Never got back to the bar after the First Night festivities. Saw some good stuff, including a buncha ice sculptures, and a Miss Gulch impersonator. Lots of fun. When I stopped by this morning, Phred reported that it had been a fairly good night, nothing too rowdy. Well, except for one thing...

"The only thing out of the ordinary was this little pack of gremlins showed up looking to start some trouble. Nothing too bad at first, teasing the bird, swiping drinks. The penguin tried to shoo them out, but they wouldn't go. I was too busy at that point to do anything about it. Well, then one of the little buggers decided to give Captain Charpe a hotfoot. Gremlins ain't the brightest little things, ya know?

"Anyhow, after Charpe, Chopper and the rest of the orcs finished with them, the little varmints were cowering in the corner over by the jukebox, so I took pity on them and sent them over to the Goblin Market."

"Why the Goblin Market?" I asked, mightily confused. "Jilli has no use for gremlins."

"I didn't send them to Jilli. I gave them a copy of that flyer Clovis keeps posting on the bulletin board looking for minions. I figure once he gets through with them, they'll be wishing the orcs had thrown them out into the sunlight instead."

"Are you nuts? Jilli will kill us both if she finds out. What were you thinking?"

"Boss, I just wanted them out of the bar. Gremlins is nothing but trouble. Besides, we may have bigger problems. The Captain questioned one of the little buggers to find out where they came from. Guess who sent them here."

"No idea. Not Gudanov's style. Someone with an absolutely infantile sense of humor?"

"They said it was Aeshma..."

Cue double take. "That's impossible. We killed him. We watched those two orcs eat him, and then stiff us with the bill."

"He's a wizard, There's dead, and then there's dead. Captain Charpe is worried. He's got the cadre on alert."

"Damn." Okay, now what? Last time he was in town, Aeshma tried to wipe out the entire city. Maybe it's time to break out those travel brochures.

Oh, the air is trembling now. The balance is about to shift.

And she's back, watching and smiling a wolven smile.

"Fine," I mutter. "Where?"

She never answers.

I step aside into shadow and she disappears. The pull is clearer here, and I wander through the alternate streets until I'm faced with a half-destroyed building.

It's wrapped around with guarding spells. These I can break, walking in shadow and carrying this sword, but not without disturbing whoever laid them.

Which is what I want. The balance does need to be tipped, and it's never easiest to do it alone.

"Wakey, wakey."

I awake from my peaceful slumber as I feel someone slipping past my wards. Whoever this new intruder is, they move in the shadow. Work, work, work.

A ring of fire erupts from my more mundane wards and an indistinct shape comes bursting through. The shape shucks off a soaking wet blanket to reveal a vampire with fangs bared. I hold up a hand and levitate him back into the ring of flame. This is just pathetic. Obviously I need to have another chat with the head vampire.

However, the shadow intruder is not such a minor concern. I remove a bone box from my handy bag of supplies and remove a single dragon tooth. I rub the tooth gently in my hand as I look into my mirror, peering into the shadow world.

"See my pet." I say to the tooth. "A keeper of the balance and her companion, two parts of the same really. This is a compliment in a way, I've just arrived and already the balance is in play."

I watch a bit longer before speaking to the tooth again. "Kill them if they get close, but do not stray. Your task is to guard my lair. I will find others for the hunt."

I cast the tooth through the mirror. As the shard of bone crosses over into shadow it becomes a dragon whole again. Or rather a mass of bone, scales, and rotting flesh that was once a dragon and now is powered by the fires of the abyss in its heart. The beast stretchs its wings, blasts the ground with cold flames of death and decay, and roars a proclaimation of its existence to the shadow world.

The shadow dragon should keep any threat from that domain in check for a good long while, but I should talk with my demon lord about extending my defences beyond the mundane world.

Anyhow, with that matter taken care of it's time deal with the master vampire sending her minions off to kill me in my sleep. I would think she'd be more grateful after I took the effort to cull her flock of those so-called vampires who would rather go to a dance recital than drink the blood of the living. Oh well, I'm sure a nice long talk will help us come to an understanding. I have a large and rather unpleasent demon go off to retrieve the master while I select an appropriate knife for the conversation.

A large dark shape swoops above my head, in Shadow as I am, and lurches towards me, icy flame licking around what passes for a mouth.

Damn, it smells. Why does evil have to smell? The balance thing would be so much easier if both side smelled good. It might take forever to get the stink out of my clothes.

It flaps its wings, chunks falling from them all around me. Its head turns from side to side, examining me with empty eye sockets one at a time, searching for threat to his domain.

My sword is bared, but pointed at the ground, my free hand resting at my hip. A lump of flesh falls too close to my, and I slap it away with my blade.

The dragon arches its neck at the gesture, but I sheathe my sword (wincing -- it doesn't usually need cleaning, but I'd like to get a few minutes just to make sure its okay).

He'll find no threat here.

I cast the tooth through the mirror. As the shard of bone crosses over into shadow it becomes a dragon whole again. Or rather a mass of bone, scales, and rotting flesh that was once a dragon and now is powered by the fires of the abyss in its heart. The beast stretchs its wings, blasts the ground with cold flames of death and decay, and roars a proclaimation of its existence to the shadow world.

(This is very lovely.)

