{The werewolf lumbers forward, taking the shots, but shrugging them off. Jerry then leans through the hole in the door and shoots the werewolf right between his neck plates, finally dropping him. Jerry then stumbles out of the room, holding his bleeding side. He has been shot while fending off the intruders. As he starts stumbling for the room Ivy came from, more hunters appear from down the hall, advancing at an alarming rate.}

Fred rallied the royal guards with telepathy, explaining the situation. Like before, they piled into their cars and began to head for Jerry's place. Fred then came out of his room, intending to follow them and leave the house guards in charge of protecting Pythia.

Ivy gritted her teeth and started shooting into the midst of the hunters, hoping to kill or injure at least a few of them. Aware that Jerry was injured, she tried to shield him, following him towards the other room while firing at the hunters.

{The advancing hunters hid in the side room to avoid getting shot, firing back at Ivy from around the corner. Jerry manages to get inside the room. getting to the gun safe, he starts to load up a shotgun.}

Jerry: "Ivy, get in here!"

Ivy darted inside the room with Jerry before anyone could hit her. Kicking the door shut, but not barricading it, she looked at Jerry with a nervous expression. //Where the heII is the guard!//

{Just then, more hunters burst through the window in the room. Jerry shot and killed the first two, but the third was a vampire who lunged to tackle Ivy.}

Ivy shrieked as the vampire tackled her. She instinctively lifted an arm to shield her face, at the same time pressing the end of her gun against their side. She pulled the trigger, blowing a hole clean through their side.

{The vampire screams. However, in response, he picks up Ivy and throws her into the wall as hard as he can. As soon as Ivy's clear, Jerry drops him. Then, the door bursts open with even more hunters}

Ivy slid down the wall, dazed and in pain, but conscious. Finding her revolver to be out of ammo, she crawled to the safe and pulled out a pair of pistols instead. She stayed low on the floor, firing desperately at the hunters. She inflicted wounds on a few of them, but hadn't landed any killing shots yet.

Around this time, several cars pulled up outside the house, and royal guards poured out.

//The guard's here! Hurry it up!//

{Jerry was doing his best to fend them off, but one vampire combat rolled into the room and shot Jerry in both arms, causing him to slump into a sitting position. That vampire was none other than Paxton.}

Paxton: "Sorry, old pal, nothing personal."

Ivy's gaze spun to Jerry, then, lurching to her feet, she put herself in front of him, aiming her pistols at Paxton. She knew who he was; she'd seen him on TV after the Agamidae incident. 'Bloodsucker,' she hissed furiously. 'Why are /you/ here?'

{Half the hunters went to fend off the guard, while the others kept their weapons leveled at Ivy. Paxton just smiles slyly.}

Paxton: "Why do you think, babe? I'm here to finally put that nasty necromancer down, and in doing so, save the world and get a nice fat paycheck. Now, all I need is a little cooperation from you."

Jerry: "Paxton....you bast.ard.....she hasn't done anything wrong...."

Paxton: "Oh, yes she has. She's guilty for the crime of exisiting."

'You're just in it for the money, aren't you?' Ivy snarled. 'You don't care who lives or dies, you just want to get rich. You're actually /disgusting.'/

As she spoke, she heard Fred's telepathic voice in her mind. //Ivy, can you try to keep him talking for a few seconds? I need more time...//

The guards found themselves clashing with the hunters in the middle of the house. Shooting and stabbing with their bayonets, they grimly tried to fight their way through.

{Paxton just chuckles at that.}

Paxton: "Oh, please, we all need to make a living somehow. Now, you have tow options. You can come willingly, or we can shoot you and carry you out, same as Mr. Garvey."

{As they were talking, the back of Jerry's house was broken through by a truck trailer. It opened, revealing a hunter behind a crank operated gatling gun, which proceeded to open fire on the guards.}

Ivy tried to smile, but it came out as more of a pained grimace.
'Just one question, what do you want us for? To threaten our lives and make Dianne surrender to you? She never would. We're not worth enough to her.'

The guards dived for whatever cover they could find, trying their best to avoid the gunfire. They were outnumbered, and several had already retreated from the skirmish, too badly injured to fight.

{Paxton just smiles back.}

Paxton: "Hey, if it might work, then it's worth a shot. Besides, even if that's true, we could still use you for other purposes..."

Ivy scowled. 'What's that supposed to--'

Before she could finish, a powerful gunshot was fired into the room through the window, going straight through Paxton's thigh. It had come from Frederick, who was perched on the roof of a neighbouring building, holding a sniper rifle.

(Well, that'll make them close ranks. XD)

{Paxton fell with a grunt while his goons started firing out of the window ar Fred.}

Paxton: "Damn it....I really need to watch the monologuing....."

