I looked at the two people one last time.  Then I waved a hand at the gruesome sight.  "Cover them back up."
"What do you plan on doing?" asked Tiarna eagerly.
I smiled back at her and narrowed one eye.  "I think I'll have a little 'heart to heart'."  I stretched out my arms and yawned a large one.  I made sure to flash fang at the goons.  One of them even dared to scoff.  I glared viciously at him.
"Well, I think it's about time that we head on home.  ReD you've sure clocked a full day," Hathor said while slinging an arm around my shoulders.
"Cha."  I nodded my head.
Tiarna once again became wolf and Hathor and I mist.  We had barely made it into the apartment before both I and Hathor collapsed.
The sun had risen.

"Wa-a-a-a-a-a-ake u-u-u-u-u-u-up!!!" Hathor was bouncing up and down on my bed like an unhinged primate.
"Et ah," I said into my pillow.
"What?  I can't hear you!"
I sat bolt upright and roared, "Get off!"
"Hey!"
I felt a sharp impact to the side of my head and saw a quarter fall to my lap.
"Watch your language, D!  Or I'll have to come in there and sort this all out.  Then nobody's going to be happy."  Tiarna grinned a fanged smile and leaned on the door frame.
Hathor bounced one final time and then landed on her ass.  "So, when are you planning on seeing the Horde?"
Wow, she's persistent.  I had completely forgotten, but I guess that's what you get for having no short term memory.  One of my past nicknames, when I served on a pirate ship, was Bait.  It’s a very long story involving my being a stow-away, walking the plank, surviving a shark attack (obviously), and later on having my memory compared to that of a goldfish.
“Well, unless either of you know where to find them right now, I’m going to have to ask my super secret source.”  I looked from one friend to the other.
“See that’s what the ambassador was for,” Hathor said with little remorse for the dead.
I turned a questioning look to Tiarna.
“Heh, I knew where they were two weeks ago.  My Ranulph knew but he didn’t often like to share information.”
I was certain that I heard her mutter “Stupid Bastard,” under her breath.  Had my friends no respect for the dead?  I suppose I shouldn’t comment much either.  I was more upset that the Horde had taken an aggressive action against us than I was over the actual deaths.
“You said something about going to see your ‘super secret source’.  Does this mean that you have to visit the ‘largely ludicrous lair’?  You do realize that as your master I demand that I accompany you?” Hathor smirked.
“And as a gesture of good will, I will also attend.  I will represent my kind and our own ideas and opinions of any information obtained.”  Tiarna stood away from the door frame and crossed her arms.
Looking at the expressions of such seriousness on their faces I burst out into uncontrollable laughter.  ”Those are the biggest bullshit stories I’ve heard in a long time.  Come on, we all know that you two are only coming along for men and merry-making.”
“Maybe so, but I would still like to be on the scene.  You know I’ve never fully trusted that creature of yours, D”. Hathor frowned at me.
“Why not? I’ve always liked him,” Tiarna countered.
“That’s because he just happens to be colored.”  I looked at the person I affectionately referred to as Fido.
“So?  Doesn’t mean I can’t like him!”
“But it doesn’t mean you have to.”  Hathor glared at her.
“Well, if we’re going to go we had better get ready quickly.  We’re burning precious moon-light,” I said.
“You said ‘we’!  Hathor, we’re in!”  Tiarna pumped her arm and then tore down the hall to her room.
Hathor followed suit.
I flopped back onto the bed and groaned.  It was early in the night and I was starving.  Sure we were going out, which meant I could get something to eat, but then I would still have to deal with my source and eventually the Horde.  Heaving a heavy sigh I laid there for a few more moments.
“D, get your ass moving!” Hathor called as I heard her rummaging through her bathroom.
“Yeah, I want the maximum amount of party time.  Damn it, Hathor did you take my glitter?” Tiarna asked.
There was a silence.  Then: “Maybe.”
“Give it back!” I heard Tiarna stalking out of her room towards Hathor’s bathroom.
“No, it’s pretty!”
A low, warning growl could be heard.  I closed my eyes and wished this wasn’t happening.  To my disappointment I heard a hissing noise, like wind through dead trees, answer.
“Uh, God, this isn’t happening.  This can’t be happening.  No, no, no, no, nooooo…” I moaned under my breath.  I grasped my head with both hands and shook it from side to side.  Glass could be heard shattering on the floor and I heard the full-length mirror smash.
