Our story begins at a Jewish Temple in Houston, where Natasha has gone for a late night service. Things have been peaceful for the time being with McCall away in Vegas. Though Nelen is still keeping an eye open for potential trouble, the others are taking the time to actually enjoy their vacation and visit with Trixie's family. Natasha, given the relative peace, decides to do something she hasn't gotten to do in India, and mingle with other members of her faith.
Natasha smiles softly as she walks from the temple's prayer hall to the 'receiving area' where the front doors are, making smalltalk with other kids 'her age' as she walks. To be honest it still took a little getting used to the idea that she could just find a Jewish synagogue in the open in pretty much any major city, usually more than one even...Hell she wasn't even 'out' to her friends. Not really out of shame, or even thinking they'd react badly (she may be from a different age but she hasn't been under a rock, she knows her people don't tend to be expelled from cities anymore at random), she just simply was used to not speaking about her faith in public, old habits and all. She had told the girls she was going 'hunting', honestly feeling a little bad associating this with her feeding. Ah the troubles of the Sanctum, a healthy blend of reverence for religion and pride in vampirism sometimes clashing...
Natasha is Jewish, and a member of the Lancea Sanctum. The Sanctum places great reverence on relgious faith, seeing vampirism as part of God's plan for humanity. Normally it's associated with Christianity, but there's variations for all Abrahamic faiths.
As Natasha walk to the doors she overhears some of the adults talking...
"It's awful" a voice nearby snaps her out of her focus on chatting and thinking..."I mean, it's 2014 and we still have some punks bashing up a public Hanukkah display? It's disgusting," the woman continues "They didn't touch the nativity, of course, or anything else, just that frankly tacky big menorah they stuck next to it..." Natasha frowns a bit at that, shaking her head. "Oh come on," a man's voice speaks up, "It was probably dumb kids, not Nazis or whatever. They found those weird fake footprints around it and all, remember, those odd claws and all? It was probably some dumb kids trying to make a silly prank..."
As the adults go on one of the kids whispers to his friend, "Y'know what I heard? I heard it wasn't just some kids. Some of the goblins, like that old Hershel story, followed us over from Europe and they're out causing trouble." he says, his friend rolling his eyes. "Yeah sure Jesse. Ya still believe in the tooth fairy too?" he asks, glancing at the door as if he's eager to get out of here. Kids these days don't care much for religion it seems, at least not when there's toys and the internet waiting at home.
Hershel of Ostropol is a Jewish hero, a trickster and a prankster who relies on cunning and a quick wit to outsmart those who would harm him. The best known of his stories is 'Hershel and the Hannukah Goblins', in which he outwits goblins who are planning on disrupting Hannukah and even tricking the goblin king (note: Not Bowie) into lighting the Menorah, thereby breaking his powers and banishing him from the land.
"I'm serious! My big brother saw one outside Dad's store the night his window got all smashed up! No way that was just a kid in a costume!" he insists, though his friend just looks at him, "Your brother? Same one who convinced you he caught a real live fairy that turned out to just be a lightning bug?" he sneers in response. "Oh gimme a break man, I was five." he replies, his face reddening.
Upon hearing this Natasha becomes worried, and asks the kid for detials.
Natasha raises a brow before frowning at that. "What did she say it looked like?" Not a lot of rep to be lost here, she was already the slightly strange eastern european girl who comes to temple alone (she makes up a story about her foster parents being Christian but respecting her faith), not like it was super odd for her to be curious about what amount to old fairy tales and legends...
His friend smirks at him as the boy looks to her, "Um... he said he didn't really get a good look at it, it was all dark and stuff... but it was this big ugly thing, taller than he was, with lumpy skin and glowing red eyes... oh, and he thinks it had horns too." he nods.
"I thought goblins were little green guys..." says another kid, though the boy looks at him, "We're not talking about Warcraft Tim." he sighs.
Natasha frowns, trying not to show that she was legitimately worried by that description. Warcraft and other media may have made goblins funny and almost cute, but she remembered an age when a 'goblin' was just a step above a demon. "Huh... where's your dad's store?" she says as she walks with the group to the front door.
She recieves directions, finding that it's not far from the temple. Upon arriving she finds a small family owned hardware store, the front window covered by a large sheet of plywood. She also notices a new-looking camera installed over the door. Goblin or human, the owners of the store seem to be taking the vandalism seriously.
As Natasha examines the scene she hears noises coming from the alleyway next to the store, and moves to investigate...
The alleyway isn't lit, but she can see something moving in the shadows... and then two bright glowing eyes shine in the darkness as the thing rushes towards Natasha and pounces ontop of her, knocking her to the ground!
