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crenel at the city before her.
Instead of enjoying the view, she peered at the shadows as if she
were expecting something to come out.
    When she thought about it, if something had
popped out, like a Vesuvian, she’d be completely helpless with no
weapons.
    A Guardian and his date for the evening
suddenly came from around the corner, talking and laughing.
    Sara waited for them to pass before following
suit. She entered the ballroom directly behind the couple
mistakenly thinking that no one would notice her. Just like in the
dining hall, almost everyone’s attention was drawn to her. But the
odd moment was thankfully cut short.
    Juli and Marian were standing around with
their dates and Richard.
    “Sara!” Juli shouted.
    “Over here!” Marian added, waving.
    The party didn’t completely stop, but most,
especially the Guardians, paid their respects by saluting Sara with
their drinks as she passed. Sara, blushing slightly, smiled and
nodded.
    “Looking good, Sara!” Richard said.
    “Not bad yourself!” Sara shot back.
    Marian wrapped an arm around Sara’s. “What
took you forever?”
    “You fell asleep again, didn’t you?” Juli
asked.
    “In case you didn’t hear. I had a little
tussle with two Vesuvians,” Sara said.
    Marian released Sara’s arm, cringing.
“What?”
    Sara rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe you
haven’t heard by now.”
    “Oh, we heard! We just didn’t think it was
you!” Juli said.
    Richard wrapped an arm around Sara. “Who else
could have done it? Even among us Guardians, Sara is already a
legend. Earlier this morning, I overheard two Guardians saying that
she had the skull of a Fenrir hanging on her wall.”
    “Everyone in the city has been talking about
it,” Juli said. “You actually killed a Vesuvian?”
    “Just like they showed me!” Sara answered,
grabbing a drink from a passing waiter and taking a chug. Her face
soured at the strength of the alcohol. “Someone tipped the bar
good!”
    “Easy now,” Richard said.
    “Hey, Rich!” Jacob began, “Remember last year
when we were escorting that convoy to Genoa, and we got jumped by
three Vesuvians?”
    “How could I forget? Charles almost lost his
arm in that mess.”
    “What ‘mess’? We all made it out alive and
bagged two Vesuvians.”
    “I would hope that four Guardians and six
soldiers are a match for three Vesuvians.”
    William nudged Jacob. “You should have been
there when me and Rich ran into a Fenrir.”
    “I heard about it,” Jacob said.
    “Yeah? Well did I ever tell you I had
nightmares for almost a week because of that?” For a brief moment,
William stared at the floor. “All that hair, claws and teeth. It
was like a dog.”
    Richard shook his head. “More like a wolf,
with the way it howled.”
    Juli took hold of William's hand. “How'd you
kill it?”
    William took a quick swig of his drink. “As
fast as we could.”
    “Sara, do you really have a skull?” Marian
asked.
    “Marian,” Sara said in disbelief.
    The sun had completely set, and the full moon
was out.
    Several miles from the city and into the
forest, cliffs soared hundreds of feet. From here, Leon could see
the lights of New Haven as a soft amber glow in the distance.
Sitting in a crouched position, he scanned his surroundings before
casually standing up and diving feet-first to the ground. A fall
from that height would kill just about anything, but for a
Vesuvian, it might as well have been a hop.
    Upon landing, he took off in a burst of
phenomenal speed leaping, bouncing and jumping from one tree to the
next.
    Within perhaps a minute, Leon found himself
at the edge of the tree line, looking at the gates of New Haven. He
stood motionless, watching the patrolling soldiers.
    With the light from the moon, the soldiers
could see several dozen yards out toward the forest. One was
startled when he spotted Leon approaching the gates. “Halt!” he
ordered, getting the attention of several others.
    Leon did as told.
    “It looks like a