Insight homes at woodridge

Before I opened the pool, I changed the sand in the sand filter and cleaned that all out. I opened the pool, shocked it, vacuumed, backwashed, many times. Currently the FC is at 7.2, CYA is around 30ppm and pH is 7.4. I thought all these levels were good but it’s still fairly cloudy. Any idea what I’m missing or just be more patient. It’s been open for a week. I’m not currently at home or I would add pictures

I did an experiment where I found out how much time I can spend with friends or family without draining my energy too much. It came to one hang out a week. More than that is totally draining. But I want to hang out more...sometimes my family and friends have an event on the same week and I have to pick one. It's so frustrating that I can't go to both. I often see my friends going out multiple times a week while I'm at home recharging. It's so frustrating.

If you are interested in Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste Agency contact us at +44 759 388 2116 on Telegram/Whatsapp.
I have Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste Agency.
Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste agency is the latest course by Iman Gadzhi.
Copy Paste Agency is designed for established agency owners, who can use these lessons to scale their business.
In Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste Agency, you will learn:

• How to continue to run a multiple-six-figure agency from home with a skeleton staff and minimal expenses
  
• How to command higher retainers… and retain those clients for longer
  
• How to automate, delegate, and optimize every area of your agency from lead generation and sales to service delivery and client communication
  

To get Iman Gadzhi – Copy Paste Agency contact us on:
Whatsapp/Telegram: +44 759 388 2116 (Telegram: multistorecourses)
Reddit DM to u/RequestCourseAccess
Email: silverlakestore[@]yandex.com (remove the brackets)

Hi so this story is absolutely crazy but I really need to vent to other moms. So it includes me 27f (Kat), my partner 37m (Serkan) & the crazy lady (lia). I’m not originally from the US but I moved here a few years back for work. I’m a surgeon and so is my partner just different specialties. About a year into me working at the same hospital Serkan asked me to dinner and things developed from there. I heard from others that a while back Serkan and Lia had a very brief fling but it was over now so not important. She didn’t even work in our department. I gave birth to our beautiful daughter Eda 8 months ago. She is literally perfect and I adore her. I never thought I’d be a mom but here I am. Getting the balance of work and baby had been tricky but we’ve got it done pretty solidly. I was never going to stop work that just wasn’t an option for me and Serkan completely supported me. There is a daycare in our hospital for the children of staff members so it’s easy. A few months ago Serkan told me that Lia had transferred into his department. I thought it was strange but didn’t pay it much attention. Three weeks ago he proposed with the most gorgeous ring and word travels fast in hospitals. When serkan went to pick our daughter from the daycare the other Lia was there holding her and cooing at her. Serkan worriedly asked what she was doing and Lia said she just wanted to meet his perfect daughter and joked about how it was supposed to be their baby. The nursery nurse apologised but said Lia had given the access code. We figured she overheard Serkan on the phone telling his family the code in case of emergency. It is worth noting Lia is older than me, Serkans age. Well he was on nightshift last night so I picked Eda up and we were going home for a girls night with our cats but just as I got to my car I was cornered by Lia. She backed me up against the wall hissing about how I was a home wrecker and cheap foreign slut who had ruined her life. She said that I was living the life she was supposed to have with Serkan before I stole him from her. She grabbed Eda from her pram and started to hush her saying ‘it’s ok baby your real mommy is here now’. I tried to get my daughter but she just pushed me back. It’s worth noting I’m quite tall and thin whereas Lia is shorter. She then started ranting about how I was an awful mother and I didn’t deserve my daughter. She said that I was too young to be a good mother and said that I was failing her by not breastfeeding her (I don’t know how she knows that!). She said that I was an awful cold woman to go back to work and leave my child with strangers and that she would never do that to ‘her precious Eda’. She just kept calling my daughter hers and ranting about how I stole her life. She acted like I was a little girl and said only proper women like her knew how to look after a baby and care for a man as good as serkan. It was when she tried kissing Eda that I lost it. I showed her my phone and threatened to call 911 unless she gave me my baby. She put Eda back into her pram and walked off after telling me ‘she’d be back’. I genuinely saw red and had to calm myself before driving home. As a I’m writing this Eda is asleep and I’m on the sofa with my cats but I felt like I needed to rant because I feel like this is the plot of some really shitty Netflix movie. Serkan is in surgery atm so I can’t speak to him but I will asap. (If anyone knows any other subs I could post this in to get some advice and opinions that would be great. Thanks!!!

For the past year I have been fortunate enough to get into real estate photography, as you all know it involves a lot of HDR photography. When I am using my Sony a7rIII, the files are quite heavy. Especially since each photo I take is really a bracket of 3 or 5 images. My workflow is consistently importing 100-200 images depending on how big the properties are. My issue with my workflow is that my computer absolutely struggles to edit the photos and I am rather disappointed considering I put together a great machine. I don’t know if it’s my Lightroom settings or the hardware that is struggling to keep up while doing basic adjustments like curves. But touching these sliders causes hang ups every five seconds. I don’t even see the slider change in real time. There’s a significant delay when changing these settings for every picture in my catalog. The hardware in my opinion should NOT have these issues. The hardware is an i9 13900K, 4TB WD Black m.2 SN850x SSD, Nvidia 4080 and 32GB of DDR5 memory. This rig suffers more from performance issues than my tiny M1 MacBook Air with only 8GB of memory. I find it absurd, changing cache or reinstalling drivers have done nothing. I don’t understand what I could be doing wrong, maybe throwing more RAM into the system could help? I do see it hovering at 30GB of usage but that doesn’t explain why my MacBook with less memory is performing better. Can anyone offer any suggestions or insight as to what is going on?

You isolate for a while because something happened or you got triggered by a situation and you stop talking to people and stop hanging out with anyone. The only times you're around people is because you have to, for work or school. You go home and don't go out until you have to.
However, it's been like this for such a long time now that you're not able to go back to normal. All social interactions are awkward or anxiety inducing and trying to befriend someone is near impossible because of your avoidant habits and severe coping mechanisms that include leaving that person for the smallest reasons so they don't leave you first. Basically, you're screwed.
This is where I'm at. I feel like there's just no way back. I just feel like no one wants to be around me or they're passively trying to avoid me. I feel like every single thing I do is annoying, so I try not to say too much or do too much incase people find it annoying. And I'm very sure I give off a vibe that says "I'm not interested in talking to you" or something. My psychiatrist told me that if I try to isolate or leave people whenever they do something that triggers me, that might look like I don't wanna be with them from the outside and honestly, he's right. But I literally am not able to stop.
I'm starting to become very lonely, even though I'm used to being alone and I have been for years. I have a bunch of online friends because it's just easier like that. They don't see me, there's no body language to misunderstand, no tone of voice, just text and emotes.
I'm tired, I'm really really tired. I should just be absolutely greatful I'm on antidepressants because otherwise idk where I would be. Literally terrified to stop taking them, because right before I started them I was planning to end it and I was so ready to do so, luckily the antidepressants helped so much so that I dropped all those thoughts almost immediately. However, recently it feels like the suicidal thoughts are seeping slowly but surely through the filter, and it scares me.

Before everything, let me tell you I already called a vet, I will be monitoring her, and if the symptoms don't pass in 24hs we wil bring her to a clinic.
My cat, about 4 yo female, Teacake, today started drooling clear water from her mouth. My parents came to visit the last few days so I didn't really spend much time at home with her.
I left home early today and when I was back I noticed some water drops around my place where she usually goes, and when I found her I can clearly see water dripping from her mouth. It never happened before. But, a part from that, her behaviour is completely normal, she still seems active and playful, and she even ate all the food I left in her bowl.
Just to make sure, I don't have many plants in my place accessible to her, except for some pot herbs and chillies. No medicines or chemicals either, nothing suspicious seems to be open or broken.
As I already said my parents came to visit from another country, they brought many presents with them and they have many cats, so it's possible the unusual smells could've caused some stress I suspect. But it's also possible she ate something she shouldn't... maybe I didn't clean her bowl properly? Maybe I didn't wash the soap off properly?
The only reason I didn't immediately got her to a vet is that it's very hard to get her in the carrier, and I don't want to cause her unnecessary stress.
I just want to know if anyone has ever had a similar experience, as I already said, I'm already in contact with a vet, but I'm still freaking out.

