Nyt spelling bee solver

I’ve got a few hair and beard mods installed and went into creation kit to edit him to my liking, but after I save my changes and load the game he still looks like this. Any advice? The changes loaded once, and then I went back into CK to remove a moustache from Brand-Shei, and Bryn is back rocking the look of my ex-boyfriend’s dad.
Modlist:
# This file was automatically generated by Mod Organizer.
+Overwrites
+Northern Roads - Patches Compendium
+Northern Roads Patch Collection
+Northern Roads
+Books of Skyrim SE - Redux
+Better Khajiit female body Texture for UNP and CBBE body
+Minotaurs - Mihail Monsters and Animals (SE-AE version) (''oblivion'')
+Better Pelts and Hides
+Ryn's Dragon Mounds Collection
+KS Hairdos - HDT SMP (Physics) - Khajiit Patch
+KS Hairdos - HDT SMP (Physics)
+ADXP I MCO ER Twinblades (SCAR Precision)
+Lore Weapon Expansion SE
+Nicos Twinblades SE
+Twinblades of Skyrim
+The Forgotten City
+Dragon.Priest.by.Kajuan
+Elden Parry
+ECPLW -ENB Complex Particle Lights for Windows-
+Bellyaches HD Dragon Replacer Pack (SE)
+Another Race Menu Rotation Mod
+Ryn's Azura's Shrine
+Skyland Noble Furniture
+Khajiit Has Wares - A Caravan Camp Overhaul
+Seasoned Traveller Armor SE-AE
+Animated Potions
+Mythic Dawn armor SE
+Inquisitor HDT-SMP Armor
+Dual Casting Fix
+Traveling Mage HDT-SMP Armor
+NPCs React To Necromancy (And More)
+JS Dwemer Control Cube SE
+Vampire Lines Expansion
+Open Animation Replacer
+Cinematic Dragon Soul Absorbtion
+Dawnguard Armors and Weapons Retexture SE
+Conditional Expressions Extended
+Toggleable Night Eye Vampire Werewolf and Khajiit
+Emerald Khajiit Vampire Eyes
+Dragonbone Ebonsteel Armor SE
+Frankly HD Dragonbone and Dragonscale - Armor and Weapons
+NPCs React To Invisibility
+Weathered Furniture - Common and Upper Class - 4K - 2K (LE Backport)
+Prince and The Pauper Refine
+JS Purses and Septims SE
+JS Knapsacks SE
+Asura's Guard
+League of Assassins - Dark Brotherhood Retexture
+League of Assassins Armor
+Base Object Swapper
+Improved Alternate Conversation Camera
+Face Masks of Skyrim
+OBIS SE Patrols Addon
+OBIS SE - Organized Bandits In Skyrim Special Edition
+Immersive Patrols SE AE
+LeanWolf's Better-Shaped Weapons - All in One Installer
+Frankly HD Imperial Armor And Weapons - Sleeves and Pants Edition
+Frankly HD Imperial Armor and Weapons
+RS Children Patch Compendium
+Vanargand Animations - Dual Wield Normal and Power Attacks
+Patch for RS Children Overhaul
+Vitruvia - skin texture overhaul for males - SE
+JS Instruments of Skyrim SE
+JS Common Cages SE
+JS Attunement Sphere and Lexicons SE
+Immersive folded hands (DAR)
+JS Shrines of the Divines SE
+Masculine Khajiit Textures (Grey Cat and Leopard) [Vanilla]
+Prince and the Pauper SE - RS Children Patch
+RS Children Overhaul
+Misc. College of Winterhold Tweaks
+Obscure's College of Winterhold
+College of Winterhold The Missing Apprentices Quest Fix
+College of Winterhold - Quest Expansion - markers
+College of Winterhold - Quest Expansion
+Vanilla SMP Clothing waccf ace patch
+Prisioner robes fix
+Better Fur - fine patch
+Vanilla SMP Clothing
+CACO Ordinator Alternate Patch
+Vanilla Cow Tweaks- Mihail Monsters and Animals (SE-AE version)
+Heart of the Beast - Werewolf Sound - Remastered - SSE PORT
+Daedroth Titans- Mihail Monsters and Animals (SE-AE version) (''oblivion daedra'')
+Wraith-of-Crows - Mihail Monsters and Animals (SE-AE version) (''nocturnal'')
+Savage Wolves
+More Hircinic Aspects of Hircine- Mihail's Shards of Immersion (SE-AE version)
+Lustmord Vampire Armor - SSE CBBE BodySlide (with Physics)
+Kellan HDT-SMP Armor
+Frost Giant Overhaul- Mihail Monsters and Animals (SE-AE version) (''karstaag'')
+Cow Replacer- Mihail Monsters and Animals (SE-AE version)
+Birds of Prey and Felsaad Terns- Mihail Monsters and Animals (SE-AE version)
+Apocrypha's Currency- Mihail's Shards of Immersion (SE-AE version) (''coin'')
+Glorious Doors of Skyrim (GDOS)
+Security Overhaul SKSE - Lock Variations
+Frankly HD Thieves Guild Armors
+Giant.by.Kajuan
+Fur Bedroll 2-4k
+Draugr.by.Kajuan
+Troll.by.Kajuan
+Skeleton.and.Human.Bones.by.Kajuan
+Edmond's HD Nordic Snow with Parallax
+Nordic Snow
+Hedge Mage Armor SSE
+Craftable Blood Potions SSE
+Illustrious Whiterun - Alt Stonefloor 4K 2.0
+Leviathan Animations II - Greatsword Non Combat Locomotion
+Leviathan Animations II - Greatsword Low Stance
+Vanargand Animations - Sneak idle walk and run
+Vanargand Animations - Sneak Thrust Attacks
+Vanargand Animations - Sneak Strike Attacks
+Leviathan Animations - Two-Handed High Stance
+Vanargand Animations - Dual Wield Sneak Thrusts
+Vanargand Animations - Dual Wield Sneak Strikes
+Vanargand Animations - Female Idle Walk and Run
+Vanargand Animations - Male Idle Walk and Run
+Goetia Animations - Female Idle Walk And Run
+Goetia Animations - Male Idle Walk And Run
+Leviathan Animations II - Female Idle Walk And Run
+Leviathan Animations II - Male Idle Walk And Run
+Conditional Armor Type Animations
+Leather Armors Retexture SE
+Fashions of The Huntsmen- A Leather Armor variation mod (Armor Pack- CBBE-3BA and HIMBO)
+Mysticism - Ordinator Patch
+Mysticism - A Magic Overhaul
+Lux - Illustrious Whiterun - Parallax'd
+Illustrious Whiterun SE - 8K - Parallax
+Teldryn Serious Patch
+DX Necromancer Robes - HDT-SMP Physics and 3BBB Bodyslides
+The Caller - DX Necromancer Robes
+3D Whiterun Trellis
+Immersive Equipment Displays
+HDT-SMP Traveler's Backpack - My Version
+HDT-SMP Traveler's Backpack
+Simple Dual Sheath
+Weapon Keyword Unification Project
+Keyword Item Distributor
+Nightingale Armor and Weapons Retexture SE
+Skaal Coat Alternative Texture
+Hearthfires Extended and Creation Club Fishing Patch
+Spell Research Add-On - Book Transformation Spell
+Terrain Fixes for CC Mods
+Necromancers Amulet Replacement
+Immersive Spell Learning
+Wintersun patch
+Spell Research - Ultimate Add-On Patch
+Altered Spell Tomes for Spell Research - Tweaks
+Spell Research - Convenience Add-On
+Spell Research - Spell Composing
+Altered Spell Tomes for Spell Research 1
+Altered Spell Tomes for Spell Research-Apocalypse
+Altered Spell Tomes for Spell Research
+Spell Research Patch Compendium Redux 357 patches
+Origins Of Forest - Lakeview Manor Patch
+Technicolor Alchemy - CACO - More Growable Plants Patch
+Complete Alchemy and Cooking Overhaul (CACO) and More Growable Plants SE compatibility patch
+SIC SE - Add-Ons and Patches
+CACO - Beyond Skyrim Bruma Patch
+Spell Research - Experience Book
+Spell Research
+kryptopyr's Patch Hub
+Bloodchill Manor (CC) __ CACO
+Cutting Room Floor __ CACO
+Opulent Thieves Guild - FPS Fix
+Opulent Thieves Guild - Sneak Tools compatibility patch
+Quaint Raven Rock - Ghosts of the Tribunal Patch
+More Growable Plants SE
+Cathedral - 3D Solstheim Grass
+SmoothCam - Octavian's Preset
+Pets of Skyrim - JK's Skyrim Compatibility Patch
+SmoothCam - Soft Preset
+WACCF Sneak Tools Patch
+Sneak Tools Embers XD Patch
+Sneak Tools SE Edition
+Wayfarer's Coat CBBE
+Wayfarer's Coat
+Sleeping Expanded - Animations and NPC reactions
+Archmage Apparel
+Ars Metallica - Smithing Enhancement
+Hunting in Skyrim - A Hunting Guild SE
+Diverse Werewolves Collection SE Player
+Diverse Werewolves Collection SE
+Werebeast GrowlVanilla Spruce-up
+Unleashed Sacrosanct and Growl Racial Abilities SE - (Werewolf and Vampire racial abilities for custom races)
+Growl and Sacrosanct Hybrid
+Gender-specific Werewolf Transformation Sounds (Vampire Lords optional)
+Elden Counter
+Wildcat - Combat of Skyrim
+Set of Skills
+ADXP I MCO ER rapiers (SCAR)
+ADXP I MCO ER Katana (SCAR)
+Realistic Halberd Poleaxe Animation(MCO SCAR)
+Goetia Animations - Enchanted Staves
+Favorite Misc Items
+Simple Outfit Manager
+Hunting Grounds Outfit
+SIRENROOT - Patch 1.04
+SIRENROOT - Deluge of Deceit
+ADXP I MCO ER Spear Basic Animation (SCAR)
+Skyrim Spear Mechanic SE
+Cathedral - 3D Rocky Shores
+FurArmorSetSE(FrostFall Aware) ordinator
+High Poly Gleamblossoms
+Goetia Animations - Conditional Shouts
+HD Baskets Textures
+SCAR AE Support
+Trade and Barter - Patches
+Circlet USSEP Fixes
+Wintersun - Creatures
+Skyrim Immersive Creatures Special Edition
+Sunhelm Survival Patch for Hearthfire Extended
+Forsworn Dreadlocks for Beast Races
+Guild Leader Perks
+Hearthfire Carriage Destinations
+Hearthfire Improvements - A Lightweight Extension
+Better Dynamic Ash SE
+Hearthfire Shrines Expanded
+College Prestige Mage Outfit SE
+DX Necromancer Robes - SSE CBBE BodySlide
+DX Necromancer Robes - UNP
+Better Treasury House
+Illuminated Blue Palace Dome
+ENB Particle Lights - Dwemer Lanterns
+Unique Solstheim Grass
+Better beast race scars
+Reach Tree Replacer SSE
+Better fur - Fine clothes
+Beyond Skyrim - Bruma Upscaled Textures (BSBUT) Armour
+Beyond Skyrim - Bruma Upscaled Textures (BSBUT)
+Thundering Shouts
+Nibenean Armors and Outfit SE - UNP - UNPB - CBBE
+Technicolor Alchemy Overhaul - Unique Alchemy Plants for Skyrim SE
+Forsworn Fashions- More Variety for forsworn (Armor Pack- BHUNP CBBE 3BA and HIMBO)
+Wilderness Witch Outfit CBBE
+Wilderness Witch Outfit
+Unique Flowers and Plants SSE
+Imperial Fine Clothes
+Conditional Expressions - Subtle Face Animations
+Immersive Interactions - Animated Actions
+FurArmorSetSE - CBBE Bodyslide Conversion
+FurArmorSetSE - Muted Color Retexture
+FurArmorSetSE(FrostFall Aware)
+Cathedral - 3D Snow Berries
+3D Plants Patch - Snowberries
+Saints and Seducers Flora ENB Light
+(DISCONTINUED) CBBE Armour and Clothing Conversions for Beyond Skyrim - Bruma
+Rare Curios - BS Bruma Synergy Patch
+Cathedral - Armory - Gemling Queen Jewelry Patch
+2K Ring of Namira Retextured
+White Phial Replacer SE
+Stalhrim Source
+Bandit Lines Expansion
+2k Retextured Ring Of hircine
+Solstheim Lighthouse
+Wyrmstooth Upscaled Textures
+Missives - The Witcher Board HD
+Sovngarde HD
+Missives - Notes Retexture
+HD Sleeping Tree Sap Replacer
+HQ Tree Bark
+Arri's Snow Elf Ruins Retexture Special Edition
+VioLens - A Killmove Mod SE
+Cathedral 3D Mountain Flowers for Hearthfire
+Lux Via - Cathedral Mountain Flowers
+Hitting the Books - A Necromantic Grimoire Update
+Simple Bath for Bloodchill Manor
+Conditional Dog Barking (DAR)
+Werewolf Animation and Sneak Extension (DAR)
+Kaidan Lux
+Kaidan Inigo
+Kaidan 3dnpc
+Axarien's Animations - Lucien (DAR)
+Axarien's Animations - The Companions - Vilkas Farkas Aela (DAR)
+Axarien's Animations - Inigo (DAR)
+Skyrim Wayshrines - Immersive Fast Travel - SWIFT SE
+SUEMR SSE with Bijin AIO 2019 Support
+Black_Sacrament_Armor_V4-1_High Def_PortedSSE
+Immersive Sounds Compendium - PATCHES
+Enhanced Blood Textures
+Hunterborn SE MCM
+I'm Glad You're Here - a follower and spouse appreciation mod - SSE - Bard patch
+Skyrim's Got Talent - Improve As a Bard
+Immersive Vampire Clutter - Base Object Swapper (BOS)
+Moss Shaders Restored - Cut Content Restoration
+Missives
+Realistic Skooma
+Daedric Shrines - All in One
+8K Night Skies - Stars and Galaxies - Cathedral Concept
+Breezehome by Lupus - Lux - Embers XD - Patch
+Breezehome by Lupus
+Simple Breezehome Garden
+I'm Glad You're Here - a follower and spouse appreciation mod - SSE
+Quest Outfit Replacers - Party and Radiant Raiment Fine Clothes
+Ordinator - Slower Leveling Speed and Increased Training Costs
+Growl - Werebeasts of Skyrim
+BA Bard Songs
+Colovian Leather Armor and Outfit SE - UNP - CBBE - Update
+Colovian Leather Armor and Outfit SE - UNP - CBBE
+Auto Input Switch
+Vampire Sun Damage Clothes Covering
+All Thieves Guild Jobs Concurrently
+Arena - An Encounter Zone Overhaul
+Immersive Load Screens for ArteFakes
+ArteFakes - Unique Artifacts Replacer animation
+ArteFakes - Unique Artifacts Replacer plugin
+ArteFakes - Unique Artifacts Replacer
+JK's Interiors Patch Collection
+Better Third Person Selection - BTPS
+Queen of the Damned - Deadlier Serana_SE
+Serana Dialogue Edit - Skyrim Special Edition
+Anima Nera - SerketHetyt's Serana Overhaul
+Respectable Inventory -- Well-Stocked Alchemists
+Character Creation Overhaul - Races - Birthsigns - Classes - Skills - Specializations - Attributes - update
+Character Creation Overhaul - Races - Birthsigns - Classes - Skills - Specializations - Attributes
+Smart NPC Potions - Enemies Use Potions and Poisons
+RUSTIC AMULETS - Special Edition
+Wintersun - More Patches
+Precision
+Crimson Nirnroot Markers
+Bandolier - Bags and Pouches for NPC
+Bandolier - Bags and Pouches Classic
+Book Covers Skyrim
+Trade and Barter
+Tribunal Robes and Masks for SSE
+Volkihar Knight - Vampire Armor
+Sovngarde - A Nordic Font
+Triumvirate - Mage Archetypes
+The Midden - Expanded
+Stones of Barenziah Quest Markers
+Take a Seat - New DAR Sitting Animations
+Rudy HQ - Miscellaneous SE
+The Beauty of Skyrim - Caves and Mines
+Quaint Raven Rock Patch Collection
+Quaint Raven Rock - SE
+Ordinator - No Timed Block
+Valhalla Combat
+Skyshards
+Sacrosanct - Vampires of Skyrim
+Run For Your Lives
+Prince and the Pauper SE
+Gemling Queen Jewelry SE
+Khajiit Will Follow - Fix
+Khajiit Will Follow
+Coats for Skyrim - UPDATED - SSE
+Bruma Signs SMIM patch - SE
+Wait Your Turn - Enemy Circling Behaviour
+Wealthy Marks - A Pickpocket Mod (SPID)
+Thieves Guild Dialogue Fix - USSEP Compatible
+Wear Multiple Rings
+Point The Way
+High Level Enemies
+Dirt and Blood - Dynamic Visual Effects
+Follower Trap Safety
+Immersive Khajiit Armor and Weapons - Rebalance and Integration
+Lunar Guard Armor
+VickusDickus' Khajiiti Apex Armory - skeleton
+VickusDickus' Khajiiti Apex Armory
+Payload Interpreter
+SmoothCam
+Apocalypse - Magic of Skyrim - Ordinator
+Apocalypse Spells For NPCS
+Apocalypse - Magic of Skyrim
