The group heads to Texas at Trixie's insistence, wanting to introduce them to her family and have a big Texan thanksgiving for her new family and her biological one... but trouble is brewing from the minute they arrive at Open Air Ranch. After arriving they try to blend in, though Nelen has to turn down the offers from the men in the Smith famly to have a beer (too much alcohol makes him lose control of his blood magic) and arm wrestling (he was wearing gloves to hide his bandages), though Drusilla who's disguised as an adult thanks to the bracelet that Nelen gave her happily tags in and goes about drinking several of Trixie's relatives under the table. The group also finds out that, despite being a tomboy, Trixie does have some 'girl' habits in that she likes to cook or, as her mother put it, 'She's my little Julia Child'. As the group settles in a man comes to the house asking to speak to Trixie's mother. His name is Mr. Maroon, laywer to a local businessman named Mr. McCall who wants to buy the farm and build a casino atop it. 

Trixie's mother turns him down and he appears to go, but Lupe seems bothered by him... 

Lupe growls a bit as she looks out the window, "Human smell funny..." she mutters, "Not magic, but been near magic." she replies. She knows well enough to hide her supernatural nature, though its harder for her to do so... then the smell of roasting turkey wafts in from the kitchen and Lupe forgets all about the man, whether or not he smelled of magic, and possibly her own name as she makes a beeline for the kitchen and sits down infront of the oven, drooling openly at the scent... dinner was going to be interesting if this was any indication... 

Trixie smirks, "Keep it in your mouth cutie, remember, human" she says before looking out the window to watch the man leave "Hm" she says "Hey mom, we got a bit before dinner right?" she says "Yes, but please don't go do anything dumb Trixie, he's a harmless old snob like a lot of those robber baron types we got out here." "I'm not gonna fuckin slug him, just wanna see if his boss has any reason to be all into our farm or somethin" she says, smirking a bit as she makes her way to the door "I'll be back by dinner, just turn my yams down to low so the candy sauce can reduce..." 

Stephen follows her outside, not wanting her to go alone, as she feels a sudden weight when Dawn materializes on her shoulders once she's out of sight of her relatives. "Nelen said to go with ya, he could notice a couple humans, but a cat is just a cat right?" she grins. The car is parked just beyond the gates of the ranch and you see the laywer on his phone, his back to us at the moment... 

Trixie grins "Just shhh" she says as she creeps behind him, ducking behind a nearby line of shrubs to listen in on him "It's probably just what mom said" she whispers "He just wants land rights, maybe he thinks we're worth strip minin or somethin, we'll be back in a jiffy, just wanna see what got Lupe all flustered 

Stephen nods as Dawn slips down off your shoulders, prowling along beside us. 

As we get close the man's voice carries over. "Yes sir, she seems very adamant that she won't sell." he replies, "... Sir, as your lawyer I would advise you against that. We can pressure her into a sale, we don't need to resort to..." he pauses, then shakes his head as Dawn's ears perk up, "Sir! I strongly advise you against that! If it were traced back to us... well yes I know... yes I know..." he frowns, rubbing his forehead, "Very well, I'll contact them when I get back to the office and give them the address... but I wish to make it known that I am doing this under protest." he adds as his phone beeps. 

The man scowls, stuffing his phone into his pocket, then climbing into his car. As he does he grumbles, "Lunatic... he still thinks this is the old west half the time." he shakes his head, then drives off.

That night they have Thanksgiving dinner, a rather impressive spread too, but as the sun goes down trouble comes to pay them a visit... 

The group seems rather impressed by the feast indeed, Stephen helping himself to some mashed potatoes while Lupe both figuratively and literally tears into a drumstick. Everything seems to be going well... and then the werewolf girl freezes mid-bite. 

"Rrf?" she blinks, sniffing at the air, then she starts to growl and gets up from the table, rushing to the front door. "Rrrrr...." she glares out into the gloom, the sun having set completely now. Something must be wrong if it can get her attention away from food. 