I just recieved a new PC from Exolab Builds (European store) called Cygnus (900 euro). I heard from a friend that they make quality builds with low mark-up(he bought an Orion or Izar, idk). When I selected the components in pcpartpicker it looked like -60 euros from the price that Exolab sells it at. Did I make a good call? Here are the specs:
https://exolab-builds.com/
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-Core 3.7GHz (4.6GHz Boost)
AMD RX 6600 8GB GDDR6
16GB CORSAIR VENGEANCE (2x8GB) 3200MHz
ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO Grey (2*120 fans)
GIGABYTE B550 AORUS ELITE V2
500GB Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 NVMe PCIe
550W Seasonic G12 GM 80+ Gold
Licensed Windows 11 Home + Gaming Optimization/Settings tuning
Deepcool Matrexx 50 Glass ARGB

During the pandemic I worked as a FoH supervisor for a successful local chain of counter service restaurants. FoH employees were paid $2.50+tips, supervisors were paid $5+tips and the tip pool was aggregated daily. Anytime I was the closing manager I studied the financials for the day.
There were two things that really bothered me. The first was the widespread adoption of Ubereats and Doordash. Every night I would calculate the percentage of revenue that went through delivery apps since they tipped exactly $0.0 to us even though these orders still needed a lot of our attention (making espresso drinks, packing up pastries, packaging orders from the kitchen). On average delivery apps averaged 20% of our revenue daily, which means on any given day 20% of the work we did paid at our base rate. I was always vocal with upper management about this problem, reminding them that for 2hr out of my 8hr shift I was making $5/hr and my people were making $2.50/hr. But as long as we were making above minimum wage when they write our weekly paycheck they couldn’t care less.
The second problem with the tips came from the POS itself. We used a POS system that one might spread butter on in the morning. We phased out cash payments at the beginning of the pandemic but still accepted cash tips. No one took the cash home at the end of the night. I had to log it and send it to the main office once a week. Why did this matter? Because this POS system has a %2 fee on all credit/debit card tips which your employer can legally pull from YOUR tips without telling you. So in 2021 the $24,000 I made in tips had $480 subtracted without my consent or knowledge. The company could do this legally because they weren’t profiting from the tips or the tip fee. But it’s shady AF to silently pass on costs of doing business to your lowest paid employees.

My flies never go on fruit or bathroom or garbage!? What kind of flies are those and how to get rid of them? They just fly in the middle of my living room, below the light, in some kind of circle. There is always like 6-10 of them, and when I chase them out, after 15mins you can just see them “reappearing”. First 2, then 4, then rest of them. It’s super weird cuz they are just hanging out there in middle of room (at standong head lvl), never land on my fruit directly below, or in my kitchen which is together with living room.
My home is always clean, do not have garbage problem or anything such as. I do live in apartment with an attic (top floor -4th and I have my own small attic). My balcony door is always open, and if I don’t open the door I am fly free, so I suppose they come through there. It’s kind of hard not leaving that door open, cuz I really love fresh air. That said my “entrance” is open, if I bought sheer curtains would that help in keeping them out?
Weird enough, around 6-7 pm, they just “dissapear” on their own, I tried searching for them but cannot find them, so I assume they go “out”?

I will be using this build for gaming, as well as general use, such as watching videos and browsing the internet.
I'm looking for to get ideally 100 FPS at all times at FHD resolution with max settings to match with my monitor, but if it dips below 100 FPS, it is acceptable.
My budget is $1300 or $1400, but that is also for all the accessories that I'm going to buy with the PC, such as monitor, speakers, mouse and keyboard, etc. I would prefer to spend less, probably $1100 or $1200, ideally $1000, though I'm guessing that's probably not possible. Having to purchase Windows after everything else, really bumps the price up.
I am purchasing the parts in the USA.
PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor	$156.52 @ Amazon
Motherboard	MSI PRO B550M-VC WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$119.99 @ B&H
Memory	TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$31.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Silicon Power A60 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive	$38.97 @ Amazon
Video Card	PowerColor Fighter Radeon RX 6650 XT 8 GB Video Card	$244.99 @ Amazon
Case	Fractal Design Pop Air RGB ATX Mid Tower Case	$89.99 @ B&H
Power Supply	ADATA XPG CORE Reactor 750 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply	$119.99 @ Amazon
Optical Drive	Asus DRW-24B3ST/BLK/G/AS DVD/CD Writer	$29.96 @ B&H
Operating System	Microsoft Windows 11 Home OEM - DVD 64-bit	$117.98 @ Other World Computing
Keyboard	Logitech G213 PRODIGY RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard	$49.99 @ B&H
Mouse	Logitech G502 HERO Wired Optical Mouse	$39.99 @ Amazon
Headphones	Razer BlackShark V2 Headset	$96.94 @ Amazon
Speakers	Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 120 W 2.1-Channel Speakers	$113.00 @ Amazon
Custom	Computer Tower Stand with 4 Rolling Caster Wheels, Adjustable Width Mobile Tower Stand, Premium Gaming Computer Holder Suitable for Different Floor PC Case（Stainless Steel+ Plastic）	$17.95 @ Amazon
Custom	Logitech - G240 Cloth Gaming Mouse Pad with Rubber Base - Black	$15.48 @ Best Buy
Custom	Acer SB222Q Hbi 21.5" Full HD (1920 x 1080) Zero-Frame Gaming Office Monitor | AMD FreeSync Technology | Ultra-Thin Stylish Design | 100Hz | 1ms (VRB) | Low Blue Light | Tilt | HDMI & VGA Por	$89.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$1373.72
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-06-03 11:23 EDT-0400

Is it good? I am not certain about the motherboard. I chose it because I needed WiFi, AM4 compatibility and PCIe 4.0 for Graphics card. Is this good criteria for choosing mobo? I chose B550 because I saw people recommending it, saying it was good. Should I consider a different manufacturer (gigabyte,asus, etc?) or chipset? Do I need to look at what kind of WiFi it's giving me? Will some be better that others? Is a network card necessary? Is there a motherboard that would allow me to plug in my speakers and my headeset at the same time so, that I could switch between the two of them seamlessly, without needing to take out and plug the other one in, or can I do this already, without needing anything special for it? I just chose one of the cheapest options for RAM and NVME SSD. Is that ok, or should get more expensive ones (higher quality?)? Should I get more RAM or is 16 GB sufficient. Maybe 32 GB is too much, how about 24? Is my choice of case and PSU good? Any extra fans needed? Any opinions about my choice of mouse and keyboard?

Tufan Erginbilgic
Chief Executive Officer at Rolls-Royce
22h
Engaging all our people is vital to the success of our transformation and creating a high-performing, competitive, resilient and growing Rolls-Royce. That is why earlier this week I held my second all-colleague global town hall, this time in Bristol. It was an energising conversation that was open and frank. That is critical because I really believe good outcomes come from having good debates. They are part of the process of creating the real alignment and passion in our people we need to succeed. I shared some insights from my recent global site visits and spoke about the highly engaged people I have met across the organisation and my belief in our deep engineering capability. I also spoke about what we are creating: a leading company with an iconic brand. Our transformation is about taking this company to a place that we can do things we could not do before; a company that can invest in the future and will have the financial strength to play an active role in the energy transition. We are doing it because we want to win and it is ambitious. Thank you to everyone who participated — your passion, energy, commitment and expertise is always impressive.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/tufanerginbilgic_engaging-all-our-people-is-vital-to-the-success-activity-7070444743339433985-7vFi?trk=public_profile_share_view

At the end of 3x11 Katie resigns and Tim tells her that if she changes her mind her POST certification is good for 3 years and that if she changed her mind she would always have a home at Mid-Wilshire.
Season 6 would technically be the end of those 3 years, do y’all think there’s any chance they would bring her back as another Rookie?