+Vanargand Animations - One Handed Power Attacks
+Goetia Animations - Sneak Magic
+Goetia Animations - Magic Spell Casting
+EVG Conditional Idles
+Gesture Animation Remix (DAR)
+Animated Armoury - DAR Version - New Weapons with animations
+Vanargand Animations - One Handed Mid Stance
+Vanargand Animations - One Handed Normal Attacks
+Vanargand Animations - Sneak Archery
+Lively Children Animations (DAR)
+NPC Animation Remix (DAR)
+Animation Motion Revolution
+MCO Universal Support
+Attack MCO-DXP
+The Companions - Earn your stripes
+Pickpocketing 5Ever
+Awesome Potions Simplified -ENB Lights
+Awesome Potions Simplified by Revoith
+Dawnguard as a vampire
+Improved Companions - Questline Tweaks
+Medieval Spirits
+Gildergreen Regrown
+Hearthfire Extended - Cutting Room Floor Patch
+Hearthfire Extended
+Coin Purse - An Overhaul For Skyrim
+Summermyst - WACCF Patch
+Summermyst - Enchantments of Skyrim
+Saints and Seducers - Growable Plants
+Opulent Thieves Guild Patch Collection
+Skyrims Unique Treasures
+True Directional Movement - Modernized Third Person Gameplay
+XP32 Maximum Skeleton Special Extended
+Wintersun - Faiths of Skyrim
+Dragon Claws Auto-Unlock
+Project New Reign - Nemesis Unlimited Behavior Engine
+Lind's Black Robes Revamp - Texture Replacer
+Moon Monk's Robes
+Skyforge Weapons - Reforged
+Inigo - Bloodchill Manor patch
+Cult of the World Eater - Dragon Priests Buff Alduin
+Deadly Dragons
+SCAR - Skyrim Combos AI Revolution
+RUSTIC SOULGEMS - Special Edition
+Face Discoloration Fix
+Miscellaneous Embers XD Patches
+Vanilla hair remake SMP compatibility
+Vanilla hair remake SMP
+BeastHHBB - VHR SMP
+ShowRaceMenu Alternative - Lux patch
+ShowRaceMenu Alternative
+Tempered Skins for Females CBBE
+Vanilla hair remake SMP NPCs (real hair)
+Superior Lore-Friendly Hair - HD textures
+VHR - Vanilla Hair Replacer
+Barbarian Bodypaints - Racemenu Body and Head Overlays for UUNP CBBE and Males
+Beards of Power - Sons of Skyrim - Vanilla Hair Remake SMP
+Beards of Power - Sons of Skyrim
+Normal Vampire Face For High Poly Head
+Whiter Teeth for ALL (SE)- Orc Khajiit Argonian Werewolf
+BeastHHBB - Khajiit and Argonian content - player character and NPC replacer addon
+BeastHHBB - Khajiit and Argonian content - player character and NPC replacer
+Khajiit Aesthetics Compilation - Hair Eyes Fangs
+Better Beast vampire fangs - fixes and adjustments - Argonian and Khajiit
+Kala's Eyes- Beast Race Edition Khajiit Argonian
+The Witcher 3 Eyes SE
+Vanilla Warpaints Absolution
+Apachii Sky Hair SSE
+CoverKhajiits - Face Textures 4K SE
+Pretty Khajiit SE
+The Eyes Of Beauty SSE
+Total Character Makeover
+Weathered Nordic Bodypaints -Special Edition- RaceMenu Overlays and Warpaints
+Beast Race Bodypaints SE -Khajiit and Argonian Themed Bodypaints Facepaints RaceMenu Overlays-
+Community Overlays 2 (31-50) Bodypaints Warpaints Tattoos and more made for the Community (Special Edition)
+High Poly Head SE
+BodySlide and Outfit Studio
+Caliente's Beautiful Bodies Enhancer -CBBE-
+Xelzaz' Telvanni Spellsword Armor Enhanced
+Xelzaz - Custom Fully Voiced Argonian Telvanni Follower - Wyrmstooth
+Xelzaz - Custom Fully Voiced Argonian Telvanni Follower
+Lux Via Wyrmstooth
+Remiel-Custom Voiced Dwemer Specialist and Companion
+Lucien - Immersive Fully Voiced Male Follower - Bruma
+Lucien - Immersive Fully Voiced Male Follower - Curios
+Lucien - Immersive Fully Voiced Male Follower - S+Zombies
+Lucien - Immersive Fully Voiced Male Follower - Saints
+Lucien - Immersive Fully Voiced Male Follower
+Daughter of Valenwood - An Auri Replacer
+Song of the Green (Auri Follower) - Inidog
+Song of the Green 3dnpc
+Song of the Green Auri
+INIGO
+Kaidan 2 Weapons Revamped - Katana Bow and Quiver with Arrows
+BWB-Kaidan-2-Armor-Revamped-Dragon
+BWB Kaidan
+Kaidan 2
+Interesting NPCs SE (3DNPC) - Rumarin Solstheim
+Interesting NPCs SE (3DNPC) - Cutting Room Floor
+Interesting NPCs SE (3DNPC) - AI Overhaul
+Interesting NPCs SE (3DNPC)
+Opulent Thieves Guild
+Ordinator for Spell Perk Item Distributor
+JK's Skyrim - Thunderchild patch
+Thunderchild - Epic Shouts and Immersion
+JKs Skyrim - AI Overhaul SSE Patch
+JK's Skyrim
+Lanterns Of Skyrim II
+Real 3D Walls
+Solstheim landscape and furniture
+Rudy HQ - Nordic Ruins SE
+-Skyrim 202X 9.0 - Architecture
+-Skyrim 202X 9.0.1 - Other
+Skyrim 202X 9.0 - Landscape
+Skyrim 202X by Pfuscher - Formerly 2020
+Books of Skyrim SE
+Colovian Noble Clothes
+RUGNAROK - Special Edition
+PELTAPALOOZA - Special Edition
+Dark Brotherhood Robes Replaced
+Dark Brotherhood Enchantments Improved
+4thUnknown - Ancient Shrouded Armor Replacer
+Dark Brotherhood Armor SE
+Cathedral - Armory update
+Cathedral - Armory
+aMidianBorn Book of Silence SE
+Fashions Of The Banditry- A bandit-focused Armor Pack (BHUNP-CBBE-3BA-HIMBO) CBBE
+Fashions Of The Banditry- A bandit-focused Armor Pack (BHUNP-CBBE-3BA-HIMBO)
+Artesian Cloaks of Skyrim
+Cloaks of Skyrim HD SSE
+Winter Is Coming SSE - Cloaks Patch
+Cloaks of Skyrim SSE
+Vampire Royal Armor Replacer HDT-SMP Cape
+HDT-SMP for Cloaks and Capes
+Winter Is Coming SSE - Cloaks
+Faster HDT-SMP
+Nightingale Hall Restored - Karliah As A Follower
+Black Mage Armor SE
+Mage Outfit Texture Overhaul - Schools of Magic SSE (Revised ESP Only) - WACCF
+Mage Outfit Texture Overhaul - Schools of Magic SSE (Revised ESP Only)
+Mage Outfit Texture Overhaul - Schools of Magic
+RUSTIC FURNITURE - SPECIAL EDITION
+Hunterborn Ordinator Bone Arrow patch
+Hunterborn
+Campfire Patch for Water-Borne Diseases for SunHelm
+SunHelm Survival - Compatibility Patches
+Skills of the Wild - New Campfire Survival Skill Trees
+SunHelm - Creation Club Farming Patch
+Water-Borne Diseases for SunHelm
+SunHelm Survival
+Warm Drinks SSE - Simple Tea And Coffee Recipes - for Campfire
+Campfire - Complete Camping System (Supports Skyrim VR)
+Ordinator - Rat king - Other Creatures
+Ordinator Beyond Skyrim Patch
+Ordinator - Perks of Skyrim
+Skyrim 3D Trees and Plants - CACO Patch
+Complete Alchemy & Cooking Overhaul
+Wyrmstooth
+At Your Own Pace - Main Quest
+At Your Own Pace - Thane Overhaul
+Defeat the Dragon Cult
+Weapons Armor Clothing and Clutter Fixes - CBBE Patch
+Player Blink Fix
+Teldryn Serious - A Teldryn Sero Backstory Quest SSE
+Immersive College NPCs - No Saarthal (Compatibility for Ryn's Saarthal)
+Immersive College NPCs
+Ryn's Ustengrav
+Ryn's Saarthal
+The Brotherhood of Old - Dark Brotherhood Continued
+Ryn's Bleak Falls Barrow
+Magical Blackreach
+JK's Silver-Blood Inn
+JK's The Bannered Mare
+JK's The Winking Skeever
+JK's Warmaiden's
+JK's The Drunken Huntsman
+JK's Sleeping Giant Inn
+JK's Radiant Raiment
+JK's Arcadia's Cauldron
+JK's Belethor's General Goods
+JK's Dragonsreach
+JK's Angeline's Aromatics
+JK's Bits and Pieces
+JK's Blue Palace
+JK's Candlehearth Hall
+JK's Elgrim's Elixirs
+JK's White Phial
+JK's Mistveil Keep
+JK's New Gnisis Cornerclub
+JK's Sadri's Used Wares
+JK's Palace of the Kings
+JK's The Temple of Mara
+JK's The Pawned Prawn
+JK's The Bee and Barb
+JK's Arnleif and Sons Trading Company
+JK's The Hag's Cure
+JK's Understone Keep
+JK's Jorrvaskr
+JK's Riverwood Trader
+JK's Temple of the Divines
+JK's Temple of Talos
+JK's Temple of Kynareth
+JK's Temple of Dibella
+JK's Haelga's Bunkhouse
+JK's High Hrothgar
+JK's Castle Dour
+JK's Septimus Signus's Outpost
+JK's The Bards College
+DLC Content
+Realistic Conversations
+Relationship Dialogue Overhaul - RDO SE
+AI Overhaul SSE
+Cutting Room Floor - SSE
+Fuz Ro D-oh - Silent Voice
+Unlimited Bookshelves
+Practical Patches-Replacers for Skyrim 3D Trees and Plants - Nightshade
+Waterplants
+3D Plants Patch - Tundra Cotton
+3D Plants Patch - Lavender
+3D Plants Patch - Nirnroot by Mari and Rudy's Light
+Practical Patches-Replacers for Skyrim 3D Trees and Plants - Mountain Flowers
+3D Plants Patch - Deathbell with Rudy's Purple Light
+Cathedral - 3D Clover Plant
+Cathedral - 3D Thicket and Dead Shrub
+Cathedral - 3D Grass Library
+Cathedral - 3D Thistle
+Cathedral - 3D Mountain Flowers
+Cathedral - 3D Tundra Cotton
+Cathedral - 3D Deathbell ENB
+Cathedral - 3D Deathbell
+Cathedral - Mushrooms
+Origins Of Forest - 3D Forest Grass
+Immersive Sounds - Compendium
+Lux
+Lux Via
+Embers XD
+Wet and Cold SE - Cathedral Weathers Patch
+Wet and Cold SE
+Rudy ENB Cathedral Weathers ADDONS and REQUiRED Files
+Cathedral Weathers and Seasons
+Whiterun Objects SMIMed (and fixes too)
+Armor and Clothing Extension
+Weapons Armor Clothing and Clutter Fixes
+RUSTIC CLOTHING - Special Edition
+Guard Dialogue Overhaul SE
+Obsidian Mountain Fogs
+Water for ENB
+ENB Light Inventory Fix (ELIF)
+Bright Snow Fix for ENB
+Bright Waterfall Fix for ENB
+ENB Helper SE
+ENB Light
+Less Distracting Blowing Snow Effects for ENB Particle Patch
+Enhanced Volumetric Lighting and Shadows (EVLaS)
+Landscape Fixes For Grass Mods
+No Grass In Objects
+Static Mesh improvement Mod - SMIM - Quality Addon
+Skyrim 3D Trees and Plants
+Cathedral - Plants
+Landscapes - Cathedral Concept
+Static Mesh Improvement Mod
+Mfg Fix
+NORDIC UI - Miscellaneous Patches
+Nordic UI Active Effects for SkyUI SE
+SkyUI Weapons Pack SE
+Expanded Dawnguard Map Markers
+NORDIC UI - Interface Overhaul
+Experience
+iHUD and True HUD Patch
+TrueHUD - HUD Additions
+Immersive HUD - iHUD Special Edition
+SkyHUD
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Background: I was an only child my entire life. I’m in my late 20s living with my paternal family, my Dad, Stepmom, etc. I have two younger sisters from them, under 7. I just need to get this out of me or I’ll explode.
My oldest little sister is learning her phonics. B is bb, bb, bb. K is cuh, cuh, cuh. S is sss, sss, sss. That sort of stuff.
She had a test coming up in school and our parents have been working with her on it since she does online school. Today is the test. She is an excellent student, very smart, charismatic, just a lovely girl. She also has ADHD. If you can tell where this is going, I’m sorry.
I’ve tried many times to tell them that she’s not being disobedient or disrespectful. She’s 7 years old and has ADHD. The entire family acts as if that means nothing and brushes me off every time. They’ve even started yelling at and threatening me for saying so.
So, today, our Dad is going over the alphabet with her and she’s doing so good. She literally only misses, like, 3 or 4 and they’re ones that are universally difficult like Q or X, or ones she’s consistently had an issue with like J. And yet everytime she sails through the other fucking 20, our Dad starts blaming her for “not focusing” because she’s leaning on a fucking table, or shes picking at her fingers. You know, like anxious children with ADHD who routinely get yelled at and threatened do.
He literally starts yelling at her, shaking with seething anger, getting in her face and saying she’s on punishment, she’s not focusing, she’s disobedient, this is why she’s getting them wrong, etc..
They do this cycle a few more times and every time he’s getting angrier and angrier, trying to literally force her to sit still, not move, not look at anything else, not speak, not laugh, so she can focus.
She has ADHD. She is 7 years old.
He starts yelling at her “it’s R! RRR! RRR! RRRR!! RRRRRR!!”
She’s about to break down because we all fucking know she’s trying, she literally aced the other 20+, a grown man is yelling in her 7 year old girl face about a fucking R.
He does a speed run through and.. she gets them all right.
He immediately claps extremely loudly and proclaims “CONGRATULATIONS! You DID IT! Are you so PROUD OF YOURSELF?! You SHOULD BE! CONGRATULATIONS!! COME HERE and GIVE ME A BIG HUG!!” And proceeds to talk to her as if he’s her coach that got her into the national and she’s just won. “You just needed to be pushed! I knew you could do it!” Shit like that. Then he says the dumbest shit he could possibly say and says “because you did all of them, you’re no longer on punishment! Even if you don’t ace the test later, it doesn’t matter because you did it! I’m gonna tell Mommy that you did it, and you won’t get on punishment at all, no matter what! You just needed to know you could do them all!”
Please don’t report or ban me for saying this, please understand.. but I wanted to shoot him in the fucking face. I wanted to strangle him with my bare hands. (I do not have access to firearms and I would never hurt someone else unless in self defense)
What kind of fucking monster completely abuses and traumatizes their own child over a glorified kindergarten spelling bee, forces them to hug him, then tells them that they did it all for their own good and will no longer be punished because they got 100% under literal threat and duress instead of the 90% she already knew?
I’ve healed from the utter horror I experienced with my family, but I feel like I’m trapped in a nightmare. I love my sisters with my entire heart, but I sometimes find myself thinking how fucked up it is that they came into this world right as I was leaving the family for good and now I’m forced to stay and be witness to this terror because I refuse to abandon them the way literally every adult in my life, on both sides of my family, did to me. They just stood there and watched. And now I’m putting myself and them in danger every time I stand up for them.
It’s a fucking nightmare.
Edit: they’ve done this run through a few more times and she’s gotten it right every time.. they did it once more and she messed up the R again.. guess what he said? I’ll give you three.. oh I can’t hold onto it! “If you get the R wrong again, you’re on punishment!!” Fucking sadistic lying asshole.

