In a wealthy cul-de-sac there lived a woman, alongside her girlfriend with a child from a previous relationship. This relationship was moderately new, six or eight months. Nobody was counting, but they had lived together for two months while the newcomer still had her own apartment across town. She was tanned in skin, comparable to a milked coffee and of Italian-Spanish descent but was American born. Dark brown hair, long but almost exclusively done in a ponytail even in the few times she was comfortable. Her face is stern, angular, to the point where people assume she’s older than she really is. Kyna avoided telling everyone that she was actually several thousand. It would get awkward otherwise.

Her girlfriend was similarly tanned, the daughter lighter. Regrettably for the purposes of this recollection, they are not terribly relevant. In the grand scheme of the matron of Shadowcrest’s extended lifespan, this sojourn into this timeline was a mere fling. That’s not to say she didn’t spend a couple of comfortable years with her, but the attack on their home strained things a bit. It was a nice place, two stories. There was wealth here, but a lot of the furniture was kept from the staging so it looks far too much like a magazine. This was by design, as Kyna had put a fair amount of money and modifications in the last few months. It was quite the buzz around the neighborhood, and was reported more than once by a homeowner’s association for the construction noises. Most of it was in the basement, but the doors had been installed with heavy locks and various security boons as well. Ultimately, the girlfriend had planned to ‘make it her own’ eventually, though that was rendered moot in short order.

During a pleasant evening to themselves, dinner plates were being cleaned, the child was watching some television. It was a weekend so there was no great need for any rush, but the child was regardless hushed onto bed around eleven. The claim was they would go to the mall the next day, but the two lovers really just wanted the house to themselves. Still, the kitchen was cleaned and the women were enjoying each other but not a single article of clothing could be removed before Kyna heard the subtle brakes of a truck outside on the cul-de-sac.

Rather, we should be more specific. Kyna did not possess a comic book level of super-hearing. Instead much of her power is supplemented by minions of the void; a ‘gift’ from her own legend in times past that may be elaborated upon in the future. As it stands, they are darkly, imp-like beings that can phase around anywhere shade is cast, or if darkness takes the land entirely. They can meld into walls, where she often keeps them, to spy on her surroundings at her command. They were not attractive creatures by any means, but largely docile if encountered as spying was always their main directive. Point is, they sent signals to her not unlike a radio tower, transmitting information they deemed relevant to their master. That’s what they did here, as they always do to warn her of oncoming threats.

As calmly as she could muster, she spoke in a low tone, “Take Harley, go into the basement.” Kyna’s voice was stoic and commanding, which only calms when in the presence of a lover but her girlfriend recognized that her new flame was likely in the private military business; an assumption Kyna never bothered to correct. She was an intelligent woman in her own right and other than the necessary question or two, she did not waste too much time rousing her daughter and sequest her into the basement, which was code-locked. Right at the top of the stairs into the darkness, a place neither of them have ever been, Kyna gave her a loving kiss with a weak, worried smile. It’s an expression the lover had never seen before, because she’d always been so calm and collected. After that, the door locked with the loud sound of heavy magnets interlocking and slamming into each other.

Slinking into the basement with her tail between her legs (so to speak), some automatic lighting kicked in. It was a wild sight, if lowly-lit. Some neon reds and greens kicked in, illuminating what looked to be large tanks of various fluids within it. Each without a singular label, but a large sticker of some cartoon creature. They were cute, which was off-putting considering the ominous vibe overtaking the situation. One sticker was clearly an adorable cartoon ghost, another a more sinister demon-like thing with horns. However, most notably there was a sticker with fangs and that tank in particular began to light up and bubble. That’s when she noticed there was some tubing that went into the walls, clear and very thick plastic. The greenish fluid bubbled in the tank and it began to course through the tube into places unknown.

Upstairs, Kyna had entered a code to activate that very thing. For now, the assaulting team of vampires poured out of the van and surrounded the house. They were varied, a sixty-forty split of men and women, all armed with assault weapons with silencers. It was a strange racket they pulled in this timeline. The idea is they take on a wealthy client by force, turn them into a vampire and put them in a blood debt. The “client” has to pay the local vampire hierarchy for a consistent source of blood to keep them alive, or be left to starve or attack others in said starvation. This process was rarely quick and clean. Why they needed assault weapons for this is anyone’s guess, perhaps some over-preparation on their part. Either way, they typically go for the softer and richer clients. They did not find a soft target, they found Kyna.

Kyna turned out the lights of the house to evoke the illusion of everyone going to bed. Vampires can see decently in the dark but it’s still better than nothing. She calmly made her way into the kitchen to grab the knife block, tucking it under her arm and sequestered herself in a corner between rooms with a curio cabinet blocking direct vision were they to enter the room. They tactically entered the house in search of the tenants from both doors. Kyna kept silent in her dark corner as her minions in the walls kept her informed of their movements. She had a specific plan with conditions that will not be met without combat.

She waited for at least two to go upstairs before taking one knife out and plunging it into one’s shoulder, then shoulder-checking him into a wall before ducking a darker, barely aimable machine gun fire from another in the hallway. She was specifically aiming for the same console she used to activate the mysterious fluid from the basement, whose function will become clear shortly. While the two attackers reeled from the unexpected resistance, she quickly punched in a code that forced the two entrances to close and lock everyone in. This led to a brief second or two of confusion, they were not used to this level of technology in a random house. After that the timed lights came on and Kyna used this to her advantage, using two more knives from the knife block to masterfully sling into the bodies of two attackers.

