on a steel horse I ride

The sun had barely fallen below the horizon when that incessant thudding stirred the southern vampire from his sleep. Darcy, in those precarious early moments, was nearly slow to process that sound as it interrupted his hazy thoughts. Who or what in gods name was fucking stupid enough to beat down their bedroom door!? The scent of Randall permeated beneath that door. Darcy, in the very least, was assured no imminent threat dared present itself. The vampire was instead content to merely snarl, his lip curled upward and away from those rows of fangs before he dared to open his blue eye. His vision, however, was near instantly obscured as Risque stirred beside him- his mate quick to throw those layers of blankets from her, burying him beneath them as she stormed toward the door to deliver her wrath upon the poor fucking fool upon the other side. Good. She could handle it. Darcy, for now, saw little need to extricate himself from that bed. He would punish Randall later for daring to put his beloved in such a mood so early in the evening. Darcy hardly bothered to pull those blankets from his head. The southern cowboy content to remain beneath them as he listened vaguely to that conversation as it occurred. Randall, that oaf of a man, seemed almost out of breath as he struggled to insist they were rapidly being surrounded but other vampires. Cade, it seemed, had finally brought that war to their door step. How unfortunate it would require him to get up.

Another low growl erupted from the irritable Southerner as he tossed those blankets from himself in the same moment as Risque slammed that door closed. His hellish Queen all but glided across the floor with single minded purpose, her gaze hardly offering him a glance as that energy within her began to rise. How very...addictive it was. Darcy, in that very moment, all the more drawn to his lover if only for that violent intent that swirled and turned within her so potently. How readily it coaxed at that predator within himself. That energy feeding into the room. How much more awake he felt as he watched her taut, lean figure ready itself for that battle to come. It had been awhile since he had enjoyed a decent war- the very thing in which he had first been crafted those years ago. An area in which he excelled. The promise of bloodshed only feeding all the more into the hunger that seemed to burn near eternally within his throat. Darcy's tongue brushed contemplatively across his fangs in a simple display of anticipation before his mate turned abruptly towards him. His name upon her lips. That command to organize their forces and stall Cade's own was met with a simple nod.

"As yar wish, darlin'."

Darcy reached for the black jeans and belt that rested upon a chair near his nightstand, the vampire quick to pull them on, that ornate bronze and gold bulls head belt buckle was done up with ease as Risque spoke of her intentions to summon her cats- and her insistence that Cade be left for her alone as was her right.

"I'll see it dun."

His accented words were uttered with assurance as he strode towards the wardrobe before reaching in to grasp a white shirt, pulling it on and over his toned, fit physique. A leather vest was next. One the vampire rarely war and yet that thick hide offered significant protection agianst the fangs of vampire and canine alike. Darcy reached at last for a leather jacket then, pulling it on and over his broad shoulders, the steel chain at his neck tugged free to rest outside of his shirt. Risque strode forward then, that action alone so managing to ensnare Darcy's mismatched gaze as his mind shifted from those considerations of warfare and towards the vampiric queen. Whatever words she had been about to say seemed to hang upon her lips as Darcy merely....waited, an expression near curious so managing to touch his features. Surely, she was not about to tell him to be careful was she- and express some sentiment of....care? Whatever words she had been aout to say seemed to flutter into nothingness. The vampiric woman merely declared she would meet him on the roof when she was ready. Darcy's head nodded once more.

"Risque."

The cowboy reached for that gun belt then, fixing it in place before that bullet belt was fastened across his chest and over his right shoulder. Those reams of ammunition at the ready. His gaze so hardly shifted from that belt as those accented words found their way free of his lips.

"I won't die, dun worry."

One eye rose ever so slightly. Darcy so daring to offer those very words on her behalf, the cowboy so hardly daring to linger any longer as that rush of speed saw him all but disappear from within that room and into the halls outside. Syn, beneath Randalls useless command having turned to all but chaos as vampires and felines seemed to run in every direction. Those halls were a mass of panicked disorganisation as the baying of the dogs outside, Cade's canine army, seemed only to cho within those walls. Fucking fools. The lot of them. Did not one of them have a brain cell between them. Darcy's hand reached near instantly outward as he stride towards the roof, the unfortunate Ian caught by the collar and hauled from his feet.