So I’m getting married this fall to my best friend. We are a perfect match in every way, and i couldn’t be more thrilled. Last night my fiancé got quiet and suddenly said “these hours you put in at work are not sustainable.” She didn’t say it in a rude or angry tone, more of a worried and almost sad tone.
For context, I’m a GM at age 24 and work 6 days a week at a dealership. Hours are long 10-12 hour days and occasionally I’ll get a Saturday off (like today!). Personally, the hours are long and the job isn’t easy (no job is easy) but it can be fulfilling. I admit that my work ethic is almost turning into an obsession over work. I’ll have phone calls at 9 PM with customers or my President and although i find some of them necessary, i can tell it bothers her because I’m supposed to be present while I’m at home (i get this).
Basically, I’m not sure what to do. We want kids in the next few years and admittedly we both worry about the hours i work on top of children and a wife that needs a supportive husband. It’s tough. The job helps me support her and a future family, but at the same time i feel that it is potentially hurting our relationship at the same time. I worry that I’d regret stepping away from this opportunity I’ve earned in my career, but at the same time it’s not worth jeopardizing my wife and future family. And if i did step away.. what the hell would i do?? Idk.. i just need someone’s perspective on the situation that doesn’t know me or us.. i don’t feel i can talk to anyone about it because they have biases. Anyway, if you read this, thanks

o last night me and some friends went out for a few drinks. Was a touch tipsy but perfectly fine and at the last bar before heading home I thought I'd just have a glass of water as I often do after a few drinks. I'm in my 30s now so don't see the point in getting drunk.
I walked to the bar and asked for the water and she wouldn't serve me because she said I couldn't walk properly. I then explained I had cerebral palsy and that was why I walk the way that I do (keeping a calm tone at this point). She still wouldn't serve me so I said it was completely unacceptable and that I was shocked.
The bouncer then picked me up and carried me out of the bar in front of everyone despite the fact I also told him I had cerebral palsy.
Honestly I felt so angry about it, I mean the strangest thing is that I was only asking for some water... it wasn't even alcohol.
Reflecting on it today I still cannot believe what happened. It made me feel powerless and humiliated.
This happened in The Mission, Hull, UK.

I've been dating my boyfriend for about eight months, and his mom has been involved more than I feel she should be right from the beginning. Their relationship has always been kind of off putting to me, but I thought maybe it was normal and that my parents just weren't as affectionate as they should be. But I've been talking it over with a couple close friends and they think there's something very off as well.
For starters, his mom is ridiculously controlling of him. Despite him being more than old enough to handle things like making appointments for the doctors, she lies to him and tells him that she HAS to book them even if he doesn't want her to. She makes up very strange excuses as to why he can't do things on his own. She decides what he does in his free time, and he's not given any sort of independence whatsoever.
She gets very jealous of me also. She is very passive aggressive towards me in ways that wouldn't necessarily get picked up on by others. She says I'm always welcome at their house but goes out of her way to subtly make me feel unwelcome and gets me to leave. She will give my boyfriend the OK to have me over, and then as soon as I get there she will ask him for help with a bunch of different chores. I used to just help out with the chores as well, so she started giving him one person jobs that she knew I wouldn't be able to help him with. She will make him study and tell me he needs to do it on his own, so I will end up sitting alone in a separate room for sometimes hours while she sits with him. Oftentimes I just get fed up and go home. She also makes a lot of excuses as to why I have to leave their house, or why I suddenly can't come after I've already left my house and she hadn't expressed any problem when he asked to have me over. He's told me that he thinks she acts so much differently around me in the sense that she's much angrier, she's more mean, and gets annoyed much easier. His dad loves me though, and his dad is often very picky with the girls that him and his brother have brought home. If I genuinely was doing something wrong, his dad would not like me as much as he does.
And they're super touchy. I came from a family that wasn't overly physically affectionate, but this is intense. They hug super often, even when they're all sweaty from the heat or something. If she doesn't hug him when she gets home, he assumes she's mad at him. He even hugs her from behind sometimes, which I feel is a little inappropriate for mother and son. On top of that, there's a lot of little touching, like if there's something on her face he will wipe it off for her instead of just telling her there's something there.
He also tells her he loves her a ridiculous amount. Like, I timed it the other day and he said "I love you" three times in less than two minutes. He says it every time he walks by her, and will just randomly drop what he's doing to tell her. This morning I was on the phone with him and he started talking to her, in their 45 second exchange he said he loved her twice. He doesn't even say it to me half as much.
And she makes a lot of comments on our sex life. I understand we are still young and definitely not ready to raise a kid, but she goes to some areas that I would not even think about going with my mom. Once, I showered at his house while getting ready for an event, and his mom said "you know you can still get pregnant if you have sex in the shower!", then proceeded to make a comment saying she's done it and it's not that good. That was far from the only time she's made comments about me getting pregnant or about us having sex. She also randomly texts him to tell him not to have sex with me, and makes sure that the door is open to whatever room we're in. Again, I get her concern but some of her comments are just very uncomfortable for me.
Honestly this whole thing is a bit of a dealbreaker, which sucks because he's absolutely perfect otherwise. He gets very upset when I mention anything about it and says things like "fine, I just won't be nice to my mom anymore". I haven't seen anything like this with any of my friends or family before and I'm not sure how to handle it. I think it's weird that the biggest hurdle in our relationship is his own mother.
TL;DR I think my boyfriend's relationship with his mom borders on emotional incest and it makes me super uncomfortable but I don't know how to express it to him.

Hello everyone. I have an offer from it dept guy at my work. They currently upgrading our it system and offers me to buy this monster for home use ds3612xs for 800 usd. It is already packed with 12 recently changed wd1003fbyx.
I planned to use it as home media center and to store my digital archive at Raid10 conf.
But this is quite old model and im not sure about functionality. Should I buy it or better to buy something more fresh and smaller for this money?

I have a 15yo that is diagnosed with a number of disabilities and have FMLA paperwork at school that mentions home care. During summer, I have no care for her as she aged out of programs that have staff capable of supervising her medical condition and programs for her age don’t take kids with things like Autism and Epilepsy. She’s also not cognitively able to stay home alone and needs supervision for activities of daily living and medical. Supervisor and HR state that me staying home with her is “child care,” even though she is 15!!!! That is obviously not child care. Now they are threatening me AWOL when they change my days in the office and I don’t have care for her.
Is this legal?!