“That’s seven years’ bad luck!”  I muttered.  “This is not going to be a good night.”
More hissing and growling issued from Hathor’s bathroom.  It wasn’t until I heard flesh tearing that I leapt off of the bed.  Sprinting, I crossed the hall, tore through Hathor’s bedroom, and hurled myself into the fray of the bathroom.
After much kicking, biting, clawing, cussing, and several death glares, I had the two rulers settled at opposite ends of our faux tiger couch.  I was sitting in between the two women who were foaming at the mouth.  In Tiarna’s case, the expression was quite literal.
Both had their arms crossed and most of their clothing was ripped.  Tiarna was panting heavily in anger and her eyes were blacked out.  Hathor, on the other hand, did not breathe at all in her undeath.  Her irises were also a deep crimson color; not quite as bright as blood lust but more of a pissed off color.  It was known on the streets as Fury Rose.
“What is the matter with you guys?! We are in the middle of a war between two sides.  I think that’s enough, don’t you?  I don’t think we want to add yet another opposition into this game!
Hathor, you’re the Master for God’s sake.  And Tiarna, you’re the Brynhildr.  You two could start a war between our kinds over body glitter.  How amazingly foolish does that sound?”
“It’s damn expensive glitter,” Tiarna grumbled quietly.  “Diamond dust.”
“I’m sorry, what was that?” I asked.
Tiarna glared at me but answered all the same through gritted teeth.  “Foolish indeed.  A good reason why Hathor should give me back my glitter.”
I turned to my Master.  “Hathor, give back the glitter and say you’re sorry.”
“You don’t command me.  I’m the Master of New York City!”
“Not right now.  Right now you’re being too childish to even consider calling yourself a Master of anywhere.”
“I could order your death, D,” Hathor threatened.
“Yes, but then with my pretty little head on a pike who would ‘negotiate’ with the Horde?” I countered.
“I could find others,” she said haughtily.
“Others even close to my level of talent?” I raised an eyebrow.
Fangs glared at me for a while and then grudgingly admitted defeat.  “No, you’re the best there is D.  Here.”  A small canister was thrown into the air.
Tiarna leapt from her spot and caught it with ease.
“Sorry about that.  It’s just so sparkly,” Hathor said.
“I know, isn’t it the greatest?!  Come on; let’s get ready for a night on the town.”  Tiarna smiled at the Master.
Hathor leapt off of the couch and linked arms with the Brynhildr.  The two walked off together as if nothing had happened.
I exhaled and sank deep into the orange and black striped fur.  This was definitely going to be a long, hard night.  I sat there for a few minutes.  Aside from my day job as a radiologist I also served as a personal assistant to the Master and an eternal peace keeper between the two races.  Don’t be fooled, I don’t want your pity.  Sure, things can be hard at times but it keeps my existence entertaining.  If I didn’t do things that would constantly put my very being in peril, what joy is there left for me to feel?  I love living on the constant edge of war.  Now, actually being in war sucks ass if you’re not on the field of battle; thus my neutral position of pacifist between my two friends.
Now this looming war with the Horde… I could definitely stand for.  I will also be ever thankful to Hathor allowing me my position of negotiator.
“D!” Tiarna yelled, interrupting my thoughts.
“Yes?”
“Ass.  Moving.  Now!”
“I don’t have to listen to you!” I retorted.
“D!!  Ass!  Moving!  Now!!” shouted Hathor.
“Oh, fucking Hell,” I muttered as I got off the couch.
“Just do it!” Hathor commanded.
“You know you want to as much as we do,” Tiarna called.
“N—” I thought for a moment.  “Damn it, you’re right!”  With that I rushed down to my room to get changed.  As I ripped my clothes out of my wardrobe I grabbed my cell phone and hit number nine on speed-dial.  We don’t have a land line telephone.  It was just one more possible clue to where we lived.
After the first few rings a young sounding man picked up the phone.  “Hello, this is Erato Meet Thanatos.  How may I help you this night?”
“Put the ninja on the phone,” I said while struggling into my lipstick-red leather pants.  They had a one inch gap on either side running from top to bottom, hip to ankle, on both sides.  They were held together by black crisscross laces that tied at the bottom of each hip.
“Right away, madam,” the voice replied.
In the pause I called for Hathor to come and tie my black leather corset.  It had the same color lacing on the back as was my pants.
