There was a knock on the door.

Sylvie puts down the knife and vegetables and walks to the door. She unlocks the door and opens it up. “Yes?” She asks, still in her apron.

There were four bulky dudes outside who were all well above six feet. “Ugh, yes.” One of them says as he takes out a piece of paper to read. “We're here for ugh, Taylor Murphy. In regards to a blood debt.” He says before putting the paper away.

Sylvie looks at them with an expressionless face before turning her head and facing the house. “Taylor! The werewolves are here for your life!” She calls out and turns back to werewolves. “He’ll be out in a moment.” She says, maintaining decorum.

“Coming!” Taylor calls back as he navigates the house to approach the front door. Taylor pushes the door open further and peaks his head out of the house. “Awesome. You guys are here. I see you didn’t try to kill me in my sleep. How did you want to do this?” He asks, curious why this was so civilized.

The tallest and oldest looking man steps forward. Taylor looks at him and smiles. That’s a lot of man meat. He thinks, curious if Sylvie was having similar thoughts.

“We were concerned about your wife. We have no desire to fight a stage 7 witch, let alone offend the Axel Witch clan. But don’t be mistaken, blood begets blood, and it is still our preference for you to die. So we’d like to propose some ground rules beforehand.” He says with an amiable tone.

Taylor chuckles. “Okay. Strange, but okay. What do you have in mind?” He asks, wondering why these guys were being so proper about murder. Are werewolves just naturally nice guys? Damn, if I was a different sort of man… Taylor thinks as his eyes wander to how fit and handsome these guys were.

“I’ll stay out of this fight, and in return, Ms. Axel will also stay out of this fight. As for you, you’ll face off against my three little brothers. If you survive, we’ll call it even, but if you take the life of even one of my brothers, we will take your life regardless of the cost.” The man explains clearly.

Taylor looks to Sylvie to find that she looked amused. Sylvie smiles. “Take the deal. It’s a win-win for me. Even if you die, there are a few people I have in mind to replace you.” She says with a wink to the tall, older gentleman.

Taylor lets out a bitter smile before also taking another look at the man. “I wouldn’t blame you.” He says before letting out a laugh.

The older gentleman frowns. “You know, that’s not helping your case. I kind of want to kill you even more now.” He says before looking to Sylvie and flashing her a smile.

Sylvie waves a hand at her face to cool down. “My, my. Taylor don’t try too hard. You might ruin a good thing.” She says, feeling some hear on her face.

“I guess we wouldn’t want that. But fate is fickle. Who knows? I could live a long life and change to be a responsible husband.” Taylor says as the urge to fight begins to burn within him. He was currently not in a place to throw his life away. He very much wanted to live. There’s still a lot of love and laughter to experience. I certainly wouldn’t want to mess that up. He thinks, determined to give his all.