{"sf1_id":775063,"sf2_id":null,"title":"A Date at Da Vinci","author":"StGeorgesHorse","words":2095,"posted_at":"2014-10-29T11:23:00.000Z","tags":["Death","Destruction","Human","Mayhem","Werewolf","attack","battle","russia","silver"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/775063-a-date-at-da-vinci","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/775063","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=775063\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"#57 of The Moonrise Chronicles\n\nShit happens.","content":"                Edward\nrelented, saying that could at least try. The door was on the corner, and they\nmade their way inside. There was a sizable bouncer there, and he stopped them\nin a stern tone. 'Stoy! Vy ne mozhete priyti syuda.\"                Maggie\nput on her best attitude. \"YA skazhu vam, chto; yesli vy mozhete udalit' menya,\nya ostavlyu.\"                Edward\npulled her aside. \"What the hell are you saying to him?\"  The man was looking bemused and\nbelligerent.                 \"He\nsaid I had to leave. I told him that if he can remove me, I'll go.\"                \"Maggie,\nthat's not fair to him.\"                \"I\ndon't care. I want to check this place out, and we have the money for it.\"                \"Right.\nSo then let's just pay him off and be done with it.\"                He\npulled out his wallet, which he had wisely preloaded with rubles and offered\nthe man several large notes. It didn't seem to impress him. He made as if to\ntoss them out when he suddenly stopped with a squeal. Maggie had him by the\nballs and she had her sharp black claws out.                 \"YA\nkhotel by predlozhit' vam vzyat' den'gi i zabyt' o nas. Yesli vy eto sdelayete,\nya zabudu o tebe. Yesli etogo ne sdelat', to ya budu okhotit'sya za vami, i\nubit' vas.\"                 She tucked the money in his pocket, gave him a\nkiss and let him loose. He stepped aside in a crouched position with his hands\nbetween his legs and let them through.                'That\nwasn't nice Mags.\"                \"The\nworld isn't always nice. He'll live. And I think you overpaid him. So he should\nfeel lucky. He was spared his life today and got a tip to boot.\"                They\nwere seated, and not without a few looks, but when their credit checked out,\nall worries were dropped. Whatever they wanted, they could have. They soon had\na full table of food, and a bottle of the best vodka. Maggie viewed it wide\neyed when the bar manager brought out the box and opened it.                His\nEnglish was pretty good. \"Your bottle of Stoli Elit sir. The only one we have.\nEnjoy.\"                Maggie\nleaned over and whispered to her father. \"How much was this?\"                He\nsmiled. \"Too much. But what the hell! It's only money, right?\"                \"Yes it\nis.\"                It\ndidn't take long for the entire staff of Da Vinci to end up fawning over the\ntwo.  They became so absorbed in their\nmeal that they very nearly missed the two men who had entered and had seated\nthemselves in a corner. It was Maggie's nose who sensed them. She nearly missed\nit over the smell of all the food set before them, but she picked up the sour\naroma of sweat and of incense. There weren't too many places that burned\nincense except for churches. And a church going person wasn't likely to be\npopping in here.                She\nguessed that they were from St Catherine's, which meant that they might get\ncalled out on why they were here.  On the\nother hand, they had papers from the pope, so they didn't need to answer to\nanyone else. But the smell had something else to it, and she couldn't place it\nwith all the other odors coming into her system. But she didn't like it.                She\nstomped on Edward's foot. \"Look over there, in the corner. Do you see them?\"                He was\nholding the gold plated ice pick that had come with the bottle. He looked up\nand squinted into the darkness, concentrating his power to his eyes. They came into\nfocus and he thought he recognized the one as the man who had leaned out of the\ncar. It was hard to tell from this angle.                \"I see\nthem. Who do you think they are?\"                \"I'm\nnot sure. It could be anyone, but I have a strong feeling they are from the\nchurch. But why they're following us I haven't a clue. I told you that priest seemed\nshifty.\"                \"So you\ndid. But I don't think we have anything to worry about from them. After all,\nwhat can they do?\"                \"In\npublic, I doubt there's much they can do, but if they're connected with the\nchurch, who is to say that they don't have something to do with our former\nfriend the cardinal?\"                Edward\npaused. \"So you think that this church could be one under his sway?\"                \"Maybe.\nIf there were members of the kind living here in the past, as we presume to\nknow, then there would be a chance of there being a ring here as well.\"                Edward\nsmiled. \"Unless your grandmother took it with her.\"                \"There\nis that.\"                They\ncontinued to eat and enjoy themselves, and after a few more bottles of a lesser\ngrade of vodka, they both became celebrities with the amount of alcohol they\ncould consume and still remain upright. This was not missed by the men in the\ncorner, and one had his cellphone out and was talking on it.                Maggie\npulled off her ring, and on a lark, placed it against her ear.                 \"What\nare you doing?\" Edward asked, keeping his voice low.                 \"I\ncan't change my ears in view of everyone, so I'm seeing if the ring will amplify\nthe sounds. I'm trying to hear those guys.\"                \"And?\"                \"Shhh.\nIt's working.\"                Whether\nit was by amplifying the sounds or enhancing her hearing, she was able to hear\nthis side of the conversation. \"He's telling someone that we are behaving\noddly. And that we appear to be spending a lot of money.\"                \"I\nsuppose we are. Why should they care?\"                \"I\ndon't know. Unless they think we're spending church money. But I think there's\nmore, and I think it has to do with the league we dismantled. Maybe they don't\nknow the cardinal has been deposed and is now dead. Only the pope knows about\nthat. So maybe they think we have something to do with the league. I can't\ntell. My Russian isn't that good.