"Git everyone to da goddamn roof."

Ian, for once, hardly dared to argue that order. Darcy's mere presence, in the very least, seemed to bring some sense of calm to that chaos as vampire and feline alike merely turned in place to follow that dominant presence as he strode through the halls. Syn's walls had hardly been breached and even if they had there were enough felines within the bowels of the building to consume anything or anyone foolish enough to become lost in the maze beneath. Darcy moved with single-minded determination, his feet taking those stairs two at a time before he strode out and into the roof- a perfect platform to view the parking lot from below and the veritable vampire army that waited within it. Cade's coven was larger then they had anticipated and yet how Darcy suspected this was merely the front line assault. Cade himself was nowhere to be seen. The coven leader would hardly show himself until that fighting became serious enough to warrant it. These vampires and canines were merely....foot soldiers. Fodder and nothing more. Designed to force Syn's army onto the battlefield. To test it without forcing Cade to depoy those better fighters and risk losing any. Hmm. Two could play at that game.

Darcy reached smoothly for those pistols on either side of his belt. The weapons were twirled smoothly within his hands as if they were a mere extension of his fingers themselves. A weapon he had wielded competently since he was merely a child. His mismatched gaze surveyed the battle field below. So many fuckng dogs. Weres, certainly, they were far too intelligent to be mere animals. Each dog seemed to have at least one vampire to accompany it. Large numbers but hardly overwhelming. Yet. The rest of Syn's forces began to stir behind him as Darcy swung to face them then.

"Dem with long range powers spread out along da top of da roof, dem who need ta be close up get down on dat front line. Dun attack dem vampires first, dats a goddamn ploy, take out da dogs. Half you Were's wait 'ere for Risques command, da rest of yar get down below and into da basement. Day is gunna get through da wall sooner or later and i want yar to be waiting for dem. Go."

Those very commands were issued with no room for argument as those vampires and Weres alike moved to do as asked- several of them leaping from the roof and down into the carpark below to engage that enemy as Darcy himself moved to stand on the edge of the roof. His presence, so readily noted by whatever lackey was in charge below, seemed to prompt a surge in Cade's forces efforts. Darcy himself, so apparently, a target worth attempting to try and reach. Two of those enem vampires launched themselves at the walls of Syn, only to begin scaling upwards.

"Mother fuckin' idjits."


Those pistols were twirled within Darcy's hands once more, both fired in a single motion, in opposite directions- each finding their targets with flawless ease as those enemy vampires fell backyard in unison from the wall. Really? This was the best Cade had for a first wave of assault? The soft sound of someone behind him prompted Darcy's head to turn, the vampire glancing over his shoulder as Tetradore strode forward. The sorry little bastard looking exactly as thrilled about this moment as Darcy had about being woken from his sleep. Tetradore meandered forward then to peer over that edge and toward the throngs engaged in fighting below. That scent of blood already began to coat the air as the Alpha inquired just what Risque had done this time. A soft snort erupted from within the cowboy.

"She went an stole one O'Cade's dogs. He wants it back I reckon. Dis war been brewin for awhile. I 'ad a different plan, but why would she do it my way? Ain't like i survived da civil war or nuthin'."

How rare it was that Darcy was inclined to...tolerate Tetradore. Much less bond with him of their shared Mistress's love of chaos, and yet here and now the Alpha was an ally. Even if that truce between them lasted only so long as the war itself. Risque had thrown that final gauntlet it seemed and yet- Darcy relished a decent war.

"Either turn yourself into dat fuckin' kitty form or pick up a gun and shoot, dun jus stand dare like an idjit, Tetradore."

Darcy

I'm wanted, Dead or Alive