Hello fellow Dyslexic people, my first post on Reddit. 50 F with Dyslexia, 2 kids under 18, Diagnosed 15 years ago with Dyslexia and ADHD 10 years ago.
I bombed terribly at school and was always in special reading and writing classes. I feel like I have lived my life underperforming in all areas of it.
I work in an office environment so communication and following through is a real issue for me.I often feel really different. alone and frustrated with myself as I have not been very successful. I know I am unique and have some amazing talents - I am an awesome problem solver and big-picture thinker. I have been told so many times in my life I have an amazing brain but I just haven't been able to get to where I want to go and it just feels like a struggle.
I wish there was a magic potion I could take that would work or make a difference. I know there is Ai and maybe other tools but I have not really had much luck with anything. I have paid for so many courses and never completed any of them.
My issues are way more than spelling and grammar and I do really get sick of everyone thinking that it is all the same.
This is what it is like for me:I can't get my thoughts onto paper.I never finish anything.I get overwhelmed (a lot)I procrastinate a lot
I struggle to break tasks down
I often don't follow through
I am so disorganized.It takes me 10 minutes to write a 3-sentence email.
I lose my ph and keys weekly.
I can not remember names. car rego, other important tasks.
Are there other people like me on here that have ADHD as well? Do you deal with the same things as me? I have been told previously my execution function skills are really poor. There must be things that can help. What works for you?

I’m not an American, so it seems such a waste of valuable time for children to me.
What do they win or gain from these contests?

Howdy, I'd like to preface that these are the house rules for my 5e game I've been running for a year. It's a high powered, magic heavy save the world game where the PCs all have either a high station or a magical destiny. A lot of monsters are altered from official sources to be stronger, but vulnerabilities are more common. Lots of RP, but combat tends towards deadly when it occurs. Feel free to rip and tear for anything OP. I just wanna hear what y'all think.
First up, Elemental casting: This rule is for those who wish to have a specific element in which they specialize. This rule allows a caster to change the damage types of their spells on a long rest.
Looking through the book, there are very few spells that are totally reliant on the type of damage they do (save things like Cone of Cold or Call Lighting but even then we can work something out). This lets people chose to be a pyromancer, a cryomancer, or nearly any type of element they wish.
However, there are a few important things to note. The more powerful Extraplanar damage types, Psychic, Radiant, and Necrotic are their own category and you may not switch an Elemental spell damage for an Extraplanar one, but may change out Extraplanar for elemental. There are also spells with Physical damage types (bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing). You may also change these to another physical damage type, but not for any other type. For instance, Ice Knife (cold-piercing) becomes Thunder Blade (thunder-slashing) or something similar. Force is in its own category due to it being pure magic.
Here's a quick table to glance at to check what you can switch out. Physical damage: Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slashing.
Elemental damage: Cold, Fire, Lightning, Acid, Poison, Thunder.
Extraplanar damage: Radiant, Necrotic, Psychic.
Pure: Force
Next up, Minor Magics: Casting classes automatically get access to 1 of the 3 minor effect cantrips. Prestidigitation, Thaumaturgy, or Druidcraft depending on your class without needing to expend a Cantrip. This goes aongside the Spellcasting feature of your class. It makes little sense that an Archmage capable of destroying a city via Meteor Swarm isn't able to light a candle. This also applies to half and quarter casters.
Exhaustive Casting: If a spellcaster runs out of spell slots, they can reach deep within themselves to use their life force instead of mana and cast a spell regardless. Consequences depend on spell slot level: 1-3: one level of exhaustion 4-8: one level of exhaustion per level above 2 (e.g. 5th level spell is 3 levels of exhaustion) 9: You instantly die and disintigrate

• spell must be prepared
• you must have the spell slots unlocked for that level. No casting Wish unless your at least a level 17 Wizard.

Feats at level 1: Exactly what it says on the tin. So long as you can give a good explanation of how it fits your backstory, you can have it.
Cleaving: It's in the DMG but I forget it sometimes, so it's here. If you deal enough damage to kill an enemy with a melee attack, but there is still damage left over, you can carry that damage over to another creature within your reach if the attack roll would have hit them.
Example: Goblin with 7HP hit for 26 damage, a 2nd Goblin within range takes 19, a 3rd takes 12 and so on until there is either no damage, no enemies, or the attack wouldn’t hit.
Alternative Critical Hit: When you score a natural 20 to hit, roll damage as normal. Afterwards, add additional damage equal to the max the dice rolled. (example, a greatsword critical hit would be 2d6+Str+12)
Action Point System: This is a pretty simple rule. It works to aid in making combat more interesting. This rules that if you do not use your action on your turn or do not get to use your readied action, you get 1 action point which can be used on a future turn. You may only have 1 action point at a time, and it goes away at the end of combat.
When used, it grants an extra action on your turn. This acts much like an action granted by the Haste spell. You can use it for anything a regular action can do except for attacking, in which case you may only make a single attack. This does not allow more that 1 leveled spell per turn or an extra use of Sneak Attack, as these are turn specific. For example, a Barbarian may Reckless Attack but take the Dodge Action, canceling out the Advantage.
This was implemented to make inaction feel like less of a waste of a turn and rewards waiting until the opportune moment or ambushing a target.
Finally, New improvised combat: This rule is literally just here because I thought is was fun. Improvised combat rules in 5e aren't very fun and I thought to spice it up a little with higher damage depending on the type of improvised weapon, at the cost of an ability check to do so. Think of things like Jackie Chan movies where the guy uses a ladder to fight off bandits or in westerns where people are throwing tables, or in You're next where the lady straight up uses a blender on a guy. These things aren't weapons that are made to be wielded, but they are heavy and dangerous if used properly.
Most normal items (cups, a rock, your brothers kinda big Master Chief figure) will still likely do a d4 of damage as they don't carry as much weight or danger necessary for these extra rules. However, something that can do real damage (an anvil, a chain, nunchucks, your brother's Master Chief figure but with a nail through it) may fall under 1 of 2 improvised weapon properties.
Hefty: This is an unbalanced, heavy item that generally weighs more than 30 pounds. It takes an athletics check use and a seperate attack roll to hit with as part of the attack action. If you fail this check, the attack is either wasted or turned back to a d4 as you failed to wield it properly.
Unwieldy: This is a finicky, hard to control item that requires great poise to properly use lest it damage the wielder. It requires a slight of hand check to use and a seperate attack roll to hit as part of the attack action. If you fail this check, the attack is wasted or turned back to a d4 as you failed to wield it properly.
In terms of damage dealt by weapons with such properties, the damage usually starts at 2d4 and goes up by how heavy or dangerous the item is. This isn't based on concrete rulings and separate effects may take place, such as grappling with a chain or blinding someone by throwing a bee hive at their head. this rule is to encourage creative play and make you guys think twice on what might be more fun than swinging your sword.
These rules have been pretty fun thus far and have brought many joy to my table. I'd love to hear your guys' questions, comments, and concerns.