Home is still there, but a nice Somalian family is leasing it now. They've kept all my things in the attic, and they allow Zar and I inside to sort through it. I pick out some leather pants and a red hooded sweatshirt and leave the rest for now. They offer me dinner, but I refuse politely, then ask if they've got a bit of kibble for my dog. They exchange "This-Is-A-Crazy-Man-and-We've-Let-Him-Into-Our-House" looks, and yawn and stretch and ask if that's really the time. I take the hint and my leave, tell them I'll be back for my things later. They ask me to call first.

Outside I grumble at Zar. "Don't tell me--only I can see you, or some similar consensus-reality-shielding bullshit. This is Blood, you know, not Peoria. I saw my first ghost when I was three."

Zar scratches herself and ignores me.

Next door, at Mudbunny's house, a FOR SALE sign is up. There's no answer at the door. I hope he hasn't moved. Once again I've forgotten to ask what year it is. It was just after New Year's that I went underground. I recall a battle, with gargoyles and a coronation and Steph swinging a Louisville Slugger into a shadow minion's skull. Good times.

I'm a block from home when vertigo hits and I fall on my ass. I sit for a moment, waiting for my head to clear. My balance is off. The balance is off. Something's afoot.

For the first time I wonder why it is that the Earth released me when she did.

Going out didn't happen in the end. When several people refused to tell me the way- by the simple method of walking away when I spoke to them- I decided to go for the scrying method. However, I think DX or one of his friends (Miracleman, even) must have put anti-scrying nets up, because as soon as I knew the name of the place, I came over rather sick.

It didn't help that the house tried to kill me in the night, either. Trouble with living in a vampire house, even one that's well shaded by trees, is that it not only produces it's own dust, but that it drinks your blood while you're asleep. I woke to find myself in bed (the house has some helpful moments), with the crystal ball still turned on and a medium to large hole in my neck, as if a brick had been shoved roughly in.

But what's this the crystal's showing? A devil bunny with goblin minions? No, they're gremlins. I do remember some of my demon anatomy. I don't think that can be good news for the town.

I debate getting out of bed and trying to warn somebody. The bucket (where did that come from?) fills up another half inch, and I decide that it is probably better to saty where I am for the time being. After all, the powerful wizards around here should be able to handle this on thier own, with no help from a humble cult leader. Espcially if they aren't-- I glance at the crystal again, where Miracleman and his lady-friend are getting re-aquainted-- distracted.

I place two recently extracted vampire ribs into my bone box for use a little later on. However, I have another task that needs my attention at the moment. I journey out to the strip mall and into the sewers. With a simple incantation I send forth a toxic green cloud through the tunnels and listen for the squeaks that erupt and the sudden silence that follows as the cloud passes. A second red cloud passes over the little rodent corpses and and army of spies is born. I send them forth to every part of the city to extend my vision through their lifeless red eyes.

On the way back to the ex-Sears, I pull out my handy crystal ball and start taking a look through my spies. Ah, the gremlins have failed to create havoc. Pity, but gremlins aren't know for being reliable. I shall have to make them pay for their failure, but that can wait a little while.

I find the head vampire resting in her bed, healing from our talk.

"Wakey, wakey."

She turns and pops an eye open. "What do you want now?"

Not a bit of fear in her voice, I must be losing my touch. I make a quick resolution to be more vicious in the upcoming year. "At the first nightfall after you've healed, you will go this 'Milo's' find out who was respon...No, let's just keep it simple. You will go there with what's left of your minions and kill everything that moves."

I pull a gold dagger out from my bag and toss it onto the bed. "For the troll. One prick with that blade and he'll be weak as a kitten for a very long time."

As I leave, I hear a familiar voice. "Vampires aren't very dependable."

"Being critical of my decisions are you? I've been away from you for too long Deimos. If the vampires fail, then they fail, but I've only wasted their undead lives, not my time." I see my shapeshifting minion is currently wearing the guise of a very average looking man, the sort of look that never gets noticed.

"I'm sorry master, of course you are correct."

"That's better. Now let's go out and get a bite to eat while you tell me what has transpired while I've been expired."

I leave messages for Jilli and Aimee before heading downstairs to a late breakfast. Mrs. Thorne is royally pissed off. Her cats are going mad, and have already knocked over a vase, a bong, and a Tiffany lamp.

"What's with them? "I ask, putting on some oatmeal to boil.

"They sense something in the wall," she answers grimly.

I am horrified. This house seems perfectly clean and well built. Bugs? Rats? What is it that has the cats in an uproar?

"Surely they can keep most vermin away?"

"Oh, yes. Anything of an ordinary nature doesn't stand a chance here. She stalks over to the far kitchen wall and knocks twice. A cupboard appears - a bright red, padlocked cupboard. Mrs. Thorne grabs the lock for a minute so it can recognize her. After a second or two, it gives a hoot of recognition and snuggles into her pocket. Cute.

I decide to get out of the way, so I finish my oatmeal quickly, and put the dishes in the dishwasher.

"Bye-bye, dear," Mrs. Thorne calls after me. "Don't worry about the creatures. I"ll fix them." She's pulled a number of bottles and phials out of the cupboard, as well as a mortar, pestle, blender, rice cooker pentagram, and crystal ball. Either we're having an excellent Indian cookup tonight, or she's about to lay an anti-vermin spell.

Maybe I should refresh my memory on charms and curses. I have a feeling they might come in handy.

The dragon heaves its carcass up and away.

The newcomer's presence is too loud here for me to get a precise fix on. But he knows where I am.

This is my job. I have nothing else to do. The balance needs to be shifted.

I lay my pack down on the rough ground, and stretch out, using it as a pillow.

I've slept in more uncomfortable places.