Trixie smiles softly "Scuse us" she says, not even bothering to think of an excuse for Lupe as she walks to the front window, making a little 'heel' motion at Lupe to keep her back. 

Lupe whines, still glaring out as Nelen follows her out into the hallway. 

Lupe growls out the window, "Bats! Lupe smell bats! Lots!" she barks, her nails practically growing as she says it. "Okay... so you smell bats." says Nelen, looking at Trixie, "Any idea what that means?" he asks. He hasn't spent a ton of time around the werewolf. 

Trixie Smith shakes her head "No I don-...oh fuck" she says "Vampires...she calls Nat a bat all the time...shit ok, Lupe, listen to me" she says in a deadly serious tone "You and Nelen are gonna stay here, you are gonna guard my family, do you understand me? If any bat that isn't Natasha or being escorted by me comes through this door tear it apart, this is my den, this is MY pack, do you get me?" she says, eyes locked on Lupe's, trying to make crystal clear how important this job was. 

She nods, she knows better than to argue with that outside. As she does Dawn appears in her animal form on Nelen's shoulders, "We're in deep shit guys." she whines, "There's at least six vampires out there, and one of 'em is weird even by undead standards." she nods, her tail all fluffed out and swishing behind her. "Get Arja, we'll need fire and lots of it." she says to Lupe, the werewolf ducking back into the dining room to do so. Nelen nods to you, pulling his gloves off to expose his bandaged hands. He's already trying to think up a cover story, something about wild coyotes or something... but six vampires... if Trixie's family didn't know about the supernatural there's a good chance they're about to find out.

Nelen, Trixie, Arja, Simoni, and Dawn all head outside, Dawn changing back into her anthromorphic form as voices echo to the farmhouse from the shadows, the vampires taunting them as they stay just out of the light... 

"Four little girls..." hisses a voice. 

"More than four... I smell so many more..." giggles another in the darkness. 

"They had their feast, now we'll get to have our's..." says another, to our right. 

Dawn sniffs at the air, trying to work out how many there are out here, then she eeps and ducks as a throwing knife shoots past her head and buries itself a good two inches into the woodwork. 

"Come out and play little girls..." teases one of the voices. 

Trixie frowns, Arja hurling a ball of fire into the air at that, lighting the area up like a firework went off right over the house. If the family inside thought Trixie was nuts before this was pretty solid proof something strange was happening..."Aw come on" Trixie says, masking her fear well. Just think of it like a rodeo, the bull knows when you're scared..."How about we play a game of cards before we eat?" 

As she says that she feel a sudden chill as a voice, right next to her ear, replies, "Too hungry." and the leering monstrous face of a Nosferatu opens it's jaws wide... before Nelen kicks open the front door and jabs a finger at it, a long sharp tendril of blood shooting out and striking the vampire in the shoulder. It shrieks loudly and dives away from Trixie, melting into the shadows as it lands. As it does however the other vampires surge out of the darkness. Four other ones come forward, not even bothering to hide their undead nature as their eyes shine red and their fangs gleam in the moonlight.

The girls fight bravely, Simoni and Arja using their magic as Dawn teleports onto the shoulders of one and claws at it's eyes. Trixie uses her huckster abilities to summon up spells by 'winning' them from spirits (for her time seems to slow down as she plays against inhuman beings to win boons from them, then speeds back up when she uses them), and it looks like they're winning... until a new vampire walks casually into the light. He's dressed in a leather jacket, jeans, and motorcycle boots and seems totally unfazed by his comrades failures, even as one of them writhes on the ground from Arja's fire setting him alight. 

At first nothing the group does seems to work on him, the vampire seeming to dodge, trip, or otherwise simply 'luck out' of being attacked. He trips at just the right moment to fall and avoid getting hit by a spear of fire thrown by Trixie, at the cost of the vampire who was standing behind him. The team does manage to take out several of his coterie members, nothing they do can even touch the vampire. Nelen's blood blasts go off target, Dawn tries to teleport but gets grabbed the minute she materializes and flung back at the house, and all of Trixie's huckster spells go awry... 