Hathor walked in on her thigh-high spike pull-on black leather boots.  They came three inches shy of her short-as-all-Hell, black leather shorts.  I considered them glorified panties.  Her dangerously low crimson v-neck, spaghetti strap tank top flattered her dark golden skin tone quite well.  She was tying her favorite black velvet choker around her neck.  The black diamond studs in her ears brought one’s attention her face.
Hathor’s dark hair, cut at mid-way down her neck, glistened like a deep pool of water.  Her make-up also complemented her coloring.  Hathor’s eye lids flashed deep gold when she blinked.  Her lips were painted a scarlet red.  There was a slight silver shimmer to her skin; more concentrated at the outer and inner corners of her eyes.  The black kohl eye liner was drawn out past her eyes making them look even larger and her cheek bones even higher.
Hathor’s nails flashed the same color as her lips when she reached up and tugged at the corset.  It was brought even tighter than it was before.  I felt the four silver bands on her left and the three rings on her right hand brush lightly against my skin.
“Thanks,” I said after she had tied the ribbons of my top.
Only a split second later a voice screamed into my ear.  “Thanatos!  My friend, how are you?!”
I grinned to myself as I walked into my bathroom.  “Hey sexy.  I am excellent, my little Beau-Beau.”
“You know I hate it when you call me that, “ came the stern voice.
“It just means I love you.  It’s the same as when I kick your ass.”  I put on my wide black lace choker while cradling the phone with my shoulder.  Next came the fine gold chain with the ruby tear drop, which I also hung around my neck.
“You do not kick my ass!”  The voice sounded pouty.
“I do too,” I replied.  Huge ass, thin gold hoop earrings slipped into my ears and a simple golden band slid onto my left index finger.
Silence answered me on the line.
“Don’t you shake your head at me.”  I applied gold mascara on my bottom lashes and red along the top.  Gold eye shadow glimmered as I put it on my eyelids.  I lined my bottom eyelids with red.
“I’m not shaking my head,” the man denied my statement.
“Liar.”
“You’re full of shit.”
“Liar.”
“You’re full of shit!”
“Liar, liar, liar!”
“You’re full of shit, shit, shit!!”
I remained silent as I put on metallic gold lip color.  Then I grabbed my bottle of red body glitter and smeared it on every visible part of my unglamored pale skin.
“Don’t you do your makeup and not talk to me!”
I laughed at the annoyance in his voice.  I turned and spread the glitter on my lower back which my corset and hip huggers refused to cover.  I was careful to avoid the black tattoo of the All Seeing Eye in the lowest center of my back.
“Will you be coming out tonight?”
“Come on now, I admitted I was a sadist years ago, Beau-Beau.”  I had moved into my bedroom again and searched for my black spike sling-back heels.
“Sadist?  Thanatos, you know I don’t do big words.”
“And yet you speak ancient Greek,” I mused.
“Did you just call to harass me?” the voice questioned.
“No, I actually called to let you know both the Master and the Brynhildr will be coming down to EMT tonight.”
“Oh, really now?”
“Yes.”  Ah, there were my shoes.  I pulled them out of the back of my closet and slipped them on.
“Then I’ll make sure everyone behaves themselves.”
“My nails will be wet so you’ll have to send the car.”  I grabbed the metallic, blood-red nail-polish bottle off of my night stand.
“Don’t you think that’s overkill?” the voice asked with a bit of distaste.
“Do you want me to be pissed the whole night?  If I screw up my nails driving down there, one of your patrons will be dead before closing time.”
“Is that a threat?”
“No.”
“Yeah?”
“A promise.”
“I see.  Well, I’ll send the car then.  He’ll be leaving soon,” the voice sighed.
“Thanks.  I’ll see you in a little while.”
“See ya.”
The line was disconnected.
“The ninja’s going to send his car!” I called to the other two women that I shared my living quarters with.
“Sweet!” came one voice.
“Awesome!” came another.
I went out to the kitchen, pulled up a stool, and started to do my nails on the marble counter top after I had pulled my hair up into a haphazard pony.
Tiarna came dancing, eyes closed, into the main living space to only a tune she could here.  I couldn’t help but grin at her.  I paused in my task to watch in amusement.  She just kept on dancing, unaware.  I took the opportunity to scrutinize what she was wearing out.