As a side reminder, vampires have a much higher pain threshold than humans but there is in fact still a threshold. A mere mortal’s punch may make them laugh but a knife in the leg is still a knife in the leg, cutting into important muscles that allow them to move and that typically implies pain, which they still feel.

So while one removed one from his shoulder, the other removed from her thigh, the melee began properly. Of course they tried to use their guns but she forced them into a skinny hallway. Even the one or two coming down the stairs can’t aim properly lest they hit their own. Kyna instead worked on disarming their guns entirely, grabbing one of them and using it as a melee bar, pushing him against a wall while kicking his knees out from under him. It clicked pretty quickly that this woman is some kind of hunter and was hitting them harder than they were probably used to while performing this corruptive racket. This became a lot more clear when she punched one of the guns enough to bend and shatter it.

Before they could get much headway, the previous technology Kyna installed began coursing through the house. Some of it was even visible, with the plastic tubing going along the lines of windows and upper walls. The green fluid was almost bioluminescent, showing up in low-light conditions and some of the attackers took a second to pause to look at it, not sure what it was doing. Eventually it met up throughout the whole household, and an effect took the whole household. The ancient “welcome” ritual was essentially reactivated, something that vampires evolved beyond once land ownership in the world became a more muddled affair.

This caused several effects, the first of which was a stinging, ringing migraine. After that, the stinging extended to their muscles which locked up severely and began to tear, causing internal bleeding which eventually became external as they bled out of their ears, mouth, and anus. Essentially, the house was kindly inviting them to get the fuck out.

They tried to flee, until they remembered the doors locked behind them. The doors were modified, heavy steel beneath the wooden frame. They could have conceivably punched through it eventually… if they were currently undergoing an undoing of their very person. Some elected to directly jump out of the window, of which they could barely fit though so they took some extra damage from the glass cutting into them.

While the vampires reeled, Kyna went to locate a small, handheld silver double-hammer that was tucked into an alcove in a wall, not far from the console that allowed her to activate the house’s defenses. For added danger, she pushed a button on it that let the end of the handle become a silver spike. This was where things became lethal. Not all the vampires had escaped properly yet, as there were only so many windows to jump out of and a couple of the attackers were still reeling from the pain. As Kyna approached, some of them were able to maintain some form of attack, trying to use their martial ability to punch or kick her away but their vision was blurred and even a master martial artist herself didn’t have to try very hard to dodge them. One tried to kick, which she grabbed in the mid-attempt and used the silver spike-end of the hammer to stab the leg several times.

Silver has an extra effect that even fire doesn’t maintain. Fire is great against vampires as it affects their undead flesh a bit more than it would a humans (though it’s worth noting to humans; try not to be set on fire), however silver allows for tiny particles to enter their bloodstream and do untold damage internally. Their blood is slightly higher on the acidic scale to a human’s so it strips some of the silver, especially if it was designed or painted to do exactly that. Effectively, this makes their wounds heal as slowly as a human’s would while having the extra effect of more pain attached.

With one or two vampires disabled she focused on the ones who still tried to fight her. A pointless affair for them, as she utilized the same tactic. Disable a limb, attack the next one, disable another limb. Eventually she became lethal, plunging the silver stake into their ears. The heart is relevant per the usual legends and lore, but destroying the brain kills most creatures anyway.

Ultimately there were three or four survivors slowly (but with purpose) limping their way to their now escape vehicle. They could sadly hear the steel doors unlatch, the terrifying vision of a sharply dressed woman’s silhouette gazing upon them with a hammer in one hand and some device in another. They did their best to not look back at their quarry, but Kyna stepped towards the vehicle with purpose. The attackers piled into the van, screaming at each other various forms of “What the fuck?!” before locking the doors and starting the engine. It was a bit too late for them as the device Kyna had in her hand was a sticky explosive, which she plopped right onto the taillight as they sped away. It was detonated of course, killing every vampire that was within nearly instantly.

Throughout all this, her expression rarely broke from a stoic neutrality, occasionally delved into minor annoyed grimace during the melee. Such it would be for a woman of her advanced age and experience.

In the aftermath, Kyna told her partner that the house had to be abandoned. The basement was destroyed so that the formula from the various anti-creature solutions would not be discovered and released into the known world, as in this timeline vampires were still in the tenuous middle ground between myth and rumor. Kyna had to remain up late to prepare the house for destruction, while her partner was too afraid and mentally wired to sleep. The child slept fine, though. This led to something of a stress to the relationship as Kyna carefully let her in on the world’s various secrets. Vampires, werewolves, aliens, and time travel. It’s all quite a bit to take in especially when it’s all confirmed real in the span of a few evenings.

It was a stable breakup, all things considered. Kyna’s partner of this time recognized that she could not handle the kind of life she led. Kyna expected this of course, when making the sojourn to other timelines without her wives it’s always a crapshoot on which people have the mental faculties to handle her, especially when her past retired life comes crashing back into it without invitation.

She moved back to her previously mentioned apartment, a sort of wealthy flat in a different part of town. A few months went by while she prepared to return to her own world, but was interrupted. An underworldly portal spawned within her bathroom walls as Hel emerged. Kyna was only familiar with her in passing, as she was not around during the Vanguard’s siege against Valhalla.

“We need your help,” Hel said solemnly, possibly knowing the answer.

“I’m done with him,” Kyna said in response.

Hel shook her head in the negative, “It’s different than that. Someone is willing to stand up to him again, but they need your training.”

Kyna groaned, “If that’s it, fine. But I was about to leave so they’ll have to come with me.”

Hel nodded, and then stepped aside to introduce both The Matriarch… and Tiwa.