Haze

It was not often Octavian found himself afraid, but between the sheer menace emanating off "The Wolf" and everybody's evident intimidation, or outright fear, of him; Octavian could hardly move a muscle, let alone form a thought, as the umber man in all black approached them. The man grabbed a chair from a nearby table and sat with them, kicking his dirty, hard leather boots onto theirs once he did. He not so much folded his arm as rather rested it across his chest and held the other one at the elbow as his fingers curled in front of his dark, mustached, lips. He sat there for a while, and even with all eyes on him in the dead atmosphere he created, the man did not move an inch. But when he did move to speak, Octavian felt a chain reaction of vampyrs jumping in their seats, including himself. He could even hear the spasms of both anxious and hardy breaths alike as onlookers from above stood and watched as well. He also noticed that his partner was missing from above as well. However, Octavian did not try to give that away, hoping that wherever she was, Sasha had plan.

"The name is Kirk, Kirk Wagner, or The Wolf as some might call me. Such as your friends here," He nodded at Rogier and Thrud, "Can you guess why that is?" He looked towards Octavian. Octavian was not keen on answering, let alone talking to the black bounty hunter. However, he needed to buy time for Sasha to do… whatever she needed to do.

"My guess is…" Octavian pretended to think. "Because your big and bad?" He shrugged finally.

"Close," Kirk actually smirked, revealing some of his stark-white teeth. "It's because I hunt."

"A Liger hunts, and yet that is not your name." Octavian countered. He tried to steady his breath silently before speaking, but every time he suppressed it, his nervousness found another avenue. Whether his muscles tensed, or his eyes wondered to avoid Kirk's gaze, he showed his terror. Much to Kirk's amusement.

"That is true," Kirk smiled even wider, revealing just about all of his large, fanged teeth. "Care again to guess why?" Octavian was really starting to get uneasy now. Because how could any bounty hunter talk so casually with their mark while surrounded by so many other bounty hunters? He fearfully concluded that either this man was a madman or bigger danger than Octavian could imagine.

"I'm guessing it's because you roam in a pack." Octavian answered, carefully this time. Kirk abruptly laughed at that, which now made everybody in the saloon just as uneasy as Octavian was. If they were not already soundly terrified that is.

"We call them gangs out here, boy," Kirk boomed, settling down his laughter. "But semantics aside, yes I have a group I lead." Kirk shifted his boots off the table so that he could lean in closer to Octavian. "So, as leaders I was hoping we could negotiate a bit."

"Negotiate," Octavian frowned suspiciously. "Or adhere to demands?"

"Negotiate," Kirk smiled somehow wider than he already was. "Because as I see it, you can either come with us, or I leave you to your fate here."

"What?" Octavian spat dumbfoundedly.

"What I mean is," Kirk chuckled. "Is that I already have two of your comrades. The drakon girl and the commonwealth boy." Octavian froze.

"So, you can either join them and you can all go to prison together, or I take my leave and place you in the hands of every other bounty hunter present. Though I will say, you'd best come with me. Nasty work buzzards do to a meal after a wolf has left it alone." Kirk held his smile, and from the look in his twisted eyes, Octavian knew that no matter what he decided, The Wolf was bound to enjoy either outcome.

"So, um…," Rogier chimed in with his best face and anxiously charming tongue. "What about us?" He smiled weakly to which Kirk frowned and said,

"I have no need for more buzzards so do as you please after your friend here has made a decision." Rogier clasped his hands together and shook.

"With pleasure." He responded gratefully, with the meagerest hint of cunning. The Wolf rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Octavian who was quickly racking his brain for a solution.

"What do I?" He thought frantically. "I can either go with him and plan an escape after or risk something now, but with the swarm of bounty hunters waiting to pick me up, dead or alive, I'd never be able to rescue Lexi and Marco anytime soon. Or at all even. I could use Rogier's help, he does have a gang here, but the problem is that they were not right here now. I need something now to pull me out of this mess. Damn it, where the hell is Sasha!?"

"Tick, tick, boy," Kirk smiled eagerly. "Tick, tick."

"Fine!" Octavian blurted, frustrated as all hell. "Fine, I'll go with you." Kirk sighed, rather disappointedly, then proceeded to say.

"You know, I was hoping you'd put up more of a fight and cause things to get messy. Oh well, guess we'll just have to settle for some fun on the road."

Kirk stood and beckoned Octavian to follow. Everybody watched in anticipation as Octavian slowly rose and walked right behind Kirk towards the exit. The Wolf's back was now turned and many thought that this was the perfect time to get the drop on him. Mentally, Kirk dared them to. However, the threat did not come from them, but Octavian himself. Though with a little help.

"Scream." Octavian heard the strange, yet oddly familiar, whisper say.

Without hesitation, he did as he was told. A master of sound, Octavian quickly, and silently, inflated his chest as he walked and as soon as the wind in his lungs filled to their max, he instantly compressed his airways, hard. Unleashing a mighty roar that was not heard, but felt as the reverberations deafened ears, shattered glasses, dropped bodies, and even shook the entire saloon. Kirk swiftly covered his ears, blocking the sound but not stopping the piercing reverberation that stunned him where he was. Others squirmed on the floor in excruciating pain, completely disarming them as well. That, however, would not last long as the forty-five second duration of the roar was quickly nearing. Octavian could already feel his lungs rattle violently and his throat tear. He had maybe five more seconds before he was left painfully on the floor himself and completely speechless. The five seconds, however, was just enough time for six repeater rifle rounds to find their way right into The Wolf's back.