"Think of this as a chance at revenge," Sweeney said.
​
Revenge.
​
What a moronically quaint idea.
​
This jumped up little shit had come into my home, interrupted my retirement and here he was talking to me about revenge, as if he knew the first thing about what I’d seen, what I’d been through, why I’d quit.
​
Looking into his eyes, I knew he didn’t understand. I knew he couldn’t.
​
I've been hunting vampires for most of my life. I've killed more of them than I can count. But Clementine Di Cesare was no ordinary vampire. Hell, none of the Di Cesares were ordinary vampires, but even among them Clementine was… unique. She was the one all the others quietly feared. The one who was even spoken of with reverence by the Di Cesares masters, those twin Immortals who could not be killed by any weapon of this world. Seeking revenge against her was like seeking revenge against death itself.
​
“Revenge?” I repeated, with a dismissive scoff.
“You’re really going to tell me that after what she put you through, you don’t want revenge?” Sweeney asked.
“If you knew what she did to me, you’d know why I don’t want revenge,” I replied.
“Really? Sorry Franklin, but I don’t buy that. Look, I get it if you’re reluctant to jump back into the fight. I do. You of all people know just how dangerous the Di Cesare’s are. Especially ‘La Morte’.”
​
I looked over at him as he said that name. It rolled off his tongue so irreverently. To him, it was just a name. An alias assigned to some vampire he’s only heard of stories. He didn’t utter it with the respect it deserved, and I almost couldn’t be bothered to correct him. Any words spent on this small minded glory hound were probably wasted.
​
“Yes, I do know.”
“Which is why I need you,” Sweeney said. He almost sounded as if he were pleading with me. “Think of this as an opportunity to set things right… to put that vampire bitch in the ground where she belongs, and save God only knows how many lives in the process!”
I sighed.
He just didn’t get it.
​
“Mark my words, Mr. Sweeney, if you chase after Clementine Di Cesare, you’ll end far more lives than you save. She didn’t get a name like ‘La Morte’ for nothing. She earned it. Purchased it with the blood of the tens of thousands she’s sent screaming into the maw of Hell. She is not something you chase, Sweeney.”
“She’s a vampire,” Sweeney said dismissively. “She’s another enemy to destroy.”
“That’s what George Bundy said,” I replied. “Then not too long after, he died.”
“I’m not George Bundy,” Sweeney said.
“No. You sure as hell ain’t,” I agreed, before looking the kid in the eye.
​
He thought he was an up and comer, climbing the ranks of the Brethren. He probably thought of himself as some sort of badass vampire hunter too, when in reality he could never have so much as dreamed of holding a candle to the likes of Bundy… or hell, any of the men who’d died in Brazil.
“You should watch your tone with me,” Sweeney warned.
“Or you’ll do what?” I asked, “You ain’t going to frighten me with vague threats, boy. I’ve walked through Hell, trying to kill the Devil. What have you done?”
​
Sweeney bit his lip but didn’t respond.
“There’s nothing you can say or do that will intimidate me,” I said, before lighting myself a cigarette. I stared at the road outside of my porch, old memories flooding back to me before looking over at Sweeney again. He sat in his chair beside me like a sulky child. This was the man who wanted to destroy the Di Cesare family? Pathetic.
​
“Exactly how much do you know about the Brazil Job?” I asked.
“I know it was a failure. Clementine Di Cesare killed most of the men the Brethren sent out… all except for you. You were the only one good enough to beat her.”
“Good enough…” I repeated with a huff, “Hardly… whatever picture you’ve got in your head of some glorified battle, throw it away. Trust me, the Brazil Job was anything but glorious. It was a two hour long trek through Hell. And I didn’t beat Di Cesare at the end of it. I survived her. They’re two different things entirely.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” Sweeney said.
“You wouldn’t, would you?” I sighed and took another drag on my cigarette.
​
This kid wasn’t going to leave until I made him understand… so I told him my story. I told him everything even though I knew he’d learn nothing from it.
​
***
​
I’d joined up with the Brethren Knights of St. Fontaine back in the 1980s to hunt monsters. Back then, it seemed like the best use of my skills. I’d done my tours with the army, but even after I got out, I was still looking for an enemy to fight. So naturally, once I found out that vampires were real, I set my sights on them. It seemed like the most sensible thing to do at the time.
​
The Brethren Knights fancied themselves the descendants of the Knights Templar, and they insisted that their God given mission was to protect mankind from the things that lurked in the shadows. I didn’t really have much love for God at the time, but if the Bretheren were the ones fighting the monsters, then I was happy to tolerate the Jesus freaks in their ranks.
​
It was 1988 when we first heard whispers of the Imperium. A supposed cabal of vampires, trying to get them organized. At the time, it’d seemed too crazy to be true. Vampires generally went their own way, in my experience. At most, they might have a partner but other than they they didn’t really socialize with their own kind. But supposedly someone out there had the big fucking balls to keep them in line, and whoever they were, they scared the shit out of the Brethren.
​
They’d started targeting high profile vampires, trying to find someone who was involved in this ‘Imperium’, hoping that maybe they might get someone to talk. And it wasn’t long until they found someone who did.
​
From my understanding, the vampire they captured didn’t seem to know much about who was actually running the show. But they knew who their second in command was… and that was when I first head about the Di Cesare family.
​
The name was familiar to some of the higher ups in the Brethren, and I’d heard some stories. Not sure which were true, but the long and short of it was that the Di Cesare’s and the Brethren shared a bloody history, and didn’t particularly like each other too much.
​
George Bundy explained it to me like this at one point: ‘The Di Cesare’s are an old family. Most of them used to be witches, up until their Matriarch turned them into vampires. Now they’re a whole new kind of nasty. Far as I know, the only time anyone’s actually managed to kill one was about 200 years ago. Anyone who’s tried since has ended up dead, so most folks don’t even bother anymore.’
​
I guess it shouldn’t have been surprising they’d be involved in the Imperium, but the mere mention of their name ruffled some feathers higher up on the chain of command, and eventually they put out a kill order on them. Most of the Di Cesare’s were generally pretty hard to track down, but the top brass had a pretty good line on their matriarch, Bianca Di Cesare. Supposedly, she’d been spotted near the family’s private estate in Brazil and rumor had it that most of her daughters were there too.
​
Normally, the brass wouldn’t have sanctioned any kind of attack on them. The Di Cesare’s were already considered off limits, and attacking them at their private estate was considered damn near impossible. The estate was located in a small mining town outside of Manaus called Refugio de Julia, or just Julia for short. The town was fairly remote, being only accessible from a few backroads and most folks tended to avoid it, claiming they’d had various strange encounters in the area. Their accounts described unsettling pale figures with dark hair and large green eyes working in the mines, although some of the more disturbing stories we heard involved sightings of other creatures in the jungle surrounding the town. Massive spiders with humanoid faces, tending rotting corpses filled with stinging bees, giant howling beasts who tore through the forest, hunting prey, and beautiful women who would appear in the nearby towns, betwitching men into coming away with them only to reveal themselves as monsters who fed on the blood of their victims. Some had even claimed the Di Cesares themselves were such beasts… although those claims weren’t taken quite as seriously.
​
A skeptic might say the stories that surrounded Julia seemed like little more than just local superstition… but the Brethren had been dealing with the supernatural for long enough to recognize when something was probably real, and when it was probably fake and they knew damn well that most of the stories about Julia were probably true. None of them had ever dared set foot in Julia to find out for sure, since doing so would probably be suicide, but the theory was that the Di Cesares had created Julia as something of a refuge for other creatures. Other vampires, werewolves, arachne, karah and all sorts of other hellspawn. They offered them a home and safety in exchange for their labor in the mines. Hell, the name of the town more or less spelled it out.
​
Refugio de Julia
​
Julia’s Haven.
​
Julia had been the name of the only member of the Di Cesare family that the Brethren had ever killed, so I guess it was only fitting they named the town after her.
​
I honestly think using other creatures like them as a workforce was a bit inspired… since it made Julia damn near impenetrable. Reaching their estate at the far side of the town would have been impossible without being noticed by every creature of hell living in that town, and odds are they’d tear anyone apart long before they even reached the gates of the Di Cesare estate. And if one had the bright idea to approach the estate from another angle, they’d be trudging through miles and miles of rainforest to do so, only end up face to face with a massive stone wall that kept the rainforest out.
​
In effect - the Di Cesare estate was a fortress. Getting in would be no easy feat, to say nothing of confronting the vampires within. But with the fear of the Imperium gnawing at the back of their minds, the Brethren had finally set their minds to trying.
​
George Bundy had been the one in charge of planning the operation out.
​
I’d known Bundy before I’d joined up with the Brethren. Hell, Bundy was the whole reason I’d joined the Brethren. He’d been my CO a number of years back, and he’d earned his reputation as a hardass just about ten or twenty times over. Bundy was a gruff looking man with a bushy moustache and intense eyes. During the years I knew him, I don’t believe I ever once saw him so much as crack a smile. He only ever seemed to speak when he felt there was something he needed to say. Otherwise, he was usually dead silent.
​
He was somewhere in his late fifties back in 88. By all rights, he ought to have retired years ago. But he refused.
“I’m a soldier,” He said, when I asked him about it once. “That’s all I am. I don’t know what else to be.”
​
Bundy’s initial plan had been to hit the Di Cesare estate from the air. Come in fast and loud with a couple of helicopters and see how those vampires stood up to some good old American flak. The idea got shot down pretty quickly, so to speak. Apperantly, most if not all of the Di Cesares had cursed their own bodies, causing whatever wound one inflicted on them to appear on whoever it was who had wounded them. Going in guns blazing would have ended in a bloodbath… and not for them. There were also some concerns about drawing attention from Julia. With no conclusive data on just what they had living in that town, there was no guarantee we’d be safe in the air. A few eyewitnesses had described seeing giant nests in some of the trees in the jungle, supposedly consistent with the nests made by harpies.
​
Flying in guns blazing was out. So Bundy went back to the drawing board and what he came back with… well, it was ballsy, but it almost seemed like it just might work. During his reconnisance of the Di Cesare’s estate, he’d noticed a large but shallow tributary flowing into the amazon river that led right through the Di Cesare’s estate. Along the tributary was an abandoned water mill, that connected to the Di Cesare estate.
​
He’d suggested using the water mill to gain entry to the grounds, and from there, move on the Di Cesare’s. That plan had been approved, and Bundy had been allowed to handpick his team for the operation. He’d chosen fifteen men, all of them ex military, most of them having served under him before.
​
He’d told us we would be dividing into three teams of five men each. We would leave Manaus by boat, and land at three different areas near the tributary before making our way to the mill on foot, where we would regroup, before moving on the Di Cesares. The reason for the division was to ensure that if any of our teams ran into trouble upon making ground, the entire operation wouldn’t be compromised.
​
Team 1, led by Bundy himself would depart first and land to the west of the tributary. Team 2, led by a man named Ferdinand Hernandez would make land about fifteen minutes later near the mouth of the tributary and Team 3, to be led by me would land fifteen minutes later to the east.
​
On the day of the operation, I sat in my boat, watching as the other two left. It was twilight when we set out, and I remember that as my team and I carried out our final checks on our equipment, the only thing I felt was a familiar anticipation.
​
I’d hesitate to call it fear. Fear is what came later. Anticipation is the better word. I knew we could be walking into a tough situation… but I trusted Bundy. I trusted he’d run a smooth op. God knew, he’d done it a thousand times before.
​
The team assigned to me wasn’t anything particularly special. They were competent enough, but none of them would’ve been my first choices. Jack McMullen, for instance, who was about the same age as I was at the time. We’d both served under Bundy before, although while I respected Bundy, Jack was wholly devoted to him. I swear, if the man had told him to stuff a live grenade up his ass, Jack would’ve done it without a moments hesitation. I dunno if Jack simply saw him as the father he’d never had or what, but he damn near worshipped Bundy.
​
I can’t quite say the same for the other guys we had with us, though. One of them, some greenhorn by the name of Pearce Wilson struck me as an airheaded pretty boy who’d never actually had his boots on the ground before, while the other one, Scott Barber had left a bad taste in my mouth last time we’d worked together. Barber was capable… but he was violent. This was a kid with a hell of a chip on his shoulder, and it looked a hell of a lot like that Confederate flag patch he wore on his jacket. He wanted an excuse to shoot something, and I don’t think he cared what. Under most circumstances I’m not sure I would’ve fully trusted him with a gun.
​
The last one though, Joseph Feng… him I trusted. Feng was the one I knew the least about, and he didn’t seem much for conversation. But he handled himself competently enough and seemed to know when to sit down and shut up.
​
When Team 2’s boat was far enough away, we got the radio signal to follow. Barber was the one steering the boat, so I gave him the order to cast off and we ventured out into the twilight, unaware of just what was waiting for us out there.
​
***
​
We landed in our designated area fifteen minutes after Team 2 confirmed they’d touched down at theirs. Our landing was fairly uneventful. Feng, Barber, and I secured the boat before we radio’d Bundy to let him know we were in position. After that, it was just a matter of making it to the tributary.
​
As we ventured into the jungle, the world around us was quiet. There was wind, the whisper of the river behind us, and the sounds of animals. But little else. The river fell away behind us as we moved in single file toward the tributary, maintaining radio silence as we did.
​
It was about a half hour before we heard the gunshot.
​
Just one, echoing through the twilight. But it was enough to give us pause.
​
“The fuck was that?” I heard Barber ask. Immediately, the kid was on high alert, with his gun raised as if he were expecting every monster in Julia to come charging at us from all angles.
I just listened, waiting to hear if there was anything else. I half expected my radio to come to life, but it didn’t.
“Team 1, status?” I asked.
The radio crackled with static, but there was no response.
​
I tried it again, but still with no success. The radio was working, that much I was sure of. Something had to be blocking the signal.
“What’s going on?” Feng asked.
“Dunno,” I replied. “Comms are down.”
“Down?” Wilson asked, “So we’re flying blind out here, then?”
“More or less,” I replied.
“What do we do? Do we go back… if the comms are down…”
“Just because something’s jamming our signal doesn’t mean we’re made,” I said. “Relax. We keep moving for now. You keep your eyes wide open, and your head on a swivel. We’ll make it to the tributary and see if we can’t meet up with the other teams.”
I could tell Wilson wasn’t a fan of my answer, but I didn’t much care. We had a job to do, and I aimed to do it.
​
I pressed on without a further word and the others followed. Up ahead, I could hear the sound of running water and picked up the pace. I figured the tributary had to be close… and I was right.
​
I emerged from the brush into the stream, only to pause when I saw what was waiting for us in the water.
​
In the dying sunlight, it was impossible to mistake the bodies sprawled out on the rocks as anything else… and all I needed to do was look at their uniforms to know they were our people.
“Jesus…” I heard Wilson say under his breath. He froze up, lingering by the bank as I cautiously approached one of the bodies.
​
It belonged to a somewhat heavyset man with a thin mustache who I recognized as Hernandez. His eyes were still open, although lifeless and staring in different directions, and there was a clean hole in his forehead where a bullet had ended his life. The gunshot we’d heard earlier had likely been the sound of his death.
​
Looking at the bodies around him, I knew they had to be the rest of Team 2… although it was a little harder pinning down their cause of death. Some sort of bladed weapon, perhaps, judging by the state of them. I realized the odds were that they walked into some sort of ambush.
“What about Bundy and Team 1?” Jack asked, “Any sign of them?”
“No,” I said. “These bodies are all from Team 2… Bundy could still be ahead of us.”
“Then we need to keep going!”
​
