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Ophelia came awake the next morning slowly, a little blearily.  After she and Eddie had gone to the bathing pools together, they'd met up with a few other citizens and spent a fair bit of the night sitting around a fire, drinking beer and swapping stories, before the two of them finally shuffled back to the room they were staying in for the night, barely taking the time to exchange good night kisses before collapsing in an exhausted pile on the bed.  She felt Eddie still curled up against her back, one arm draped over her, but as soon as she shifted, he spoke up.

"Mornin', Ophs," he said softly.

"How long have you been awake?" she asked, reaching down to take the hand resting on her stomach and squeezing it lightly.

"Eh, few minutes, not real long.  Just haven't been able to convince myself to get out of bed yet.  Stomach feels like crap."

"Yeah, same here."  Ophelia moved to sit up, groaning a little at the feel of the cool air against her bare skin as she looked down at him.  He was still on his side, looking up at her sleepily.  "We really shouldn't have drunk that much."

"Eh.  Not the first time, won't be the last."  Eddie finally pushed himself up to sit up next to her, rubbing his eyes.  "How late is it?"

Ophelia leaned across him to a small window in the wall next to the bed, pulling aside a leather flap, both of them immediately moaning as a spark of bright sunlight came through.  She quickly pushed it back over the window.  "Late enough that we're gonna be in trouble if we don't get up now."

"Mmmmph."  Eddie laid back down and buried his face in the pillow, grabbing her's as well and pulling it over his head.  "I told Mangus I'd help Lita with the guard assignments this morning."

Ophelia got to her feet, stretching out, and moving to pick up her clothing, starting to pull her jeans on.  "All right, c'mon, get up, then, we need to get going."

Eddie grouched slightly, but finally sat up, wincing and putting a hand to his stomach as he did.  "God, I feel like I could just chunk all over the place."

"Well, if you do, try not to get it on your clothes."  She picked up his jeans and threw them to him.  "Come on, we need to hurry before Lita comes looking for us."

Eddie grumped a bit more, but got up and started getting himself together as well.  Ophelia chuckled slightly as she pulled her belt into place and pulled on her shirt.  Eddie wasn't usually in a sour mood first thing in the morning, except after a long night, but she knew once he'd had something to eat, he'd perk right up.  "Come on, we can take enough time to stop at the fire pit and get some boar for breakfast before we go."

Eddie mumbled and grumbled a bit more, but with a minimal amount of coaxing, Ophelia had him dressed and on his way down to the pit, where a couple of the Razorgirls were cooking some of a pig's meat.  Nearby, a large pot was boiling over a fire, and a Headbanger was happily cooking small, carrot-like vegetables in it.  "Mornin', guys!" one of the girls said, waving happily.

"Morning, girls!" Ophelia said happily, accepting a carved bowl with servings of the meat and vegetables in it.  Eddie managed a smile for them, but didn't say much else...merely following after Ophelia as she picked a nearby log to sit on, then starting to pick at his food.  Ophelia dug into her breakfast, rather famished, but after a couple minutes of eating in silence, she glanced over to see Eddie's bowl was mostly untouched, and he was staring into the distance.  "Aren't you hungry?"

"Eh, not really..." Eddie said, nevertheless bringing his attention back to the bowl, pulling a few pieces of the meat loose and nibbling at them.  "Not for roast pig first thing in the morning anyway.  We need to find other birds that lay real eggs around here."

"I think the Sickle Wraiths-,"

"Other birds.  Not those things.  Yeeuck."

Ophelia snickered a little.  "You like roast boar when it's cut thin and fried."

"Well, yeah, that's practically bacon!  That's morning food.  This is dinnertime food."

"It's all the same meat.  You're just a picky eater."

Eddie responded to that with a small belch, then patting himself on the chest, wincing.  "I am not.  I just have heartburn.  And a hangover.  Gimme a break."

Ophelia chuckled a bit, finishing off her meal, standing.  "Well, if you're not gonna eat, then let's just go find Lita and get this planning done so we can get back home."

Eddie shrugged, taking one last reluctant bite before standing, taking the bowls back to the Razorgirls and thanking them for the food, then he and Ophelia started making their way through the village.  Eddie took hold of Ophelia's hand as they walked, both just for the sake of holding her hand, and as a way to keep himself on track as he looked around while they walked...otherwise he tended to walk into walls and trip over tents.

