Anya shook her head. "I'm not sure exactly why, I just know that they're different, like us. But they won't hurt us, and I know that's why you're worried." She smiled and tilted her head so that it rested against Felix where she sat on the arm of the couch. "It's gonna be okay."

When Ivan let Garret and Percy in, she perked up and smiled. Jakob and Mr. and Mrs. Bruschev both stared at Percy, trying to figure out why there was something off about the dog. Ivan stood by the door, and was going to close it when Anya stopped him. "Ivan, go tell Victoria she can come in, too." Ivan knew better than to argue with his sister, and went outside, looking around for her. "V-Victoria?" he asked nervously. "My sister wants you to come inside."

Indoors, Anya smiled in the direction of Garret's voice. "We're sorry if we worried you. That redheaded man you saw was coming after us."

Jakob was instantly on his feet. "Someone was chasing you?"

"We're fine, Kobe," she replied. "This is gonna be the start of something very exciting for us. Especially me and Felix." This didn't make anyone any less concerned, but Anya just smiled. "Why don't you sit down and introduce yourself? And may I pet your dog?"

Back on the other side of town, Matthias stuck his head of the door of the coffee shop where he had taken shelter from the attacking avian. When he saw no bird waiting to assail him again, he stepped out onto the sidewalk and looked around in frustration for some trace of the Fighter and Seeker that had escaped him. Then he blinked. "Brazen?"

He walked over to the man crouching over a small trail of blood, with a young girl standing nearby. He tensed. There was something funny about the girl, but he assumed that since Brazen hadn't killed her yet she couldn't be a threat.

Disappointment flooded over Felix's face; she had really hoped Anya would have known more about these strangers. But her sight couldn't see everything. The dark-haired woman glowered at the young man for a moment before she carefully stood up, making sure that Anya didn't fall over. She circled around Garret and Percy; they looked pretty ordinary to her. Felix paused behind him and a frown formed on her face. There were no wings sprouting out of his back and he clearly wasn't blind. Felix walked back around him and over to Jakob, who was now on his feet. One of her hands reached out to give him a reassuring pat on the head, her gaze moving to Anya. Someone her words didn't make her feel any better. "What the heck does that mean?" She asked in an exasperated tone before throwing herself back onto the couch.

"Pleased to meet you all." Victoria said, removing her jacket and still concealing her wound with her hand. "While Anya already introduced me, I feel I should give more information." She cleared her throat and turned to Felix and Anya as well as the boy. "I have many names but today, you may call me Victoria."

She paused and took note of the humans in the room. She wasn't sure if they knew of the girls' powers nor if they could be trusted. "Before I speak any further, do they know of your...special skills?" She asked, averting her gaze to examine each human.

Ivan closed the door behind Victoria as she came in, and Mrs. Bruschev silently counted heads, including Percy, then stepped into the kitchen to order the pizza. After living with Anya for seventeen years and Felix on and off, it was extremely difficult to either surprise or frighten the matriarch of the odd little family.

Everyone inclined their heads politely as Victoria introduced herself, Anya and Mr. Bruschev with welcoming smiles, the brothers with stoic but not unfriendly expressions. Anya smiled the biggest, and at Victoria's question, she giggled. "Of course they do. This is my family. My name is Anya, that's Jakob," she gestured in the wrong direction, and Jakob cleared his throat and waved awkwardly. "Ivan is the one who let you in at the door. Ivan, will you help her with her arm, please?"

Ivan blinked. "Huh?"

"Her arm is bleeding."

Cautiously, the middle child approached Victoria. "Um...may I see your arm, please?"

"Everyone here is aware that some of us are different. I'm blind but I know things. Felix here has wings and is an amazing fighter. You two are different, too. Will you tell us about yourselves? And Victoria, you know a lot about people like us, don't you? Will you teach us?"

Felix's head was swimming; suddenly she felt very crowded with the two newcomers. Part of her wanted to pull on her chin-length hair out of frustration. "Anya! Way to spill the beans!" She snapped at her friend; Felix never was a very trusting person. Even though she trusted Anya and her visions it was still very difficult for her to handle everything being thrown out in the open. Her green eyes looked wearily at Garret and Victoria. At the mention of Victoria being hurt she frowned, her gaze looking at the woman's arm.