"Think of this as a chance at revenge," Sweeney said.
​
Revenge.
​
What a moronically quaint idea.
​
This jumped up little shit had come into my home, interrupted my retirement and here he was talking to me about revenge, as if he knew the first thing about what I’d seen, what I’d been through, why I’d quit.
​
Looking into his eyes, I knew he didn’t understand. I knew he couldn’t.
​
I've been hunting vampires for most of my life. I've killed more of them than I can count. But Clementine Di Cesare was no ordinary vampire. Hell, none of the Di Cesares were ordinary vampires, but even among them Clementine was… unique. She was the one all the others quietly feared. The one who was even spoken of with reverence by the Di Cesares masters, those twin Immortals who could not be killed by any weapon of this world. Seeking revenge against her was like seeking revenge against death itself.
​
“Revenge?” I repeated, with a dismissive scoff.
“You’re really going to tell me that after what she put you through, you don’t want revenge?” Sweeney asked.
“If you knew what she did to me, you’d know why I don’t want revenge,” I replied.
“Really? Sorry Franklin, but I don’t buy that. Look, I get it if you’re reluctant to jump back into the fight. I do. You of all people know just how dangerous the Di Cesare’s are. Especially ‘La Morte’.”
​
I looked over at him as he said that name. It rolled off his tongue so irreverently. To him, it was just a name. An alias assigned to some vampire he’s only heard of stories. He didn’t utter it with the respect it deserved, and I almost couldn’t be bothered to correct him. Any words spent on this small minded glory hound were probably wasted.
​
“Yes, I do know.”
“Which is why I need you,” Sweeney said. He almost sounded as if he were pleading with me. “Think of this as an opportunity to set things right… to put that vampire bitch in the ground where she belongs, and save God only knows how many lives in the process!”
I sighed.
He just didn’t get it.
​
“Mark my words, Mr. Sweeney, if you chase after Clementine Di Cesare, you’ll end far more lives than you save. She didn’t get a name like ‘La Morte’ for nothing. She earned it. Purchased it with the blood of the tens of thousands she’s sent screaming into the maw of Hell. She is not something you chase, Sweeney.”
“She’s a vampire,” Sweeney said dismissively. “She’s another enemy to destroy.”
“That’s what George Bundy said,” I replied. “Then not too long after, he died.”
“I’m not George Bundy,” Sweeney said.
“No. You sure as hell ain’t,” I agreed, before looking the kid in the eye.
​
He thought he was an up and comer, climbing the ranks of the Brethren. He probably thought of himself as some sort of badass vampire hunter too, when in reality he could never have so much as dreamed of holding a candle to the likes of Bundy… or hell, any of the men who’d died in Brazil.
“You should watch your tone with me,” Sweeney warned.
“Or you’ll do what?” I asked, “You ain’t going to frighten me with vague threats, boy. I’ve walked through Hell, trying to kill the Devil. What have you done?”
​
Sweeney bit his lip but didn’t respond.
“There’s nothing you can say or do that will intimidate me,” I said, before lighting myself a cigarette. I stared at the road outside of my porch, old memories flooding back to me before looking over at Sweeney again. He sat in his chair beside me like a sulky child. This was the man who wanted to destroy the Di Cesare family? Pathetic.
​
“Exactly how much do you know about the Brazil Job?” I asked.
“I know it was a failure. Clementine Di Cesare killed most of the men the Brethren sent out… all except for you. You were the only one good enough to beat her.”
“Good enough…” I repeated with a huff, “Hardly… whatever picture you’ve got in your head of some glorified battle, throw it away. Trust me, the Brazil Job was anything but glorious. It was a two hour long trek through Hell. And I didn’t beat Di Cesare at the end of it. I survived her. They’re two different things entirely.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” Sweeney said.
“You wouldn’t, would you?” I sighed and took another drag on my cigarette.
​
This kid wasn’t going to leave until I made him understand… so I told him my story. I told him everything even though I knew he’d learn nothing from it.
​
***
​
I’d joined up with the Brethren Knights of St. Fontaine back in the 1980s to hunt monsters. Back then, it seemed like the best use of my skills. I’d done my tours with the army, but even after I got out, I was still looking for an enemy to fight. So naturally, once I found out that vampires were real, I set my sights on them. It seemed like the most sensible thing to do at the time.
​
The Brethren Knights fancied themselves the descendants of the Knights Templar, and they insisted that their God given mission was to protect mankind from the things that lurked in the shadows. I didn’t really have much love for God at the time, but if the Bretheren were the ones fighting the monsters, then I was happy to tolerate the Jesus freaks in their ranks.
​
It was 1988 when we first heard whispers of the Imperium. A supposed cabal of vampires, trying to get them organized. At the time, it’d seemed too crazy to be true. Vampires generally went their own way, in my experience. At most, they might have a partner but other than they they didn’t really socialize with their own kind. But supposedly someone out there had the big fucking balls to keep them in line, and whoever they were, they scared the shit out of the Brethren.
​
They’d started targeting high profile vampires, trying to find someone who was involved in this ‘Imperium’, hoping that maybe they might get someone to talk. And it wasn’t long until they found someone who did.
​
From my understanding, the vampire they captured didn’t seem to know much about who was actually running the show. But they knew who their second in command was… and that was when I first head about the Di Cesare family.
​
The name was familiar to some of the higher ups in the Brethren, and I’d heard some stories. Not sure which were true, but the long and short of it was that the Di Cesare’s and the Brethren shared a bloody history, and didn’t particularly like each other too much.
​
George Bundy explained it to me like this at one point: ‘The Di Cesare’s are an old family. Most of them used to be witches, up until their Matriarch turned them into vampires. Now they’re a whole new kind of nasty. Far as I know, the only time anyone’s actually managed to kill one was about 200 years ago. Anyone who’s tried since has ended up dead, so most folks don’t even bother anymore.’
​
I guess it shouldn’t have been surprising they’d be involved in the Imperium, but the mere mention of their name ruffled some feathers higher up on the chain of command, and eventually they put out a kill order on them. Most of the Di Cesare’s were generally pretty hard to track down, but the top brass had a pretty good line on their matriarch, Bianca Di Cesare. Supposedly, she’d been spotted near the family’s private estate in Brazil and rumor had it that most of her daughters were there too.
​
Normally, the brass wouldn’t have sanctioned any kind of attack on them. The Di Cesare’s were already considered off limits, and attacking them at their private estate was considered damn near impossible. The estate was located in a small mining town outside of Manaus called Refugio de Julia, or just Julia for short. The town was fairly remote, being only accessible from a few backroads and most folks tended to avoid it, claiming they’d had various strange encounters in the area. Their accounts described unsettling pale figures with dark hair and large green eyes working in the mines, although some of the more disturbing stories we heard involved sightings of other creatures in the jungle surrounding the town. Massive spiders with humanoid faces, tending rotting corpses filled with stinging bees, giant howling beasts who tore through the forest, hunting prey, and beautiful women who would appear in the nearby towns, betwitching men into coming away with them only to reveal themselves as monsters who fed on the blood of their victims. Some had even claimed the Di Cesares themselves were such beasts… although those claims weren’t taken quite as seriously.
​
A skeptic might say the stories that surrounded Julia seemed like little more than just local superstition… but the Brethren had been dealing with the supernatural for long enough to recognize when something was probably real, and when it was probably fake and they knew damn well that most of the stories about Julia were probably true. None of them had ever dared set foot in Julia to find out for sure, since doing so would probably be suicide, but the theory was that the Di Cesares had created Julia as something of a refuge for other creatures. Other vampires, werewolves, arachne, karah and all sorts of other hellspawn. They offered them a home and safety in exchange for their labor in the mines. Hell, the name of the town more or less spelled it out.
​
Refugio de Julia
​
Julia’s Haven.
​
Julia had been the name of the only member of the Di Cesare family that the Brethren had ever killed, so I guess it was only fitting they named the town after her.
​
