no man's land

She tilted her head at him.

"Aye. We'll leave ye be. But might I ask wha' kind o' creature ye be?"

He crushed out the cigar. "Talahassee on west, essentially the remainder of the panhandle. Do you claim such, sir?_

"What belong to de clutch, 'as always belong to de clutch."

He looked to Grace, "We be called Mbembe, de sun kin from across de sea. Ain't no mo' yo need be kno'n. Bes be on yo way n'ah, les' ole Uncle Snag'ah toot' be catchin' yo."

She gave a polite bow of her head.

"Thank ye. We'll stick t' th' road an' I'll make sure ye be left alone."

He nodded, "Is fo' the bes, I t'ink."

Then he stepped into the road as he began to cross it.

Johnathon bowed his head politely and started his engine again. Once the man was gone, he continued to drive. "What was that, priestess ?" He asked Grace as they went on.

She shook her head.

"I dinna ken. I'll ha' t' ask Arliss."

He nodded. "Seems more concerned with the swamps. Still, I'll tread lightly around here. Nice buffer though. I kinda like that. "

"Dinna count on 'em t' protect ye."

"In all honesty , I'm expecting them to slow down Cammies or sabbat. As well as I get along with your people now, I don't know what the future holds. No offense. "

She chuckled.

"Aye. None taken."

He drove in silence for a few minutes. "Wonder how many more surprises like that are out there ?"

She nodded.

"There may be many."

"You all have fun with that, you hear ?" Because, well statistically, there were more likely to be more fun stuff in their vast area than his.

She smirked.

"I'll be sure t' send some o' it ye're way if we get t' busy."

"I have worked for a scourge once or twice before when the price is right. I don't know about now, but back then elders really had no clue or interest in explosives. "

She sneered.

"Wha'e'er gets th' job done. But I ken nothin' 'bout 'em."

"Marvelous stuff. But I digress. Simply destroying the financial ability to war is much cleaner. So any chance you can introduce me to this arliss fellow ?"

She shook her head.

"Nay, boyo."

"Gotcha. So shoot at every werewolf, except the ones who arent' shooting at me. I think I can deal with that."

She nodded.

"Tha' will work."

John decided he had enough of the backroads, and soon got onto the freeway where he could push the Ukranian motorcycle up to freeway speeds.

"Hot damn!" he shouted to Grace as he pushed a few miles over the speed limit "This is fun!"

She....was not having fun. Very obviously, not having fun.

"I can pull over to a rest stop" he shouted to her "Let you safely take flight. Or we'll be there in another 20 minutes"

She shook her head. She would last this out. She just wasn't going to ride back with him.