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Victor slept until almost noon, and when he woke up, Maggie, Sarah and Adrian were all sitting beside the pallet he lay on.

"Did anyone get the number of that truck?" he groaned, and Maggie smiled. The kids leapt and hugged him. "Whoa!" yelped Victor "What brought this on!?!"

"We were afraid you weren't gonna wake up!" Maggie said. "Are you hungry?"

"Famished. And tired. Does anyone know what happened? How did I get here?"

"We carried you here," Adrian said. "Mama found you in the front yard."

"How'd I get there?"

"We don't know," Sarah said, as Maggie brought him a dish of stew. "Last I saw you, the grabby-bone had gotten you."

"Rawhide and Bloody Bones," muttered Victor staring off into the distance. His thoughts were interrupted by the matron of the house.

"Don't do that again, Angel," Maggie said "You had us worried. You've become a part of our family in the last few months."

"I'll try not to disappear for a night to someplace without time or shape. At least," he laughed dryly, "not without telling you first." Maggie managed to dredge up a smile. Angel got himself up, ate and dressed himself. Then he helped Maggie, Sarah and Adrian clean up the mess the monsters had left the night before, and fortify the house against the attack that would surely come that night.

In that vague state that Victor called sleep, he'd actually though he'd seen the key to some of the horrors. As he moved around, on through the afternoon, he thought it through till he was almost sure of what to do. At two hours till dusk, he picked the lock on the forth room upstairs.

The room looked like no one had been in it for years, which held up his theories. As did the glyphs and fetishes hanging on the walls. Whoever Maggie's husband had been, he hadn't been a pure human. A untuned fiddle lay in its case on a bookshelf beside the desk. Music was stacked neatly. And inside the desk was the diagram of a wicked knife. Victor rubbed at his nose and kept searching. At an hour till dusk, he called Maggie out behind the barn.

"What is it Angel?" she asked. He hugged her, a sudden, unprovoked symbol of everything he'd felt since he'd seen her.

"Maggie what you said this morning - well... I love you too. All of you," he said. "And I hope you understand."

"Understand what?" Maggie asked, startled but happy.

"What I'm going to ask of you." Victor turned them both around, and pointed at a piece of paper, with concentric circles drawn on it on a post. "I want you to learn to shoot. For when I'm not here."

"Angel, what do you mean?" Maggie asked. Something in his voice scared her. Victor cradled her in front of him, and put his gun in her hands. He pointed her in the direction of the target. She was shivering.

"I'm going out to try and stop them Maggie. I'm leaving my gun with you to protect you." He laid a kiss on her cheek. "To protect the people I love."

"Stay here - hunt after Samhain," she said softly, as he cradled her hands around the gun.

"Tonight is my best shot," Angel whispered. "Now - hold it steady. Aim. Pull the trigger." The recoil pushed Maggie up against Victor's chest. The bullet went wide. "Again Maggie. Aim." Maggie's hands trembled, and she did. "Fire." The bullet tore through the corner of the target.

"Better. Again."

Inside the rings.

"This is for your children Maggie."

Inside the inner rings.

"This is for life."

Bullseye.

"To help me."

Bullseye.

"To avenge your children's father."

Bullseye.

Victor had stepped away, and Maggie shot again, braced for the recoil. The clip sounded empty, clicking a few times, before Maggie lowered it. She began to cry again. Victor took the gun away, and gathered the frail woman in his arms.

"Shhh," he comforted.

"Don't go," she whispered. "Please, just don't go." She buried her face in his neck.

"I have to." Maggie silenced her sobs, and forced her eyes to dry. The sun was starting to set behind the forest.

"I can't stop you, can I?" she asked.

"No." The brown haired woman hugged him tightly but held back her tears.

"Then I'll wait." They walked back to the house hand in hand. Adrian gave Angel a significant look. Victor raised his eyebrows at the boy and with a faint laugh shook his head. Then, the dark haired man sat down, and told the children what he was going to do. Adrian stood dry eyed, but Sarah sniffled.

"That's a damnfool thing to do," Adrian said at last.

It's the best idea I've thought of."

"You're gonna come back, aren't you?" Sarah said, anxiously.

"I came back last time didn't I?" he smiled faintly. "Don't worry."

"But you're part of the family now like Mama said," the slim red-brown haired girl said. "I love you." Adrian didn't say anything.

