Before he had a chance to wrench the handle door, gunfire erupted in front of, and behind, them.

Bullets whizzed past him in confusion of sound and light, hitting him in the shoulder, the leg, and his arms. He didn't have time to think, and threw himself into the door, crashing through the heavy metal of the door, ripping it off it's hinges as he fell into a small broom closet.

His body ached and burned where he had been shot. He heard screams and shouts from behind him the gunfire didn't slow or stop and he couldn't hear himself think. He crawled to the doorjamb and peeked out from behind the doorway, he saw that his pack had fled back towards the door they came through, but blood was heavy on the walls and the floor, marking their path. They had been badly wounded but he couldn't tell who or the true level of the damage.

A bullet blasted into the molded doorjamb next to him, sending chunks of plaster and paint at his head causing him to jerk back into the closet. He held his shoulder and his leg as blood oozed from the gunshot wounds.

He kicked himself for being so stupid. The stairway had been too obvious… but a dimly lit hallway, what's to worry about that? He rested his head back against a shelf in the broom closet. It wouldn't take the vamps long to close on him and finish the job. How could he have been so stupid to walk into such an obvious trap?

* * * * *

The elevator stopped at the first floor, and the doors slid open silently. Acharya and Aiman had their backs pressed against the sides of the elevator and peeked out from the elevator down a hallway, and saw four figures dressed in very fashionable slacks and colored shirts, before the AR's they all carried spat out bullets and flashes of light.

Acharya jerked back into the elevator, partially protected by the elevator and he nodded to his enforcer. Aiman didn't make a sound but bolted from the elevator in a straight streak of fur and claws to the hallway off to the right side of the elevator. Acharya followed suite but bolted to the opposite side hallway, only to find four similarly dressed vampires, holding similar caliber rifles to their initial greeting party, as they too opened fire sending streaks of bullets down this side hallway toward him.

Aiman came face to face with his own secondary greeting party, but didn't hesitate in any way. He used the momentum from his elevator exit to throw his body along the walls of the hallway, jumping and clawing from wall to ceiling, to floor, to the other wall, and back to his original wall. He launched himself into the group of four, only having caught a few stray bullets that hadn't hit any vital area of his body.

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Being an Enforcer, Aiman flooded his body with strength boosting natural adrenaline and ripped into his four assailants, ripping the rifles from their hands and slashing two of the men's throats before they could react in anyway except having shocked expressions on their faces. The other two went down just as easily as Aiman backhanded one, sending him flying into a wall and kicked the last one so hard he flew backwards several feet before landing awkwardly on his neck. Aiman strode over to him and stamped down on the vampire's throat, before ripping his head off with both hands.

Acharya was not as efficient as Aiman and the gunmen on his side were better shots. He caught a few rounds in his thigh, neck, and left shoulder. It slowed him down a few heartbeats, but he got all four of them and standing over the last one he turned around holding the side of his neck as he watched Aiman disappear back into the main hallway. A few moments later the gunfire stopped and all he heard was the guttural death gurgles of four more vampires.

Walking back to the elevator, he sent it back down to the basement floor, their agreed upon signal that everything was clear for the rest of them to come up. As the stainless-steel doors closed in front of him, he saw his fur was matted with his blood, and spattered with the blood of the four vamps that he had taken care of. He looked terrible.

"Are you alright?" Aiman asked from behind him.

Acharya smiled as he turned to face his friend, "I guess I'll never be as quick as you are Aiman, I'm glad you're on our side."

"What other side would I be on?" Aiman replied.

Acharya laughed, "It's a figure of speech Aiman, don't worry about it."

Aiman nodded looking around them at the bullet riddled hallway, and broken furniture around them, "it appears your assumption was correct at least."

Acharya nodded as he continued to hold his bleeding neck, "yay me. I wish I had caught a few less bullets in the process though."

"You don't seem to be gravely injured, Asclepius will be among the first to join us, he will heal you."

As if on cue, the elevator doors slid open and Asclepius, Mary, and Tara rushed forward towards them. Asclepius stopped in front of Acharya and looked at his wounds, inhaling his scent deeply, "I don't suppose you could have moved a little faster? Maybe you felt sorry for the vamps and wanted to give them a few free shots?"

Asclepius was not one for humor but Acharya felt himself smiling anyway, "I just wanted them to think they were doing well. I hate for people to die thinking they don't have any chance at all."

Asclepius actually rolled his eyes as he nodded. He didn't say anything but bit Acharya in several places. Acharya winched at the pressure of his Healer's jaws around his wounds. He immediately felt better though, revitalized and he knew his wounds were closing. The only bad thing was that he was super hungry all of a sudden.

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