The Primogen pulls up about a mile away from the farm in the van that he never returned to his now departed Hierphant, the woman who had betrayed them all. He leaves it parked in as much of a hidden place as he could and keeps his eyes peeled trouble.

If this was a trap, he wanted to make sure he saw it coming before anyone saw him.

Dirge sat in the passenger seat of Jayant's van as they drove down the road toward Circe's farm she sat silently. There was a lot on her mind with everything that had happened lately. The blind haunt had no real way to know what had become of Circe, the Prince's edict, and what had become of Markos all of which weighed heavily on her mind. The sound of her dogs' breathing from the back was prominent and after long minutes of silence she turned to Jayant and spoke.

"I'm not sure what we'll find there if anything so lets be careful. We've lost so much already I don't want to lose you too Jayant."

They had to be very careful how he played this. If word got back that the Circle had been holding secret meetings, who knew what the punishment would be.

The Primogen nods in agreement. As he watches the farmhouse, he sees it is occupied.

Jayant says simply, "A light has gone off in the window of Circe's farmhouse." His eyes were locked on the farm, to be more precise, the window that had suddenly gone dark. With a quick nod, he agreed with the Haunt.

The news of a light on in Circe's farm was very bad news indeed. She worried about who it could be that was already here. Where they agents of the Prince, looters searching the place now that the Hierphant was gone, or were they more of those Brood that have been seen everywhere.

"We need to be cautious," she began at a whisper. "It could be anyone one from an agent of the Prince to brood."

Jayant looks to her, eyes full of faith and conviction. "No. We take back what is rightfully ours."

The Cronies realize they are beset by Scaleys mere moments before the freakish ghouls attack. A few moments following their appearance and Jayant is moving, drawing his kukri and bringing it across the chest of one of the ghouls. Jayant's blade spills bright green blood, but its not enough. The serpent-men descend upon the Circle en masse to subdue the trespassers. The one Jayant wounded grabs him, then another, before a third moves in to tear at the Mekhet stomach. The other grabs Dirge. She quickly draws the sword from her cane only to feel two pairs of arms grab her. Struggling in their grasp she slices one and calls out, "Get 'em." Her dogs focus on the one that she injured.

When Jayant feels the claws of the Scaleys descend upon him, he shrugs them off with true grit, realizing his ally is in danger. Dirge struggled against the ghoul as her weapon scored a hit. She heard the two dogs helping and tearing into him. She hoped that he wouldn't be standing much longer. The scaley holding Dirge tries to deliver a parting blow as her blade runs him through, but he just falls, gasping for air. Her dogs savage the next, and this one and his brother rend the Haunt's undead flesh in retribution. Jayant draws back as the claws dig into him, forcing his blood to heal the wound slightly while slicing with his kukri. Another scaley falls to Jayant's kukri, and the other two let out some kind of hissing howl before they descend on the Kindred with their claws.

Dirge called on the power of her blood to help her wounds knit and then takes her sword and thrusts it at the creature while her dogs attack from the flanks. Cerberus' teeth bring the freak down before it can hurt his master further. Dirge and Acheron attack the last one standing together. As the last Scaley falls for the glory of the Crone, Jayant sees a person moving toward them at incredible speed. They haven't long before he's crossed the field to meet them.

Jayant turns as he spots movement and holds his kukri close to his body, quickly hissing instructions to Dirge. "Incoming person, very fast. Keep low, and be prepared to run. I will protect you...." he stops suddenly, almost adding Hierophant to the end of that sentence. Keeping quiet, Jayant, no, Naga, waits for whomever this could be.

Dirge nodded and gave a short command to her dogs. As the animals approached she crouched low and began using blood to heal her injuries while holding her weapon in a defensive posture. "Is it someone we know or is it brood? Can you tell?"

Naga shakes his head, eyes still on the blur, waiting, kukri twitching in his grip.

The creature disappears from Jayant's sight. Then it steps out of the darkness behind the Kindred. "Welcome, brother," he says as he moves in to put a knife between Dirge's ribs.

Jayant's eyes open wide as the knife plunges into Dirge's body and he steps forward in an effort to aid his companion.

"What is the meaning of this!" he shouts, confused and growing angry. Not the hot burning rage, more of a cold, detached enmity that only a snake could possess. One word also rebounds through his head.

Brother?

Seeing his ally suffer such a wound, Jayant goes on the offensive, aiming his kukri at the enemy's knife hand.

Dirge was shocked at the speed that the man had closed the distance and got behind her. She tried to avoid the attack but felt the weapon sink into her flesh. She heard her dogs turn on the attacker and focused her blood to heal some of the wound she received before she joined the animals in their attack.

The Shadow is nearly mauled apart by Dirge's animals and screams a curse in an ancient tongue. "I thought you had come to your senses, brother, and come to serve the Master as is your Death-Right by Blood. I see you need further convincing." With that, the nearly dead creature steps backward into shadow and disappears.

That's when Jayant and Dirge see the negotiating committee on their way. Without stopping to count, at least another dozen snake-men, followed by several humanoid figures, are quickly approaching from the Farm.

Jayant listens to the words, shocked but not letting his confusion show. Instead, he takes Dirge by the arm. "We must go, now!" The Primogen then begins to hurriedly move Dirge towards the van to get back to the city proper.

Dirge put up no resistance as Jayant lead her quickly back to the van. "Agreed," the blind haunt said in answer. When she reaches the van she opens the door for the dogs to enter first and quickly follows after.

The van peels out, leaving smoking rubber in its wake. The pursuit shrinks in the rearview as the Cronies escape, wounded, but alive, or close enough. Probably time to let the others know the meeting venue is currently occupado.

Jayant looks back in the side mirrors and once out of any imminent danger, Jayant pays attention to Dirge.

"Are you okay?" he asks, voice obviously concerned but his mind was equally thinking about other matters.

Brother?

Dirge turned to Jayant and smiled appreciatively. "I'm pretty beat up and I had to use up most of blood trying to stay on my feet. I'm going to need to feed. They really did not like me," she chuckled a little at her last comment before looking concerned to him.

"Are you alright? What did he mean brother and how did that brood appear behind me? I heard him in front of me and then he was stabbing me in the back. There was no sound of moment in between."

Jayant continued to drive, heading towards the Sterling. There, he could aid Dirge in her feeding. At the question, he froze slightly. "I am not sure," he lied before sighing. "I fear he may have been using a rare discipline, one that allowed him to move swiftly through the shadows."

Dirge knew that there was something he was not telling her. Perhaps he knew the man that had stabbed her or maybe he knew more information about him that he was letting on. She leaned her head back against the headrest on her seat and sat for a moment. "If you don't want to talk about it right know that's fine. So what are we going to do? We can't clear all those out on our own."

Jayant sighs, forcing air through dead lungs. "I have no clue. We need to find out what they want, and why they want the farm to do it. Maybe I should have just let him take me," the Mekhet said in a distant tone.

Dirge frowned as he spoke. "Well I don't think that is a good idea. They seem to have a way to force cooperation considering what happened to Konstantine and Obsidan. We can't afford to lose anyone else to them. Lets heal up and go speak with either the Prince or Reeve. Maybe he can give us some support."