Gambler was relaxed and ready. Victor and the others had made their way to the penthouse floor via their respective stairwells with minimal issue and were waiting for the mental order to strike. She tensed as the elevator chimed and rocked to a stop. As the door opened, Gambler stepped cautiously off into the space of Ella Van Dyne’s office. The space was massive, and Gambler suspected it made up the entire floor. It was sparsely decorated, with only a pair of couches, a coffee table and a loaded drink cart of note beside the large desk at the far side of the room. The back wall was nothing but windows offering a breathtaking view of the rocky landscape and town.

Standing in the middle of the wall of glass was Gambler’s prey. Ella Van Dyne was tall, slim, and delicately, albeit visibly, muscled. She was a young-looking woman, but her eyes carried a distinct arrogance that commonly older vampires had. Ella was close to an elder and killing her now would save a lot of people, a lot a grief.

“I expected more of you. Did my idiot children kill the rest of your pack?” Ella said as she looked Gambler up and down. They were almost thirty yards apart, so the look was as deliberate a barb as her words.

“No,” Gambler said, taking on a casual affect. “I just like to start these things solo. Measure the wind in your sails.”

“Ah. How Noble.” Ella walked to her desk and open a drawer. “I expect you studied me well before attempting this hunt?”

“You don’t stay in the game long if you don’t.”

“Good. That’s good.” Ella made a show of pulling a pair of oddly designed knives from her desk. They looked like spirals and glinted with a silvery sheen. “Then you know that I am not yet an elder?”

Something was wrong. Powerful vampires were cocky, but this was more than cockiness. This was confidence. “That is what I learned.”

Ella nodded approvingly. “Most excellent,” She said as she became a stream of living darkness. In the blink of an eye she solidified in front of Gambler, thrusting one of the knives forward, her expression amused.

The maneuver almost caught Gambler off guard, but she slipped the thrust and threw a counter punch into Ella’s ribs. Her fit struck darkness as the vampire dodged out of range. Her speed was far greater than Gambler had been led to expect. While her packmaster form was fast and powerful, it was also large and easier to hit. She’d have to stick with her human form for now.

Gambler, Victor’s voice echoed in her mind, The doors are reinforced. It’ll take me a minute. I’m sorry.

The doors are slowing us down. It was Barbara now. Hold on.

Her expression must have given her away, as Ella chuckled. “Something wrong, Packmaster?” The vampire snarled as she rapidly began to string together lunges and kicks.

Gambler leaned into her defense, dodging what she could and blocking what was left. The knives’ silver would do nothing to her human form, but a direct hit would punch a hole in her, regardless. Ella’s speed and constant shifting into darkness make her attacks difficult to predict, but Gambler only needed a small opening to bring her power to bear.

One of Ella’s lunges hung in the air a split second too long, having been fast enough to tear the werewolf’s cheek open. Gambler was able to snake her hand around Ella’s wrist and land a solid back-fist with her other hand. The blow snapped Ella’s head back just long enough for Gambler to land another blow to her stomach, lifting her off the ground before Gambler swung her up, over and down, smashing her into the floor.

Ella recovered instantly, rolling up on herself and, using Gambler’s grip as a hinge point, slammed both her heels into the larger woman’s jaw. The werewolf lost her grip and stumbled backwards, only barely avoiding the Vampire’s follow up sweep with both legs.

The scream of metal and the boom of heavy doors signaled a change in the fight as Victor, Klein, Barbara, and Xochi burst in from their respective sides. The four were shifted into their wolf forms and their eyes with fury.

“Tired of measuring the wind, Puppy?” Ella shouted.

“She’s an Elder!” Gambler shouted.

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“You animals are like the fucking sunrise. Frustrating in both your predictability and your inevitability. I would use both to finish the job your mad brethren began.” Ella wrapped her arms around herself and her body was enveloped in a darkness that tensed before exploding outward, bathing everything in a blinding blackness.

Klein. Xochi. Intermittent howling. Gambler’s thought was a command and Klein loosed a long, throaty howl. The echo of his voice made the room visible to the pack’s ears, just in time for Victor to catch one of Ella’s knives in his hand. She lept away from his counter swipe, but couldn’t quite dodge Barbara’s. Gambler’s enforcer managed to nick the Elder’s side, sending her into a defensive spin.

