Chapter I: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Irene pulled her coat off and tossed to the side and then unbuttoned her shirt and looked at the mark.

''Hrmm, either you think you're strong enough to rip my head off or you have some silver hiding around,'' she said ''I'm not going to stand around and let you kill me.''

She then pulled her shirt off and then fully undressed. Claws began to grow from her fingers and her teeth became fangs, the sound of bones cracking let out as her body changed to that of a Werewolf. Fur covered her and now nothing connected her current appearance to her former one, she let out a snarl and bared her fangs. She climbed up the wall and then leaped down towards Justice with her claws in front of her. She hit it with enough strength to destroy the wall of the barn but still it stood back up, this would be most interesting.

((Dang didn't realize we were moving again! *face palms* back to business!))

Emris looked at the Statue of Liberty in awe. It was awesome to him and he liked the way New York looked. The Sky scrapers, the sounds the cars! Everything! He had never lived in a big city, always in a small kind of back water village. He was stunned by all the technology and innovation. When I am done with the dark creatures I am going to come back here to live!

Once they were outside of New York Emris breathed in the fresh air and prepared himself for a long walk. He was used to long hikes and runs so it wasn't a big deal to him. Thinking of different things Emris heard a loud noise and some commotion. He ran up to Carlos, "Hey I think I hear something down there!" Emris pointed to where the barn was, a puzzled look on his face. "I don't what it is but I don't think it is normal for noises like that to be coming out of a barn."

As Irene flew into the air she grabbed onto a beam and then used her free paw to shred the wraps around her. She kicked off the ceiling and jumped down to the ground where she turned to face Justice, she charged him again but skidded to a halt right before him and then swung her right paw at him and then brought her left upwards into his stomach. As he stumbled backwards she kicked him and sent him flying into the ground . She snarled at him and then turned to leave.

Carlos nodded at Emris. Suddenly he looked around, a confused expression on his face.

"Where is Irene?" he said aloud. He looked towards the barn that Emris pointed out, hearing noises that sounded like fighting. Carlos pulled out his crossbow. There was a fight going on there. Could Irene be in it? There was only one way to find out.

"Come on," he said to the others, changing their course towards the barn. Whatever was going on there definitely wasn't good. He ran at full speed with the others, hoping to make it before it was too late.

Irene entered a small room in the barn and changed back into her human form, then she grabbed her clothes and put them on. Just as she was leaving Carlos and the others arrived at the barn.

''Carlos! What's the matter?'' she said surprised ''You look troubled.''

Carlos kicked open the doors of the barn and charged in with the others, crossbow held in front of him, ready to kill anything that moved.

"What in the hell is going on here?" Carlos asked, looking around for some sort of culprit. "Why the hell wouldn't I be troubled? We heard something that sounded like fighting over here and you disappeared!"

Carlos looked at her right in the eye, his stare almost piercing.

"What happened?" Carlos asked her, a bit suspicious. "Why did you come to this barn without telling anyone?"

Salvatore is the last guy to walk in holding his trusted pistol in his left and a bottle of vodka in the right. He looks inside the barn and looks closely in the surroundings. Seeing not much he looks to Carlos and says "I am having a really bad feeling in this area" as he takes a drink of the small bottle.

Salvatore stands outside and looks across the fields of the farm looking for a answer why he feels paranoid.

He flings his other pistol and starts looking around the barn

Irene stared right back into Carlos's eyes.

''I came here on personal business only to find it was a trap,'' She said '' There was a werewolf and another creature, I managed to get out of the way before they tried to kill each other, the creature ran off that way and the werewolf... left.''

She brushed her hair out of her face and sat down on a stool that had been lying on the barn floor.

Salvatore looks to Ion with a cocky smirk saying "There is always a benefit when you have alcohal poisoning because it means some leach cant enjoy its meal"

((OOC: DB, we are in the country.))

"Well, it looks like everything is fine now," Carlos said, sighing. "Let's get the hell outta here before something else shows up."

Carlos walked outside of the barn with the others out into the countryside they were so used to now. Sleepy Hollow was near, he knew it. They travelled for some time in the direction they were given and soon found a welcome sign to Sleepy Hollow that was oddly positive. The sign read:

"Enjoy your stay at Sleepy Hollow!"

Carlos chuckled.

"Apparently they forgot the write in the part about undead and headless horsemen romping about."

They walked across a bridge that led into the town and suddenly a harsh wail was heard. Carlos whipped out his crossbow and looked about him. There seemed to be nothing around, until he noticed the silhoutte of a horseman in the backdrop of the countryside. It was headless of course, and the rider rode off right before they could get a good look at him.

"What the hell was the point of that?" Carlos said aloud.

