot,” she exclaimed, turning to grin and wink at her uncles knowing full well what would follow.

“¡Niña insolente!2”

It would be another fifteen minutes of an increasingly red-faced old man spewing all sorts of lovely words, some she of which she had no idea what they meant as her Spanish was good but not ‘motherland’ good, before he finally took a break to breath and her mother suggested she retire to the family room instead - which Andy was not about to argue with, because she hadn’t wanted to be a part of the dinner to begin with. Not today.

The first one to come and join her had been her Uncle Ric. He had entered the room with a neutral look, but it had slowly been beat out by a smirk at the sight of the one she was sending his way. “¿Sabés que no tenias que hacer eso, verdad?3“ he spoke as he took a seat on the coffee table in front of her. “Kai and I are more than capable of dealing with Papí4 on our own. We have been for years now. We’re big boys-” “I never want to hear you utter that phrase again,” she cut in. “-and there was no need,” Ric continued after a quick eyeroll, “for you to have had all of that directed at you instead. Whether you like it or not, you’re still the baby.”

Andy groaned at the reminder of what most of her family saw  her as. Whether they did because she was youngest or because they believed she need the most care, she’d rather not ask. “I’m going to be having him direct all of that at me soon anyway, Títo,” she pointed out. Before she continue, though, he broke out in a grin and made a show of silently celebrating. “Oh my god, could you please not make all my work in there null by being such a stereotype right now,” she grumbled as she wrestled his hands back down. He looked at her and simply said, “Sorry, sorry. Just got a little excited. Does this mean you’re going to finally talk to Thyra?”

How she managed to keep her composure at the question, even Andy wasn’t sure. Instead she just let out a slight scoff and said, “No. That’s definitely not happening any time soon-” Or ever, she thought, “-but that doesn’t meant I’m going to continue to live a lie. I’m also going to tell them I no longer wish to be a charge. I’ve already spoken with the Avrahams and I know that they’d be more than happy to have a Cruz-Lazcurain on their roster of supernatural hunters- Yes, I know you’re not exactly keen on that idea yourself, but all these years of sneaking into the guardian training classes? I just feel like there’s so much more that I could be doing.”

Andy could see the counter-argument already being prepared by Ric, but he was forced to hold off as both Apollo and Kai made their way into the room. “Well, that was one of the most eventful dinners we’ve had in quite some time,” Apollo said with a grin. “Yeah, shame my niece had to miss it,” Mordechai followed, before turning to Andy. “Where did you say she was off to again?” “Picking up some additional supplies for me from a known witch a few towns over. Want to make sure I’m well stocked before we have to go to the safe-house tomorrow.”

It was a comment that held a double-edged reminder for Andy, though it still managed to somber the mood of her uncles as they finally bid their fare well and left.

No sooner had the front door sounded, then Apollo waived a hand -Andy figured he setting soundproof charm to the room- and then took Ric’s place in sitting before her. “Stop looking at me like that,” she said, her own eyes fixed out the window instead of facing her brother. “Like what?” “Like I’m some wounded puppy in an ASPCA commercial,” Andy said as she turned to look at him. A grin was on his face as he said, “I’m sorry. It’s not my fault I can practically hear Sarah McLachlan every time I look at your face now.” Andy glared at him and said, “Isn’t thirty-five cutting it a bit close to be making these kinds of jokes?” “Nah, I’m just a teen dad, and now they’re just ‘dad jokes’ instead of ‘bad jokes’.”

She groaned, but did nothing to fight him off when he came to sit on the couch with her and sidled up to her, very much playing the part of the concerned father. Which for al intents and purposes, the male witch had been more of a father to her than their actual father so... “Come on, something’s been weighing on you all day and I don’t think it has anything to do with the fact we have to go into hiding tomorrow until the Avraham Security team gives the all clear, because this is nowhere near the first time we’ve done this.”

Andy turned to look at him, a serious expression on her face. “You’re right, it’s not the first time we’ve had to do it, but doesn’t it ever- I don’t know- bother you? The fact that our family picks all these fights, and then we go off to a ‘safe-house’ while perfect strangers go out and fight our battles?” He had a look on his face that let her know that he was genuinely considering this for maybe the first time in his life. Then he shook his head and said, “You’re deflecting.”

He was only half-right. Though it had been a means to deflect from answering his initial question, it had been unintentional and her point was valid. She would’ve told him as much if hadn’t just opted to be direct and ask, “Where’s Thyra? I mean, really where is she? Because we share inventory of our supplies and last I checked, we were all packed on that front already.”

The younger witch sighed and rubbed at her temple before just admitting. “I don’t know.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“I don’t know. I genuinely do not have that knowledge.”

There was a silence around them for a moment before he asked, “What happened?”