Jack turned, heading up the stream and Barber was right behind him. Feng paused for a moment, thinking this over before following. Only Wilson remained.
“How do we know we’re not walking into a trap?” He asked.
“We’ll deal with that when we get to it,” I said before moving to follow the others.
“With all due respect, Sarge… that doesn’t sound like the best course of action!” Wilson argued, finally following me. “It sounds just like a good way to get killed!”
“Yeah?” I asked, “I’m gonna tell you an ugly truth, kid. That’s the job. Make your peace with it, and it’ll go a lot easier.”
​
Wilson didn’t like that answer either and trailed off behind me, watching as I continued upstream. For a moment, I half expected him to go back to the boat… but no. I dunno if he found his balls or just didn’t want to get left behind, but he started to follow us again.
​
I kept trying to raise Team 1 on the radio while we walked, although I still had no luck. The light above us slowly faded into darkness as we trudged through the water in silence, guns sitting comfortably in our hands and mosquitos biting at our necks.
​
It wasn’t until we lost Feng that I heard anybody so much as make a sound, and when we lost Feng… it happened almost instantaneously. One minute, he was at the head of the group, walking just ahead of Jack and I. The next, he was gone, only barely having the time to let out a scream as he fell into the river ahead of us.
​
The rest of us paused. Jack seemed to freeze and I pushed past him, calling out for Feng as I did. As punishment for my compassion, I almost went down after him. I only barely stopped myself from stepping on the slippery rocks that had helped send him to his demise.
​
I could see Feng’s body in the water, and I could see the blood pouring out of him. He twitched a few times, but I knew he was dead. The sharpened wooden spikes jutting out of him confirmed as much.
“What the hell…” Jack said under his breath, staring at Feng’s corpse in disbelief. “That’s a fucking spike trap!”
​
Yeah.
​
It was indeed a fucking spike trap.
​
I could see other spikes jutting out of the water ahead of us, just past a small dam of rocks that were just slippery enough to make it difficult to stop yourself from falling. Some of those spikes had other bodies on them… likely members of Team 1. I only counted two, although that still didn’t exactly bode well.
​
“They put a fucking spike trap in the goddamn stream…” Jack said, “Who the hell does that?”
“Somebody who’s expecting us to use the stream,” I replied.
“So they know we’re coming?” Barber asked.
“Clearly…” I replied. “And they’ve got a good idea on what our route is too.”
​
“Yeah, no shit!” Barber snapped. “Christ… let’s get the fuck out of here. There’s probably more fucking traps upstream!”
“Bundy’s orders were clear!” Jack argued.
“Bundy’s probably dead by now!” Barber replied, before looking at me. “Sarge, come on. You have to know this is suicide!”
“Suicide was part of the job description, was it not?” I asked.
“The job is to kill those fucking vampires, not to die in the goddamn process! We need to get out of the stream and into the woods!”
​
“Judging by the fate Team 2 met, I’m not sure the forest is someplace we want to be right now,” I replied.
“Excuse me?” Barber asked, “What the hell are you talking about, Sarge?”
“Five men dead, but only one gunshot. How did the rest die?”
​
Barber didn’t seem to be able to answer that.
“By now… yes. It’s clear we’ve walked into a trap. And yes, I understand that it makes sense to try and leave that trap… but I don’t know if we’ll be safer in the jungle. Something jumped Team 2. Cut them apart, and then shot Hernandez as a warning. They didn’t have to shoot him. They did it so we’d hear.”
“Your point being?” Barber asked.
“I don’t think this is just a trap, Barber. It’s a game. Stop playing, and you might just end up like our friends downstream.”
“A game?” Wilson asked, “Sarge, you can’t be serious!”
​
“From where I’m standing, we have a better chance of surviving in the stream,” I said. “Look, we’re at least halfway to the rendezvous point, and there have to be at least two members of Team 1 left. The safest thing to do right now is to follow them.”
“You’re off your fucking rocker, Sarge,” Barber spat, locking his eyes with mine. For a moment, I thought the boy was going to try and fight me. But no. He was wise enough to stand down.
“If you wanna get yourself killed, go right the fuck ahead. Just leave me out of it! Wilson, come on,” Barber said before trudging over to the edge of the stream. Wilson didn’t even hesitate, just looking back at Jack and I quietly before he disappeared into the forest with Barber.
​
“You’re not gonna stop them?” Jack asked.
“No,” I replied. “God willing, there’s a chance that pigheaded asshole is right… dunno how much of a chance, but a chance.”
“Then how come we’re not following him?” Jack asked.
“There’s also a chance he’s wrong.”
I turned, before making my way around the spike trap.
“Keep a slower pace,” I said. “Watch for traps.”
​
Jack hesitated for a moment, but he followed me without any further questions and we walked in silence for a little longer.
​
We heard nothing from the trees. Nothing that told us about the fate of Barber and Wilson. I wasn’t sure if that was good news or not.
​
In fact, I don’t think we heard a thing until about a half hour later, when we heard the explosion.
​
It came out of almost nowhere, but ahead of us I could see a flash of light and hear the screams of men. On instinct, I found myself picking up the pace and could hear Jack behind me. In the low light, I saw a shape float past me in the stream. It took me a moment to realize that it was a severed human arm.
​
In the water ahead of us, I could see a figure clinging to one of the rocks and trying to pick himself up. I recognized him as George Bundy.
​
Jack was at his side almost immediately, trying to help the old man to his feet.
“Sir! Are you alright?”
Bundy just wheezed, before his legs gave out from under him. I helped Jack drag him to the shore so he could sit and rest for a moment.
“What the hell was that?” I asked, looking back at the stream.
“Grenade trap… I think…” Bundy panted, “Fucking tripwire… Popkov tripped it, I think…”
​
Popkov… odds are he was one of the two mangled corpses lying in the river a few feet away from us. It seemed they’d taken the brunt of the explosion, although Bundy still had some shrapnel in his arm that Jack was tending to.
“Christ… whole fucking ops gone to shit…” Bundy spat. “Team 2 got taken out just about as soon as they landed. Someone killed them and dumped them in the goddamn river. Lost half my boys to the fucking spike trap and half to this…”
​
He looked up at us, before spitting onto the ground.
“Guess you two haven’t done much better.”
“Hard to say,” I replied. “Two of ours took off into the woods, trying to avoid the traps.”
“Then they’re dead,” Bundy replied. “I’ve seen her watching us… always just up ahead, always from a distance… she’s seeing how far we’ll go. How much we’ll take…”
“She?” I asked.
“La Morte. Should’ve figured she’d be the one to greet us.”
“La Morte?” I asked.
​
“It’s Italian. Supposedly, she earned that name around the time the Di Cesares fled Venice. It’s funny, the Brethren like to act like the Di Cesares leaving Venice was some big victory of theirs, since before they did, they finally killed one of them… hard to call it a victory though, considering how many corpses they made before they fled. And most of them came from La Morte…”
Bundy winced in pain as Jack bandaged his arm before he continued talking.
​
“See… when the Di Cesare’s left Venice, one of them stayed behind. Clementine, the Scorpio sister. Guess she was unwilling to leave the fight unfinished… and according to the stories, the death toll she personally amassed in the years after the Di Cesare’s left Venice make the bodies they claimed during the Venetian Massacre a hundred and fifty years prior look like a pittance. The Brethren still occupying the city started to call her La Morte. Death. Cuz wherever she went, death followed in her wake… and it seems we’ve walked right into her open arms, haven’t we, boys?”
​
“You’re sure it’s her?” I asked.
“She’s a Di Cesare… and the shit we’ve seen out here… I don’t see any other Di Cesare setting those traps. It’s her. I’m sure of it. She’s watching us. Seeing how far we’ll go. Seeing if we’ll turn tail…”
“Should we?” Jack asked, and Bundy finally seemed to acknowledge him.
“Excuse me?” He asked.
“Should we? Look, sir… I’d follow you into the mouth of Hell, but right now, we’re down from fifteen men to three. Can’t say I’m optimistic about our chances right now. If this woman is half as bad as you’re saying she is, maybe it’s time we took a step back!”
​
Jack looked at me, hoping I might back him up, but I remained silent.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Bundy asked.
“What I’m hearing here, is that as of right now, the vampire out there could kill us at any time. She hasn’t. Far as I’m concerned, that’s mercy. Maybe we should be taking it while it’s offered.”
Bundy stared at him, before chuckling. I think it was the first time I’d ever seen him laugh.
​
“Just walk away, then?” He asked.
“Walk away, and come back better prepared!” Jack corrected.
“Walk away,” Bundy said again. “We walk away now, and there won’t be a chance to come back better prepared. We get one shot at this. One. Failure is not an option. We go in there and we kill them or we die. End of discussion.”
“And how exactly are we even supposed to kill them?” Jack asked, “That curse they have… bullets aren’t gonna do shit, sir!”
“Yours won’t, mine will…”
Bundy pulled his pistol from his holster. I noticed some sort of pattern crudely engraved on it.
​
“I’ve been doing some research… studied the curse they put on themselves… and I think I’ve found a way to break it. Not sure if it’ll work yet… but we get one chance to test it.”
Jack stared at the gun, then back at Bundy.
“Sir… do you hear yourself?” He asked quietly, “You can’t be serious… right now, even with that gun we don’t stand a chance in he-”
​
The gunshot echoed through the forest and made me jump. Jack’s voice died in his throat as he hit the ground.
​
Bundy stared at him for a moment, before huffing and holstering his pistol again. He draped his coat over his shoulders, before looking over at me.
“No room for failure, Frank,” He said calmly.
I didn’t know what to say to that. I stared down at Jack’s body, my mouth hanging open slightly. When I looked back at Bundy, he was already back in the stream.
​
There was a tense silence between Bundy and I as I followed him along the final stretch of the tributary. He trudged on ahead, covered in sweat and straining with every step, but I could sense the quiet determination he had to see this through. Looking at him, you could’ve told me that George Bundy could wipe out the Di Cesare’s all by himself and I would have believed it in a second.
​
The night around us was full of sound, and each one drew my attention. I watched the forest, expecting to see some sign of La Morte watching us. But I saw nothing, except for what she wanted me to see.
“Mill’s just up ahead,” I heard Bundy say as we pressed on, although I noticed his steps faltering as he seemed to notice something in the trees above us. I stopped behind him, looking up before seeing what he saw, and when I saw it I felt my stomach turn.
​
I’d seen death before.
But what Di Cesare had left out for us… that was something else.
Pearce Wilson and Scott Barber weren’t dead.
But if they could have spoke, I’ve got no doubt they would have begged us to kill them. Wilsons pretty face was covered in blood and his pouty lips were parted as more trickled out of him. His curly blond hair was matted and I could see crimson there. Tree branches portruded from his ribs, while the loops of his entrails dangled out of his opened stomach. And Barber was in just about the same state, only he seemed to at least have the ability to turn his head to look at us.
​
I think he might have tried to speak, but the only sound he seemed to be able to make was a pained whimper.
“Jesus Christ…” I said softly.
“He had nothing to do with this,” Bundy replied. He took one last look at the two dying men hanging from the trees, before moving on.
“We should put them out of their misery, sir,” I said.
​
Bundy paused, before looking back at me.
“Don’t waste the ammo, Frank,” He replied. “They’re already dead.”
“Not yet they’re not!”
“Give them time. They chose to go into the woods. They can live with the consequences… for however long that lasts.”
​
With that, he left them. If I were a more compassionate man, I would have put them out of their misery. But no. Bundy moved on and so did I.
​
He approached the water mill, before examining it. It was an old building, made of stone that had long since been overgrown by moss, and sat right on the wall that separated the Di Cesares estate from the amazon. It hardly looked secure, even if the only entrance hadn’t just been an old wooden door secured with a padlock, finding a way in wouldn’t have been difficult. And it didn’t take much for Bundy to break through that door. All he needed was a couple of well placed kicks and it swung right open.
​
Drawing his gun, Bundy strode inside and I followed him.
“The Di Cesare’s will be in the main house,” He said. “We should find a way in through the back, try and catch them off guard. Main target should be the matriarch, Bianca. Her we should prioritize keeping alive… the rest are expendable.”
​
“Much as you are, I’m sure.” A voice called from deeper in the mill, and both Bundy and I froze.
I noticed movement on the floor above us, and through the shadows, I saw a tall woman watching us. She was dressed all in black, with blond hair tied back in a ponytail and the intense eyes of a soldier.
​
This had to be Clementine Di Cesare.
​
Bundy aimed his pistol at her, although she only barely seemed to notice.
“Only two of you left… I’m not sure the odds are in your favor,” The woman said. Her voice was low, calm and quiet.
“Only one way to find out,” Bundy growled.
“And only one way to walk out of this place alive,” Di Cesare countered. “You can put the gun down, turn and walk away. I won’t stop you. There’s no shame in living.”
​
“All the bodies you’ve left in your wake… that’s rich,” Bundy said.
“I don’t relish what I’ve done. I simply don’t know how to do anything else,” She replied. “Think about this, Bundy. Over my lifetime, there have been countless thousands who have come to kill me. All of them are dead, but I am not. Even if you could kill me… you could not kill my sisters. Not all of them. Not before they came for you.”
“Just you, would be enough…” Bundy said, before pulling the trigger.
​
I knew he’d hit her. I knew the bullet pierced her shoulder. But that woman… she didn’t even flinch. She simply dove out of the way before he could shoot again, taking cover and avoiding his next shot.
“Frank, upstairs!” Bundy snapped, “Flush her out!”
I went, trudging up the old wooden steps with my rifle drawn. Only to see Di Cesare vaulting over the railing and back down to the ground floor as soon as I made it up there.
​
Bundy shot at her again, only to miss for a second time. I saw Di Cesare’s arm move, and heard him cry out in pain. In the low light, I could see a dagger protruding from his shoulder. He stumbled back a step, leaving himself open for only a split second.
​
That second was all it took for Di Cesare to raise her own gun and fire just one shot.
​
George Bundy hit the ground without so much as a final scream. There was just a simple hole in his skull where she had shot him.
​
I felt my heart start to race faster. My eyes settled on Bundy’s gun, and I ran for the railing, vaulting it and dropping to the ground below with a thud. Di Cesare shot at me, and I felt the bullet tear through my leg. I reached out for the fallen gun and grabbed it before turning it on Di Cesare, only to find myself staring down the barrel of her own pistol. My finger rested on the trigger, but I didn’t have the guts to pull it.
​
"Kill me, and you will not see the sun tomorrow." She said, her voice still cold and calm.
“Killing you is part of the job…” I replied, but my finger still couldn’t squeeze the trigger.
“And is it worth your life?” Di Cesare asked. “You fail your mission either way.”
“And die with some goddamn honor…”
“There’s no such thing as honor. There is alive and there is dead. Choose.”
​
I knew what I was supposed to choose.
​
But my hands were shaking, as I stared into the face of death. My finger couldn’t squeeze the trigger.
​
The gun collapsed to the floor and Di Cesare kicked it away from me, before huffing and lowering her gun.
“Do not return,” She said softly. “Or next time, I will unleash a hell upon you that will make you beg for simple traps.”
​
She picked Bundy’s gun up off the ground, and then she was gone. After I finally picked myself up off the ground, I was gone too.
​
As I walked back along the stream… I passed the corpses of the men we’d left behind. Barber and Wilson, Jack, Feng, Hernandez, and his team. The flies were already feasting on them. Animals had already torn at them. And as I looked down at their cold corpses, I knew I had made the right choice.
​
I filed my report with the Brethren. Told them that Di Cesare had wiped us out, and a few months later I quietly retired. I never looked back.
​
***
​
“You walked away from her?” Sweeney asked in disbelief, “You had her dead to rights and you walked away from her?”
“I chose to live,” I replied. “Can’t say I regret the decision either. Because of the choice I made, I met my wife and had my kids. I’ve lived the life I had because I chose not to throw it away on some vampire.”
​
Sweeney just shook his head.
“You could have gotten the first confirmed kill on a Di Cesare in two centuries, and you threw it away you fucking coward! I could execute you for that!” I noticed his hand hovering over the gun on his hip.
“You could.” I replied, before quietly unholstering the pistol I kept at my side. I aimed it at Sweeney’s head.
​
He stared at me like a slack jawed idiot.
“Would you like to give it a try?”
“W-what…?”
“Would you like to give it a try, Mr. Sweeney? Or would you like to see the sun tomorrow?”
He stared down the barrel of my gun, and I already knew what his choice would be.
​
Sweeney took a step back. I saw his hand move away from his holster, and I lowered the gun with a huff.
“Thought so,” I said.
Mr. Sweeney left me without another word.
I knew he would not return.