There's a stench as whatever the creature is opens its mouth wide, fangs gleaming in the moonlight... and then a warm wet sensation as a long wolf-like tongue is dragged up over Natasha's face. A yellow-furred wolf wearing a black studded leather collar is ontop of Natasha, licking at her and wagging it's tail.
Natasha yelps as she tumbles over, grunting as she falls back before realizing who it was, wrinkling her nose as she rubs the wolf's side "You've been told not to eat from trash cans haven't you, whew..."
The creature is none other than Lupe, the werewolf of the group, currently in her wolf-form, who seems more than happy to encounter her 'alpha'.
Lupe rrfs happily at the rubbing, climbing off Natasha and wagging, then her body ripples all over as the wolf changes into a werewolf girl... a -naked- one... grinning at the vampire. "Lupe got bored, so Lupe follow Alpha-bat!" she yips, "But alpha went in building with humans so Lupe went to find food." she nods. "Humans throw away good food." she says simply, then tilts her head, "Why Alpha-bat here?" she asks, wondering why Natasha didn't go back to the Ranch after the service.
Natasha Kernovich sighs, taking her black sweater off and handing it over, long enough to cover Lupe up at least "Just checking something else...hey does anything smell weird around? Off, like something that doesn't belong?"
Lupe thinks, then sniffs at the air a bit, the sweater covering her down past her hips, "Rrrf... Lupe smell... rat... meat... not-good-meat... um..." she tilts her head, her ears flicking a bit, then sniffs a bit more, "Rrf? Lupe smell weird thing..." she nods, bending down and sniffing at the ground, then heading out of the alleyway on all fours. Thankfully this area is practically empty this time of night and nobody notices the werewolf sniffing around the front of the store, "Rf... Lupe smell weird thing here... dunno what." she admits, "Smell... not human... not bat... Lupe dunno..." she whines and earfolds, upset that she can't place it.
Natasha rubs the girl's head softly "It's ok, I think I know what you smell" she says, frowning a bit "Come on, let's go back home, may need a little help with this actually." she says cooly, frowning at where Lupe was sniffing though.
While it's not confirmed to be a goblin, something supernatural is at work here. Lupe's nose is more accurate than any bloodhound's and, while she may not recognize the smell, it's definitely not human. The two return to the ranch and enter into the building, as Natasha finds Nelen, Dawn, Simoni, and Arja and explains the situation to them.
Nelen is on the couch with Dawn, clicking away on his iPad as usual. Arja and Simoni are watching TV, TBS already showing those schmaltzy Rankin-Bass Christmas Specials done all in stop-motion. Simoni can't help but find them adorable, probably some nostalgia thing from seeing them when she was really little (and she even notices Nelen is humming along with the Snow Meiser song, though not being obvious about it).
"Oh hey 'Tash." says Nelen, looking up as she comes in, Dawn stretched out along the back of the couch, then he raises his eyebrow at her, "... what happened?" he sighs, switching the tablet into sleep mode. He can tell when something is up.
Natasha smiles a bit "I think we may have a problem...well I may have a problem, kinda a non issue for you guys actually..." she says, eyes drifting to the TV, she did have to admit while she loved the old stories and fairy tales, Christmas Specials were pretty great."I think we may have a...goblin issue."
Nelen raises his eyebrow as Dawn tilt's her head at the vampire. "Goblins? Nah, Warlords of Draenor isn't for another few days isn't it?" she says as Simoni mutes the TV and looks over at Natasha. "What do you mean?" she asks.
Natasha sighs "No I mean actual ones...Look, back in the old country, in the very old days, there were creatures, goblins, that targeted the Jewish population, they tormented us and attacked our holidays, especially Hanukkah. They were dealt with by one of our folk heroes, but...well it kinda sounds like there's at least one more hanging around here...
Nelen nods, seeming to understand as Dawn raises an eyebrow. "I didn't know you were Jewish..." she grins, opening her mouth as Nelen glares at her. "Furbrain, if you make -any- of the jokes I know you're planning on, I'm shaving your tail." he warns.
Dawn blinks, then twitches, then shakes all over and bites at her lip, then says "I'llberightback!" and vanishes.
Approximately one mile away in the desert...
Dawn appears next to a cactus and a very surprised lizard. "So how do you know if someone is kosher before you bite them? Does the 'scattered grains of rice trick' not work because you can use algebra to figure out how many there are in under an hour? If you go nuts and we're out of garlic can we substitute a pack of bacon? Did you and Bloodrayne team up to beat up Nazis in World War 2? Do crosses not affect you at all then?" she spits out to the cactus and vanishes again, reappearing where she was on the couch.
