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There were three of them, young, teens in fact. With bright red bandannas tied up as headbands. The leader, who had thrown the knife, was wearing a leather vest with no shirt on underneath.

I mean, he was in great shape, but really? The guy was about Neal’s age, maybe a bit older, and his two scared looking back up guys looked even younger.

The main guy had some hair on his upper lip, which looked like he had product on it to get it to lie flat.

He was rubbing his forehead. “It took me a month to get the money to buy that knife. It was supposed to be able to go right through a magical defense. And a little girl blocked it with cardboard.”

Aunt Rose was examining the very same knife which she had gotten a hold of without bothering to walk over to where I had sent it flying. "You got cheated, for one thing, you have to be holding it for the piercing effect to work, and I'm way too far above its maker’s strength for it to have worked.”

She tossed the knife back at vest guy, who snatched it out of the air. “Sara. Here’s an extra on the birthday present. Three members of the Cazador Cartel. Enjoy.” Then she took a step back and leaned up against the plain brick wall on the side of the entrance of the Steel Corset Boutique.

Then she waved up at the security camera overhead and shouted, “We got it.” she raised an eyebrow at me as she held up her phone to record.

“We do got it right?”

I took a look at the boys, then reached behind me to grab the dark wooden shaft of my Naganata as it rose out of my shadow, "Yeah, "We" got it."

Holding my weapon tilted forward by my side I bowed without taking my eyes off the three of them. “Sara Caine. Head student of House Ichiban. Granddaughter of the Grey Wolf. I will be your opponent today.”

I was going to have to remember to tell my Grandpa that last title the next time he was nice. He would get a kick out of it.

The leader guy stood up straight and returned the bow. “Juan Cortez. Heir to the Cazador Cartel. Jaguar Warrior. And I have no interest in fighting you. My business is with your… Aunt?" I nodded to let him know he had called it. "She stole something from my family, and we want it back."

Aunt Rose laughed. “Your sister wanted to leave, all I did was give her a ride. She’s in contact with your mom if you want to send her a message. But don’t let that stop you, my niece needs to learn how she handled a real fight, even with the odds in her favor.”

Vest guy, excuse me, Juan's two sidekicks didn’t get an introduction and looked even more nervous as their leader scowled at me. “We have her outnumbered Bruja.”

A growl filled the alleyway, as Saku emerged from the shadows behind a dumpster. My little puppy grew in size with each step as her growl grew deeper and her hair more shaggy.

At the size of a wolf she had blocked off any chance at their escape, and somehow I knew this wasn’t even her final form.

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I held up the Naganata in a high grip, it wasn’t the best weapon for a fairly narrow alleyway, and it knew it.

With a shimmer of the red light of hot metal, it seemed to twist as it shrunk in my hand.

What I ended up with was a seven inch long single edged knife made of black metal and wood. The letters C.S.A were carved into the handle on both sides.

It was what I would have imagined the knife my great, great grandfather would have used in the Civil War, even though I hadn't known he was on the wrong side. The same knife whose metal had been used to forge the head of my Naginata.

“Tied by blood, the memory remains.”

My aunt had straightened up. "Well, I didn't make it so it could do that. Who messed around with my enchantments?"

While I was checking out the balance I muttered to her, "It may have been you messing with someone else's work Aunty. I don’t think they would have minded.”

Juan looked more jealous than scared, "Nice weapon, good thing we both brought knives to a knife fight. But you aren't the only one who can switch things up girly."

He handed his knife off to one of his underlings, then threw out both of his hands while he growled.

Short little black claws stretched out from his fingertips, while his eyes went yellow.

With cat like slits.

So, not a werewolf. A werecat? “Oh neat, you can do partial transformations too. Can you do Warform? The werewolves in my town didn't think it was real until my Grandpa and his girlfriend changed to scare off a Vampire. Do they crave your guy’s blood too?”

Juan looked a little bemused, and my Aunt laughed. "Just kick his but already Sara, he's trying to show off in front of his friends and you're throwing him off. Put him out of his misery already.”

I apologized to him. "Oh, sorry." and took up a guarded stance with my knife held close by the side of my forward right leg. I considered setting it aside since it seemed unfair to be armed while he only had his little claws, but I didn’t want to look like I wasn’t taking him seriously.

His two friends stood awkwardly behind him, eyeing Saku, who was sitting while watching things with interest. As long as the two of them stayed out of it it looked like my wolf sized puppy planned on doing the same.

Juan held up his hands, one forward to slash at my arms as I stabbed, the other high to slash downwards at me.

My Grandfather said the ability to change into a wolf was a werewolf's worst weakness since turning into what amounted to a big dog took away your ability to pick up a gun or jump in a car which would be a major advantage against someone who was fighting on four paws.

Teaching the Werewolves in my school that some of them could grow claws may have been a mistake as well. Juan's ability to do so must have seemed so cool to him, that he wanted to use them all the time.

No kicks, no elbows, no knees, not even a headbutt. All he was doing was swinging his claws at me.

"No, no, no. Try backhanding me while you pull your hand back, even if you don't hit I have to do something about it instead of hitting you. You might get slashed, but you should be strong enough to heal from it even in a fight. You guys do heal fast right?"

I shot that question to one of the backup guys, he hesitantly nodded, so I cut the back of Juan's hand.

It stopped bleeding almost immediately. “Good, you can take a hit. Just avoid getting stabbed somewhere vital.”

Juan snarled at me, he didn’t seem to appreciate my pointers.

The poor guy didn’t really seem to have any training, so I cut up the front of his vest to teach him how open he had left himself. Which made me feel bad because when he rushed me and I tripped him I could see the entire back of it was embroidered with the image of a black cat wielding one of those toothed swords the Aztecs used.

I hoped the vest could be repaired.

In the end, it was a question of who outlasted each other, and it was a question since Juan didn’t look to be getting tired. So I let him catch me on my off hand with the tip of one of his claws.

Stepping back I showed him the freely bleeding wound. “You got me, but I can hurt you a lot worse. Are we done?”

He stared at me for a long moment, then nodded. I dropped my knife point down into my shadow and called Saku over to give her a good scratching behind the ear. "Good girl, such a good girl. You can go back to puppy size, right? She can, right Aunt Rose?"

My Aunt shrugged. "Don't ask me, I never go into homunculi, spirits, necromancy, or whatever else Endora used to make… her. Those are my Mom's hobbies."

She looked over at my still starring, huffing opponent. "You're done right. I got to get her home for dinner. Her Mom's making dumplings."

Juan nodded. “We’re done.” Then he bowed to me. “Next time.”

The three of them left. “Was that a challenge?”

My Aunt shrugged again. “Either that or he was planning on hitting on you. Grab your dress, it should be okay.”

I frowned at my Aunt, wondering if I should start including my age, fourteen, in my introductions. But she was right, the dress was fine.