I honestly think using other creatures like them as a workforce was a bit inspired… since it made Julia damn near impenetrable. Reaching their estate at the far side of the town would have been impossible without being noticed by every creature of hell living in that town, and odds are they’d tear anyone apart long before they even reached the gates of the Di Cesare estate. And if one had the bright idea to approach the estate from another angle, they’d be trudging through miles and miles of rainforest to do so, only end up face to face with a massive stone wall that kept the rainforest out.
​
In effect - the Di Cesare estate was a fortress. Getting in would be no easy feat, to say nothing of confronting the vampires within. But with the fear of the Imperium gnawing at the back of their minds, the Brethren had finally set their minds to trying.
​
George Bundy had been the one in charge of planning the operation out.
​
I’d known Bundy before I’d joined up with the Brethren. Hell, Bundy was the whole reason I’d joined the Brethren. He’d been my CO a number of years back, and he’d earned his reputation as a hardass just about ten or twenty times over. Bundy was a gruff looking man with a bushy moustache and intense eyes. During the years I knew him, I don’t believe I ever once saw him so much as crack a smile. He only ever seemed to speak when he felt there was something he needed to say. Otherwise, he was usually dead silent.
​
He was somewhere in his late fifties back in 88. By all rights, he ought to have retired years ago. But he refused.
“I’m a soldier,” He said, when I asked him about it once. “That’s all I am. I don’t know what else to be.”
​
Bundy’s initial plan had been to hit the Di Cesare estate from the air. Come in fast and loud with a couple of helicopters and see how those vampires stood up to some good old American flak. The idea got shot down pretty quickly, so to speak. Apperantly, most if not all of the Di Cesares had cursed their own bodies, causing whatever wound one inflicted on them to appear on whoever it was who had wounded them. Going in guns blazing would have ended in a bloodbath… and not for them. There were also some concerns about drawing attention from Julia. With no conclusive data on just what they had living in that town, there was no guarantee we’d be safe in the air. A few eyewitnesses had described seeing giant nests in some of the trees in the jungle, supposedly consistent with the nests made by harpies.
​
Flying in guns blazing was out. So Bundy went back to the drawing board and what he came back with… well, it was ballsy, but it almost seemed like it just might work. During his reconnisance of the Di Cesare’s estate, he’d noticed a large but shallow tributary flowing into the amazon river that led right through the Di Cesare’s estate. Along the tributary was an abandoned water mill, that connected to the Di Cesare estate.
​
He’d suggested using the water mill to gain entry to the grounds, and from there, move on the Di Cesare’s. That plan had been approved, and Bundy had been allowed to handpick his team for the operation. He’d chosen fifteen men, all of them ex military, most of them having served under him before.
​
He’d told us we would be dividing into three teams of five men each. We would leave Manaus by boat, and land at three different areas near the tributary before making our way to the mill on foot, where we would regroup, before moving on the Di Cesares. The reason for the division was to ensure that if any of our teams ran into trouble upon making ground, the entire operation wouldn’t be compromised.
​
Team 1, led by Bundy himself would depart first and land to the west of the tributary. Team 2, led by a man named Ferdinand Hernandez would make land about fifteen minutes later near the mouth of the tributary and Team 3, to be led by me would land fifteen minutes later to the east.
​
On the day of the operation, I sat in my boat, watching as the other two left. It was twilight when we set out, and I remember that as my team and I carried out our final checks on our equipment, the only thing I felt was a familiar anticipation.
​
I’d hesitate to call it fear. Fear is what came later. Anticipation is the better word. I knew we could be walking into a tough situation… but I trusted Bundy. I trusted he’d run a smooth op. God knew, he’d done it a thousand times before.
​
The team assigned to me wasn’t anything particularly special. They were competent enough, but none of them would’ve been my first choices. Jack McMullen, for instance, who was about the same age as I was at the time. We’d both served under Bundy before, although while I respected Bundy, Jack was wholly devoted to him. I swear, if the man had told him to stuff a live grenade up his ass, Jack would’ve done it without a moments hesitation. I dunno if Jack simply saw him as the father he’d never had or what, but he damn near worshipped Bundy.
​
I can’t quite say the same for the other guys we had with us, though. One of them, some greenhorn by the name of Pearce Wilson struck me as an airheaded pretty boy who’d never actually had his boots on the ground before, while the other one, Scott Barber had left a bad taste in my mouth last time we’d worked together. Barber was capable… but he was violent. This was a kid with a hell of a chip on his shoulder, and it looked a hell of a lot like that Confederate flag patch he wore on his jacket. He wanted an excuse to shoot something, and I don’t think he cared what. Under most circumstances I’m not sure I would’ve fully trusted him with a gun.
​
The last one though, Joseph Feng… him I trusted. Feng was the one I knew the least about, and he didn’t seem much for conversation. But he handled himself competently enough and seemed to know when to sit down and shut up.
​
When Team 2’s boat was far enough away, we got the radio signal to follow. Barber was the one steering the boat, so I gave him the order to cast off and we ventured out into the twilight, unaware of just what was waiting for us out there.
​
***
​
We landed in our designated area fifteen minutes after Team 2 confirmed they’d touched down at theirs. Our landing was fairly uneventful. Feng, Barber, and I secured the boat before we radio’d Bundy to let him know we were in position. After that, it was just a matter of making it to the tributary.
​
As we ventured into the jungle, the world around us was quiet. There was wind, the whisper of the river behind us, and the sounds of animals. But little else. The river fell away behind us as we moved in single file toward the tributary, maintaining radio silence as we did.
​
It was about a half hour before we heard the gunshot.
​
Just one, echoing through the twilight. But it was enough to give us pause.
​
“The fuck was that?” I heard Barber ask. Immediately, the kid was on high alert, with his gun raised as if he were expecting every monster in Julia to come charging at us from all angles.
I just listened, waiting to hear if there was anything else. I half expected my radio to come to life, but it didn’t.
“Team 1, status?” I asked.
The radio crackled with static, but there was no response.
​
I tried it again, but still with no success. The radio was working, that much I was sure of. Something had to be blocking the signal.
“What’s going on?” Feng asked.
“Dunno,” I replied. “Comms are down.”
“Down?” Wilson asked, “So we’re flying blind out here, then?”
“More or less,” I replied.
“What do we do? Do we go back… if the comms are down…”
“Just because something’s jamming our signal doesn’t mean we’re made,” I said. “Relax. We keep moving for now. You keep your eyes wide open, and your head on a swivel. We’ll make it to the tributary and see if we can’t meet up with the other teams.”
I could tell Wilson wasn’t a fan of my answer, but I didn’t much care. We had a job to do, and I aimed to do it.
​
I pressed on without a further word and the others followed. Up ahead, I could hear the sound of running water and picked up the pace. I figured the tributary had to be close… and I was right.
​
I emerged from the brush into the stream, only to pause when I saw what was waiting for us in the water.
​
In the dying sunlight, it was impossible to mistake the bodies sprawled out on the rocks as anything else… and all I needed to do was look at their uniforms to know they were our people.
“Jesus…” I heard Wilson say under his breath. He froze up, lingering by the bank as I cautiously approached one of the bodies.
​
It belonged to a somewhat heavyset man with a thin mustache who I recognized as Hernandez. His eyes were still open, although lifeless and staring in different directions, and there was a clean hole in his forehead where a bullet had ended his life. The gunshot we’d heard earlier had likely been the sound of his death.
​
Looking at the bodies around him, I knew they had to be the rest of Team 2… although it was a little harder pinning down their cause of death. Some sort of bladed weapon, perhaps, judging by the state of them. I realized the odds were that they walked into some sort of ambush.
“What about Bundy and Team 1?” Jack asked, “Any sign of them?”
“No,” I said. “These bodies are all from Team 2… Bundy could still be ahead of us.”
“Then we need to keep going!”
​