"Okay, got it outta my system." she says in a somewhat disappointed way as Nelen reaches up and smacks her on the back of the head.
"So, goblins. I heard something about vandalism in the news earlier..." he says, scratching a bit at his beard. "Said something about a menorah display getting busted up and a few Jewish-owned stores getting vandalized and robbed... why goblins?" he asks.
Natasha turns to Nelen, nodding "Goblins, at least where I'm from, aren't the little green clowns you people act like they are. They're horrid creatures, ancient beings who stalk in the shadows, and more importantly their kings and lords are VERY powerful...I mean legitimately a great threat to us if one is here. I'd rather fight five of your grandfather than a Goblin King. That's why the hero Hershel defeated the king that once plagued us with cunning rather than fighting. We were never exactly friends before but since then their kind and my people have been enemies."
Natasha says she does indeed have a plan to deal with the goblins, asking Trixie to help her set it up. This particular breed of goblin are attracted to Jewish homes and religious services, anything important to Hebrews basically, and they'll vandalize such things, distrupt what they can, and even hurt people who catch them doing so. The worst of them is their King (again, Not Bowie), who is immensely powerful. So powerful that when Simoni asks Arja if they'd packed their fighting gear Natasha immediately shoots the idea down.
Natasha frowns "Hey did you not hear the 'I'd rather fight five of the guy with a magic sword that can literally unmake me' thing? If you go all brawler on this thing and it's too powerful you could wind up dead...and not the me kind of way." She says as she walks to her room, grabbing some supplies she bought for the holiday before needing them as monster bait "Don't worry though, I have a plan...well I have two plans actually but I doubt he'll fall for the same 'it's so dark out please light a candle' trick that the last one did..."
Simoni winces as Nelen sits up, "Yeah, well if it's a king then it'd probably be a lot worse than just petty vandalism 'Tash. Its probably just a grunt at worst." he says, getting to his feet. "Still, she's got a point. Gear up for a fight, but don't actually jump in unless trickery doesn't work." he says to Simoni, cracking his knuckles. "Well, you know what we'd need to do best, whats first?" he asks the vampire.
Natasha opens up the backpack she brought down from her room, pulling a rather old looking menorah out "Well, my worry is that the grunt is working for someone bigger, that's why I just want to watch him for now." she says walking to the back door, Trixie leading her along to a nice empty area away from animals and all, "Should be good enough." she says, dragging a picnic table out for Natasha to spread her religious trappings out on, "So, Hanukkah's going to come a little early, just follow my lead for the praying, it just needs to sound like a big Jewish group is getting together to celebrate. If this is a grunt he'll probably wait for us to 'leave' before showing up to wreck things, the small ones are cowards like that." she says as she sets the candles up before lighting the middle one.
Natasha leads them in a prayer, though the others just have to fake it as none of them understand anything she's saying (the prayer is in Hebrew), before she lights the menorah and leads them back inside. She nods to Dawn, then to a tree, on the way in, and Dawn grins back before pretending to run into the house, then teleporting up into the tree branches to keep watch.
There was a lot of nothing for a bit before a bush rustles, a small, sickly grey, figure scampering out of it, skittering up the table like a roach. It looks vaguely humanoid, gaunt and bent, though its hands and feet are clawed. It has small beady red eyes and a long, hooked, nose that looks almost beak like as it hunches in front of the menorah's candle, hissing softly at the fire before pinching it out, letting out a yowl as its fingers are burned in the process...
Inside the house a general feeling of amusement is had by the others, except for Natasha. They aren't at all impressed by the small cartoonish creature that's stupid enough to burn it's fingers putting out a candle.
Nelen raises his eyebrow as Simoni lets out a half-snort half-giggle, "That is the dreaded goblin?" she asks, "Dawn could take out that thing without changing back." she says as Lupe tilts her head, wondering what the thing would taste like. It doesn't seem very dangerous, and is definitely not very bright...
Natasha frowns a bit "No, things like that are too... stupid... to work alone. If it was just him he'd be, I dunno, eating chickens and spooking old people or something." she says. After a moment a rather massive figure clad in black seems to step out of the shadows behind the creature. It had to be ten feet tall, wrapped in shadow to hide any features save for its glowing yellow eyes before a skeletal thin hand reaches out from its darkness, bone white with long, jagged, yellow nails that wrap around the smaller goblin's neck, pulling it back and lifting it up. There's simply a low hissing sound, like a massive snake was 'speaking' before it releases the goblin who proceeds to knock the menorah over to the ground.