One thing that definitely made him smile was seeing several small families that had formed in the last year.  A few couples had gotten together and already had children...only infants yet, but there were several.  He saw a Bouncer sitting on the ground with a tiny baby boy in his lap, the infant waving little fists at his father.  Another Bouncer was walking with his heavily pregnant girlfriend, taking almost exaggerated care to help her along.  Eddie grinned particularly wide at the sight of one particular pair...a dark-haired Headbanger with a thin mustache and a masculine symbol necklace, and a giggling blonde Razorgirl at his side.  Both of them were wearing small leather backpacks rigged up to allow them to carry their babbling twin daughters.  Those were the oldest children in Bladehenge at the moment...having been born only five months after the end of the war...eight months after the couple had met, which made Eddie know exactly how good a job of wingmanning he had done after all.  Ophelia had been very worried to realize one of her Razorgirls had been fighting in a war while pregnant, especially when the girls had been born earlier than expected.  But she, backed up by a bassist, had delivered the healthy newborns herself, and the girls were thriving.

Just like Bladehenge.  A lot had changed around what had once been nothing more than a scrubby military base.  Small stone and wood cottages dotted the landscape, with a few tents here and there.  A section had been carefully fenced off, and two partitions held Raptor Elk and Razorfire boars, kept for easy food.  A garden...not a great one, but pretty damn good for a first attempt, was also growing near the top of the area, and water holes had been dug close by to keep long supply trips to a minimum.  In the very center was a large statue...a memorial to their fallen king, Lars, placed there after the end of the war and tended to carefully ever since.

Hardly a bustling metropolis, but overall, yes, Eddie could tell that Bladehenge, and it's inhabitants, were thriving just like those baby girls.  Considering how things had been when he arrived, Eddie could never quite help a swell of pride knowing he'd had any part in making it this way.  He kept it to himself, of course...but he still felt it.

His mood was immediately ruined by another belch, and he winced, tapping himself on the chest again.  "God, my stomach's a mess.  I wish there were antacids in this time."

"What's an antacid?" Ophelia asked, glancing up at him.

"Eh, don't worry about it.  I'm just gettin' old."

Ophelia snorted, and Eddie chuckled a bit himself, stepping forward and pulling aside the curtain that led inside of Lita's "war tent" as Eddie had come to think of it.  Lita had loosened up on some things, but he hadn't been able to convince her that they could talk strategy and army business in the comfort of one's home, she insisted on having an area specifically dedicated to it.  He'd just let that one go...no reason to needlessly agitate her over something that really didn't matter that much.

Lita and Mangus were already inside, looking over a map spread out on a long table, but they looked up when Eddie and Ophelia entered.  "Good, you made it," Lita said, somewhat neutrally nodding to them.

"Hey, I said I'd be here, and I'm here," Eddie said, coming over to stand at a corner of the table, looking down at the map of the continent.  "You guys got any notions yet?"

"Well, we can't really finalize anything until we hear back from the Baron and Rima, but we sent scouts this morning to fill them both in on what's going on and get their ideas," Lita replied, tapping her halberd against the ground slightly.  "Killmaster told me last night to just let him know when and where we'd need his men and he'd have them there, so that's covered."

"And the Roadies will be there whenever we need them to be, so I can go talk to them myself," Eddie added, nodding somewhat.  "So we can plan out everything but the Zaulia and the Fire Barons."

"I feel pretty confident that we can make assumptions that they'll want in on the patrols though," Lita responded.  "Anything that gives them chances to go into battle."

"The only problem is, we don't know what direction the demons really came from, so we can't pick a choke point to try and block off any more big armies," Ophelia said, leaning against the table and studying the map.

"There's places we can establish as choke points, though," Eddie said, pointing out spots.  "This bridge in the jungle, and the paths in and out of the Pleasure Dome remains are a couple.  Then down here from the area north of the Temple of Ormagoden too, in case they're back up to shit out there."

Lita nodded her agreement.  "There's places on the paths though the mountains, too.  Anywhere that the cliffs are so steep on both sides, we can hold ground easily."

"There's a good one right down the road from our house," Ophelia said with a nod, glancing to Lita with something of a knowing look.  "That'll definitely be a good place for a patrol."

Lita caught the intent and nodded as well.  "I know the spot you mean, and you're right, that would be a good place."

If Eddie was aware of the slight plotting going on, he chose not to comment on it, instead just going over the map again.  "Unfortunately, there's too much open land around here for us to really have any way of effectively covering Bladehenge.  We might just have to build perimeters and post people at the warning lights again to try and cover that."

