Hard Thoughts

AN:

Hey guys! hope everyone is doing well.

I'm happy that I'm finally able to start getting these out on time like I'd like.

I hope you all enjoy the chapter!

Driving, Nathan's thoughts were a mess, going back and forth between if he should talk to Cassie about what happened tonight or if he should even tell her at all. Eventually he came to a conclusion after looking at her, sound asleep in the passenger seat, he would need to talk to her about what happened and let the chips fall where they may. After all, you can't fix a mistake you didn't know you made. Even if it wasn't really her fault, he knew that she sadly hadn't seen the awful side of some of the people out there, people that would stab you in the back with a smile acting like it was your fault they did it. Giving his head a shake, he moved on from that train of thought focusing on the road as he started to see the familiar gates coming into view.

Making it up the long drive and in the garage, he let out a deep breath and let all the thoughts and stress of the situation leave him as he turned the car off. Getting out, he walked around the car and opened the passenger side door finding Cass was still out like a light, he carefully scooped her up into his arms in a princess carry shutting the car door as he headed inside.

Nathan never would've thought that carrying Cassie, a short 5 '4 weighing maybe 110 pounds soaking wet, would be a struggle and for the most part it wasn't. Neither was getting into the house, nor going up the stairs and down the hall to her door. No, the biggest obstacle between him and laying her down in her own bed. Was her room. It. Was. Awful. He knew some people could be messy and even expected her to be to an extent but this was so far past his wildest imagination. Clothes littered the floor in small mounds around the room along with papers, books, and trash in the form of empty water bottles.

Literally having to high step through her room, Nathan finally made it to his bed thinking to himself the entire time how he needed to add this to the talk with her tomorrow. He may not be her mother, but this was so far past the line of dirty it skipped cluttered, jumped over messy, and gave filthy the bird as it ran past it all the way to trashed, that was the only way he could describe it was completely trashed. Luckily or maybe the cause of the mess, her bed was clean and laying her in it was easy. Pulling off her shoes and socks he set them to the side of the bed, Carefully pulling the blanket over her body and tucking her into bed.

Fighting his way back out of the room he made it to the door, looking back at her and seeing her still crashed out he turned off the lights and made his way to his room. The sound of the door unlocking to his door was music to his ears, let alone seeing his bed in the center of his room, all he wanted to do was jump on his bed and crash out but he knew that wasn't an option yet. Instead he pulled out his phone and seeing the screen light up with the time it made him wince but he powered through to his messages.

Night: I'm tracking the two shifters back to their pack.

Wraith: Thanks after we figure out the pack or packs involved we'll let them sit for a day before we pull them.

Night: Loud and Clear just make sure I get to be there for the fun.

Wraith: Of course after all I'll need someone "Good with a blade".

Nathan let out a chuckle when he saw the middle finger emoji she sent back as he relaxed on his bed, he couldn't help but think of how long he had known Stella and some of the awful missions they had to go on. He had them on his mind as he fully relaxed himself into bed, until he finally fell asleep.

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It had been raining all day in the small town outside of Seattle, Washington and the brisk cold air in October wasn't helping it either. Holding himself back from shivering he looked over at the partner he had for this job, he had worked with her before but they never talked much outside of missions. Calling out to the tall dark skinned woman he asked. "So, why are we out here again in this freezing ass cold?" Stella replied to him with a tsk before stoically replying. "Because the best lead we have is that they have been pulling people from this bar, if you'd stop bitching about the cold you'd remember that. It's not my fault that your human body can't deal with the cold well."

"First off fuck you. Cold is cold, it doesn't matter what race you are. Second no I get that they are pulling people from that bar what I mean is why the fuck are we outside. In the freezing cold. In the rain. At night." Exhaling into his hands to warm them up he continued on. "Like why can't we stake out the place inside one of the building around here or fuck just a car in the street would work for me, why are we outside getting hypothermia."

She let out a chuckle before speaking in a gruff voice that seemed to be an imitation of Commander Frey's. "It builds character." then she spit out with that "Fuck building character! The guy's just cheap." Nathan let out a belly laugh at that and gave another look at Stella, thinking how she was a lot more open today than she normally was. "So you do care that it's cold as balls out here and you're just trying to act tough?" he prodded her hoping to hear her complain some more and ended up getting even more than he could hoped for. "Of fucking course I care that it's cold! Just because I'm a dark elf doesn't mean I'm built for the cold. I'm not a damn yeti!" he was struggling not to laugh as he listened to her blow up letting her continue on. "I mean it's literally so cold out right now if we needed to break into a house I could use my nipples as glass cutters!"