"I love you all too," Angel admitted. "Which is why I have to try and save you, to try and make your home safe." He stood and hugged the children, pulling Adrian into the embrace. "When I leave, you have to bolt and barricade the door, okay? Leave all the lights burning. Light fires in every fireplace." He looked at Maggie with his dark brown eyes. "Cast every charm you know to keep you safe on Samhain. I'll be praying for you."

"Save a prayer for yourself, Angel," Maggie said, and trapped all three of them in a hug. Victor handed Maggie his gun, and two clips, showing her how to exchange and empty one for a full.

"Remember to aim." he whispered, and kissed her on the cheek.

The dark haired drifter slipped into his coat, and left, closing the door securely behind him. He heard the sounds of bolts being flung, and a chest being flung in front of the door, and smiled to himself. He began trotting down the road. At the rise that over looked the farm, he looked back at the small house in the moons light. Smoke poured out of the chimneys, but no light poured out of the windows that he had tightly shuttered, both from the in and outside. It would take a lot for anyone to break in. And Victor hoped he'd be able to distract the beasts who'd spent the last few nights trying to break in. They had come from the forests, that much he knew. So into the forests he went, following the pull that drew him to other supernatural. It was a sixth sense, and he never understood where he got it, but Victor could do it, and was not ashamed to use it. As he pelted down the path, breath easy, he said prayers to keep them safe, and one for himself. But there wasn't much other than hope and faith there. He saw a fire in the woods, a bonfire, and ran towards that.

Dark figures leapt in a evil, twisted rite around the bonfire. Victor had no doubt they knew he was there, hidden behind a tree. Perversely he wished for his gun. But there was nothing to be done about that. He tried to count how many creatures where there, but they kept moving, making it hard to count. He didn't think that there was more than a dozen, and probably less than that, but he really didn't particular feel like chancing that.

'So a dozen then, maybe more.' he thought to himself. 'Do you feel up like taking them on?' He thought it over seriously. After all, the night before, he had faced down an ancient nursery boggle, and forced it to leave the farm stead. Not an easy task, and his legs and arms twinged in memory. And then he'd had his gun. To take on these creatures, he'd only have his knifes, his faith and his wits.

Fortunately, he thought cheerfully, none of those were in short supply.

The monsters stopped in mid move braced their feet and tipped their heads back, howling discordantly to the moon. To anyone who'd ever heard real wolves howl, it was disturbing. While wolf howls were like a strange lyricless songs, and these beasts howls were distilled fear and discord. They were not howling respect or pride at the moon, they were mocking her. He couldn't take it, and Victor leapt from hiding, his silvered knife biting deep into the beast's mottle-furred back. Its howl cut off and the beast fell, as its spinal cord was severed. Without pausing for a breath, Victor leapt for the next beast, streaming blood from his right hand knife.

Whether it was luck or his own panicked, anger fueled speed, or the beast's stupidity or lack of caring, Angel cut down three of the man beasts, and wounded another before they were wary of him. They danced around him now instead of the fire, striking feints at him, distracting him, and teasing him. He continued slashing with his silvered knifes, slicing open paws and muzzles as they came close enough. One figure, grizzled and twice Victor's height laughed like a hyena.

"Hello little warrior," it said, lowering its head down to his level by crouching down on all fours. "You've come to chase us from our prize..." Victor didn't answer it, just brought his blades up into guard and kept his eyes moving, watching the others, which licked at wounds and grinned, teeth sharp and white in the darkness.

"We've been hunting this stag too long to let another hunter take it," the figure continued. It twisted its head about like a snake or some such beast and its eyes glimmered. Victor kept his feet moving and his mind working, not allowing himself to be distracted by the fire at his back, which would be some escape if he had to, and the beasts... four of them. Even the one who was talking at him. "We know you've chased away our allies. They didn't want our prize, just the fear." The beast licked its jaws with a thick slab of a red tongue. "Do you know how tasty fear is, undying one?" It licked at him. "I can taste your fear."

One of the side beasts, the smaller one, leapt at Victor, he slashed at the man-beast , but was knocked onto his back. Angel recovered quickly, rolled the beast along on his feet, and tossed it into the fire. It leapt out the opposite side, howling and screeching, till it finally subsided in a smoldering pile on the other side.