\"                \"It's\ngood enough. Should we confront them?\"                She sat\nand thought. \"No. Let them wonder, and let them think that we haven't noticed\nthem. Maybe they'll slip up somewhere down the line and we'll find out what\nthey're doing.\"                \"That's\nfine by me. I had figured we'd be done with all that mess. But I guess I didn't\nthink about the fact that there would be branches here and there. How else\nwould that Bernard fellow have found us after all?\"                \"Right.  So let's assume that this is the case here.\nSo what do they think we're here for then?\"                \"Hard\nto say, unless that fellow at the church has a ring and doesn't want to give it\nup.\"                \"That\ncould account for all the subterfuge. But do we really want another ring?\"                \"Would\nyou rather know where they're all at?\"                \"I\nsuppose so.\"                \"Then I\nguess the answer is yes. But for now, let' just keep quiet. No point in giving\nthem anything to be suspicious of.\"                \"I\nthink it's a little late for that.\"                She\nstomped his foot again and giggled.  He\nwas right of course; they were drawn into this web from the moment they set\nfoot on Russian soil. It was going to take some time to check it out, but the\nheck if she was going to let this showdown spoil their fun. They had money, and\nthey had time. On top of that, there was very little anyone could do to them\nwithin reason. After all, they were now close to being indestructible.                She\nsmiled. That thought gave her an idea. She asked for a silver spoon, but the\nbar had no such thing until the bartender produced a flat, ornate device used\nfor dissolving sugar cubes into absinthe. She thanked him and purposely put it\nin her mouth. She could taste the metal and she found it unnerving, but the\nring protected her from harm. She acted a little drunk to lend a reason to her\naction, but she made sure the men saw it in her mouth.                Edward\ncaught on. Let them wonder. If she were of the kind, the silver would have\nkilled her, or else generated a lot of smoke and no little amount of pain for\nher. So either she wasn't of the kind, or she was protected. Either way told\nthem something, though the lack of anything definitive made their position all\nthe more obscured.                She was\na wicked girl. It was one of her endearing traits - at times. It all depended\non where it was directed. He was always glad when her machinations worked for\ntheir benefit. She had used them on him a few times and he wasn't sure he was\nready to forgive her for those. But on anyone else it was fine.                The\nrest of the night flew by, and with the rings on, the alcohol had no effect\nwhatsoever. In fact, it seemed a waste to even be drinking it. But Maggie was\nwhooping it up, giving everyone the impression that the stuff was finally\nhaving an effect of her. He had no idea why, until he remembered she had taken\nthe ring off. So maybe it was for real.                 He took\nhis ring off and slipped it on her finger. She shivered and then straightened\nup. \"Shit! What happened?\"                \"You\ntook your ring off stupid. Where is it?\"                She\npatted her pockets. \"Here. I don't know why I didn't put it back on.\"                She\ndidn't have a chance to say or do anymore. The men from the corner came\nforward, and with drawn guns, started firing.                 Panic\nensued. Glass shattered, liquor sprayed in the air and bullets flew, hitting\nMaggie and Edward. She knew immediately that they contained silver because she\ncould feel it in her flesh. Belatedly, she remembered that she had his ring and\nwas horrified.  As the table collapsed\nfrom the push of the crowd, she dived on top of him, knowing that it was too\nlate. The men reloaded and fired again. She was torn between covering his body\nand attacking the others. The bullets might not hurt her, but they could hurt\nhim.                She was\ndrenched in vodka, blood and food.  She\nwas trying to sort out which was which, and whose blood it was. She knew some\nwas hers, but her body was already trying to heal over the wounds. Edward was\nunmoving, and a quick glance showed a hole in his forehead.  The anger in her grew. Why was everyone always\ntrying to kill them? It wasn't like they were trying to cause anyone any\ntrouble. They were just trying to find their roots. And maybe a few more of the\nrings, but most people wouldn't even know about that.                The\nbullets continued to fly, and she could feel them as the struck her and buried\nthemselves in her muscles and bones. But she refused to move. She slipped his\nring back on his finger, saying a little prayer to any greater being that might\nhear her. She hunkered down as the bullets continued.                 By now\nthe bar was empty of patrons and staff alike. The two gunmen continued to fire,\nmoving from spot to spot, unloading their weapons in a hail of silver\nprojectiles. Maggie reached around for something to throw. Her hand felt\nsomething sharp. She grabbed it and threw it blindly. But with her unerring\nsenses, the ice pick found its mark. It embedded deeply in the shoulder of one\nof the shooters. With a scream he dropped his gun.                That\ntook out one of them, but what of the other? She didn't have a chance to devise\na plan. As she was frantically trying to come up with one when she\nsuddenly went flying through the air in a spray of broken glass and shattered\nchina. It\nwas an explosion of epic proportions that blew out the windows in the bar,\nspraying glass out into the street. .                Maggie\nwas plastered against the back bar, fragments of glass embedded in her back.\nThe alcohol burned like fire as the place descended from chaos into the depths\nof hell. The noise became a deafening roar as a broken light bulb set the\nalcohol on fire. Blue tongues of flame ripped around the bar, catching her hair\nalight as she pulled herself from the debris and stumbled towards the door. For\nthe moment, all thoughts of Edward had been smashed from her mind in her\nimmediate fight for survival."}