Nathan lost it at that bursting into laughter with Stella laughing right alongside him, neither would know later what came over them that night but what they did remember was what would happen after.

Another excruciating hour of waiting in the cold passed before they finally saw their target. The man looked to be in his early to mid twenties, with blonde hair and green eyes. He looked like he could've been from a college in the area. Nathan would've thought the same if not for the fact he glowed through Nathan's mystic eyes in a bright scarlet and black. Seeing the Vampire for what he was they took a picture of his face and sent it off as they waited for the vamp to leave the bar. It took a good thirty minutes of waiting until they finally got back the confirmation that they had been hoping for. The vamps name was Jake Tanner a former college student… twenty plus years ago. His actual age being somewhere around late forties to fifties. The problem wasn't that he was a vampire or even that his age didn't match his appearance, No the problem was the coven he was a part of.

The Bloodless Coven was a rogue coven that was on the hit list of every major coven and they would've already been whipped out years ago if not for their leader, a Blood Lord. A Blood Lord was a very very old vampire that had gained a semi-immortality. Being stronger, faster, and some even having magic mixed in with their almost instant regeneration, they were a monster few would wish to fight.

After getting the confirmation that the vamp was part of the Bloodless they watched and waited for him to leave. They watched as he finally left the bar with a woman on his arm, one Nathan checked to make sure and found her to be white and gray with his mystic sight meaning human. Following the two they kept a close eye on them as Jake brought the woman to a red sedan, opening the door for her before getting in himself and driving off.

Nathan, seeing their target driving off, called over his radio. "Wraith here, Blood is in a red sedan with license plate numbers… he's heading south now. Need eyes on him or we'll lose contact, over." A man's response quickly buzzed over the radio. "I hear you loud and clear we have a dragonfly going up to follow. You and Night rendezvous at your vehicle and we will radio you directions, over." "Roger, over and out."

"Well you heard Top let's get moving, I want to get out of this damn cold" Nathan said as he started jogging away with Night giving a grunt for confirmation before following on his heels. They arrived at the van they had been using for the past two weeks in no time at all, Nathan all but jumped through the window to get inside and out of the cold's freezing embrace. Stella, being much more graceful, jumped over the top of the van doing a flip along the way to quickly get into the passenger seat. She then spent the rest of her time staring down Nathan as he fumbled with the keys, his shaking hands from the cold until he finally got the keys in the ignition and turned the van over. Flipping the heater on full blast, he put his hands against the vents trying to warm them up before moving into drive and heading down the road.

Stella called over the radio this time while he drove listening for where to go until they finally arrived at the location. The hotel they were at was a short and compact thing, being maybe three stories tall if the windows didn't lie and easily wider than it was taller. There were lights on inside the building, but a metal fence wrapped around it showing it was very much a private stay hotel. Luckily for Nathan and Stella a seven foot fence wouldn't do much more than stretch their muscles.

The two slid into the back of the van where a computer monitor was bolted into the wall along with a small armory of weapons. Nathan headed over to his chest rig hanging against the wall, it was a special mix he and Joshua, one of the guy's back at SF had come up with. It looked like a standard black plate carrier with normal ammo rigging on it, what you couldn't tell though without a magical sight were the dozens upon dozens of runes covering it. Some resisted fire, others magical attacks, and Nathan's number one favorite inertia dampening runes.

Throwing on the plate carrier it covered his dark blue thermal shirt only letting his sleeves be seen. Walking over to the handguns he pulled out a suppressed Sig Sauer 1911 and a Glock 33 in .357, Sliding the Glock in an ankle holster hidden by his black pants he then put the 1911 in a side holster. Finally the last thing he grabbed was a Heckler and Koch HK416 letting the assault rifle sling over his back for easier range of motion and quicker movement.

Looking over at Stella he found her waiting and ready for him dressed in close to the same as him except with a dark maroon thermal and covered in blades instead of guns. He checked her plate carrier, pulling the straps and making sure her equipment was secure before patting her back and letting her go over him as well. She seemed to get intimately close to his junk when she checked his ankle holster, but quickly finished up and patted his back signaling he was good to go.

They both took one final deep breath as all the jokes and games came to an end, Nathan then reached up to his throat mic and radioed in. "Wraith and Night moving on site, over." Sliding up their half face covers that hid from their nose down, Nathan then pushed open the door and the two moved off into the night like ghosts, barely making a whisper of noise. Neither knew what they would find inside, only having a guess from previous raids they had heard about. Their job was only to scout out the covens location and to take out high value targets if available. If only they would've known that this wasn't a Bloodless hideout, It was their main house.

AN:

As always tell me what you think and what your thoughts on the chapter are.