"Think of this as a chance at revenge," Sweeney said.
​
Revenge.
​
What a moronically quaint idea.
​
This jumped up little shit had come into my home, interrupted my retirement and here he was talking to me about revenge, as if he knew the first thing about what I’d seen, what I’d been through, why I’d quit.
​
Looking into his eyes, I knew he didn’t understand. I knew he couldn’t.
​
I've been hunting vampires for most of my life. I've killed more of them than I can count. But Clementine Di Cesare was no ordinary vampire. Hell, none of the Di Cesares were ordinary vampires, but even among them Clementine was… unique. She was the one all the others quietly feared. The one who was even spoken of with reverence by the Di Cesares masters, those twin Immortals who could not be killed by any weapon of this world. Seeking revenge against her was like seeking revenge against death itself.
​
“Revenge?” I repeated, with a dismissive scoff.
“You’re really going to tell me that after what she put you through, you don’t want revenge?” Sweeney asked.
“If you knew what she did to me, you’d know why I don’t want revenge,” I replied.
“Really? Sorry Franklin, but I don’t buy that. Look, I get it if you’re reluctant to jump back into the fight. I do. You of all people know just how dangerous the Di Cesare’s are. Especially ‘La Morte’.”
​
I looked over at him as he said that name. It rolled off his tongue so irreverently. To him, it was just a name. An alias assigned to some vampire he’s only heard of stories. He didn’t utter it with the respect it deserved, and I almost couldn’t be bothered to correct him. Any words spent on this small minded glory hound were probably wasted.
​
“Yes, I do know.”
“Which is why I need you,” Sweeney said. He almost sounded as if he were pleading with me. “Think of this as an opportunity to set things right… to put that vampire bitch in the ground where she belongs, and save God only knows how many lives in the process!”
I sighed.
He just didn’t get it.
​
“Mark my words, Mr. Sweeney, if you chase after Clementine Di Cesare, you’ll end far more lives than you save. She didn’t get a name like ‘La Morte’ for nothing. She earned it. Purchased it with the blood of the tens of thousands she’s sent screaming into the maw of Hell. She is not something you chase, Sweeney.”
“She’s a vampire,” Sweeney said dismissively. “She’s another enemy to destroy.”
“That’s what George Bundy said,” I replied. “Then not too long after, he died.”
“I’m not George Bundy,” Sweeney said.
“No. You sure as hell ain’t,” I agreed, before looking the kid in the eye.
​
He thought he was an up and comer, climbing the ranks of the Brethren. He probably thought of himself as some sort of badass vampire hunter too, when in reality he could never have so much as dreamed of holding a candle to the likes of Bundy… or hell, any of the men who’d died in Brazil.
“You should watch your tone with me,” Sweeney warned.
“Or you’ll do what?” I asked, “You ain’t going to frighten me with vague threats, boy. I’ve walked through Hell, trying to kill the Devil. What have you done?”
​
Sweeney bit his lip but didn’t respond.
“There’s nothing you can say or do that will intimidate me,” I said, before lighting myself a cigarette. I stared at the road outside of my porch, old memories flooding back to me before looking over at Sweeney again. He sat in his chair beside me like a sulky child. This was the man who wanted to destroy the Di Cesare family? Pathetic.
​
“Exactly how much do you know about the Brazil Job?” I asked.
“I know it was a failure. Clementine Di Cesare killed most of the men the Brethren sent out… all except for you. You were the only one good enough to beat her.”
“Good enough…” I repeated with a huff, “Hardly… whatever picture you’ve got in your head of some glorified battle, throw it away. Trust me, the Brazil Job was anything but glorious. It was a two hour long trek through Hell. And I didn’t beat Di Cesare at the end of it. I survived her. They’re two different things entirely.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” Sweeney said.
“You wouldn’t, would you?” I sighed and took another drag on my cigarette.
​
This kid wasn’t going to leave until I made him understand… so I told him my story. I told him everything even though I knew he’d learn nothing from it.
​
***
​
I’d joined up with the Brethren Knights of St. Fontaine back in the 1980s to hunt monsters. Back then, it seemed like the best use of my skills. I’d done my tours with the army, but even after I got out, I was still looking for an enemy to fight. So naturally, once I found out that vampires were real, I set my sights on them. It seemed like the most sensible thing to do at the time.
​
The Brethren Knights fancied themselves the descendants of the Knights Templar, and they insisted that their God given mission was to protect mankind from the things that lurked in the shadows. I didn’t really have much love for God at the time, but if the Bretheren were the ones fighting the monsters, then I was happy to tolerate the Jesus freaks in their ranks.
​
It was 1988 when we first heard whispers of the Imperium. A supposed cabal of vampires, trying to get them organized. At the time, it’d seemed too crazy to be true. Vampires generally went their own way, in my experience. At most, they might have a partner but other than they they didn’t really socialize with their own kind. But supposedly someone out there had the big fucking balls to keep them in line, and whoever they were, they scared the shit out of the Brethren.
​
They’d started targeting high profile vampires, trying to find someone who was involved in this ‘Imperium’, hoping that maybe they might get someone to talk. And it wasn’t long until they found someone who did.
​
From my understanding, the vampire they captured didn’t seem to know much about who was actually running the show. But they knew who their second in command was… and that was when I first head about the Di Cesare family.
​
The name was familiar to some of the higher ups in the Brethren, and I’d heard some stories. Not sure which were true, but the long and short of it was that the Di Cesare’s and the Brethren shared a bloody history, and didn’t particularly like each other too much.
​
George Bundy explained it to me like this at one point: ‘The Di Cesare’s are an old family. Most of them used to be witches, up until their Matriarch turned them into vampires. Now they’re a whole new kind of nasty. Far as I know, the only time anyone’s actually managed to kill one was about 200 years ago. Anyone who’s tried since has ended up dead, so most folks don’t even bother anymore.’
​
I guess it shouldn’t have been surprising they’d be involved in the Imperium, but the mere mention of their name ruffled some feathers higher up on the chain of command, and eventually they put out a kill order on them. Most of the Di Cesare’s were generally pretty hard to track down, but the top brass had a pretty good line on their matriarch, Bianca Di Cesare. Supposedly, she’d been spotted near the family’s private estate in Brazil and rumor had it that most of her daughters were there too.
​
Normally, the brass wouldn’t have sanctioned any kind of attack on them. The Di Cesare’s were already considered off limits, and attacking them at their private estate was considered damn near impossible. The estate was located in a small mining town outside of Manaus called Refugio de Julia, or just Julia for short. The town was fairly remote, being only accessible from a few backroads and most folks tended to avoid it, claiming they’d had various strange encounters in the area. Their accounts described unsettling pale figures with dark hair and large green eyes working in the mines, although some of the more disturbing stories we heard involved sightings of other creatures in the jungle surrounding the town. Massive spiders with humanoid faces, tending rotting corpses filled with stinging bees, giant howling beasts who tore through the forest, hunting prey, and beautiful women who would appear in the nearby towns, betwitching men into coming away with them only to reveal themselves as monsters who fed on the blood of their victims. Some had even claimed the Di Cesares themselves were such beasts… although those claims weren’t taken quite as seriously.
​
A skeptic might say the stories that surrounded Julia seemed like little more than just local superstition… but the Brethren had been dealing with the supernatural for long enough to recognize when something was probably real, and when it was probably fake and they knew damn well that most of the stories about Julia were probably true. None of them had ever dared set foot in Julia to find out for sure, since doing so would probably be suicide, but the theory was that the Di Cesares had created Julia as something of a refuge for other creatures. Other vampires, werewolves, arachne, karah and all sorts of other hellspawn. They offered them a home and safety in exchange for their labor in the mines. Hell, the name of the town more or less spelled it out.
​
Refugio de Julia
​
Julia’s Haven.
​
Julia had been the name of the only member of the Di Cesare family that the Brethren had ever killed, so I guess it was only fitting they named the town after her.
​
I honestly think using other creatures like them as a workforce was a bit inspired… since it made Julia damn near impenetrable. Reaching their estate at the far side of the town would have been impossible without being noticed by every creature of hell living in that town, and odds are they’d tear anyone apart long before they even reached the gates of the Di Cesare estate. And if one had the bright idea to approach the estate from another angle, they’d be trudging through miles and miles of rainforest to do so, only end up face to face with a massive stone wall that kept the rainforest out.
​
In effect - the Di Cesare estate was a fortress. Getting in would be no easy feat, to say nothing of confronting the vampires within. But with the fear of the Imperium gnawing at the back of their minds, the Brethren had finally set their minds to trying.
​
George Bundy had been the one in charge of planning the operation out.
​
I’d known Bundy before I’d joined up with the Brethren. Hell, Bundy was the whole reason I’d joined the Brethren. He’d been my CO a number of years back, and he’d earned his reputation as a hardass just about ten or twenty times over. Bundy was a gruff looking man with a bushy moustache and intense eyes. During the years I knew him, I don’t believe I ever once saw him so much as crack a smile. He only ever seemed to speak when he felt there was something he needed to say. Otherwise, he was usually dead silent.
​
He was somewhere in his late fifties back in 88. By all rights, he ought to have retired years ago. But he refused.
“I’m a soldier,” He said, when I asked him about it once. “That’s all I am. I don’t know what else to be.”
​
Bundy’s initial plan had been to hit the Di Cesare estate from the air. Come in fast and loud with a couple of helicopters and see how those vampires stood up to some good old American flak. The idea got shot down pretty quickly, so to speak. Apperantly, most if not all of the Di Cesares had cursed their own bodies, causing whatever wound one inflicted on them to appear on whoever it was who had wounded them. Going in guns blazing would have ended in a bloodbath… and not for them. There were also some concerns about drawing attention from Julia. With no conclusive data on just what they had living in that town, there was no guarantee we’d be safe in the air. A few eyewitnesses had described seeing giant nests in some of the trees in the jungle, supposedly consistent with the nests made by harpies.
​
Flying in guns blazing was out. So Bundy went back to the drawing board and what he came back with… well, it was ballsy, but it almost seemed like it just might work. During his reconnisance of the Di Cesare’s estate, he’d noticed a large but shallow tributary flowing into the amazon river that led right through the Di Cesare’s estate. Along the tributary was an abandoned water mill, that connected to the Di Cesare estate.
​
He’d suggested using the water mill to gain entry to the grounds, and from there, move on the Di Cesare’s. That plan had been approved, and Bundy had been allowed to handpick his team for the operation. He’d chosen fifteen men, all of them ex military, most of them having served under him before.
​
He’d told us we would be dividing into three teams of five men each. We would leave Manaus by boat, and land at three different areas near the tributary before making our way to the mill on foot, where we would regroup, before moving on the Di Cesares. The reason for the division was to ensure that if any of our teams ran into trouble upon making ground, the entire operation wouldn’t be compromised.
​
Team 1, led by Bundy himself would depart first and land to the west of the tributary. Team 2, led by a man named Ferdinand Hernandez would make land about fifteen minutes later near the mouth of the tributary and Team 3, to be led by me would land fifteen minutes later to the east.
​
On the day of the operation, I sat in my boat, watching as the other two left. It was twilight when we set out, and I remember that as my team and I carried out our final checks on our equipment, the only thing I felt was a familiar anticipation.
​
I’d hesitate to call it fear. Fear is what came later. Anticipation is the better word. I knew we could be walking into a tough situation… but I trusted Bundy. I trusted he’d run a smooth op. God knew, he’d done it a thousand times before.
​
The team assigned to me wasn’t anything particularly special. They were competent enough, but none of them would’ve been my first choices. Jack McMullen, for instance, who was about the same age as I was at the time. We’d both served under Bundy before, although while I respected Bundy, Jack was wholly devoted to him. I swear, if the man had told him to stuff a live grenade up his ass, Jack would’ve done it without a moments hesitation. I dunno if Jack simply saw him as the father he’d never had or what, but he damn near worshipped Bundy.
​
I can’t quite say the same for the other guys we had with us, though. One of them, some greenhorn by the name of Pearce Wilson struck me as an airheaded pretty boy who’d never actually had his boots on the ground before, while the other one, Scott Barber had left a bad taste in my mouth last time we’d worked together. Barber was capable… but he was violent. This was a kid with a hell of a chip on his shoulder, and it looked a hell of a lot like that Confederate flag patch he wore on his jacket. He wanted an excuse to shoot something, and I don’t think he cared what. Under most circumstances I’m not sure I would’ve fully trusted him with a gun.
​
The last one though, Joseph Feng… him I trusted. Feng was the one I knew the least about, and he didn’t seem much for conversation. But he handled himself competently enough and seemed to know when to sit down and shut up.
​
When Team 2’s boat was far enough away, we got the radio signal to follow. Barber was the one steering the boat, so I gave him the order to cast off and we ventured out into the twilight, unaware of just what was waiting for us out there.
​
***
​
We landed in our designated area fifteen minutes after Team 2 confirmed they’d touched down at theirs. Our landing was fairly uneventful. Feng, Barber, and I secured the boat before we radio’d Bundy to let him know we were in position. After that, it was just a matter of making it to the tributary.
​
As we ventured into the jungle, the world around us was quiet. There was wind, the whisper of the river behind us, and the sounds of animals. But little else. The river fell away behind us as we moved in single file toward the tributary, maintaining radio silence as we did.
​
It was about a half hour before we heard the gunshot.
​
Just one, echoing through the twilight. But it was enough to give us pause.
​
“The fuck was that?” I heard Barber ask. Immediately, the kid was on high alert, with his gun raised as if he were expecting every monster in Julia to come charging at us from all angles.
I just listened, waiting to hear if there was anything else. I half expected my radio to come to life, but it didn’t.
“Team 1, status?” I asked.
The radio crackled with static, but there was no response.
​
I tried it again, but still with no success. The radio was working, that much I was sure of. Something had to be blocking the signal.
“What’s going on?” Feng asked.
“Dunno,” I replied. “Comms are down.”
“Down?” Wilson asked, “So we’re flying blind out here, then?”
“More or less,” I replied.
“What do we do? Do we go back… if the comms are down…”
“Just because something’s jamming our signal doesn’t mean we’re made,” I said. “Relax. We keep moving for now. You keep your eyes wide open, and your head on a swivel. We’ll make it to the tributary and see if we can’t meet up with the other teams.”
I could tell Wilson wasn’t a fan of my answer, but I didn’t much care. We had a job to do, and I aimed to do it.
​
I pressed on without a further word and the others followed. Up ahead, I could hear the sound of running water and picked up the pace. I figured the tributary had to be close… and I was right.
​
I emerged from the brush into the stream, only to pause when I saw what was waiting for us in the water.
​
In the dying sunlight, it was impossible to mistake the bodies sprawled out on the rocks as anything else… and all I needed to do was look at their uniforms to know they were our people.
“Jesus…” I heard Wilson say under his breath. He froze up, lingering by the bank as I cautiously approached one of the bodies.
​
It belonged to a somewhat heavyset man with a thin mustache who I recognized as Hernandez. His eyes were still open, although lifeless and staring in different directions, and there was a clean hole in his forehead where a bullet had ended his life. The gunshot we’d heard earlier had likely been the sound of his death.
​
Looking at the bodies around him, I knew they had to be the rest of Team 2… although it was a little harder pinning down their cause of death. Some sort of bladed weapon, perhaps, judging by the state of them. I realized the odds were that they walked into some sort of ambush.
“What about Bundy and Team 1?” Jack asked, “Any sign of them?”
“No,” I said. “These bodies are all from Team 2… Bundy could still be ahead of us.”
“Then we need to keep going!”
​