Klein’s howl began to fade, and Xochi joined in, howling the same. Gambler only now chose to shift into her full glory. Packmasters dwarfed common wolves. Even large ones like Victor and Barbara felt small next to an eight foot Packmaster. She’d be faster now, and her claws and teeth would level the playing field. She dashed forward, low to the ground and arms open wide. Even as Ella’s spin allowed her to slam a knife home in Barbara’s shoulder, Gambler was able to land a marking blow on her legs.

Ella danced away, out of the range of the three large wolves, and made a rush for Klein as he filled his lungs for another howl. Victor moved to intercept, but the group lost for just a moment as she moved perfectly into the triangular space between her three primary attackers, even as they moved to counter her. That moment of blindness cost Xochi as one of Ella’s knives stuck her in her solar plexus, cutting her howl off with a sharp whine.

Gambler unleashed a hard bark, not for the echos, but for the force of it. Her voice found Ella, and the sound allowed Barbara’s good arm to find her as well. Victor had lunged blindly, hoping for a lucky bite, and he found one in Ella’s arms, deadening it, but catching the Vampire’s remaining knife in his chest as a reward. Gambler felt the screaming pain of the silver weapons coursing through her pack mates, even as they both went down, gripping the weapons and holding them in their bodies.

Now disarmed, and with a paralyzed limb, Ella was slowing down. She drew her darkness back into body even as she caught Klein with a violent leaping stomp that cracked his knee. As he went down, he raked his claws across Ella’s face. The skin hissed and Ella screamed, clutching her now missing eye.

Gambler and Barbara lept to attack, but Ella was still faster and she again became a stream of darkness, flowing behind Barbara and sinking her hand into her back. Barbara screamed in pain and hit the floor.

“Just you left, Puppy,” Ella said with ragged breath.

“We are going to eat you feet first,” Gambler roared as she lunged forward.

Ella began to flow again, but this time, Gambler was waiting. Her charge was a feint, and she spun at the last moment to catch Ella with an upward swipe, tearing the Elder Vampire open from hip to shoulder.

Ella staggered backwards, holding the horrific wound in her chest. Gambler’s mind was a wall of pain as she was forced to hold her pack together. Her own injuries were minor, but the harm to pack was draining. The Elder had wounded them on purpose. She knew what a Packmaster’s true weakness was, and she was exploiting it to the fullest. As it stood, Gambler was half blind from pain, even if she wasn’t half as injured.

The ding of the elevator drew both Ella's and Gambler’s attention. “Tell me, Dog,” Ella said. “Were you also aware of the antagonistic relationship I share with my brother, the Sheriff?”

Ella’s words mirrored what she’d said before the fight. Had Ella fabricated that as well? Had Arthur run into an unexpectedly powerful vampire as they ate in the cash room? The Elevator’s light flashed, and another ding warned that someone was coming, and whoever it was would determine who walked away from this battle.

The door finally opened and gave up its decisive guests. It was Arthur’s team. They were dressed in their ponchos and fresh as a spring morning in their human forms.

“Packmaster Gambler!” Arthur said.

“More fucking dogs?” Ella screamed incredulously as she wrapped her arms around herself again and erupted in darkness.

Gambler had no control over Arthur and hadn’t trained him to use echolocation. This sort of thing was out of his league, but she had to try. She howled, filling the room with her voice even as she knew Ella would be going for either her exposed throat or Arthur’s unprepared pack.

The darkness winked out, and Gambler turned. Jim was standing with his arms wide in defense of his mate. Penny was low, her claws ready. Both had shifted to ward off the attack, but Ella was a few feet away. She was kneeling and holding her face with her hands. Her breaths were fast, and she was trembling. A soft litany of ‘no’ tumbled from her lips. She had overexerted herself. Her curse had kicked in.

“Penny,” Arthur said.

Wordlessly, Penny crept over and at the last moment, lunged and bit Ella on the neck. The Elder vampire didn’t move. She was already lost in her own mind.

Penny and Jim rushed to check on the others as Arthur walked to Gambler’s side, shifting to his packmaster form as he did. He was smaller than Gambler, but still bigger than a common wolf, his strength showing in his size. “Let me help you, Packmaster Gambler.”

“Just Gambler is fine now, Journeyman,” Gambler said as she dropped to her knees.

Arthur smiled and offered her his hand. “You need to eat.”

“The others are more hurt than I am. They can eat first. Besides, they’ll need it. I think the Sheriff is coming.”

“You might be right,” Arthur said, looking out the window across the room at the line of red and blue headed towards the building. “Are you sure we shouldn’t just call it a hunt and run?”

“The others need to heal and for that they need to eat. Besides,” Gambler said with a chuckle. “I never did know when to walk away.”