Brazen jolted up. He refrained from cursing yet again that day, forcing the surprise and alarm from his face despite the fact that recognizing the man who had called his name only increased both. "Matthias," he said in the most casual voice he could muster. He moved to stand between the other hunter and Elsidy as best he could, straining not to look like he was moving protectively but just moving. "I...didn't expect to see another hunter here. Have...er, have you...been on a trail then?"

Behind Brazen, Elsidy's own eyes went wide in fear as she bowed her head to better hide her eyes behind the brim of her hat. She began to tremble, lacking the discipline of her father, and bit her lip. She'd never encountered another hunter before, Brazen had made certain of that. What if he knows? What if he's been hiding me because the other hunters already know that he has an Immortal daughter? Nausea washed over her and she began to pray silently, addressing the train of thought to any god that might be out there who would listen to her, that he wouldn't hurt her.

"Felix, is it? You have nothing to worry about. I'm here to help you. If I wanted to harm you, I would have already done it." Victoria uncovered her wound and took a deep breath. "You may have lived your life thinking you were different, that you were not human. People may have treated you differently, perhaps they even tried to kill you. There is a reason for that: You are not human. You never were. That doesn't mean that your family is not your family or your parents are not your parents." She paused to allow that to sink in before speaking. "Our kind is nameless but the humans called us the Immortals. Why you may ask? Well, you may notice that it is harder for you to become ill, or harder for you to age quite as fast as others. You will live longer for centuries, millennia, and you will not even look it."

Victoria took the time to wipe blood off her hand and take out her contacts, revealing her tricolor eyes. "I am one of you and, as far as I know, I am the eldest of our kind. Something that has been a gift and a curse." She smiled solemnly before continuing. "The reason you are chased so relentlessly is because the Catholic Church branded us as demons and blasphemers. Freaks of nature in layman's terms. They have hunted us now for 1000 years without fail. They know our defining marks and our abilities as well as I do."

"Which reminds me..Felix, you are hunted because of your tattoos and your wings. You were born a Fighter, beings that are similar to what many call angels. Anya, your visions and your blindness is what gives you away. You are a Seeker, or an oracle if that helps the explanation any. Unfortunately, your visions are the reason you are blind I'm afraid. Last but not least, I believe your dog has been alive for longer than it appears. That is your doing, no? Your eyes as well they are much darker than most. You must be a Summoner, a necromancer."

She looked at each of their faces and could see the confusion and disbelief. She warmly smiled to try and ease the mood. "I know this is a lot to take in but if you have any questions, just ask; I've experienced it all."

Anya smiled triumphantly and gave Felix a gentle 'I told you so' nudge. She listened attentively to everything Victoria explained, expecting some of it, and some of it new to her. The idea of aging more slowly than the rest of her family as somewhat disturbing; she didn't like the idea of outliving everyone she cared about. Well, except Felix, who was Immortal like her. It made her friend seem even more dear to her than she had before.

Ivan, who had examined Victoria's wound and gone to the kitchen to fetch a first-aid kit, froze next to his brother and stared at Victoria. The rest of the family's faces mirrored his look of unbelief. For a while it was difficult to determine what exactly caused the horror that crossed all of their faces, but then Jakob spoke. "Are they going to hunt her forever?"

"Ivan, her arm." Anya's face was calm as ever, although her hands gripped her knees more tightly than usual. Having the Church after her made her feel evil and unholy, and it stung her to know that people saw her that way.

Ivan obediently brought the first-aid kit and gently started to clean and bandage Victoria's wound.

Matthias couldn't take his eyes off the girl. Something was funny about her, and about the way that Brazen immediately placed himself between him and her. Was he protecting her? Who was she? And what was with that hat? It was almost six o'clock; dusk was already settling on the city, and yet here she was hiding as if the slightest ray of sun would burn her.

Forcing himself to look back at his superior, he nodded. "A Fighter and a Seeker came this way. And I think that blood you were looking at came from a Shifter that attacked me while I was in pursuit." His eyes flickered back to the girl, and his right hand twitched. She was just too suspicious.