She almost winds up trapped by him, his discipline making her unlucky enough to trip on a stone and fall to the ground, her arm quickly getting pinned under his foot, when Natasha wakes up and makes her appearance, jumping out of the window of the house and... well... landing ontop of Trixie. However, Natasha recognizes what he is. 

"Been a while since I fought one of my own" she says, eyes looking him over slowly "mmm but you're not one of my own aren't you?" She says, taking a deep breath in, in a mockery of a sniff as she grins "Old world dirt, rotgut, smoke and fur...a string of luck that makes our little card shark look like the most unlucky girl in the world? I never thought the Jonahs were real until now..." 

The vampire laughs, "Hah, you did your homework huh girl?" he replies, then takes a bow with a flourish, "Yes indeed. Coyote of the infamous Bohgande bloodline at your disservice, here to kill the hell out of all of you because, lets be honest, I'm being paid a pile of cash to do it."

Named for the Native American trickster spirit the vampire known only as Coyote is a walking curse. A member of the infamous Bohagande [oldwiki.mindseyesociety.org] bloodline, he delights in tormenting others, using his Sunnikuse discipline to snatch away his victim's luck for himself. 

As Natasha prepares to fight him, Trixie uses her magic to hex her... causing her to become unlucky. A Jonah can only steal luck from the target if they have any to begin with, which means this fight will become a test of skill. A good plan, but Coyote was an eighteen year old gang member before his embrace and is both taller and stronger than Natasha. She gets several harsh cuts from his daggers before Trixie can conjure up another spell, causing roots to grow out of the ground and try to wrap themselves around Coyote's feet. 

He notices this however, but also sees the rest of the team rallying themselves, then decides to cut his losses and run for it. 

"Gotta admit, you guys are a hoot." he sneers, "Still, if you think I'm the worst that he can do to you then you're mistaken. McCall ain't what you think he is kids, I'd cut your losses and sell to him before he sends something really nasty your way." he nods, then in one motion he flips himself over the fence and, when he lands, it's on four legs, having turned into a coyote with gleaming red eyes before he dashes off into the distance.

After that cryptic warning, the vampire disappears, along with the surviving members of his coterie, leaving the group battered and bruised, but alive. 

In a darkened room a young man is staring at a hand of playing cards, sweating bullets. Across the table from him sits a man who appears to be in his early twenties, wearing a white business suit and a sky blue tie with a white cowboy hat on his head. He's handsome, with a clean shaven face and bright blue eyes, a head of blonde hair under his hat. He looks like he'd fit the hero in just about any western movie. 

The dealer at the table is hard to make out, he's not really hidden, but something about him seems indistinct, as if he's not really there. Finally,the blonde man with the hat looks up and says, "Call." in a calm tone. 

The other man whimpers, then lays down his hand. Four aces and a jack... His opponent whistles, then turns his hand over. King, queen, jack, ten, and nine. "Sorry son. House wins." he says with an apologetic smile, reaching out and pulling what looks like three poker chips towards him... the man lets out a yell and tries to reach for them, then suddenly goes rigid and clutches at his chest. He cries out and falls out of his chair, gasping for breath before going still. 

The chips are gathered up by the dealer and taken away as the man stands up, turning to his laywer. "So, Coyote and his boys didn't drive them out?" he asks in a confused tone. "I thought it was just some middle aged woman and her family..." 

"Er, yes Mr. McCall..." he replies, "Coyote contacted me just ten minutes ago. Apparently the woman's daughter came home from studying abroad with some friends and... well... they're not mundane. None of them are, even her. Even his luck-stealing trick wasn't enough for a whole gang of supernaturals." he replies. 

"Hmm... well well. Looks like I just got dealt a wild card." he grins, his teeth shiny and white, "Oh well, that just makes things more interesting."