"That worked before, I think it'd work again," Mangus said, nodding.  "It's just a question of who do we put where and for how long?"

"How many people do we have able to go out?"

"Basically anyone who isn't taking care of children," Ophelia said.  "So nearly everyone."

Lita nodded again, looking up...and she startled immediately.  Eddie had his elbows on the table, resting his chin in his hands and staring thoughtfully at the map, the wheels obviously turning in his head as he was arranging and rearranging different groups of soldiers to go to each particular point.

So intent in his thoughts, in fact, that he seemed utterly unaware of the fact that a thin trail of blood was slowly leaking from his nose.  "Um...Eddie?"

"Hunh...what?"  Eddie tore himself from his thoughts and looked up at her.  Mangus and Ophelia had looked to him as well, and they both immediately had the same vaguely confused expressions as Lita.  "What, what's everybody looking at?"

"Dude, you okay?" Mangus asked, reaching up to point to his own nose.

Eddie frowned at him, then put a hand to his nose, blinking at the feel of liquid, glancing at it on his fingertips and making a face.  "Ah, shit."  He immediately pinched his nose and tilted his head forward, making a face and stepping away from the table.  "I don't suppose anyone just happens to have a tissue."

"What'd you do?" Lita asked, putting her halberd on her back and moving around to get a closer look. "Did you walk into something on the way here?"

"No, no, it's fine," Eddie said, looking at his hand, then pinching his nose again, accepting a torn cloth from Mangus as it was offered and dabbing at the blood.  "I'm so used to being up in the mountains, it's probably just the lower elevation or something."

Ophelia wasn't convinced, and she reached out to touch his arm.  "Maybe we better go see Killmaster."

"What, for a nosebleed?  It's fine."  Eddie glanced at the cloth, then touched his fingers to his nose again.  "Hell, looks like it's already stopped.  Like I said, it was probably just some little thing from the air or something, it's no big deal.  I just don't want to get any on the map."  He turned back to the table, changing the subject.  "So I'm thinking we need distance shooters in every patrol...we'll need to get the Headsplitters back online because we don't want to spread the Razorgirls out too thin."

Ophelia was still staring at him.  "Eddie, are you sure-?"

"Hey, come on, we need to decide about these patrols, Ophs," Eddie said, glancing back up at her, offering a reassuring grin.

She glanced at Lita, who shrugged, and with a sigh, Ophelia rejoined Eddie at the table, looking at the map.  The four of them spent a little while looking over the area, discussing further different areas and what warriors would fit best there, and plugging any holes that might be left.  Within about half an hour, they had things pretty well figured out, save for needing to hear back from Rima and the Baron.

"Well, that's as good as it's gonna get for now," Lita said, putting a finishing mark on part of the map.  "But so far as I can tell, that keeps everyone covered and gives us a way to get quick warnings around if there's any more demon sightings.  And now everyone knows to look out for the damn things."

Mangus straightened, crossing his arms.  "I can take the bus around and start dropping people off as soon as we need to.  We can at least get our guys out there and let the others catch up when they're ready."

Eddie nodded as well.  "Ophs and I can take turns doing meal deliveries too.  That way we can check in with everybody too, keep up with anything they see."

"What about the Zaulia and Fire Barons?" Ophelia asked.

"Again, I think it's pretty safe to assume they'll want in on anything that has a potential for battle," Lita said with the barest smile.  "Rima won't be happy about not getting to be on the front lines, though."

"I wouldn't put it past her to stay out there until she's big and heavy though," Ophelia chuckled.  "She'd argue that so long as she's on Baby, she doesn't have to worry about walking or getting around, and the cat'll do most of the work for her."

"Well, surely Kage will convince her to at least stay towards the back of the pack," Mangus said.

Lita shook her head ruefully, then turned back to Eddie and Ophelia.  "I'm guessing you guys are going to be headed back to your house tonight?"

"Hopefully so, as much as I love to visit, I'd feel better being further into the mountains.  That seems like the most likely area an attack could come from to me," Eddie said.  "That's the last place we saw demons before this last batch, anyway?"

"From the Sea of Black Tears, you mean?" Lita asked.

Ophelia narrowed her eyes, almost instinctively, but Eddie spoke up quickly before anything more could be said.  "Well, that's where Doviculus was hanging out last, so yeah, that's what I mean.  Since no one's been back to check since, we don't know what could be going on in there."