Jack turned, heading up the stream and Barber was right behind him. Feng paused for a moment, thinking this over before following. Only Wilson remained.
“How do we know we’re not walking into a trap?” He asked.
“We’ll deal with that when we get to it,” I said before moving to follow the others.
“With all due respect, Sarge… that doesn’t sound like the best course of action!” Wilson argued, finally following me. “It sounds just like a good way to get killed!”
“Yeah?” I asked, “I’m gonna tell you an ugly truth, kid. That’s the job. Make your peace with it, and it’ll go a lot easier.”
​
Wilson didn’t like that answer either and trailed off behind me, watching as I continued upstream. For a moment, I half expected him to go back to the boat… but no. I dunno if he found his balls or just didn’t want to get left behind, but he started to follow us again.
​
I kept trying to raise Team 1 on the radio while we walked, although I still had no luck. The light above us slowly faded into darkness as we trudged through the water in silence, guns sitting comfortably in our hands and mosquitos biting at our necks.
​
It wasn’t until we lost Feng that I heard anybody so much as make a sound, and when we lost Feng… it happened almost instantaneously. One minute, he was at the head of the group, walking just ahead of Jack and I. The next, he was gone, only barely having the time to let out a scream as he fell into the river ahead of us.
​
The rest of us paused. Jack seemed to freeze and I pushed past him, calling out for Feng as I did. As punishment for my compassion, I almost went down after him. I only barely stopped myself from stepping on the slippery rocks that had helped send him to his demise.
​
I could see Feng’s body in the water, and I could see the blood pouring out of him. He twitched a few times, but I knew he was dead. The sharpened wooden spikes jutting out of him confirmed as much.
“What the hell…” Jack said under his breath, staring at Feng’s corpse in disbelief. “That’s a fucking spike trap!”
​
Yeah.
​
It was indeed a fucking spike trap.
​
I could see other spikes jutting out of the water ahead of us, just past a small dam of rocks that were just slippery enough to make it difficult to stop yourself from falling. Some of those spikes had other bodies on them… likely members of Team 1. I only counted two, although that still didn’t exactly bode well.
​
“They put a fucking spike trap in the goddamn stream…” Jack said, “Who the hell does that?”
“Somebody who’s expecting us to use the stream,” I replied.
“So they know we’re coming?” Barber asked.
“Clearly…” I replied. “And they’ve got a good idea on what our route is too.”
​
“Yeah, no shit!” Barber snapped. “Christ… let’s get the fuck out of here. There’s probably more fucking traps upstream!”
“Bundy’s orders were clear!” Jack argued.
“Bundy’s probably dead by now!” Barber replied, before looking at me. “Sarge, come on. You have to know this is suicide!”
“Suicide was part of the job description, was it not?” I asked.
“The job is to kill those fucking vampires, not to die in the goddamn process! We need to get out of the stream and into the woods!”
​
“Judging by the fate Team 2 met, I’m not sure the forest is someplace we want to be right now,” I replied.
“Excuse me?” Barber asked, “What the hell are you talking about, Sarge?”
“Five men dead, but only one gunshot. How did the rest die?”
​
Barber didn’t seem to be able to answer that.
“By now… yes. It’s clear we’ve walked into a trap. And yes, I understand that it makes sense to try and leave that trap… but I don’t know if we’ll be safer in the jungle. Something jumped Team 2. Cut them apart, and then shot Hernandez as a warning. They didn’t have to shoot him. They did it so we’d hear.”
“Your point being?” Barber asked.
“I don’t think this is just a trap, Barber. It’s a game. Stop playing, and you might just end up like our friends downstream.”
“A game?” Wilson asked, “Sarge, you can’t be serious!”
​
“From where I’m standing, we have a better chance of surviving in the stream,” I said. “Look, we’re at least halfway to the rendezvous point, and there have to be at least two members of Team 1 left. The safest thing to do right now is to follow them.”
“You’re off your fucking rocker, Sarge,” Barber spat, locking his eyes with mine. For a moment, I thought the boy was going to try and fight me. But no. He was wise enough to stand down.
“If you wanna get yourself killed, go right the fuck ahead. Just leave me out of it! Wilson, come on,” Barber said before trudging over to the edge of the stream. Wilson didn’t even hesitate, just looking back at Jack and I quietly before he disappeared into the forest with Barber.
​
“You’re not gonna stop them?” Jack asked.
“No,” I replied. “God willing, there’s a chance that pigheaded asshole is right… dunno how much of a chance, but a chance.”
“Then how come we’re not following him?” Jack asked.
“There’s also a chance he’s wrong.”
I turned, before making my way around the spike trap.
“Keep a slower pace,” I said. “Watch for traps.”
​
Jack hesitated for a moment, but he followed me without any further questions and we walked in silence for a little longer.
​
We heard nothing from the trees. Nothing that told us about the fate of Barber and Wilson. I wasn’t sure if that was good news or not.
​
In fact, I don’t think we heard a thing until about a half hour later, when we heard the explosion.
​
It came out of almost nowhere, but ahead of us I could see a flash of light and hear the screams of men. On instinct, I found myself picking up the pace and could hear Jack behind me. In the low light, I saw a shape float past me in the stream. It took me a moment to realize that it was a severed human arm.
​
In the water ahead of us, I could see a figure clinging to one of the rocks and trying to pick himself up. I recognized him as George Bundy.
​
Jack was at his side almost immediately, trying to help the old man to his feet.
“Sir! Are you alright?”
Bundy just wheezed, before his legs gave out from under him. I helped Jack drag him to the shore so he could sit and rest for a moment.
“What the hell was that?” I asked, looking back at the stream.
“Grenade trap… I think…” Bundy panted, “Fucking tripwire… Popkov tripped it, I think…”
​
Popkov… odds are he was one of the two mangled corpses lying in the river a few feet away from us. It seemed they’d taken the brunt of the explosion, although Bundy still had some shrapnel in his arm that Jack was tending to.
“Christ… whole fucking ops gone to shit…” Bundy spat. “Team 2 got taken out just about as soon as they landed. Someone killed them and dumped them in the goddamn river. Lost half my boys to the fucking spike trap and half to this…”
​
He looked up at us, before spitting onto the ground.
“Guess you two haven’t done much better.”
“Hard to say,” I replied. “Two of ours took off into the woods, trying to avoid the traps.”
“Then they’re dead,” Bundy replied. “I’ve seen her watching us… always just up ahead, always from a distance… she’s seeing how far we’ll go. How much we’ll take…”
“She?” I asked.
“La Morte. Should’ve figured she’d be the one to greet us.”
“La Morte?” I asked.
​
“It’s Italian. Supposedly, she earned that name around the time the Di Cesares fled Venice. It’s funny, the Brethren like to act like the Di Cesares leaving Venice was some big victory of theirs, since before they did, they finally killed one of them… hard to call it a victory though, considering how many corpses they made before they fled. And most of them came from La Morte…”
Bundy winced in pain as Jack bandaged his arm before he continued talking.
​
“See… when the Di Cesare’s left Venice, one of them stayed behind. Clementine, the Scorpio sister. Guess she was unwilling to leave the fight unfinished… and according to the stories, the death toll she personally amassed in the years after the Di Cesare’s left Venice make the bodies they claimed during the Venetian Massacre a hundred and fifty years prior look like a pittance. The Brethren still occupying the city started to call her La Morte. Death. Cuz wherever she went, death followed in her wake… and it seems we’ve walked right into her open arms, haven’t we, boys?”
​
“You’re sure it’s her?” I asked.
“She’s a Di Cesare… and the shit we’ve seen out here… I don’t see any other Di Cesare setting those traps. It’s her. I’m sure of it. She’s watching us. Seeing how far we’ll go. Seeing if we’ll turn tail…”
“Should we?” Jack asked, and Bundy finally seemed to acknowledge him.
“Excuse me?” He asked.
“Should we? Look, sir… I’d follow you into the mouth of Hell, but right now, we’re down from fifteen men to three. Can’t say I’m optimistic about our chances right now. If this woman is half as bad as you’re saying she is, maybe it’s time we took a step back!”
​
Jack looked at me, hoping I might back him up, but I remained silent.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Bundy asked.
“What I’m hearing here, is that as of right now, the vampire out there could kill us at any time. She hasn’t. Far as I’m concerned, that’s mercy. Maybe we should be taking it while it’s offered.”
Bundy stared at him, before chuckling. I think it was the first time I’d ever seen him laugh.
​
“Just walk away, then?” He asked.
“Walk away, and come back better prepared!” Jack corrected.
“Walk away,” Bundy said again. “We walk away now, and there won’t be a chance to come back better prepared. We get one shot at this. One. Failure is not an option. We go in there and we kill them or we die. End of discussion.”
“And how exactly are we even supposed to kill them?” Jack asked, “That curse they have… bullets aren’t gonna do shit, sir!”
“Yours won’t, mine will…”
Bundy pulled his pistol from his holster. I noticed some sort of pattern crudely engraved on it.
​
“I’ve been doing some research… studied the curse they put on themselves… and I think I’ve found a way to break it. Not sure if it’ll work yet… but we get one chance to test it.”
Jack stared at the gun, then back at Bundy.
“Sir… do you hear yourself?” He asked quietly, “You can’t be serious… right now, even with that gun we don’t stand a chance in he-”
​
The gunshot echoed through the forest and made me jump. Jack’s voice died in his throat as he hit the ground.
​
Bundy stared at him for a moment, before huffing and holstering his pistol again. He draped his coat over his shoulders, before looking over at me.
“No room for failure, Frank,” He said calmly.
I didn’t know what to say to that. I stared down at Jack’s body, my mouth hanging open slightly. When I looked back at Bundy, he was already back in the stream.
​
There was a tense silence between Bundy and I as I followed him along the final stretch of the tributary. He trudged on ahead, covered in sweat and straining with every step, but I could sense the quiet determination he had to see this through. Looking at him, you could’ve told me that George Bundy could wipe out the Di Cesare’s all by himself and I would have believed it in a second.
​
The night around us was full of sound, and each one drew my attention. I watched the forest, expecting to see some sign of La Morte watching us. But I saw nothing, except for what she wanted me to see.
“Mill’s just up ahead,” I heard Bundy say as we pressed on, although I noticed his steps faltering as he seemed to notice something in the trees above us. I stopped behind him, looking up before seeing what he saw, and when I saw it I felt my stomach turn.
​
I’d seen death before.
But what Di Cesare had left out for us… that was something else.
Pearce Wilson and Scott Barber weren’t dead.
But if they could have spoke, I’ve got no doubt they would have begged us to kill them. Wilsons pretty face was covered in blood and his pouty lips were parted as more trickled out of him. His curly blond hair was matted and I could see crimson there. Tree branches portruded from his ribs, while the loops of his entrails dangled out of his opened stomach. And Barber was in just about the same state, only he seemed to at least have the ability to turn his head to look at us.
​
I think he might have tried to speak, but the only sound he seemed to be able to make was a pained whimper.
“Jesus Christ…” I said softly.
“He had nothing to do with this,” Bundy replied. He took one last look at the two dying men hanging from the trees, before moving on.
“We should put them out of their misery, sir,” I said.
​
Bundy paused, before looking back at me.
“Don’t waste the ammo, Frank,” He replied. “They’re already dead.”
“Not yet they’re not!”
“Give them time. They chose to go into the woods. They can live with the consequences… for however long that lasts.”
​
With that, he left them. If I were a more compassionate man, I would have put them out of their misery. But no. Bundy moved on and so did I.
​
He approached the water mill, before examining it. It was an old building, made of stone that had long since been overgrown by moss, and sat right on the wall that separated the Di Cesares estate from the amazon. It hardly looked secure, even if the only entrance hadn’t just been an old wooden door secured with a padlock, finding a way in wouldn’t have been difficult. And it didn’t take much for Bundy to break through that door. All he needed was a couple of well placed kicks and it swung right open.
​
Drawing his gun, Bundy strode inside and I followed him.
“The Di Cesare’s will be in the main house,” He said. “We should find a way in through the back, try and catch them off guard. Main target should be the matriarch, Bianca. Her we should prioritize keeping alive… the rest are expendable.”
​
“Much as you are, I’m sure.” A voice called from deeper in the mill, and both Bundy and I froze.
I noticed movement on the floor above us, and through the shadows, I saw a tall woman watching us. She was dressed all in black, with blond hair tied back in a ponytail and the intense eyes of a soldier.
​
This had to be Clementine Di Cesare.
​
Bundy aimed his pistol at her, although she only barely seemed to notice.
“Only two of you left… I’m not sure the odds are in your favor,” The woman said. Her voice was low, calm and quiet.
“Only one way to find out,” Bundy growled.
“And only one way to walk out of this place alive,” Di Cesare countered. “You can put the gun down, turn and walk away. I won’t stop you. There’s no shame in living.”
​
“All the bodies you’ve left in your wake… that’s rich,” Bundy said.
“I don’t relish what I’ve done. I simply don’t know how to do anything else,” She replied. “Think about this, Bundy. Over my lifetime, there have been countless thousands who have come to kill me. All of them are dead, but I am not. Even if you could kill me… you could not kill my sisters. Not all of them. Not before they came for you.”
“Just you, would be enough…” Bundy said, before pulling the trigger.
​
I knew he’d hit her. I knew the bullet pierced her shoulder. But that woman… she didn’t even flinch. She simply dove out of the way before he could shoot again, taking cover and avoiding his next shot.
“Frank, upstairs!” Bundy snapped, “Flush her out!”
I went, trudging up the old wooden steps with my rifle drawn. Only to see Di Cesare vaulting over the railing and back down to the ground floor as soon as I made it up there.
​
Bundy shot at her again, only to miss for a second time. I saw Di Cesare’s arm move, and heard him cry out in pain. In the low light, I could see a dagger protruding from his shoulder. He stumbled back a step, leaving himself open for only a split second.
​
That second was all it took for Di Cesare to raise her own gun and fire just one shot.
​
George Bundy hit the ground without so much as a final scream. There was just a simple hole in his skull where she had shot him.
​
I felt my heart start to race faster. My eyes settled on Bundy’s gun, and I ran for the railing, vaulting it and dropping to the ground below with a thud. Di Cesare shot at me, and I felt the bullet tear through my leg. I reached out for the fallen gun and grabbed it before turning it on Di Cesare, only to find myself staring down the barrel of her own pistol. My finger rested on the trigger, but I didn’t have the guts to pull it.
​
"Kill me, and you will not see the sun tomorrow." She said, her voice still cold and calm.
“Killing you is part of the job…” I replied, but my finger still couldn’t squeeze the trigger.
“And is it worth your life?” Di Cesare asked. “You fail your mission either way.”
“And die with some goddamn honor…”
“There’s no such thing as honor. There is alive and there is dead. Choose.”
​
I knew what I was supposed to choose.
​
But my hands were shaking, as I stared into the face of death. My finger couldn’t squeeze the trigger.
​
The gun collapsed to the floor and Di Cesare kicked it away from me, before huffing and lowering her gun.
“Do not return,” She said softly. “Or next time, I will unleash a hell upon you that will make you beg for simple traps.”
​
She picked Bundy’s gun up off the ground, and then she was gone. After I finally picked myself up off the ground, I was gone too.
​
As I walked back along the stream… I passed the corpses of the men we’d left behind. Barber and Wilson, Jack, Feng, Hernandez, and his team. The flies were already feasting on them. Animals had already torn at them. And as I looked down at their cold corpses, I knew I had made the right choice.
​
I filed my report with the Brethren. Told them that Di Cesare had wiped us out, and a few months later I quietly retired. I never looked back.
​
***
​
“You walked away from her?” Sweeney asked in disbelief, “You had her dead to rights and you walked away from her?”
“I chose to live,” I replied. “Can’t say I regret the decision either. Because of the choice I made, I met my wife and had my kids. I’ve lived the life I had because I chose not to throw it away on some vampire.”
​
Sweeney just shook his head.
“You could have gotten the first confirmed kill on a Di Cesare in two centuries, and you threw it away you fucking coward! I could execute you for that!” I noticed his hand hovering over the gun on his hip.
“You could.” I replied, before quietly unholstering the pistol I kept at my side. I aimed it at Sweeney’s head.
​
He stared at me like a slack jawed idiot.
“Would you like to give it a try?”
“W-what…?”
“Would you like to give it a try, Mr. Sweeney? Or would you like to see the sun tomorrow?”
He stared down the barrel of my gun, and I already knew what his choice would be.
​
Sweeney took a step back. I saw his hand move away from his holster, and I lowered the gun with a huff.
“Thought so,” I said.
Mr. Sweeney left me without another word.
I knew he would not return.