Suddenly corpses started to rise out the ground. They were dressed in the attire of the American Revolution and all carried muskets and cavalry blades. Their skin was rotted and disgusting and their eyes glowed orange almost.

"Oh great," Carlos said to himself. "Prepare yourselves!"

He ripped out his sword and held his crossbow in his other hand as he prepared to fend off the rotting corpses.

"Oh dang. This is going to be.... messy.* Emris pulled out his mask and put it on, a strange gleam in his eyes and a wicked smile played across his face. "Time to get fid of these corpses once and for all."

Emris cracked his whip, the sound reverberating through the air. Jumping into the fray Emris downed corpse after corpse, using his whip to lash out at anyone near him and in his left hand he used his crossbow.

Vladamir withdrew his two Silver Makarov from their respective side-holsters and cocked back their hammers, ready to fire a round into two corpses that rose from the dark earth below. He grunted with irritation as they all carried firearms, a new attribute that they had not yet encountered before. Even he knew, it only took one lucky round to down him, or any other of his comrades.

"Damn it.." Vlad muttered beneath his breath.

((OOC: I think it's about time we get rolling again.))

The Redcoats and Revolutionaries all fought their hardest in their undead forms, firing muskets and attacking with their rusty bayonets. Carlos managed to escape most attacks, as he knew they could all be fatal. Getting cut with a rusty blade was a very nasty ordeal, after all. Carlos cut down many of them along with the rest of the team and soon enough, they defeated all the animated corpses. Carlos sighed and sheathed his sword after wiping it on the dirty clothes of a Redcoat.

"What was that all about?" Carlos said. "There is obviously a puppeteer around here. Could it be that headless horseman?"

A sound of a door being unbarred was heard. Carlos turned to see some people coming out of the town, looking at the newcomers with intrigue.

"I thought no one would come for sure!" one of the townsmen exclaimed. "Thank you for saving us from those foul beasts."

"No problem," Carlos replied, shaking his head. "This isn't the end of it, though. I'm sure you have heard of the Headless Horseman that has been talked about?"

"Yes, I have seen it with my own two eyes," the man replied, shakily. "My name is Miles Woodsman. I have been trying my best to hold everyone together."

"Well Miles," Carlos said, letting out a sigh. "All I can tell you is that we profess in getting rid of problems like these. Do you have any leads as to where to find this headless gentleman?"

The villager scratched his head.

"There is one place," Miles said to him. "It's the Sleepy Hollow graveyard. Some people have said they spotted them there, but none of us are idiotic enough to enter the place. It's clearly cursed."

Carlos turned to the others, shouldering his crossbow and grinning.

"Well, I know what are next destination is then," Carlos said. "See you old man. We're going to slay a horseman."

Miles grabbed Carlos shoulder as he went by to stop him.

"Don't go now!" he said to him. "We haven't seen outsiders for a while! It's our duty to be hospitable. Come and stay for a bite to eat and some sleep. I'm sure it would do you all well."

Carlos sighed, but knew it would be best for the team. They hadn't had a hot meal ever since the boat ride. Which was only a few hours ago, but that was long enough for Carlos to get upset.

"Alright then, Miles," Carlos said to him. "We'll honor your request and stay for the night."

"Splendid!" the old man replied. "We'll meet you all at the inn."

Carlos turned to the others, grinning.

"Looks like we got a shortcut to food, everyone," he said to them. "Let's go and have a good time."

Carlos started to walk off to the inn with the others, wondering what kind of drinks they were serving in the area. They all walked into the inn and took a seat at the bar, ordering whatever food and drink they liked.

Irene finished off one last zombie and then cleaned her sword, as she sheathed it the villagers came out to greet them. Irene nodded in agreement with Carlos' words and then as the others made their way into the inn she pulled a villager aside.

''There's deer in the forest, yes?'' She asked him

The man nodded. ''Aye but ye should stay 'ere and eat our food miss.''

Irene smiled and then turned away. ''I like to catch my own meals, thank you.''

''If'n ye say so, but ye may want a fr'en or two to go wit' ye.''

Irene turned around, not wanting to draw suspicion she looked at her companions. ''Anyone care to join me in the woods? I pan to spend the night there.''

She pulled her rifle off of her back and loaded it, not wanting to go out unprepared.

Vlad stood, leaning by a tree. His face was marred like usual by his dark shady hat, and the lower half by a bandanna. His eyes glimmered gray from within. He was by the eves of the forest, and saw Irene walked toward there with her rifle. Vlad chuckled for a moment.

"You sure are a free spirit, Irene. I must say, I have never seen too many women go hunting for deer in Russia. I shall tag along, if you don't mind, staying on this beaten trail wears a guy down, you know?" Vlad commented in his heavy Russian accent.