"And no one will be risking their lives going back to check, either," Lita said flatly, looking back at the table.  "We've had enough trouble from that Sea for a lifetime."

"Lita-," Ophelia started to say.

"I just said from the Sea, Ophelia, that's all.  Don't jump down my throat for that."

Eddie and Mangus traded another look, shaking their heads.  As civil as the women could be with each other most of the time, the Sea of Black Tears was still a sore point between them that the men doubted would ever truly go away.  Even now Ophelia looked ready to press the fight, but Mangus stepped in to interrupt again.  "So should I start getting together the first bus load?"

Lita considered a moment, then shook her head.  "No.  We'll tell the guys to get their Headsplitters functional so at least one of those can escort the bus.  You'd be a sitting duck otherwise."

"I could go with Mangus at least part of the way," Eddie said.  He started to step around to the side of the table, but stopped short, an odd look on his face as he tapped his chest again.

"Still heartburn?" Ophelia asked, coming around to put a hand on his arm.

"Yeah, I think so.  Guts are a little cramped up, is all."

Lita frowned.  "Eddie, maybe you do need to go see Killmaster."

"For what?  An upset stomach after drinking half the night?  He'd throw us off the top of the mountain and then spit on us for wasting his time."

"And the bloody nose?"

"So I had a bloody nose!  Look, I know you girls are freaked out because of yesterday, but I'm fine.  It's nothing abnormal, it's just a little-,"  He stopped, eyes widening, and abruptly spun away from the table, dropping to his hands and knees, and retched violently.  Before anyone else could react, he was throwing up...and the other three gasped when it looked to be nothing but pure blood splattering to the ground.

"Oh God, Eddie!"  Ophelia moved closer, crouching next to him and putting her hands on his shoulders.

Eddie was panting for breath, mouth and chin stained red, looking in wide-eyed shock at the dark puddle below him.  He hesitantly reached up to wipe his mouth on the back of his hand, staring at the crimson stain across his skin.  No one said anything for a few seconds, stunned into silence.  Finally, however, Eddie spoke up, voice uncharacteristically soft.

"Okay.  Let's go see Killmaster."

Description
Ophelia came awake the next morning slowly, a little blearily.  After she and Eddie had gone to the bathing pools together, they'd met up with a few other citizens and spent a fair bit of the night sitting around a fire, drinking beer and swapping stories, before the two of them finally shuffled back to the room they were staying in for the night, barely taking the time to exchange good night kisses before collapsing in an exhausted pile on the bed.  She felt Eddie still curled up against her back, one arm draped over her, but as soon as she shifted, he spoke up.

"Mornin', Ophs," he said softly.

"How long have you been awake?" she asked, reaching down to take the hand resting on her stomach and squeezing it lightly.

"Eh, few minutes, not real long.  Just haven't been able to convince myself to get out of bed yet.  Stomach feels like crap."

"Yeah, same here."  Ophelia moved to sit up, groaning a little at the feel of the cool air against her bare skin as she looked down at him.  He was still on his side, looking up at her sleepily.  "We really shouldn't have drunk that much."

"Eh.  Not the first time, won't be the last."  Eddie finally pushed himself up to sit up next to her, rubbing his eyes.  "How late is it?"

Ophelia leaned across him to a small window in the wall next to the bed, pulling aside a leather flap, both of them immediately moaning as a spark of bright sunlight came through.  She quickly pushed it back over the window.  "Late enough that we're gonna be in trouble if we don't get up now."

"Mmmmph."  Eddie laid back down and buried his face in the pillow, grabbing her's as well and pulling it over his head.  "I told Mangus I'd help Lita with the guard assignments this morning."

Ophelia got to her feet, stretching out, and moving to pick up her clothing, starting to pull her jeans on.  "All right, c'mon, get up, then, we need to get going."

Eddie grouched slightly, but finally sat up, wincing and putting a hand to his stomach as he did.  "God, I feel like I could just chunk all over the place."

"Well, if you do, try not to get it on your clothes."  She picked up his jeans and threw them to him.  "Come on, we need to hurry before Lita comes looking for us."

Eddie grumped a bit more, but got up and started getting himself together as well.  Ophelia chuckled slightly as she pulled her belt into place and pulled on her shirt.  Eddie wasn't usually in a sour mood first thing in the morning, except after a long night, but she knew once he'd had something to eat, he'd perk right up.  "Come on, we can take enough time to stop at the fire pit and get some boar for breakfast before we go."