Thus is the Goblin King (toldja it wasn't Bowie) is revealed. Far from some goofy little green creature, this thing is one step removed from a demon itself, a monstrous being cloaked in shadow and brimming with magical power.
Simoni lets out a small eep, she can -feel- that thing... it's like a giant ball of twisted up magic in her mind. "Guh..." she whimpers as Dawn suddenly appears on Nelen's shoulders, her tail all fluffed out as she nopes right back inside the house. "Damn..." mutters Nelen, "I mean, I read that children's book about Herschel when I was a kid but it doesn't really do him justice does it?" he says. "How the hell did we miss something like -that-?"
Natasha shakes her head "Hiding is what these things are best at. They're the dark whispers in your ear and fleeting shadows around your eyes." she whispers as the smaller creature gives the menorah a few stomps, wincing a bit as she watches that before the massive figure grips the back of it's neck and lifts it up again. "See, he uses the smaller one so we think it's just petty stuff and don't assume it's him..." she says, shaking her head before looking to the group "Hey...you guys trust me, right?"
Simoni nods of course, Dawn shrugs as Lupe gives you a firm nudge under your arm with her muzzle, Nelen simply saying "You saved my sister twice now." in repsonse. Still, its clear they're impressed by this thing. Its not a goofy little monster like Gallywix, this is the real deal here. Something that actually could trump the Rakshasa they fought in India.
Natasha nods, looking at Lupe "Especially you, ok? Trust me...I need you all to just stay here and whatever happens don't try anything crazy" she says before looking back to Lupe again with deadly serious eyes "You hear me? STAY."
With that, Natasha opens the door and walks out to confront the creature. As she does she consumes some of the blood in her body to hide some traits of her vampiric nature. Her skin flushes and she starts to breathe again, appearing more like a living girl than an undead creature.
The smaller goblin sees her coming and vanishes with a shriek, apparently terrified of even a young girl, but the Goblin King isn't impressed at all, it's glowing eyes looking her over with disdain.
Natasha holds back a little gulp as she keeps striding forward, "Hey, big guy. Way to wreck my menorah." she says, eyes locked on the goblin king's as she stands in front of him. There's more hissing from the figure, though it seems Natasha can understand it this time, shivering a bit as she does. "Do you know who I am? I am Natasha Gabor, great grand daughter of the monster slayer Ilyona Gabor." she frowns as the creature hisses again, "Yes, the one who killed many of your kind during the revolution as just a young girl herself. This town is under my protection, monster, and unless you wish to be another head on my family trophy wall you'll leave now!" she replies, stealing a glance back to the house to be sure the group was staying put as the creature's eyes remain locked on her.
Simoni is gripping the back of the couch as she watches, fighting the urge to whistle up something to distract the monster. A wind, a gust, a small tornado... something. Lupe is straining, wanting to protect Natasha so badly that Nelen had to call Drusilla in to help hold her back... but then he's having a bit of trouble keeping calm himself, his blood starting to seep out from his bandages. Even Dawn seems worried about what's going to happen, if only because she doesn't want the others upset (they might forget to feed her!).
Natasha stays firm as the creature whispers again, narrowing her eyes at that. "Do you not know of the Gabor family traditions, creature? Every girl since childhood is trained in the arts of monster slaying, and I assure you not only do I look like my great grandmother, I fight like her as well." she says, there's a long moment before the creature speaks again, still towering over Natasha, not looking very intimidated... "Alright then," she says "Then I'll make a pact with you, in blood as according to the old ways. If you vow to leave this land and never trouble its people again... you may have me... You can snuff the Gabor family line out now, I have no sisters or living kin left." she says, breathing heavily as she stands in front of the creature.
Lupe's ear's perk up and it's all Drusilla, Nelen, Arja, and Simoni can do to keep her from smashing the door down. Big sensitive wolf ears and all that. She whines and yelps loudly, claws digging into the floor as she tries to get away as she shifts back to werewolf form, her fangs growing so fast it's almost audible. "Let Lupe go! Ugly monster no hurt alpha!" she snarls as Nelen lashes her wrists with his blood tendrils and pulls her back off her feet, Lupe whining loudly and thrashing around.
The Goblin King considers Natasha's proposal, oblivious to Lupe's frantic attempts to get out of the house and protect her, and finally he makes a decision.
It doesn't give Lupe much time to be mad, though, the creature letting a low laugh out before that skeletal hand reaches out, grabbing Natasha's neck and raising her up just like the goblin before, without even flexing its hand that much, a low 'snap' seems to echo through the yard as Natasha goes limp. The creature thankfully doesn't stick around to gloat, vanishing into the shadows as fast as he came, still laughing deeply as Natasha drops to the ground like a ragdoll.