"It's a little dark to be wearing a hat like that, don't you think, Miss?" he asked as casually as he could, gingerly shifting his weight in an attempted to get around Brazen. "Besides," he braced his muscles, "It hides your lovely face." In one quick motion, Matthias lunged forward and ripped the hat off her head with his left hand while his right hand drew one of his pistols. One look at her eyes confirmed his suspicions. "SUMMONER!" Three bullets left the gun before the word had finished ringing against the concrete buildings around them.

Victoria froze. The girl's family was among the first that seemed to be genuinely concerned for their daughter's well-being. She cleared her throat nervously and tried her best to find the right words. "Yes, she will be hunted for her entire life. Just as those who came before her." She knew the information would be devastating to the close knit family but there was no other way to explain it and no other way for her to live.

"I may be asking too much of you but there's a way I can stop this. I can teach you how to harness your powers and use them against the fanatics. I can teach you to fight and protect yourself. Our species will not survive if we continue to run. I know better than anyone." She removed her gloves to reveal her severely scarred hands. "They will stop at nothing to destroy us and we need to prove them wrong."

Mr. Bruschev was the first to recover. In two strides he crossed the room and pulled Anya into his arms as if he could keep her safe just by being close to her. "We'll keep her safe."

Anya sighed. "Daddy." She didn't need to explain. She and Felix would be in danger long after all the other Bruschevs had died. Her father couldn't protect her from everything. But for the moment it only made him hold her tighter. Anya fought the lump forming in her throat and gently nestled against his shoulder.

Jakob spoke again, turning to face Victoria directly. "Can you teach her to fight? She's only seventeen, and she's blind. Without one of us around her..." the fear on his face finished for him.

"There's another way." Anya's quiet voice had every eye turn to her.

"Anya..." Mr. Bruschev started, but she shook her head to silence him.

"Not all of them are unmovable. There will be violence, there will always be those who hate us, I see no end to that. But sometimes it could be possible to sway them. One by one, teach them we're not dangerous. It'd be slow, but it might limit the killing." She reached toward Felix. "Felix, you especially. You're going to bring great change."

Garret, now leaning against the wall of the room didn't seem quite surprised, what he was surprised about is that the two women didn't realized they were different. "I already knew most of this about myself, besides names and the other stuff, but this has been my first time encountering these psychos." He took off his hoodie and pulled at the neck of his shirt, revealing the skull tattoo on his neck area. "This being one of the clues." He squat down to pet Percy's head and said, "And yes, Percy here is also undead. He died about... 21 years ago?"

Garret stood back up and crossed his arms, "And I take it you're also one of us, like a shapeshifter or something?"

Victoria could understand the father's worry. She could barely remember her own parents faces better yet their concern for her. She parted her lips to speak but Anya interrupted her train of thought. A Seeker always had the answer, a trait Victoria both loved and hated. At the request of her race, she perked her head up. "I can be called that. We prefer Shifters, it's much shorter. I can only shift into 3 animals and I've been alive for millennia. Then again, even being able to shift into 3 is a rarity."

She bore her left hand and pointed out what was left of a paw shaped birthmark. "I don't know if you can see it but there's where my mark used to be. My eyes reflect my animals." She paused, remembering the inquest of Anya's father. "You should not fear for your daughter's safety. She handled herself quite well when a Hunter was in pursuit. Both of them did, of course they still needed a little help."

Whatever color there was in Felix's pale face drained. The heap of information suddenly thrust upon her made her feel like her life was stored in a box that someone suddenly picked up and shook violently on a whim. She wasn't human..? Or Anya? Felix had always known they were different but not in a non-human live-ridiculously-long kind of way. But what was worse was knowing that there were people out there who hated them for it, who saw them as monsters. Who would be endlessly chasing them for their entire lives. Without her realizing it Felix's hands clenched so tightly onto the arm of the couch on either side of her thighs that the wood inside the worn piece of furniture creaked in protest.