Eddie mumbled and grumbled a bit more, but with a minimal amount of coaxing, Ophelia had him dressed and on his way down to the pit, where a couple of the Razorgirls were cooking some of a pig's meat.  Nearby, a large pot was boiling over a fire, and a Headbanger was happily cooking small, carrot-like vegetables in it.  "Mornin', guys!" one of the girls said, waving happily.

"Morning, girls!" Ophelia said happily, accepting a carved bowl with servings of the meat and vegetables in it.  Eddie managed a smile for them, but didn't say much else...merely following after Ophelia as she picked a nearby log to sit on, then starting to pick at his food.  Ophelia dug into her breakfast, rather famished, but after a couple minutes of eating in silence, she glanced over to see Eddie's bowl was mostly untouched, and he was staring into the distance.  "Aren't you hungry?"

"Eh, not really..." Eddie said, nevertheless bringing his attention back to the bowl, pulling a few pieces of the meat loose and nibbling at them.  "Not for roast pig first thing in the morning anyway.  We need to find other birds that lay real eggs around here."

"I think the Sickle Wraiths-,"

"Other birds.  Not those things.  Yeeuck."

Ophelia snickered a little.  "You like roast boar when it's cut thin and fried."

"Well, yeah, that's practically bacon!  That's morning food.  This is dinnertime food."

"It's all the same meat.  You're just a picky eater."

Eddie responded to that with a small belch, then patting himself on the chest, wincing.  "I am not.  I just have heartburn.  And a hangover.  Gimme a break."

Ophelia chuckled a bit, finishing off her meal, standing.  "Well, if you're not gonna eat, then let's just go find Lita and get this planning done so we can get back home."

Eddie shrugged, taking one last reluctant bite before standing, taking the bowls back to the Razorgirls and thanking them for the food, then he and Ophelia started making their way through the village.  Eddie took hold of Ophelia's hand as they walked, both just for the sake of holding her hand, and as a way to keep himself on track as he looked around while they walked...otherwise he tended to walk into walls and trip over tents.

One thing that definitely made him smile was seeing several small families that had formed in the last year.  A few couples had gotten together and already had children...only infants yet, but there were several.  He saw a Bouncer sitting on the ground with a tiny baby boy in his lap, the infant waving little fists at his father.  Another Bouncer was walking with his heavily pregnant girlfriend, taking almost exaggerated care to help her along.  Eddie grinned particularly wide at the sight of one particular pair...a dark-haired Headbanger with a thin mustache and a masculine symbol necklace, and a giggling blonde Razorgirl at his side.  Both of them were wearing small leather backpacks rigged up to allow them to carry their babbling twin daughters.  Those were the oldest children in Bladehenge at the moment...having been born only five months after the end of the war...eight months after the couple had met, which made Eddie know exactly how good a job of wingmanning he had done after all.  Ophelia had been very worried to realize one of her Razorgirls had been fighting in a war while pregnant, especially when the girls had been born earlier than expected.  But she, backed up by a bassist, had delivered the healthy newborns herself, and the girls were thriving.

Just like Bladehenge.  A lot had changed around what had once been nothing more than a scrubby military base.  Small stone and wood cottages dotted the landscape, with a few tents here and there.  A section had been carefully fenced off, and two partitions held Raptor Elk and Razorfire boars, kept for easy food.  A garden...not a great one, but pretty damn good for a first attempt, was also growing near the top of the area, and water holes had been dug close by to keep long supply trips to a minimum.  In the very center was a large statue...a memorial to their fallen king, Lars, placed there after the end of the war and tended to carefully ever since.

Hardly a bustling metropolis, but overall, yes, Eddie could tell that Bladehenge, and it's inhabitants, were thriving just like those baby girls.  Considering how things had been when he arrived, Eddie could never quite help a swell of pride knowing he'd had any part in making it this way.  He kept it to himself, of course...but he still felt it.

His mood was immediately ruined by another belch, and he winced, tapping himself on the chest again.  "God, my stomach's a mess.  I wish there were antacids in this time."

"What's an antacid?" Ophelia asked, glancing up at him.

"Eh, don't worry about it.  I'm just gettin' old."