{He then tries to hobble crawl out of the room}

(Armin: I knew he'd monologue while people are fighting all around him.)

Fred aimed another shot at Paxton, hitting him in the back as he tried to crawl away. However, after that, Fred was forced to jump off the side of the roof to avoid being shot himself.

Ivy dropped to her knees beside Jerry to avoid being hit by a stray bullet, looking frightened.

Suddenly, Fred sent an order to the royal guards. //Fall back, NOW!// Without question, the guards began to scramble back to their cars, as if they were taking cover from something huge.

{In response to his getting shot a second time, Paxton's people pick him up and run to the truck. One tries to grab Ivy or Jerry, but he is stopped by an unexpected ally. Barnabas. Barnabas stabs him through the throat before running after the rest of the goons.}

{Stabs the goon, not Paxton. I cannot pronoun today lmao}

Most of the guards were wounded, and some were already dead. They had been told to fall back to avoid wasting more of their lives. As Paxton's people dragged him to safety, a large, armoured, purple dragon flew down and landed right in front of their truck. Grinning almost playfully, he started to rain blows down onto the truck with his horns and tail.

{There weren't a lot of hunters left. However, the few who were left started shooting at the dragon, trying to dislodge him from the truck. Barnabas was there too, attacking what hunters he could.}

From out of sight, Fred sent a message to the dragon. //Fall back. They'll probably flee now that they're outnumbered and Paxton is injured. You're needed to guard Pythia, so don't get yourself hurt needlessly.//

The dragon gave the truck a final thump, then took flight, flying out of the hunters' range.

Meanwhile, Frederick suddenly jumped through the broken window of Jerry's room. Holding his rifle, he looked down at Jerry and Ivy. 'I think we need to get you both to Pythia. Are you able to walk to the cars outside?'

{With the dragon off the truck, the hunters fall into a full retreat. They drive the truck down an alleyway, and through another portal, leaving the city entirely. Jerry shakes his head in response. He's coming in and out of consciousness at this point, from the blood loss.}

Fred looked at Jerry with concern. //Ryder. Shift and come up here, I need you to help me with Jerry.//

Moments later, the dragon reappeared, this time in human form. He scooped up Jerry as carefully as he could, and began to carry him out to one of the cars.

'Ivy? Can you walk?' asked Fred. She nodded, not saying anything. Stumbling a little, she followed Ryder and Jerry outside.

{Jerry was in no condition to voice any opinion, going limp in Ryder's grasp.}

(Humans are so frail. Better get him to Pythia quick.)

As soon as Jerry was in the back of the car, Ryder jumped into the front and began to drive, way over the speed limit. Ivy, meanwhile, was led into a second car.

When they arrived at Fred's house about three minutes later, Ryder carried Jerry into the living room and lay him down on the couch. Fred hurried to Pythia's room and knocked on the door, not caring if she was asleep. 'Pythia, we need you out here. Immediately.'

{Pythia opened the door, standing there in a night gown with a bleary expression.}

Pythia: "Hmmm.....What seems to be the problem?"

'They attacked Jerry's place,' said Fred darkly. 'I'll explain more later. For now, please come and take a look at Jerry. He's dying.'

{At that, she wakes up real quick.}

Pythia: "Attack? Dying?!"

{She bolts past him to the living room. Looking over Jerry quickly, she yells out to Fred.}

Pythia: "Fred, in my room, I have a box of supplies! Get them quick!"

Fred went into Pythia's room, managing to quickly and calmly locate the supplies. He brought them into the living room and set them down.

Throughout all of this, Ivy was sitting in a corner of the living room, slumped back and looking exhausted, but not willing to sleep until she knew Jerry would survive.

{Pythia quickly removed his shirt and started to clean his wounds and remove the bullets.}

Pythia: "Oooh....he's lost a lot of blood....didn't anyone bother trying to stem the bleeding?"

'He was shot several minutes before we were able to drive the hunters away and get him out,' said Fred. 'That house was absolutely swarmed. Nobody could stop to do anything for him until after it was over.'

{Sighing, Pythia continues to work.}

Pythia: "Look, I can heal his wounds, but I can't replace the blood he's lost. As soon as I'm done, we need to take him to a hospital to perform a blood transfusion immediately! Someone get me my robe and slippers, I'll need to go with him."

Fred ordered Ryder, who had returned to his position outside the house, to get them. 'Ryder can drive us to the hospital. It'll only take a couple of minutes. I'll accompany you as well.' Despite the urgency of the situation, he remained quite calm.