As soon as the creature is gone Nelen's blood tendrils snap and Lupe barrels over Drusilla, the door almost getting knocked off it's hinges as she pounds down the front of the lawn to Natasha's body. She lets out a low keening whine, sniffing at her body, then whimpers and flops down onto the ground next to her, shaking in a way thats much more human than wolf.
Natasha waits a moment to be sure the goblin wasn't hanging around before reaching her arm out to wrap around Lupe's neck, pulling her for a close hug "I told you to trust alpha..." she says, her bones cracking and groaning as they reset, her skin going back to pale and the breathing stopping as she rather ironically uses the blood she was using to fake life to recover from her fake death.
A broken neck isn't exactly fun, but for a vampire it's more painful and annoying than dangerous. Its not like she needs to breathe after all.
Lupe yips and flops back a bit in surprise as Dawn appears nearby, smirking at the wolf, "Huh, guess he didn't know your family died out a while ago did he?" she grins as Lupe snaps at her before flopping back down, nuzzling into Natasha's chest and clinging to her, her tail thrashing about behind her with relief. "Seriously pup, a broken neck won't do more than annoy a vampire. You should know that." she grins, Lupe snapping at her again before Dawn teleports just out of her reach, blows a loud wet raspberry at the werewolf, and vanishes again.
Natasha smiles, just snuggling with Lupe, "Shush cat, it's sweet, she's my good girl." she says as she pets the werewolf to help her calm down. "The Gabors never existed." she winks "That was a name I used when I first went to Romania, wanted to leave my old life behind and all..." she giggles "Well, I promised him that with my death there would be no more Gabors, and he can't claim I cheated him, can he?"
Lupe rrfs and nuzzles into you as Simoni walks out of the house, limping a bit as Lupe breaking free had thrown her into a chair. "So, they're gone then?" she asks as Lupe licks at Natasha's cheek, her tail thrashing around behind her. " 'cause, your 'good girl' there kinda trampled Drus, threw Arja into a table, and gave Nelen a concussion when she broke free." she says, rubbing at a bruise on her thigh as she does. Lupe blinks, then rrfs and earfolds, glancing down, "Mrf... Alpha was in trouble... Lupe wanted to help..."
Natasha sighs, bonking Lupe's head at that, "I told you to trust me." she says as she shakes her head, standing up as she walks to the house. "Sorry about that..." she sighs, Drusilla groaning loudly as she stands up, quickly moving over to Nelen to check on him as Arja seems more annoyed than anything, pulling herself off the broken table, "Remind me to enroll your puppy in obedience school when we get home..."
Nelen is leaning against the wall, a head-shaped dent in it as he mutters 'but I dun wanna go to school mama...' in a dazed tone, his eyes out of focus. Lupe whimpers, looking apologetic at them, "Mrf... Lupe trust alpha..." she mutters, "Big ugly thing... Lupe not trust that." she nods firmly as Simoni rolls her eyes and gets some ice out of the freezer to make icepacks for her and Nelen.
 "Think Mr. Blood Mage here can filter out vamp blood to avoid getting addicted?" asks Natasha calmly, Dru huffing loudly and grabbing Lupe's collar, "You're in big trouble doggy..."
Nelen is too loopy to say anything, but Dawn appears infront of him and shakes her head frantically. "Nonononono! No vampire blood for him!" she insists, "Trust me on this one... blood magic and vampires... or at least -that- kind of blood magic... yeah, bad bad idea. He'll heal fast, he's still half a Fullmoon." she nods as Simoni puts an icepack to the back of his head.
Natasha nods, though she doesn't exactly know why it's a bad idea, but Dawn wouldn't stop her from healing Nelen without a good reason. She winds up going to the couch to rest as Simoni, having left Dawn to handle the ice pack, lets Natasha have a drink after the encounter. 
Eventually Nelen does wake up and climb to his feet, still rather dizzy. He may have some of Clan Fullmoon's legendary resilience, but a blow to the head still does it's damage. He limps off to the bedroom as Natasha looks up from watching Christmas specials with Arja and Simoni.
Natasha smiles as she goes to join the group, pausing a bit before Nelen can limp all the way off, "Hey, thanks, seriously...It's been a really long time since I had people around me who trusted me, or who would do incredibly stupid things like knock their friends over to protect me and all, it meant a lot, seriously."
Nelen looks over at Natasha, grins, and replies, "No problem talking gumball machine." while giving a thumbs up, then takes two steps into the bedroom and passes out flat on his face.