"You've taken our numbers down, little warrior," hissed the speaking one. "Or perhaps we were only the bait." Victor didn't allow that to faze him, and looked for an opening to take down the two remaining. Wait... two... there had been three a moment before, and... "Answer me this, brave fighter," hissed the speaker. "How many of us were there? How long have you been gone?" Victor's head buzzed. He felt muzzy and sick. He spared a glance above him, and saw the moons were setting. And he could not account for almost half the monsters!

"Maggie..." Victor turned in place and ran to the sound of the creature's laughter. The world narrowed to the sound of his feet on the cold earth, and the path in front of him.

The door to the house was bowled in and splintered. There was no sign of life anywhere. Victor went into the house, knifes drawn. The blades clattered to the floor. Maggie lay on the floor, gun still clenched in her hand, but her head was blown out, and Victor knew exactly what had happened. She had failed, and rather than go into their hands, had killed herself. Angel pried the gun out of her hands, and sat beside the corpse, in too much pain even to cry.

'you did a fine job, hero'

His gloved hands clenched around the gun.

'didn't save the children didn't save the girl'

The gun slowly raised.

'why not end it, pointless existence'

The muzzle was at his temple.

'that's it... blow your worthless brains over the room. Death as pointless as your life'

His finger tightened on the trigger.

'yesssssssss'

Angel whirled and fired into the shadows. There was a scream like a wounded pig. Victor fired again. The clip sounded empty. Black gloved hands moved in a familiar dance, changing clips. All he had left was plain steel. But that would do for this. He moved toward the shadow and fired. The scream went on, forever, pointlessly. The shadow began to receded. Victor emptied the second clip. The shadow disappeared, leaving a dark haggard, twisted body, ichor foul and moving sluggishly from the many holes. Victor kicked the strange beast's body, unable to even classify what it was. He began to search the farm for the children, or at least their bodies.

Adrian's body he found, bare and torn to shreds, torn and mutilated. For some reason, they'd left his face untouched, and it had and expression of endurance and anger. Much of what had been done to him had happened while the boy was still alive. Victor did throw up. When his body had cleansed itself of the last traces of food, he gathered the boy up in a blanket, arms limp and flesh cold, and brought the body inside. He wrapped Maggie's corpse up in the same way, then dragged the monster's rapidly petrifying body out of the house, and far out into the fields, before returning and looking again for Sarah.

He found no trace of Sarah, and that scared him more than the violence on Adrian or Maggie's self destruction. He couldn't even catch a whiff of the girl's blood. That struck him as odd. If they hadn't killed her, then where was she? He searched the house, every room, and searched the barn. There still was no sign of the girl. Victor lit a clove and paced. A breeze, perhaps from the sundered door ruffled his hair in a almost caress. Then, in a flare of inspiration, he knew.

The wind began to almost howl around the small house. In a completely calm state, Victor nailed boards over the door to protect Maggie and Adrian's bodies. Then he turned to the forest again. The wind gathered around him, goading him on like a sentient being. He could almost hear Adrian and Maggie's voices along with another male voice he didn't recognize. Victor's steady walk sped to a lope, then a run. He was running faster than he'd ever been able to before. There was a sense of urgency and terror that filled his heart, that was pushing him on. Coupled with the strange wind that followed him, that bore him along, he was father than he'd gotten from the farm in months, and still moving. The forest was dark and foreboding around him. Something made him turn and slow as he came to great outcropping of rock. There was a dark crevasse in between two of the rocks. He heard noises in here, and drew his gun, then slunk into the crevasse. His eyes adjusted and the noisy wind finally silenced, though there was feeling of waiting and watching just over his shoulder. It wasn't a threatening watcher though, it was something like the feeling of someone watching his back - not something Victor was used to, but nothing to be afraid of.

The tunnel the crevasse had opened up into continued for what seemed like forever. The sound of his footsteps were muted and soft, but some other sound began to catch his ears in the distance, and pale, greenish shadows began to flicker along the walls. And inside the strange rough grumble that was a base down here, was a sound, a faint wailing sob.

'Sarah!' thought Victor, and his feet quickened.

'Gently, gently,' the movement of the air whispered about his head. 'You are alone and outnumbered.' The faint green light began to grow stronger, and the sounds of a crowd. 'You are about to do what few have done... and what no one in legend has done and lived.'