Hold your horns, here comes Spyro!

Spyro the Dragon is, as the name suggests, a young dragon. Over the course of the series, he goes on many adventures. That's basically everything.
This RT only covers the classic timeline, and not The Legend of Spyro or Skylanders.

Dragon Breath

General Strength

• Breaks a sign
  
• Breaks urns
  
• Breaks chests
  
• Breaks barrels
  
• Breaks small windmills
  
• Breaks dune buggies
  
• Breaks flying beds
  
• Breaks boats
  
• Breaks planes
  
• Breaks a crystaline enemy
  
• Breaks a cage
  
• Blasts a metal container until it explodes
  
• Blasts a hedgehog into a stone statue hard enough to destroy it
  
• Blasts enemies into the air
  
• Blasts a sheep high into the air
  
• Blasts Ripto high into the air, SINGING his CAPE
  
• Knocks out some large sea serpents
  
• Knocks out an elephant
  
• Knocks bombs into the air
  

Fire Breath
One of Spyro's most notable abilities is breathing fire. Metal enemies are resistant to fire, but can be defeated by charging, while enemies that are too big to be charged can be knocked down with a fire attack (as seen here)

• Sparx states that Spyro's fire is at least 7800 degrees Fahrenheit
  
• Ashes Toasty's costume, scorching the grass underneath
  
• Ashes a haystack
  
• Ashes a large pencil
  
• Ashes some tents
  
• Ashes a painting
  
• Ashes a cuckoo clock
  
• Ashes a large mushroom
  
• Ashes thick thorns
  
• Ashes a gear
  
• Ashes Rhynocs, killing them
  
• Burns a tree black
  
• Burns a cactus black, which then explodes
  
• Burns a large, magic plant, causing it to revert into a seed
  
• Melts candle wax instantly
  
• Melts a block of ice a fairy is trapped in without hurting the fairy
  
• Melts a large block of ice
  
• Vaporizes a snowman
  
• Destroys two sausages and fries a dragon's facial hair
  
• Scorches Dr. Shemp's rear, sending him fleeing in pain
  
• Scorches Bianca
  
• [Burns N. Tropy, N. Brio, and N. Gin]()
  
• Fires a cannon
  
• Fires a rocket
  
• Lights a large candle
  
• Lights lighthouses
  
• Keeps "sun seeds" lit, from which a new sun can be grown
  
• Regrows a tree, somehow
  

Ice Breath
Originally, Spyro could only breathe frost with a superfreeze powerup, or altering the magic that lets him breathe fire, but in later games he gained the ability to breathe it naturally.

• His ice breath freezes monsters that are only weak to sub-zero temperatures
  
• Can freeze enemies in blocks of ice
  
• Freezes cats in large blocks of ice (along with a hockey player) while playing cat hockey
  
• Freezes a monster and his metal periscope solid, then shatters it
  
• Freezes Hunter solid
  
• Freezes a firefly that was too hot for Bianca to touch
  
• Freezes a water fountain into an ice sculpture
  
• Shapes a puddle of water into a platform
  
• Freezes a jet of water into a pole to swing on
  
• Chills a giant glass of lemonade
  
• Uses a powerup to boost the power of his freeze breath to freeze large amounts of shallow water
  
  • In later games can do this with his regular freeze breath

Electric Breath
Originally, Spyro could only use electric breath (also known as "lightning breath") with a powerup, but later gained the ability to breathe it naturally. It's effective on metal enemies and objects

• Shocks and overloads a robotic enemy
  
• Breaks the lock on a gate
  
• Starts up a navigational system
  
• Powers an energy cannon
  

Wind Breath
Spyro has the ability to breathe out powerful gusts of wind.

• Propels himself on a large frozen block of ice
  
• Can create miniature tornadoes
  
• Can charge up lightning-powered tornadoes
  

Water Breath
Spyro has the ability to breath out a spray of water. Unlike his other breath attacks, he cannot injure enemies with this, only push them back

• Pushes a water wheel
  
  • Spins a much larger wheel with a short blast

Other

• Spyro can use bubble breath to catch dragonflies and send them home
  
• Spyro can shoot bombs based on his breath types
  

Magic and Equipment

Superflame
With a fairy's kiss, or another special powerup, Spyro temporarily gains the Superflame ability. This allows him to breathe fire which is more powerful than his regular flame breath. It can either be breathed like normal, or be shot like a projectile, depending on the game.

• Capable of destroying metal spiders that Spyro could not defeat before
  
• Capable of destroying ghostly metal knights and large metal doors, as well as destroying chests which normally require alternative methods to open
  
• Capable of destroying chests which Spyro cannot break open normally
  
• Capable of destroying UFOs
  
• Capable of destroying large planters
  
• Capable of blasting large animals high into the air
  
• Capable of shooting fire underwater, strong enough to destroy metal sharks
  

Supercharge
Spyro can supercharge on special supercharge ramps (or with the help of special gates), allowing for a much faster and more powerful charge. Spyro runs so fast in this form he burns with red, then purple fire, and can smash a type of chest which he is incapable of charging through normally

• Spyro is invincible during supercharge
  
• Spyro can cross great distances by supercharging
  
• Charges through metal spiders which he could not before
  
• Charges through large metal doors
  
• Charges through cars
  
• Charges through several stone podiums
  
• Charges through a small windmill
  
• Charges through a large metal pumpkin
  
• Charges through a thick, cracked wall of ice
  
• Can charge through reinforced steel doors which can only otherwise be broken by a cannon shell
  
  • Demonstrated here

Wing Shield
Spyro has the power to shield himself with his wings and reflect attacks. It can reflect blunt objects but not piercing attacks

• Deflects a boomerang

Shadow Amulet
The Shadow Amulet is a powerful artifact which can refine and focus Spyro's magic

• Allows him to travel between the "real" world and the shadow world by standing on specific portals
  
  • He can use this to pass through barriers- but not if they are made of iron
• Can move objects with telekinesis
  
  • Opens a gate
  • Moves a stone block
  • Moves a platform
  • Moves a large platform
• Can cast a shock spell to shoot electricity
  
  • Demonstrated here
  • Knocks out the powerful dragon Red in one hit
• Can cast a cyclone spell to attack multiple enemies
  
  • Demonstrated here
• Can banish shadow creatures
  
  • Demonstrated here
• Can turn into an egg
  
• Can concentrate to divine the location of people in trouble
  
• Can teleport between teleport pads
  

Weapons

• Throws Molotov cocktails at Crash Bandcicoot to damage the wall he is on and can repair parts of his own wall
  
• Uses a bouncy ball to take out some enemies
  
• Picks up bullets from Bentley and shoots them out by spitting them, in normal and acidic explosive varieties
  

Vehicles

• Operates a weaponized vehicle
  
• Pilots a UFO
  
  • Another UFO
• Rides a magnetic contraption
  
• Rides a trolley around a dangerous track with no trouble
  
• Rides a roller coaster with a cannon attached
  
• Performs sick skateboard tricks
  
• Rides a rocket skateboard that gains fuel the more tricks he performs
  
• Rides a demolition hovercraft
  
• Rides a speedboat with a missile launcher
  
• Rides a weaponized manta ray underwater
  
• Rides a missile-launching submarine that can move through acid
  
• Rides a turret on tank treads courtesy of Agent 9, as well as a hovercraft with energy blasters
  
• Borrows Moneybags' shark-proof submarine
  
• Takes a ride on Hunter's remote-controlled plane with machine guns
  
• Rides a tank
  
• Rides a honey tank
  
• Flies a military plane
  
• Rolls around in a giant ball
  

Other

• Can spit fireballs
  
• Chases an evil spirit out of a statue by torching it
  
  • Defeats other spirits by blasting them with fire
• Can use chi attacks by flapping his wings, which can break magical shields
  
  • Demonstrated here
• Can free dragons that have been encased in crystal by Gnasty Gnorc
  
• Can temporarily fly freely with a flight powerup
  
• Can jump high into the air with a spring powerup
  
• Has a powerup which temporarily makes him invulnerable
  
  • Can walk across lava unharmed with an invulnerability powerup, as well as walk on acid
• Can spit plasma balls with a plasma ball powerup
  
• Drops a cage on Nina Cortex
  
• Can see hidden teleporters with special glasses
  

Sparx

Sparx is the dragonfly that follows Spyro, helping and protecting him, usually by collecting gems for him. His color changes depending on his health. He can also point in the direction of nearby gems.
Shooting

• Defeats some crawdads
  
• Blasts some starfish
  
• Shoots an electric eel
  
• Blows up a giant crawdad with sustained fire
  
• Defeats a large spider with sustained fire, then a giant spider
  
• Destroys a large insect with sustained fire
  
• Destroys a large bee with sustained fire
  
• Destroys a large, regenerating centipede with sustained fire
  
• Defeats a large manta ray with sustained fire
  
• Destroys a large, metal-covered beetle with sustained fire
  
• Destroys metal robots
  
• Destroys some kind of light fixture
  
• Destroys an anthill
  
• Breaks a flowerpot
  
• Blows up a box
  
• Pushes a propeller with his shots
  

Butterflies

• Eating butterflies can restore Sparx's health, but eating certain butterflies will give him special powerups
  
  • Rapid-fire powerup
  • Spread fire powerup
  • Homing firework powerup
  • Splitting powerup
  • Shield powerup

Abilities

• Can attack by charging, doing essentially anything he can do with a shot
  
• Can attack with bombs
  
• Can attack with missiles
  
• Sparx will flash to let Spyro know that he is near a portal
  
• Capable of speech
  
• Keeps up with Spyro
  

Strength

Charging

• Charges poles to knock gems off the top
  
• Charges coconut trees to shake coconuts out of them
  
• Charges a monster into a gong, knocking it out
  
• Charges a sheep into the air
  
• Charges enemies into the air
  
• Charges through heavily armored enemies, breaking their armor
  
• Charges through snowmobiles
  
• Charges through a robot
  
• Charges large, armored enemies backwards on slippery ice
  
• Charges large, stone Earthshapers backwards a fair distance
  
• Charges the large monster Buzz back repeatedly
  
• Charges the large Ineptune backwards, pushing her through water and shattering the structure she hits
  
• Charges into charging bulls, sticking their horns into the ground
  
• Charges into a birdcage, breaking it apart
  
• Charges rolling metal barrels, knocking them backwards
  
  • Charges a metal barrel across an arena
• Charges bombs across an arena
  
• Charges a giant bomb into the water
  
• Charges through large wooden crates
  
• Charges through metal chests that cannot be broken with fire
  
• Charges through Metalhead's power poles
  
• Charges through a stump
  
• Charges through a large shell
  
• Charges through a pile of rocks
  
• Charges through a large door
  
• Charges through a wall of wood planks underwater
  
• Charges through a brick wall
  
• Charges through a stone wall
  
• Charges through a large, cracked crystal
  
• Charges through a cracked stone wall underwater
  
  • Another one
• Charges through thick, cracked stone
  
  • Another one
• Charges through thick rock
  
• Charges through a large rock
  
• After having a spell cast on him to make him stronger, Spyro can charge through rocks that he could not break before
  

Headbashing

• Headbashes the ground, breaking a large rock and a metal vase without even touching them
  
• Headbashes a metal covering
  
• Headbashes rock shells that some hippos were trapped in
  
• Headbashes a boulder to pieces
  
• Headbashes an Earthshaper to pieces after Hunter stuns it with a magic arrow
  
• Headbashes a stuck elevator to get it moving again
  
• Headbashes a thick layer of ice
  
• Headbashes a thick layer of stone
  

Spitting

• Eats and spits out a projectile hard enough to defeat an enemy
  
• Spits out a baseball hard enough to activate a dunk tank
  
• Spits a rock at a target hard enough to make it explode into pieces
  

Other

• Butt-stomps a TV to crush it
  
• Body-slams a large stone "R" statue
  
• Turns a cannon
  
• Wins a tug of war against an enemy
  
• Balances three stone slabs on his head
  

Agility

Mobility

• Can double jump
  
• Can charge for an extra burst of speed
  
• Can glide and hover, as well as fly freely in certain areas.
  
• Can swim and charge underwater indefinitely
  
• Can swing from horizontal poles
  
• Can kick off walls to wall jump
  
• Can climb and jump up ladders
  
  • Dodges falling lava rocks while climbing up ladders

Movement

• Keeps up with Sparx
  
• Outruns collapsing floor
  
• Catches up to and flames Bianca
  
• Jumps out of the way of Ineptune's breath attack
  
• Jumps out of the way of Nina Cortex's charge
  
• Can jump over blasts from paintball guns
  
  • Of note, in the original game, these are real guns that fire bullets
• Can jump over gatling gun fire from enemy dinosaurs
  
• Can jump over energy shockwaves from Crush's jumps
  
• Can jump over the shockwaves of force from Gulp's jumps
  
• Can jump over gusts of wind blown by Rhynocs
  
• Dodges a surprise energy bolt
  

Other

• Quickly turns a crank to shred up a block of solid ice
  
• Quickly cranks a device to put out a fire
  

Durability

Blunt Force

• Is barely phased by charging into an unyielding object, or even supercharging into walls
  
  • Is unphased by headbashing through large rocks
• Unhurt by being shaken and thrown by a large snowman
  
• Gets stomped on by a woolly mammoth and is fine later
  
• Falls an unclear distance
  

Explosive

• Withstands an explosion that destroys a gate
  
• Unhurt by firing himself out of a cannon
  

Temperature

• Can swim in water covered by thick ice
  
• Unhurt by running through a burning campfire
  

Swallowing and Spitting

• Can swallow and spit out burning lava rocks without injury
  
• Can swallow and spit out acidic, smoking rocks without injury
  
• Can swallow and spit rockets out of his mouth
  

Other

• Resists a magic-draining magic that even the Dragon Elders were powerless against

Skill

Hockey Skill

• Perfects a two-on-two hockey game by eating and spitting out the puck
  
• Beat a Rhynoc in cat hockey so badly that he retired from hockey permanently
  

Combat Skill

• Learns dragon-kata from a martial arts expert and is described as having a natural talent.
  
  • He learned it quickly enough to impress his teacher
• Can target weak points on an opponent's body for increased damage
  
• Defeats ninja Rhynocs
  

Misc Skill

• Carries a live duckling in his mouth without injuring it
  
• Shreds electric guitar
  

"I thought that dragons had all been dead for a thousand years, or something."
"Well, the rumors about our extinction were slightly exaggerated."

Watch Now : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvaLqPnqLm4
​
https://preview.redd.it/h1y2gs8vtr3b1.png?width=120&format=png&auto=webp&s=c4fff65a86c936b809044710481e2383f23dbfd6
​
/ u/lisamcabrera
​
-

It was down to two spellers, a girl and a boy. The pronouncer gave the girl the word “daively,” meaning “listlessly.” The word’s origins were Scottish. The girl, like myself, obviously heard a “K” sound because she spelled it with a “K” at the end.