Jack turned, heading up the stream and Barber was right behind him. Feng paused for a moment, thinking this over before following. Only Wilson remained.
“How do we know we’re not walking into a trap?” He asked.
“We’ll deal with that when we get to it,” I said before moving to follow the others.
“With all due respect, Sarge… that doesn’t sound like the best course of action!” Wilson argued, finally following me. “It sounds just like a good way to get killed!”
“Yeah?” I asked, “I’m gonna tell you an ugly truth, kid. That’s the job. Make your peace with it, and it’ll go a lot easier.”
​
Wilson didn’t like that answer either and trailed off behind me, watching as I continued upstream. For a moment, I half expected him to go back to the boat… but no. I dunno if he found his balls or just didn’t want to get left behind, but he started to follow us again.
​
I kept trying to raise Team 1 on the radio while we walked, although I still had no luck. The light above us slowly faded into darkness as we trudged through the water in silence, guns sitting comfortably in our hands and mosquitos biting at our necks.
​
It wasn’t until we lost Feng that I heard anybody so much as make a sound, and when we lost Feng… it happened almost instantaneously. One minute, he was at the head of the group, walking just ahead of Jack and I. The next, he was gone, only barely having the time to let out a scream as he fell into the river ahead of us.
​
The rest of us paused. Jack seemed to freeze and I pushed past him, calling out for Feng as I did. As punishment for my compassion, I almost went down after him. I only barely stopped myself from stepping on the slippery rocks that had helped send him to his demise.
​
I could see Feng’s body in the water, and I could see the blood pouring out of him. He twitched a few times, but I knew he was dead. The sharpened wooden spikes jutting out of him confirmed as much.
“What the hell…” Jack said under his breath, staring at Feng’s corpse in disbelief. “That’s a fucking spike trap!”
​
Yeah.
​
It was indeed a fucking spike trap.
​
I could see other spikes jutting out of the water ahead of us, just past a small dam of rocks that were just slippery enough to make it difficult to stop yourself from falling. Some of those spikes had other bodies on them… likely members of Team 1. I only counted two, although that still didn’t exactly bode well.
​
“They put a fucking spike trap in the goddamn stream…” Jack said, “Who the hell does that?”
“Somebody who’s expecting us to use the stream,” I replied.
“So they know we’re coming?” Barber asked.
“Clearly…” I replied. “And they’ve got a good idea on what our route is too.”
​
“Yeah, no shit!” Barber snapped. “Christ… let’s get the fuck out of here. There’s probably more fucking traps upstream!”
“Bundy’s orders were clear!” Jack argued.
“Bundy’s probably dead by now!” Barber replied, before looking at me. “Sarge, come on. You have to know this is suicide!”
“Suicide was part of the job description, was it not?” I asked.
“The job is to kill those fucking vampires, not to die in the goddamn process! We need to get out of the stream and into the woods!”
​
“Judging by the fate Team 2 met, I’m not sure the forest is someplace we want to be right now,” I replied.
“Excuse me?” Barber asked, “What the hell are you talking about, Sarge?”
“Five men dead, but only one gunshot. How did the rest die?”
​
Barber didn’t seem to be able to answer that.
“By now… yes. It’s clear we’ve walked into a trap. And yes, I understand that it makes sense to try and leave that trap… but I don’t know if we’ll be safer in the jungle. Something jumped Team 2. Cut them apart, and then shot Hernandez as a warning. They didn’t have to shoot him. They did it so we’d hear.”
“Your point being?” Barber asked.
“I don’t think this is just a trap, Barber. It’s a game. Stop playing, and you might just end up like our friends downstream.”
“A game?” Wilson asked, “Sarge, you can’t be serious!”
​
“From where I’m standing, we have a better chance of surviving in the stream,” I said. “Look, we’re at least halfway to the rendezvous point, and there have to be at least two members of Team 1 left. The safest thing to do right now is to follow them.”
“You’re off your fucking rocker, Sarge,” Barber spat, locking his eyes with mine. For a moment, I thought the boy was going to try and fight me. But no. He was wise enough to stand down.
“If you wanna get yourself killed, go right the fuck ahead. Just leave me out of it! Wilson, come on,” Barber said before trudging over to the edge of the stream. Wilson didn’t even hesitate, just looking back at Jack and I quietly before he disappeared into the forest with Barber.
​
“You’re not gonna stop them?” Jack asked.
“No,” I replied. “God willing, there’s a chance that pigheaded asshole is right… dunno how much of a chance, but a chance.”
“Then how come we’re not following him?” Jack asked.
“There’s also a chance he’s wrong.”
I turned, before making my way around the spike trap.
“Keep a slower pace,” I said. “Watch for traps.”
​
Jack hesitated for a moment, but he followed me without any further questions and we walked in silence for a little longer.
​
We heard nothing from the trees. Nothing that told us about the fate of Barber and Wilson. I wasn’t sure if that was good news or not.
​
In fact, I don’t think we heard a thing until about a half hour later, when we heard the explosion.
​
It came out of almost nowhere, but ahead of us I could see a flash of light and hear the screams of men. On instinct, I found myself picking up the pace and could hear Jack behind me. In the low light, I saw a shape float past me in the stream. It took me a moment to realize that it was a severed human arm.
​
In the water ahead of us, I could see a figure clinging to one of the rocks and trying to pick himself up. I recognized him as George Bundy.
​
Jack was at his side almost immediately, trying to help the old man to his feet.
“Sir! Are you alright?”
Bundy just wheezed, before his legs gave out from under him. I helped Jack drag him to the shore so he could sit and rest for a moment.
“What the hell was that?” I asked, looking back at the stream.
“Grenade trap… I think…” Bundy panted, “Fucking tripwire… Popkov tripped it, I think…”
​
Popkov… odds are he was one of the two mangled corpses lying in the river a few feet away from us. It seemed they’d taken the brunt of the explosion, although Bundy still had some shrapnel in his arm that Jack was tending to.
“Christ… whole fucking ops gone to shit…” Bundy spat. “Team 2 got taken out just about as soon as they landed. Someone killed them and dumped them in the goddamn river. Lost half my boys to the fucking spike trap and half to this…”
​
He looked up at us, before spitting onto the ground.
“Guess you two haven’t done much better.”
“Hard to say,” I replied. “Two of ours took off into the woods, trying to avoid the traps.”
“Then they’re dead,” Bundy replied. “I’ve seen her watching us… always just up ahead, always from a distance… she’s seeing how far we’ll go. How much we’ll take…”
“She?” I asked.
“La Morte. Should’ve figured she’d be the one to greet us.”
“La Morte?” I asked.
​
“It’s Italian. Supposedly, she earned that name around the time the Di Cesares fled Venice. It’s funny, the Brethren like to act like the Di Cesares leaving Venice was some big victory of theirs, since before they did, they finally killed one of them… hard to call it a victory though, considering how many corpses they made before they fled. And most of them came from La Morte…”
Bundy winced in pain as Jack bandaged his arm before he continued talking.
​
“See… when the Di Cesare’s left Venice, one of them stayed behind. Clementine, the Scorpio sister. Guess she was unwilling to leave the fight unfinished… and according to the stories, the death toll she personally amassed in the years after the Di Cesare’s left Venice make the bodies they claimed during the Venetian Massacre a hundred and fifty years prior look like a pittance. The Brethren still occupying the city started to call her La Morte. Death. Cuz wherever she went, death followed in her wake… and it seems we’ve walked right into her open arms, haven’t we, boys?”
​
“You’re sure it’s her?” I asked.
“She’s a Di Cesare… and the shit we’ve seen out here… I don’t see any other Di Cesare setting those traps. It’s her. I’m sure of it. She’s watching us. Seeing how far we’ll go. Seeing if we’ll turn tail…”
“Should we?” Jack asked, and Bundy finally seemed to acknowledge him.
“Excuse me?” He asked.
“Should we? Look, sir… I’d follow you into the mouth of Hell, but right now, we’re down from fifteen men to three. Can’t say I’m optimistic about our chances right now. If this woman is half as bad as you’re saying she is, maybe it’s time we took a step back!”
​
Jack looked at me, hoping I might back him up, but I remained silent.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Bundy asked.
“What I’m hearing here, is that as of right now, the vampire out there could kill us at any time. She hasn’t. Far as I’m concerned, that’s mercy. Maybe we should be taking it while it’s offered.”
Bundy stared at him, before chuckling. I think it was the first time I’d ever seen him laugh.
​
“Just walk away, then?” He asked.
“Walk away, and come back better prepared!” Jack corrected.