“I overheard as dad and the others were setting the final details for tomorrow into place. Manoach and Kai were set to join the Avraham tactical team on the frontline, as they are wont to do, but this time-” she stopped, a familiar lump forming in her throat at the mere memory of it all, “-this time, dad was insistent that Thyra be out there with them. He claimed that he felt she was ready to gain more first-hand experience, and then let slip that he also felt she and I could do with some time apart...”

Andy turned a far-away gaze out in front of her, looking at nothing in particular as she continued. “I already knew that Thyra wasn’t happy with the idea of being a guardian, I mean come on the girl would like be bested by a six year-old in judo. She wouldn’t have stood a chance out there...so I told her. To keep this form becoming a three hour conversation, I’ll skip to the part where I said if she couldn’t think of one good enough reason to stay, she should go, and then how I woke up in the middle of the night to her back walking out the front door.”

Andy closed her eyes and didn’t even bother to turn back to Apollo before groaning out, “Stop looking at me like that.” “I’m sorry,” he said, before enveloping her in a tight embrace where they sat. He placed a kiss to her temple, and said, “I really am sorry, nena5. I won’t pour salt in the wound by going over everything about you two, but if it’s any consolation we’ve always know that there was really not a lot that girl could’ve possibly saved you from....well, except maybe yourself.”

Any response Andy may have had was left for her to dwell on as their mother came into the room, making quick work of taking down Apollo’s charm. She informed them they’d be leaving earlier than originally planned.

After arriving at the safe-house -which they’re mother called a cabin, and she and her brother called a rustic mansion- Andy spent a sleepless night, with nothing but time on her hands to think. By the time the witching hour was at hand, her mind was made up. The witch dressed appropriately and used every trick she knew to make sure she left that ‘cabin’ without being noticed.

Andy struck a quick deal with the leader of the tactical team, and made it absolutely clear there was no means of changing her mind. So she was assigned to a unit and briefed. No one would ever feel they had to die for her. Andy was going to be fighting her own battles from here on out.

With the breaking of dawn had come the first onslaught of hunters. How their home’s whereabouts had been compromised to this degree, she would only ever be able to guess. The witch had other supernaturals in her unit, but the hunters they were up against were particularly aggressive in their means.

It was on the third day that everything went to hell.

She had been holding her position for the better part of the morning, when she took note of an arrival at the main house. Andy didn’t need her binoculars to see who it was. She couldn’t use her magic to warn Apollo that he was a sitting duck in the house because that would give away her position and that of her entire unit, but she also couldn’t just let her brother wander right into the hunter’s hands.

So she dropped from the tree she was in, as quietly as she could manage, and made her way back up to the house. As soon as she set foot inside, she could feel it. They were both exposed. It dawned on her almost as soon as she laid eyes on Apollo that there was only reason he was still alive after being this out in the open for so long: he was bait.

He had turned at the sound of the door and immediate relief washed over his face as he began to say, “Andy! We’ve been looking ever-” His words were cut short by the arrow that now lodged itself in his neck. Witches weren’t invulnerable. Witches just had one natural active power. Apollo’s had been scrying. He always managed to find her...

Andy ran over to him, immediately dropping to her knees beside him, and cradling him as he gurgled out in an attempt to catch a breath. “No, no, no. You shouldn’t have come here. Why did you come here?” she managed between sobs. Focusing like she never had before, she held a hand over his wound in the hopes of using her telekinesis to stifle the bleeding. “Come on, stay with me. Stay with me, okay? I can stifle the bleeding and we can get you some help.” The look in his eyes was telling her more than any words ever could, but she refused to accept his wordless goodbye. “No, we can get you help. You can’t- you can’t leave me too,” she pleaded.

“Oh don’t worry sweetheart, you’ll be joining him soon enough.”

That was all she heard before everything went black

The click of the door opening behind her brought her back to the present. Without even turning she could tell it was Leo, with a cup of coffee. “You probably don’t need it, but I bet it can’t hurt,” her boss snarked. Turning to face the older woman she just smiled and took the cup. “I appreciate the gesture all the same,” she replied. She also appreciated the distraction. What would’ve followed on her trip down memory lane wasn’t something she cared to revisit. Especially when alone in a room with little distraction.

“Thank you,” Andy said. 

“It’s just coffee Cruz,” Leo snarked. “Yeah well, the thanks isn’t just for the coffee. I know I’d be considered a liability to another other organization, supernatural run or not, so I really do appreciate you giving me the opportunity to something to prove that wrong.”

“Don’t mention it.” Leo replied as she went to leave, but before she could fully exit the room, Andy called back out. “Oh! And Leo, you know damn well what the picture on Thyra’s desk was about because you sent a gift, since you couldn’t be there in person. So let the ‘fiancé’ thing go, yeah? Please?”

Leo just smirked as she left, and Andy knew she’d be feeling a migraine coming on if she could still get them.