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| - Victoria sat up and with the help of Daisy, she limped over to where he was standing. She looked out the same window and saw twelve nobles, seven woman and five men, all dressed to the nines, and all very much human. Victoria was now convinced that her estranged father had lost his mind. "There are twelve people out there, no balverines." She huffed. Reaver kept his posture low. "You don't know much about the world do you?" He asked her. "No, because Logan won't let me see it." Victoria snapped. "Their in human guises, it's the only way that they can travel in packs without being detected. Millfields is crawling with guards." "They look just like the nobles that were at my brothers ball the other night though." Victoria remarked, deciding that she deserved the slap in the face for talking that way about her beloved mother. She just had been so shocked by the notion of feeding people to balverines, even if they were enemies of the crown, it still seemed wrong. "Where the hell is Barry?" Reaver whispered, still looking out the window. As if on que, a short man with red locks answered the front door. The nobles smiled and walked inside the mansion. Once they were all inside, Reaver made a mad dash for the door to the room that him and Victoria were in. He could hear voices in the other room. He pressed his face to the keyhole, and he saw his butler Barry Hatch and the twelve disguised balverines in the manor entrance. "Where is Master Reaver? We are so looking forward to tonight's festivities." A noblewoman in pink spoke first. Barry had obviously just woken up, because he was wobbling and sounded hung over when he spoke. "Uhh, Masta Weava will be home any minute little lady..." Barry replied. "What?! The party has started and he's not here?" A male nobleman cried. Barry still struggled to maintain his balance. Victoria hopped over to where Reaver was standing. He looked up at her and pointed to the other keyhole. "Take a look at this." He instructed her. Victoria bent over, still using loyal Daisy for support. The dog walked in front of her, and Victoria put her weight on her elbows, and leaned on Daisy and looked through the door. The nobles were getting obviously more and more impatient. Something bad was going to happen in just a matter of seconds. If they truly were disguised balverines, as Reaver claimed, that butler was going to be in some serious trouble. Reaver was starting to look more and more uneasy. Then, it happened. The male nobleman closest to the butler grew. He grew larger, and his eyes seemed to glow red as he did so. Victoria watched in horror as the noble transformed into a hideous black balverine. Reaver quickly took Victoria in his arms and pulled her away from the door. A loud scream followed by a gurgle came from the other room. "This is not good. They have reached the end of their primitive patience. We have to flee." Reaver told Victoria. Victoria limped back to Dasiy and once again, the wolfdog provided her with excellent support. Reaver motioned towards a door on the other side of the room. He cautiously opened it, his pistol cocked and ready. Victoria and Daisy followed. Troublesome walked over to Reaver and proceeded along too. Then Reaver turned to his daughter and commanded. "Stand perfectly still and don't question what I'm about to do, actually, don't look at me at all." Victoria was curious about his words until he bent down and cracked her leg at the thigh. She let out a yelp and Daisy started to growl at the man who had hurt her mistress. But then, the pain in Victoria's leg lifted, and she cautiously put her foot down onto the floor. The leg was healed! She looked surprised to Reaver, who had a cocky grin on his lips. "How did you do that?" Victoria asked amazed. "It's an old pirate trick. We can't have discombooberated sailors manning our ships now can we?" "Wait a second, you are a pirate?" Victoria asked. "I thought you were-" Reaver pulled her along. "-a devilishly handsome businessman? Yes, that too, but lets skip the formalities and get out of here!" The four ran into the next room, which was the bathroom. Reaver looked around for the next door. He found it to the side and opened it. It led into yet another bedchamber. Victoria followed him. "You must like to sleep a lot." Victoria commented. "Well if you mean sleep around then yes." Reaver grinned. He placed his long finger on a knob beside the fireplace, and a secret passageway emerged from behind the wall. Victoria was amazed at how technical her new father was. "Ok, lets not dilly dally. They are scouring the manor even as we speak, looking for their supper." Reaver instructed and entered the tunnel. Victoria, Daisy and Troublesome followed close behind. The tunnel was dark and damp. Victoria stayed close to her father, as did the two dogs. "Hey, I get it now! You said that you used to be a thief, right? So that's the type of thief you were, a pirate!" Victoria stated. "Yes. Your a cleaver one aren't you?" Reaver replied sarcastically. Victoria paused before asking. "So where does this tunnel lead?" "It actually has two exits. One to Bowerstone Industrial, and one to the upstairs." "Well then I guess its off to Industrial then?" Victoria asked. Reaver shook his head. "I'm not about to let some rabid fleabags destroy my home. I will deal with this matter from an area where I can take them by surprise. Besides, I forgot something very important upstairs." He answered her. Victoria sighed. "Well if I can help, just let me know." She patted her cutlass. "Just be careful dear." Reaver spoke to her with a soft tone. Victoria nodded. The four finally reached a sort of fork in the cavern, one led to a winding staircase, and the other just kept going out into the darkness. It wasn't hard for Victoria to tell which way they were heading. Reaver advanced carefully up the steps, and entered the upstairs area. Victoria followed and emerged into the light of the next