“Walk away,” Bundy said again. “We walk away now, and there won’t be a chance to come back better prepared. We get one shot at this. One. Failure is not an option. We go in there and we kill them or we die. End of discussion.”
“And how exactly are we even supposed to kill them?” Jack asked, “That curse they have… bullets aren’t gonna do shit, sir!”
“Yours won’t, mine will…”
Bundy pulled his pistol from his holster. I noticed some sort of pattern crudely engraved on it.
​
“I’ve been doing some research… studied the curse they put on themselves… and I think I’ve found a way to break it. Not sure if it’ll work yet… but we get one chance to test it.”
Jack stared at the gun, then back at Bundy.
“Sir… do you hear yourself?” He asked quietly, “You can’t be serious… right now, even with that gun we don’t stand a chance in he-”
​
The gunshot echoed through the forest and made me jump. Jack’s voice died in his throat as he hit the ground.
​
Bundy stared at him for a moment, before huffing and holstering his pistol again. He draped his coat over his shoulders, before looking over at me.
“No room for failure, Frank,” He said calmly.
I didn’t know what to say to that. I stared down at Jack’s body, my mouth hanging open slightly. When I looked back at Bundy, he was already back in the stream.
​
There was a tense silence between Bundy and I as I followed him along the final stretch of the tributary. He trudged on ahead, covered in sweat and straining with every step, but I could sense the quiet determination he had to see this through. Looking at him, you could’ve told me that George Bundy could wipe out the Di Cesare’s all by himself and I would have believed it in a second.
​
The night around us was full of sound, and each one drew my attention. I watched the forest, expecting to see some sign of La Morte watching us. But I saw nothing, except for what she wanted me to see.
“Mill’s just up ahead,” I heard Bundy say as we pressed on, although I noticed his steps faltering as he seemed to notice something in the trees above us. I stopped behind him, looking up before seeing what he saw, and when I saw it I felt my stomach turn.
​
I’d seen death before.
But what Di Cesare had left out for us… that was something else.
Pearce Wilson and Scott Barber weren’t dead.
But if they could have spoke, I’ve got no doubt they would have begged us to kill them. Wilsons pretty face was covered in blood and his pouty lips were parted as more trickled out of him. His curly blond hair was matted and I could see crimson there. Tree branches portruded from his ribs, while the loops of his entrails dangled out of his opened stomach. And Barber was in just about the same state, only he seemed to at least have the ability to turn his head to look at us.
​
I think he might have tried to speak, but the only sound he seemed to be able to make was a pained whimper.
“Jesus Christ…” I said softly.
“He had nothing to do with this,” Bundy replied. He took one last look at the two dying men hanging from the trees, before moving on.
“We should put them out of their misery, sir,” I said.
​
Bundy paused, before looking back at me.
“Don’t waste the ammo, Frank,” He replied. “They’re already dead.”
“Not yet they’re not!”
“Give them time. They chose to go into the woods. They can live with the consequences… for however long that lasts.”
​
With that, he left them. If I were a more compassionate man, I would have put them out of their misery. But no. Bundy moved on and so did I.
​
He approached the water mill, before examining it. It was an old building, made of stone that had long since been overgrown by moss, and sat right on the wall that separated the Di Cesares estate from the amazon. It hardly looked secure, even if the only entrance hadn’t just been an old wooden door secured with a padlock, finding a way in wouldn’t have been difficult. And it didn’t take much for Bundy to break through that door. All he needed was a couple of well placed kicks and it swung right open.
​
Drawing his gun, Bundy strode inside and I followed him.
“The Di Cesare’s will be in the main house,” He said. “We should find a way in through the back, try and catch them off guard. Main target should be the matriarch, Bianca. Her we should prioritize keeping alive… the rest are expendable.”
​
“Much as you are, I’m sure.” A voice called from deeper in the mill, and both Bundy and I froze.
I noticed movement on the floor above us, and through the shadows, I saw a tall woman watching us. She was dressed all in black, with blond hair tied back in a ponytail and the intense eyes of a soldier.
​
This had to be Clementine Di Cesare.
​
Bundy aimed his pistol at her, although she only barely seemed to notice.
“Only two of you left… I’m not sure the odds are in your favor,” The woman said. Her voice was low, calm and quiet.
“Only one way to find out,” Bundy growled.
“And only one way to walk out of this place alive,” Di Cesare countered. “You can put the gun down, turn and walk away. I won’t stop you. There’s no shame in living.”
​
“All the bodies you’ve left in your wake… that’s rich,” Bundy said.
“I don’t relish what I’ve done. I simply don’t know how to do anything else,” She replied. “Think about this, Bundy. Over my lifetime, there have been countless thousands who have come to kill me. All of them are dead, but I am not. Even if you could kill me… you could not kill my sisters. Not all of them. Not before they came for you.”
“Just you, would be enough…” Bundy said, before pulling the trigger.
​
I knew he’d hit her. I knew the bullet pierced her shoulder. But that woman… she didn’t even flinch. She simply dove out of the way before he could shoot again, taking cover and avoiding his next shot.
“Frank, upstairs!” Bundy snapped, “Flush her out!”
I went, trudging up the old wooden steps with my rifle drawn. Only to see Di Cesare vaulting over the railing and back down to the ground floor as soon as I made it up there.
​
Bundy shot at her again, only to miss for a second time. I saw Di Cesare’s arm move, and heard him cry out in pain. In the low light, I could see a dagger protruding from his shoulder. He stumbled back a step, leaving himself open for only a split second.
​
That second was all it took for Di Cesare to raise her own gun and fire just one shot.
​
George Bundy hit the ground without so much as a final scream. There was just a simple hole in his skull where she had shot him.
​
I felt my heart start to race faster. My eyes settled on Bundy’s gun, and I ran for the railing, vaulting it and dropping to the ground below with a thud. Di Cesare shot at me, and I felt the bullet tear through my leg. I reached out for the fallen gun and grabbed it before turning it on Di Cesare, only to find myself staring down the barrel of her own pistol. My finger rested on the trigger, but I didn’t have the guts to pull it.
​
"Kill me, and you will not see the sun tomorrow." She said, her voice still cold and calm.
“Killing you is part of the job…” I replied, but my finger still couldn’t squeeze the trigger.
“And is it worth your life?” Di Cesare asked. “You fail your mission either way.”
“And die with some goddamn honor…”
“There’s no such thing as honor. There is alive and there is dead. Choose.”
​
I knew what I was supposed to choose.
​
But my hands were shaking, as I stared into the face of death. My finger couldn’t squeeze the trigger.
​
The gun collapsed to the floor and Di Cesare kicked it away from me, before huffing and lowering her gun.
“Do not return,” She said softly. “Or next time, I will unleash a hell upon you that will make you beg for simple traps.”
​
She picked Bundy’s gun up off the ground, and then she was gone. After I finally picked myself up off the ground, I was gone too.
​
As I walked back along the stream… I passed the corpses of the men we’d left behind. Barber and Wilson, Jack, Feng, Hernandez, and his team. The flies were already feasting on them. Animals had already torn at them. And as I looked down at their cold corpses, I knew I had made the right choice.
​
I filed my report with the Brethren. Told them that Di Cesare had wiped us out, and a few months later I quietly retired. I never looked back.
​
***
​
“You walked away from her?” Sweeney asked in disbelief, “You had her dead to rights and you walked away from her?”
“I chose to live,” I replied. “Can’t say I regret the decision either. Because of the choice I made, I met my wife and had my kids. I’ve lived the life I had because I chose not to throw it away on some vampire.”
​
Sweeney just shook his head.
“You could have gotten the first confirmed kill on a Di Cesare in two centuries, and you threw it away you fucking coward! I could execute you for that!” I noticed his hand hovering over the gun on his hip.
“You could.” I replied, before quietly unholstering the pistol I kept at my side. I aimed it at Sweeney’s head.
​
He stared at me like a slack jawed idiot.
“Would you like to give it a try?”
“W-what…?”
“Would you like to give it a try, Mr. Sweeney? Or would you like to see the sun tomorrow?”
He stared down the barrel of my gun, and I already knew what his choice would be.
​
Sweeney took a step back. I saw his hand move away from his holster, and I lowered the gun with a huff.
“Thought so,” I said.
Mr. Sweeney left me without another word.
I knew he would not return.