Felix's green eyes suddenly snapped to Victoria when she mentioned the birth marks on her face and the wings on her back. Slowly her hands reached up, her fingers shakily running across the tattoo-like wing marks extending out from her eyes. But Felix couldn't keep her mind off the fact that she would live for so long, far outliving the Bruschevs. They were the closest to a real family she had ever been a part of and it was devastating to think that she would inevitably watch them age and die. That is if she managed to survive being hunted by crazy church fanatics.

It was all too much to take in at once; Felix hoped off the couch, backing away as she shook her head. Her pale face was twisted up in distress and her instincts were telling her to bolt out of the building and just run until her legs gave out, but she couldn't. There was someone she had to protect. Felix's gaze settled on Anya who was reaching for her. Looking and feeling lost and distraught, Felix stepped over to her blind friend and grasped the awaiting hand in both of hers, raising it so she could bury her face into the small palm. "Me?" Came her high-pitched reply. "How can I make a difference? She said this has been going on for one-thousand years, how..why me...?" Felix mumbled into her hand. Fighters, Seekers, Summoners, Shifters and murderous Catholic Churchmen. It was an enormous amount of information to process all at once.

"It is not just you. It is all of us together." Victoria said, watching Felix's meltdown. She felt her fingers twitch, wishing to console her. She restrained herself and allowed her a moment. "I felt like you at one point. I was alone for a long time. I was a coward and ran away while our kind died. But I realized that there would be no change in the situation if I just kept running. I had to something or I would be the last."

She approached Felix and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You are scared. I know. When I was your age, I was the same way. Imagine having human friends suddenly turn on you because you were different. It hurts and it is a lot to handle but I can assure you that there is nothing to fear. You will get through this, you will learn how to live and fight."

She took a deep breath and whispered to Felix and Anya. "And if you wish, when you cannot take this life anymore, you can let go and move on to wherever the next place in life is."

Brazen broke into a slight sweat as he saw Matthias' eyes flick towards Elsidy. He suspected, Brazen was certain of it. He took a step back, closer to Elsidy as Matthias' spoke to her, Elsidy flinching inward, clenching her eyes shut, almost whimpering. As Matthias lunged forward, panic and adrenaline shot through Brazen and his arm shot out, grabbing hold of Elsidy's and wrenching her away as the bullets fired. Elsidy cried out as she was grazed, her eyes opening in surprise as her hat was torn away, as she was flung from Matthias, as he shot at her. She stumbled back, grasping at the blood oozing from her side as Brazen dove to tackle Matthias to the ground.

"Don't destroy my strategy!" Brazen hissed as he made to grapple with the younger hunter.

Anya held onto Felix's hand tightly, offering what comfort she could. She knew that it was as painful for Felix as it was for her to think about remaining young while her family aged and died around them. But she also knew that the two of them would always be there for each other. It had always sort of been them against the world, and this news just reinforced that. They needed each other more than ever.

"Trust me," she murmured comfortingly. "I'm not sure what, but you're going to be part of that connection that will change things." She turned her head to where she last heard Victoria's voice. "Running from this place won't change anything. There is work to be done here." It grated on her that the older Immortal seemed to suggest that she would help transplant them into a new life when the one they lived here got too painful. No, that was cowardice, and Anya would never allow it. Not for her, not for Felix.

Matthias struggled against Brazen as he found himself tackled to the ground, still trying to get his arm free to have another shot at the Summoner, who was surprisingly passive as she stumbled away from him. He had expected to have to fight legions of undead if he didn't kill her with the first shot, not to have to wrestle his old trainer. His words just confused him more.

"What strategy? Kill on sight, you know that! You TAUGHT me that!" He looked up at the older Hunter as realization dawned in his eyes. Brazen was protecting her. "What has she done to you?" he asked, as if he could see his old role model crumble before him. "Who is she?"

With one huge effort, Matthias detached himself from Brazen and scrambled to his feet, drawing his other pistol and keeping one trained on the Summoner while the other followed his fellow Hunter. "Who is she, Brazen?"