Ophelia snorted, and Eddie chuckled a bit himself, stepping forward and pulling aside the curtain that led inside of Lita's "war tent" as Eddie had come to think of it.  Lita had loosened up on some things, but he hadn't been able to convince her that they could talk strategy and army business in the comfort of one's home, she insisted on having an area specifically dedicated to it.  He'd just let that one go...no reason to needlessly agitate her over something that really didn't matter that much.

Lita and Mangus were already inside, looking over a map spread out on a long table, but they looked up when Eddie and Ophelia entered.  "Good, you made it," Lita said, somewhat neutrally nodding to them.

"Hey, I said I'd be here, and I'm here," Eddie said, coming over to stand at a corner of the table, looking down at the map of the continent.  "You guys got any notions yet?"

"Well, we can't really finalize anything until we hear back from the Baron and Rima, but we sent scouts this morning to fill them both in on what's going on and get their ideas," Lita replied, tapping her halberd against the ground slightly.  "Killmaster told me last night to just let him know when and where we'd need his men and he'd have them there, so that's covered."

"And the Roadies will be there whenever we need them to be, so I can go talk to them myself," Eddie added, nodding somewhat.  "So we can plan out everything but the Zaulia and the Fire Barons."

"I feel pretty confident that we can make assumptions that they'll want in on the patrols though," Lita responded.  "Anything that gives them chances to go into battle."

"The only problem is, we don't know what direction the demons really came from, so we can't pick a choke point to try and block off any more big armies," Ophelia said, leaning against the table and studying the map.

"There's places we can establish as choke points, though," Eddie said, pointing out spots.  "This bridge in the jungle, and the paths in and out of the Pleasure Dome remains are a couple.  Then down here from the area north of the Temple of Ormagoden too, in case they're back up to shit out there."

Lita nodded her agreement.  "There's places on the paths though the mountains, too.  Anywhere that the cliffs are so steep on both sides, we can hold ground easily."

"There's a good one right down the road from our house," Ophelia said with a nod, glancing to Lita with something of a knowing look.  "That'll definitely be a good place for a patrol."

Lita caught the intent and nodded as well.  "I know the spot you mean, and you're right, that would be a good place."

If Eddie was aware of the slight plotting going on, he chose not to comment on it, instead just going over the map again.  "Unfortunately, there's too much open land around here for us to really have any way of effectively covering Bladehenge.  We might just have to build perimeters and post people at the warning lights again to try and cover that."

"That worked before, I think it'd work again," Mangus said, nodding.  "It's just a question of who do we put where and for how long?"

"How many people do we have able to go out?"

"Basically anyone who isn't taking care of children," Ophelia said.  "So nearly everyone."

Lita nodded again, looking up...and she startled immediately.  Eddie had his elbows on the table, resting his chin in his hands and staring thoughtfully at the map, the wheels obviously turning in his head as he was arranging and rearranging different groups of soldiers to go to each particular point.

So intent in his thoughts, in fact, that he seemed utterly unaware of the fact that a thin trail of blood was slowly leaking from his nose.  "Um...Eddie?"

"Hunh...what?"  Eddie tore himself from his thoughts and looked up at her.  Mangus and Ophelia had looked to him as well, and they both immediately had the same vaguely confused expressions as Lita.  "What, what's everybody looking at?"

"Dude, you okay?" Mangus asked, reaching up to point to his own nose.

Eddie frowned at him, then put a hand to his nose, blinking at the feel of liquid, glancing at it on his fingertips and making a face.  "Ah, shit."  He immediately pinched his nose and tilted his head forward, making a face and stepping away from the table.  "I don't suppose anyone just happens to have a tissue."

"What'd you do?" Lita asked, putting her halberd on her back and moving around to get a closer look. "Did you walk into something on the way here?"

"No, no, it's fine," Eddie said, looking at his hand, then pinching his nose again, accepting a torn cloth from Mangus as it was offered and dabbing at the blood.  "I'm so used to being up in the mountains, it's probably just the lower elevation or something."

Ophelia wasn't convinced, and she reached out to touch his arm.  "Maybe we better go see Killmaster."

"What, for a nosebleed?  It's fine."  Eddie glanced at the cloth, then touched his fingers to his nose again.  "Hell, looks like it's already stopped.  Like I said, it was probably just some little thing from the air or something, it's no big deal.  I just don't want to get any on the map."  He turned back to the table, changing the subject.  "So I'm thinking we need distance shooters in every patrol...we'll need to get the Headsplitters back online because we don't want to spread the Razorgirls out too thin."