Context: The one-armed knight known as Sir Calabas approached your werewolf pack years ago with news that one among you held the power of a hero that once defeated the world-ending dragon, Asmond. He gave your father, the Alpha werewolf, the rusted hilt of a bladeless sword, calling it the Blade of Ember, and tasked him with finding the hero. Your older brother was selected and you've helped him train for the big confrontation as best you could. It seems the day has come. Asmond has awoken and the hero must confront him. You know your brother will win... right?
Setting: The werewolf village/ Mt. Ironside
Tags:[MMM4A][Kind Knight Speaker][Mean Older Bro Werewolf Speaker][Dragon Speaker][Kind Werewolf Listener][Prophecy][Slay the Dragon][Lore Drops][Enthusiastic][Underdog Listener][Fantasy][Magic][CW: Themes of Abuse/Neglect]
Usage: You may tweak or record this script. Gender flipping is OK! Please credit me if you use this script in any of your projects. If you would like to use this script for a paywalled recording, please note:
Monetization: All forms of monetization are OK with me! Youtube, Patreon, etc. I would appreciate being able to listen to the recording, if possible. Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!
Check out the rest of my scripts by using the Script Directory
[K] = Sir Calabas, the kindly one-armed knight
[B] = Remrik, your older brother
[A] = Asmond, the world-ending dragon
[Scene opens within your village]
[SFX: Old-timey village ambiance/ the occasional howl followed by a horse trotting along and armored feet hitting the ground]
[You sit underneath the hut you call home when you see a familiar man wandering into your village]
[Pause!]
[You wave at him and he approaches with a smile]
“Runt! Good to see you again, little one. What are you doing underneath your hut?”
[Pause]
[His smile wanes slightly]
[K] “Ah. Your father is nursing a hangover and wanted you out of the house to sleep it off. Well, I suppose it’s good your Aunt is so good at covering the duties of an Alpha werewolf, hm?”
[Pause <3]
[K] “Hmhm… I know you don’t mind. Your enthusiasm is always a welcome sight amongst the other werewolves here if I might say. Getting your pack’s assistance in dealing with Asmond was already quite the trial, but you’ve always been a treat to speak with. Ah… With that said, is your brother about?”
[Pause!]
[K] “Ah, he’s polishing the sword’s hilt. Good. Have you seen the blade itself form yet?”
[...]
[The Knight raises an eyebrow]
[K] “He says he’s made the Blade of Ember manifest but doesn’t want to show it off until after Asmond is defeated? Mm… Has your father seen your brother manifest the blade?”
[Pause!]
[The Knight sighs in relief]
[K] “Good… It’d be incredibly unfortunate if the witch’s prophecy were wrong in the wake of a, well, world-ending dragon slumbering in the mountain. Especially when the mountain has begun to shake…”
[Pause?]
[K] “...Why does Asmond want to end the world?... Hm. You know, I never thought to ask him while he was ripping my arm off.”
[...]
[The Knight’s bitterness eases as he sees you shrink back from him a bit]
[K] “...Apologies, Runt. Part of being a hero is confronting people who cannot be reasoned with. Some people simply wish harm, and Asmond is one of them.”
[...Pause]
[He laughs a little]
[K] “You don’t understand but you’re still happy to see me?”
[The Knight smiles and ruffles your head gently]
[K] “Hm. Well, at least you’re happy to see me. I know werewolves and humans don’t typically get along but you’d think I’d have won your old man over with the whiskey by now, hm?”
[Pause]
[His smile fades slightly]
[K] “...Runt, you look like you got into a tussle with a wild boar. What happened?”
[Pause!]
[He listens, unreadable]
[K] “You’ve been helping your big brother train to slay the dragon? How so?”
[Pause]
[K] “...Sparring. And, ah, how have you found it?”
[Pause]
[He smiles at your enthusiasm. It’s a touch sad]
[K] “Yes, I imagine it is quite painful… but to see someone so young that loves their family so warms my old heart. You are earnest, Runt, even in the face of extreme cruelty.”
[Pause?]
[K] “Why do I say cruelty? Ah… I don’t mean to offend. I suppose it is just the difference in how humans and werewolves raise their children. My big brother and I would scrap all the time when we were young, but… he always knew when enough was enough. When to pull his punches… It seems like your brother is not acting in-”.
[SFX: A door swinging open]
[The door to your hut swings open and your brother hurries out, almost knocking you over]
[B] “Move, Runt! Sir Calabas, I’m ready to confront the dragon!”
[Pause!]
[Your brother rolls his eyes]
[B] “Runt, I told you, I don’t have time to show you the blade waking up! You’ll just have to wait until I slay the dragon, just like the prophecy said!”
[Pause <3]
[Man, your brother is so cool. But also ow that was totally a rock your knee landed on]
[K, stern] “You’d be wise to treat your sibling better, Remrik.”
[B] “Aw, Runt’s used to it. They know it’s all in good fun, right? Besides, the mountain is shaking… That means Asmond has woken up, right?”
[K, sighing] “Yes. You have the Blade of Ember, then?”
[SFX: Your brother patting the sword’s sheathe]
[B] “Raring to go, got it sheathed right at my hip!”
[Pause!!]
[B] “Yeah, yeah, I’ll be careful, Runt. I’m the hero, remember?”
[Pause!!!]
[The Knight smiles again as you cheer him on]
[K] “Hmhm… Come, Remrik. We must meet Asmond on his ground and strike him down. If we don’t…”
[B] “No way! We’ve got this, Tin Can! Runt, make sure to tell Da to put the feast on for when we get back! I’m gonna be swarmed in pretty she-wolves and hungry as Hell.”
[Pause!]
[You know that probably means you’re sleeping under the hut again but you’re too happy for him to care]
[K] “Take care, Runt. Come, Remrik, we must away!”
[SFX: The two of them hurrying off together]
[Pause]
[You go back into the house to try and find your Da. Like usual, he’s slumped in bed, snoring away. You go to shake him awake when your foot hits something metal]
[SFX: A door opening and footsteps on creaking wooden boards]
[Pause]
[SFX: Big ol’ werewolf snoring]
[Pause]
[SFX: Something metal skidding on a wooden floor]
[You look down at what you kicked and horror flies down your throat. The Blade of Ember sits discarded on the ground. As always, it looks the part of a simple, rusted sword handle, but you know its power]
[...]
[SFX: Runt grabbing the sword’s hilt and running like a mad person]
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Scene fades back into the insides of the mountain]
[SFX: The mountain shaking/rocks falling as Calabas and Remrik race through to the dragon’s den]
[K] “Brace yourself, Remrik! The den of Asmond lies just ahead!”
[B] “I’m ready, Sir!”
[SFX: Them running and then skidding to a stop]
[The small tunnel opens into an endless abyss of a cavern. A dragon the size of a small city is already lumbering to his feet, rumbling with displeasure]
[A] “Finally… I wake once more.”
[SFX: The mountain shaking from his voice]
[B] “BLEEDING GODS HE’S BIG!”
[K, sharply] “Do not give in to fear! Draw the blade and prepare to fight!”
[Remrik grabs at the sheathe a few times before he goes white as a ghost]
[B] “...oh fuck.”
[K, in disbelief] “You left the sword?!”
[B] “I might have left the sword…”
[The dragon lets out an almost polite chuckle, amused]
[Note: Recommend shifting vocals so that they sound farther away to shift to Runt’s perspective]
[A] “...Ten long years and you’ve grown no less bumbling, hm, Calabas? That kind of thinking is exactly why I got to enjoy gobbling up your arm.”
[K] “...Run, Remrik. Run back to your village and find the blade!”
[B, panicked] “B-But-!”
[K] “GO, GODAMN YOU!”
[SFX: The mountain rumbling harder]
[A] “No, no, I don’t think so. Prophetic heroes do tend to be so simultaneously annoying and underwhelming. What have you brought me, Calabas? A whimpering pup with his tail tucked between his legs, wondering why the smell of piss is so strong? Hmhm… Well, that’s fine. You’ll only have to endure the smell of burnt fur for a moment!”
[Pause!]
[SFX: The dragon sucking in a breath and blasting them with fire]
[B] “M-Mother!”
[K] “GET BEHIND ME, BOY!”
[You rush in with the sword hilt, swinging it wildly, not knowing what else to do. You’re not going to let this mean man hurt your brother or your friend, no matter what happens!]
[B] “R-Runt?!”
[K] “RUNT, NO!”
[SFX: The cry of a phoenix followed by an eruption of magic]
[The hilt begins to vibrate in your hand as you swing it again. Fire surges toward you. Your body is crushed by fear but the smallest ember in you pushes forward. You have to protect them]
[Pause!!!]
[A, horrified] “N-No.”
[B] “What?!”
[K] “...Runt…”
[SFX: An explosion of magical fire]
[You hold the blade before you, nearly blinded by the heat coming off of it. Runes flash, hissing in tongues you don’t know. Yet, you hold it as best you can, staring up at a creature a thousand times your size]
[A] “...the hero lives…”
[B] “What?!? B-But, I was-!”
[K] “The hero lives, indeed…”
[He turns to the dragon, staring him down]
[K] “...Flee while you can, Asmond. Know that for whatever deeds you commit, you shall face us in the end.”
[The dragon growls, staring you down. You look up at him, more baffled than anything, but growl like a proper wolf and step forward]
[SFX: The dragon growling/pause-beat/Runt growling, if desired]
[Pause]
[SFX: The dragon stepping back uncertainly]
[A] “...I should strike you all down… Here in this very moment!”
[K, coldly] “You can try.”
[That seems to shake the dragon. He lets out a huff of fear and takes flight, racing for the skyline]
[SFX: The huff noted above and big ol’ dragon wings flapping away]
[B] “...I don’t understand… Why didn’t the sword respond to me? The witch said I was the hero!”
[K] “The witch said that the hero’s spirit lived among your pack. I left it with your Alpha, your father, to determine who that was. Apparently, it was not you.”
[B] “But I’m the best warrior in our clan, I don’t-?!”
[Their arguing fades into the background as you decide now is a really good time for a nap]
[SFX: Distortion to show the Listener is passing out / a thud as they hit the ground]
[To be continued]
Note: This story hit me hard and I don’t know why, I’m just really proud of it <3
Second note: This script was written while I was listening to ‘Into Free - Dangan’ from Dragon’s Dogma.
Third note: Runt is eighteen, for those curious. Remrik is about twenty-two. Calabas is in his mid-thirties. That is why they are little bro-ing Runt so hard XD

Hello! Firstly I wanna say that I’m on mobile so sorry for my formatting. And English is my second language so sorry if I make any mistakes.
Okay to the story. Me and my boyfriend have been together for 6 years now, living together for 4 years. We love and care for eachother but we clash a lot so I would say that our love live is rocky right now. I decided to get a scooter to drive to and from work with. I don’t know anything about scooters, so first I asked around about certain scooters and did research on my own. I’ve contacted 2 sellers about their scooters and I can take a look at them tomorrow. When I asked my boyfriend if he could come with me to them so he could drive home in the car and I can take the scooter home he didn’t look pleased and said “I don’t really want too” This made me very sad since I’m excited and unsure. And I should be able to rely on him right? When I confronted him later he didn’t take it well and was passive aggressive and just didn’t seem to understand or even try to understand me . Is it okay for me to make this “bigger” then it’s supposed to be? How I’m feeling, it’s like. He’s the person I want to spend my live with, shouldn’t he want to help me with this exciting step? (Even if it might not seem that big but it is for me) If you have any questions pls ask them, I’ll try to answer them trustfully.