//If the hunters are attacking peoples' homes now, they must be getting desperate...//

{Pythia finishes mending Jerry's wounds quite quickly, then goes to get her robe and slippers from Ryder.}

Pythia: "Put him in the car and let's go. We can't waste any time. "

Ryder easily picked up Jerry and headed outside. There was only one car outside now; the surviving royal guards had packed into their other cars and left. Ryder carefully put Jerry down in the back seat, then climbed into the driver's seat and waited for Pythia.

{Pythia climbed into the back seat with Jerry, in order to keep an eye on him. He wasn't looking well at this point, which only worried Pythia more.}

Pythia: "Don't worry, Jerry, you'll be ok."

Ivy, looking exhausted and worried, climbed into the passenger seat at the front. Ryder pulled out onto the road, and the car sped off in a blaze of headlights. Luckily, since it was nighttime, there weren't many other people around.

Fred shifted to dove form and followed them by air. //Go quickly,// he said grimly to Ryder. //I don't know how long he's going to last.//

{As they drove, Pythia took Jerry's hand into her own and started muttering some sort of incantation. She seemed very focused on this task,}

Ryder tilted his head when he heard Pythia's incantation, but didn't interrupt her. Less than three minutes later, they pulled up outside the Royal District Hospital, the closest hospital to the palace (and to them).

'Right, we're here,' said Ryder, stopping the car and climbing out so he could take Jerry in. 'Are you guys planning to stay with him overnight?'

Pythia: "Yes. I need to explain to the doctors what happened and watch over him, in case the hunters come back."

{She replies, stopping her chant. She follows Ryder in once he picks up Jerry.}

'I'll stay too,' Ivy muttered.

Fred flew down in dove form and perched on the car roof. //I won't stay, but I'll send the rest of your guards over to watch the hospital. I'll also tell Armin and Dianne about this tomorrow, when they're awake,// he said.

Ryder proceeded to carry Jerry into the hospital to hand his care over to the doctors. Ivy followed, looking morose. //Why is all of this happening to us? We haven't done anything wrong...//

(Shall we skip to morning, or is there anything else you want to do here?)

(We can skip. Where do we start?)

(We could start with Dianne and Armin, then skip to the hospital to see how Jerry's doing. Ivy will stay with him overnight, the same as Pythia.)

(Alright, let's do that. Who goes first?)

(I'll go--)

Another morning dawned, seeming sunny and peaceful. The calmness of the morning gave no sign of the skirmish that had happened last night.

Armin cracked his eyes open blearily, to the familiar sight of Dianne. He was lying close beside her, one arm draped over her. Smiling faintly, he closed his eyes and relaxed, not quite sleeping.

{Opening her eyes, Dianne sleepily smiles at Armin. Not sure if he was awake, she shifts a little closer and snuggles up to him, waiting for him to open his eyes.}

Armin smiled a little when she moved, but didn't bother opening his eyes; he just wrapped his arms around her tightly, holding her against him. '...Good morning...' he murmured sleepily.

Dianne: "Mmmm....Morning....."

{She breathed a sigh of contentment when he held her.}

Dianne: "What do we have to do today?....."

'Nothing... that I know of... Just another chill day... Of having nothing to do...' He tilted his head away and gave a huge yawn, showing his fangs.

Dianne: "...Mmm...Fine by me..."

{Kissing his neck, she settles in, looking to doze with him.}

Armin gave a quick inhale at the neck kiss. He then tightened his embrace and slowly settled down with her, absently stroking her back with one hand.

{At his reaction, she chuckles.}

Dianne: "Caught you off guard with that one, did I? I'll have to remeber that...for later..."

Armin opened one eye and squinted down at her. 'And what exactly do you mean by that...?' he said, less drowsily than before.

{Dianne looks up at him, smirking.}

Dianne: "Oh...it's not important....Just stay here with me, and keep on with the back rub..."

{She then settles in again, closing her eyes.}

Armin opened his mouth as if to retort, then settled in with a faint, fond smile, deciding to let her doze. He slid one hand underneath her shirt and continued absently rubbing her back as he closed his eyes.

{Letting out a pur-like growl, she very quickly dozes off. She was simply too comfortable to move or speak at this point.}

Armin smirked a little when he heard what sounded like a purr. //Heh. That's cute...// Keeping himself awake, he continued quietly rubbing her back while she dozed.

----

While they were enjoying the morning together, Ivy was sleeping in a chair near Jerry's bedside. She'd been asleep for hours, the battle having worn her out, but she'd refused to leave him to find a bed to sleep in.

{Jerry was asleep in the hospital bed, looking exhausted and pale. Pythia was asleep in the chair opposite of Ivy. Opening his eyes, Jerry looks around weakly.}

Jerry: "....Well.....this is new.....and it sucks...."

(Posting new room)