Ophelia was still staring at him.  "Eddie, are you sure-?"

"Hey, come on, we need to decide about these patrols, Ophs," Eddie said, glancing back up at her, offering a reassuring grin.

She glanced at Lita, who shrugged, and with a sigh, Ophelia rejoined Eddie at the table, looking at the map.  The four of them spent a little while looking over the area, discussing further different areas and what warriors would fit best there, and plugging any holes that might be left.  Within about half an hour, they had things pretty well figured out, save for needing to hear back from Rima and the Baron.

"Well, that's as good as it's gonna get for now," Lita said, putting a finishing mark on part of the map.  "But so far as I can tell, that keeps everyone covered and gives us a way to get quick warnings around if there's any more demon sightings.  And now everyone knows to look out for the damn things."

Mangus straightened, crossing his arms.  "I can take the bus around and start dropping people off as soon as we need to.  We can at least get our guys out there and let the others catch up when they're ready."

Eddie nodded as well.  "Ophs and I can take turns doing meal deliveries too.  That way we can check in with everybody too, keep up with anything they see."

"What about the Zaulia and Fire Barons?" Ophelia asked.

"Again, I think it's pretty safe to assume they'll want in on anything that has a potential for battle," Lita said with the barest smile.  "Rima won't be happy about not getting to be on the front lines, though."

"I wouldn't put it past her to stay out there until she's big and heavy though," Ophelia chuckled.  "She'd argue that so long as she's on Baby, she doesn't have to worry about walking or getting around, and the cat'll do most of the work for her."

"Well, surely Kage will convince her to at least stay towards the back of the pack," Mangus said.

Lita shook her head ruefully, then turned back to Eddie and Ophelia.  "I'm guessing you guys are going to be headed back to your house tonight?"

"Hopefully so, as much as I love to visit, I'd feel better being further into the mountains.  That seems like the most likely area an attack could come from to me," Eddie said.  "That's the last place we saw demons before this last batch, anyway?"

"From the Sea of Black Tears, you mean?" Lita asked.

Ophelia narrowed her eyes, almost instinctively, but Eddie spoke up quickly before anything more could be said.  "Well, that's where Doviculus was hanging out last, so yeah, that's what I mean.  Since no one's been back to check since, we don't know what could be going on in there."

"And no one will be risking their lives going back to check, either," Lita said flatly, looking back at the table.  "We've had enough trouble from that Sea for a lifetime."

"Lita-," Ophelia started to say.

"I just said from the Sea, Ophelia, that's all.  Don't jump down my throat for that."

Eddie and Mangus traded another look, shaking their heads.  As civil as the women could be with each other most of the time, the Sea of Black Tears was still a sore point between them that the men doubted would ever truly go away.  Even now Ophelia looked ready to press the fight, but Mangus stepped in to interrupt again.  "So should I start getting together the first bus load?"

Lita considered a moment, then shook her head.  "No.  We'll tell the guys to get their Headsplitters functional so at least one of those can escort the bus.  You'd be a sitting duck otherwise."

"I could go with Mangus at least part of the way," Eddie said.  He started to step around to the side of the table, but stopped short, an odd look on his face as he tapped his chest again.

"Still heartburn?" Ophelia asked, coming around to put a hand on his arm.

"Yeah, I think so.  Guts are a little cramped up, is all."

Lita frowned.  "Eddie, maybe you do need to go see Killmaster."

"For what?  An upset stomach after drinking half the night?  He'd throw us off the top of the mountain and then spit on us for wasting his time."

"And the bloody nose?"

"So I had a bloody nose!  Look, I know you girls are freaked out because of yesterday, but I'm fine.  It's nothing abnormal, it's just a little-,"  He stopped, eyes widening, and abruptly spun away from the table, dropping to his hands and knees, and retched violently.  Before anyone else could react, he was throwing up...and the other three gasped when it looked to be nothing but pure blood splattering to the ground.

"Oh God, Eddie!"  Ophelia moved closer, crouching next to him and putting her hands on his shoulders.

Eddie was panting for breath, mouth and chin stained red, looking in wide-eyed shock at the dark puddle below him.  He hesitantly reached up to wipe his mouth on the back of his hand, staring at the crimson stain across his skin.  No one said anything for a few seconds, stunned into silence.  Finally, however, Eddie spoke up, voice uncharacteristically soft.

"Okay.  Let's go see Killmaster."