"Hey, besides the long life and powers, we're no different from humans... I think..." Garret said, shrugging, "I mean, I must have gone through high school about five or six times now, and still no one there have noticed very much difference about me." He tapped the side of his head, "Still haven't quite got calculus yet, but I'm getting it." He squat down once again to pet Percy, "I've even taken a few part-time jobs for Percy and I, and not even full-grown men and women don't notice anything different about us." He tried to muster a smile, but this was a lot to process, even for Garret. He now knew from now on people will be hunting Percy and him. He was snapped out of it from Percy licking him. He smiled.

Felix gently tightened her grip on Anya's small hand before removing it from her face and lowering it. Victoria's words gave her some comfort, but not much. It wasn't just her; Victoria had gone through the same thing, and now Anya and the boy with the dog were going through it. And Victoria did say she could teach them how to use their powers. However when the shifter mentioned moving onto another place Felix stiffened, her face hardening as she moved to take a step closer to Anya. "No way. This place may not be perfect, but I would never just give up and die." She let her large black wings unfurl from beneath her cloak, stretching them out with a determined look. "I'll be fighting until I take my last breath. I'll never give up, and neither with Anya!" Suddenly she pointed to Victoria, then to Garret. "And you guys better not give up either, or I'll kick your butts to China and back." Felix snapped, her wings slowly retracting to settle against her back.

"If those crazy church guys wanna screw with us they'll be in for one heck of a ride." A crooked grin spread across Felix's face as she released Anya, moving over to the boy and his dog before kneeling in front of the undead creature to pet him along with Garret. "Because with talent like this we'll be able to fight even when we're dead, won't we? Yes we will, we'll haunt those sons-of-guns." She practically cooed to the dog as she affectionately scratched his fuzzy neck and sides. Felix could be a real sucker for animals, and she did find it amazing that this dog had died twenty-some years ago. She did pause a moment to look at Garret, looking a little bewildered. "You've been through high school six times? Geez, you must be really bored." Felix couldn't help wondering if living so long would really be so boring that she might consider doing something like that.

Victoria shook her head and leaned in close. "I am saying my dears that if you wish to reunite with your families once they have passed on, there is a way. I do not mean to suggest running away." She turned away and faced Garret. "They are not trained in distinguishing us from humans. The Catholic Church has trained many a hunter how to distinguish rare human features and tattoos from our distinguishing features. They literally wrote the book on it." She knelt to Percy's level and stoked his head before standing.

"I feel as though I must leave you to let this sink in. I will leave you my current residence." She pulled out a small piece of paper and grabbed a pen, jotting down a few details. "If you need me, I will be there. And if you want to train, you may. I will not force you to do anything." Slipping on her fingerless gloves, she threw her hood over her head and placed her hand on the door. "Thank you for your hospitality." Without another word, she left and walked off into the night.

Brazen grabbed hold of Matthias' shoulder and drew him a little ways away from Elsidy, who was grabbing hold of her sleeve to stem the flow of her blood. He hadn't had to tell anyone his little prepared lie yet, but he stifled his nerves with an intake of breath.

"Yes, generally, you kill on sight," he murmured, "but I happened upon a...unique specimen who trusts me. I think she thinks she can convert me to her side. This provides an interesting tool for hunting the others, as she's drawn to them, and provided I focus on helping her find them, I imagine that should cloud any Seeker's ability to discern my true intentions. I suppose they might still be able to see them, but Seekers' third eyes have never been truly reliable. That's the secret to hunting them, you know, presenting as hard as you can misleading actions and intentions. "The point is, this young woman may be the key to finding a whole nest of Immortals so long as she thinks I'm her friend," Brazen finished, glancing over his shoulder back at Elsidy.

A lump was forming in his throat as he finished; the hard part about telling this lie wasn't in misleading another hunter. He'd lied a lot in his years of hunting to find Immortals. The hard part was telling the lie to himself, because he wasn't sure, exactly, what he was lying about, just as he hadn't been sure, exactly, whether or not he would ultimately kill Elsidy. He loved her, yes, but he loved God and the hunt and he'd wavered on which he loved more for seventeen years now, and therefore wasn't certain if this plan of using Elsidy to find the other Immortals was a lie or not, if he would betray her or not.

Patting Matthias on the shoulder, he turned away to help Elsidy with her wound.