room. There, she was shocked at what she saw. There was a sort of pit below her, and six scraggly men in shackles stood below. A lever was next to her on the wall, and there appeared to be mechanised doors below. Reaver continued to walk carefully towards the back of the house. Victoria called down to the chained men below. "Hey, are you guys ok?" She asked. The men all looked at each other, and then yelled to her. "What do you think? We're about to be ripped apart alive for your entertainment!" One yelled back. Victoria bristled at that. Reaver called to her. "Best not to consort with the lower classes my dear. Come along." Victoria took one more look down to the men and then walked off after Reaver. "Those men are going to be the dinner for the balverines right?" She asked as the two entered the next room. "Yes. But little do they know that dinners been canceled tonight." Reaver replied. "What did he mean by entertainment?" Victoria asked her father. "I'll explain everything at a much safer time alright? We really need to move." Reaver replied. The last door swung open. But to both Reaver and Victoria's surprise, the twelve nobles had all turned and were inside the room. They didn't attack, they didn't even move. They just sat around the room perched and snarling low. Victoria cautiously advanced around the room of snarls and glowing white eyes and yellow teeth. A subtle stench of rotten meat seemed to emanate from around the room. Reaver was far less cautious. He grinned slyly and then blasted the nearest two balverines in the maw. The others then howled and advanced on him. Six more rounds, and six more balverine carcasses later, the others were starting to get a tad worried. Victoria stared at her father. "How did you do that?!" She whispered. "Oh? Did I forget to mention that your daddy is the Hero of Skill? How silly of me." Reaver replied with a grin. The remaining balverines seemed to be debating the options of running away, or killing the source of their downed comrades. Victoria had never seen a balverine this reluctant before. She looked back to Reaver, who was cautiously keeping an eye on the balverines. "Hero of Skill? But that was just a story." Victoria replied. "Afraid not. How did you think that your mother and I met hmmm?" "I thought that you kidnapped her." Victoria added with a smile. "Belive me, it was very tempting." Reaver spoke as he made his way to the nearby chest that Victoria had gone through earlier. "Watch my back dear." He called to Victoria. Victoria nodded and brought out her own pistol. It was pretty, it had gold plating and diamonds and seemed to give off a blue hue of light. She pointed it at the balverines as Reaver quickly stuffed the treasures into his satchel. "Don't hesitate to shoot them dear, they certainly won't hesitate to rip you to shreds." Reaver called to her. Victoria took a step backwards, and one of the creatures advanced on her father. She took the shot and it fell backwards dead. "Hey, not too shabby!" Reaver complemented. "See what did I tell you? Your definitely my-" His voice was cut short by the other balverines. They divided up, and the remaining three charged forward with a bloodcurdling howl. They all charged past their host, and rather came at Victoria. She rolled to the side and managed to get out the door back into the other room, with the pit. The creatures crashed through and two of them jumped into the pit and began to attack and eat the men below. The last charged at Victoria again, knocking her viciously into the pit. "Victoria!" Reaver cried as he saw his daughter flung into his makeshift arena. He rushed towards the balverine responsible, but it saw him coming and slapped him in the head, landing him across the room. Then, it jumped into the pit after Victoria. Victoria stood poised in the center of the arena, her pistol drawn and her cutlass ablaze with archon energy. "Oh my gosh, this is just like in my dream..." She managed to say. She stabbed and slashed at the balverine that had just jumped in the pit after her. The doomed men around her were long dead, and their bodies were gutted and torn. Organs and blood decorated the arena floor. Victoria winced and fought to keep her recently eaten cookies in her stomach. She backed up towards the arena wall, the nearby balverine had just finished its meal and had seen her. It came in, charging at her, full speed. "Wait for it, wait for it..." Victoria reminded herself. Just as the balverine was about to strike, she rolled to the side and the monster hit the arena wall with full force, shaking the entirety of the manor. Victoria pulled free her pistol and pumped the creature full of lead. It fell dead before her, never knowing what had hit it. Victoria started to whistle for Daisy as she put her weapons away. "Look out!" Reaver's voice called to her. Victoria looked around behind her just in time to see a balverine get a bullet square between the eyes. Victoria looked up to see her father standing there, his pistol smoking. He had a large cut on his forehead, and the wound was dripping blood. "Thanks for saving my life father." Victoria called to him. Reaver jumped down into the pit, gave her a once over and then smiled. "It's a life worth saving, your my daughter after all." Victoria felt a chill run down her spine as she remembered her recurring dream about her in the arena being saved by the mysterious stranger. Reaver must have picked up on it, because he gave her a confused look and asked. "Is something the matter? You don't seem hurt." "N-no, I'm not hurt, it's just so strange." Victoria rubbed her head. "What is?" Reaver asked again. "Nothing. I'll tell you later. Are they all dead?" Victoria looked around the room. "I counted twelve dead balverines, so yes. Now," He started towards the locked metal door to the arena. "Lets get back to the more important matters of the evening. After I patch up my head, I still have a long story to tell you."
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