The wolf had on short black shorts that were just a smidge longer than Hathor’s, if that.  Over her hips she had donned a wrap-skirt type piece of cloth.  It was completely open in the front and reached down to her ankles in the back.  There was a black spiked belt around her hips also that matched a spiked collar around her neck.  A sparkling, dark green, strapless tank top with only crisscrossing straps for the back glimmered in the lights.
Her hair was spiked messily and wildly waved as she moved.  The tips were dark green.  My friend sprung nimbly about on black, platform, thigh-high boots with dark green buckles up the sides.  
Tiarna’s face was turned to me; her eyes squeezed shut as if making the song real.  She had on silver eye shadow and her lids were lined with green.  Tiarna never wore mascara, it just simply irritated her, it took too long to put on and take off, I think.  Her lips shone the same wet color as her eyelids and the glitter she had all over her body looked green one way but then when the light hit her at a different angle it shimmered purple.
Silver studs, three in the left and two in the right ear flashed at me as she twirled.  A silver cuff sank into the top of her left ear.  Tiarna’s hands gleamed as she threw them above her head.  Two silver Celtic knot rings graced her small fingers.  I smirked smugly at all of the metal on her body.  This was one of Tiarna’s favorite mind games to play.  Her kind has a swift aversion to silver.  So much so, that it burns their flesh to even be relatively close to it.  Tiarna relished in the fact that her kind feared it so.  At any chance she got she wore the deadly metal on her naked skin.  Her ears and fingers actually were scarred where they had been exposed and exposed again to the substance.  Now, I bet she barely felt a thing.
I loved to look on the faces of the creatures that saw her coming.  Nothing they would do could stop her, but everything she could do would stop them.  And here this fearsome creature was dancing to music in her head.  Tiarna is insane.  Don’t let anyone tell you differently.  I guess we are all in our own special ways.  Nothing and no one can escape the rule of psychosis.
“Hey, Fido!” I called.  At the same moment I threw a silver chain at Tiarna.
She instantly froze in her wild dance and snatched the silver out of the air.  “Ow, damn it!” Tiarna flinched and dropped the piece of jewelry.  The chain made a tinkling sound when it hit the ground.
Hathor came out of her room to investigate.  “What’s going on in here?”
“Oh, D’s just trying to kill me.”  Tiarna pointed to the metal on the floor.
Hathor bent and picked it up.  “Hm,” she uttered with a devious smile.  “How fitting.”
Tiarna leaned in.  “What is it?”
Hathor picked up what was dangling on the chain and showed it to her.  Two simple dog tags hung from the chain and clinked together.
Tiarna turned one to read it, careful to only touch it with her dark, metallic green painted nails.  It read: “Fido”.  She raised an eyebrow at the other one which read: “Beware of Dog”.
“Wear them!” I said, turning back to my nails.
“But they’re new!  The silver is still fresh; it’ll burn my neck off!” Tiarna looked at me, a little horror struck.
Hathor smirked.  “All the better.  Now you can scar all of the little kiddies with your smoking burns.”  And before Tiarna knew what was happening, Hathor fogged her mind for a split second.  A split second was all that she needed to clasp the chain around the wolf’s neck.
Tiarna stood stock still and glared at Hathor when the metal hit her skin.  The flesh that was exposed started to sizzle and smoke.  Hathor just grinned back.  I laughed a little and finished doing my nails.  The red of the polish shimmered and reminded me of how much I wanted blood.
“Damn it,” I sighed.
Both Brynhildr and Master turned to look at me.  “What’s up?” Hathor asked.
I patted my stomach and Tiarna gasped.  She walked over to me, took a seat in a chair next to mine, and carefully held both of my hands so as not to smear them.
“Who’s the father?” she whispered excitedly.
I pulled my hands from her grasp and pushed her off the chair.  “Oh, get out of here.”
Suddenly, jerking us out of our laughing fits, two quiet knocks were heard throughout the apartment.
Hathor went to the door.  She looked through the peep hole.  “D, you had better come over here.”
“What’s the matter?” I asked.  Sliding off of the chair, I walked over to the door.  “Who’s there?”  It was my turn to peer through the little window.  An involuntary gasp escaped my lips.  “No…”
Tiarna bounced up and down behind the two of us.  “Who is it?  Who is it?  Who is it?”
I opened the door, revealing the individual.  “Our worst nightmare.”