"I bet they're trying to stop you," Leah shuddered, "so they can blame the bar fight on you. The Van Lear family, Confederates, and Union boys will be after blood." A bloody war could break out after all tonight, she cursed.

"They'll have it," Hemi laughed.

"This cannot stand," Clay stepped out of the car. Hemi slammed it into park, and cut off the engine.

"Stay here," Red looked Leah in the eyes, and joined the others.

Leah looked at her mother, who still snored. She looked out the window, but it was hard to see anything. "I have to watch," she felt the beat of her heart. Out into the night she moved. The gift they offered was wondrous though mysterious.

Red turned back to her, "What are you doing?"

Clay turned, "She comes with us if she so chooses."

The large truck backed up. Clay smiled though eyes were flat. He studied the night, looked for other bushwhackers. Before the vehicle could lurch forward, Hemi dug long nails into the tire. He laughed, and hooted up at the sky. Red chuckled, yet stayed close to Leah. Hellish flames burned deep in all their eyes. Leah stood in the beams of the headlights. A man stepped out with a shotgun.

"We know who you are," he barked and the gun trembled. "Your family worked for the General." The man looked at them, for tales had them dead. Old pictures from those days lingered, but he pushed them away, and the questions that they posed. These must be their descendants, he assured himself.

Red took a step forward, and the man jerked the gun, finger on the triggers. Both barrels of the shotgun boomed, and it nearly flew from his hands. She fell back to the earth as Leah screamed. The buckshot hit her in the stomach. He looked at the smoke, which drifted up from the gun. Hemi's laugh was hard, lifeless, and Clay stepped towards the man. As the shotgun turned on them, Red sat up.

She was up in a smooth, feline burst. He reached for more shells, but twin, hellfire red flames burned in her eyes. The blow knocked him to the earth, and the air whooshed out of his lungs. Red stood over him, smile broad and fangs long. Little pellets dropped onto his chest. The wound on her stomach healed to push out the buckshot, which rained down. A hand hung at Red's side, nails grew to a wicked length. Flames in the lovely gaze blazed, but they cut to Leah, and slide back. One slap and his eyes rolled up. She snapped the shotgun.

Hemi laughed, but Clay turned to the trucks that squealed to a stop. The Rangel families lived in a community up the road. Red turned with a laugh, and told Leah to stay close, no matter what happened. Rangel men stepped out with guns. Pale faces had eyes on the hell the Van Lear family would bring down on them.

Leah watched. They stand up for themselves, she marveled. No parents, no teachers, and no law, they are law unto themselves. I'm so tired of being helpless! What it would be like to be free and powerful, she wondered.

Blaze from headlights cut through the darkness. The men turned the guns on the Bliss men, but they slide about the shadows. Hellfire eyes cut tracers through the night. Red kept close to Leah, who tried to watch the battle. Clay moved, swayed, and cut through the air as a blade. Lights went dark; the patriarch of the family flowed away from the gunfire. Hemi moved like the beat of a raven's wing, flash of darkness and silent. Guns snapped from a single blow from him, and his laughter rose to the moon above. Red motioned for Leah to stand behind a tree, and she flew into the men. Above the earth she flowed, men screamed then fell silent. The Bliss family moved as one.

Harry crept through the trees. He watched the drifters moved towards his kin, and saw they were busy with the Bliss family. Red finally moved away from the teenage girl. Before he could reach her, Tracy stepped out of the muscle car.

"Come on Leah!" Tracy hissed.

"Where," she looked at the forest. She saw Harry half hidden by a tree.

Leah screamed, and her mother whirled. The man leaped from the shadows. Before she could move a step, Tracy kicked her in the ankle. Leah tripped; she landed in the dirt, and the air whooshed out of her lungs. Into the forest her mother ran, but never looked back. Tears blurred the world, but a laugh rose above Leah. She crawled forward, but Harry grabbed her foot.

"Get off, PERVERT!" she kicked at him.

Harry laughed, pulled her back, "Your mother turned coward, like all the Chaney family."

Leah kicked with a scream, and Harry grabbed his groin. She stood. Every swing hit his face, but he pushed her back.

"I'll make you sorry, Little Tracy," he snarled at Leah.

"Don't call me that!" she screamed.

"Shut up!" he slapped her, sound sharp, but she still stood. Harry raised his hand again, but a small hand, fingers hard as steal, grabbed his wrist.

Red kicked him, and he fell on his knees. Mouth open, her fangs grew, and nails became razor sharp. She raised a hand high, and lovely eyes blazed in fury.

"DON'T," Leah pleaded.

Red looked at her, but for a few seconds, the twin flames in her eyes burned. "He'll live," she looked back to Harry, "but with pain to remind him." The punch hit his arm, and Leah could hear the bone break.

Hemi tore the trucks apart. He would have destroyed all of them, but his wife wanted the girl to join them. Clay moved towards them, bullet wounds already healed. He saw Red, Leah, and Tracy has abandoned her daughter. Despite his easy manner, the patriarch of the Bliss family moved past them into the forest. Hemi returned, brow furrowed, but laughed down at Harry who cried. Red listened, and pulled Leah with her. They left the only conscious Rangel weeping.