The Empire had a problem. It was a small problem, really, but a problem nonetheless and it needed to be addressed. A pack of coyotes had taken up residence near the creek and Malleus found their presence intolerable. They were pests and thieves; every meal they ate they stole from the mouths of his packmates. Malleus could no longer suffer their presence. He'd harassed and harassed, digging up their dens and chasing them every chance he got, and yet they couldn't take the hint. Now his patience was gone. If they refused to move on then he had no choice but to resort to harsher removal methods. Tipping back his head, Malleus called for any who wished to join him on this mission. He waited in the shade of an oak tree. The sun was beginning its descent behind him and with the fading light came a welcome respite from the heat. It was shaping up to be a nice evening. Perfect for a coyote massacre. OOC: Anyone wanna earn some fight skill points by helping Malleus get rid of a coyote pack? A little forewarning: I want these points and you can expect me to pester and pester until it's complete ;D

It was odd to hear her half-brother's howl again, but she had been out traveling as any young wolf of the empire would do. She had things to see and learn, and the dark goddess found great joy in meeting the wolves that lived outside the pack lands, and she had been exploring and trying to find something to catch her young fancy. So far she had turned up empty, but the young Abraxas woman was determined. She would be the one to live up to her father's dreams. Her mission in life was to find the Fallen God, she was convinced he had come to the mortal plane, she could feel it.

Back to the present, Aaliyah found herself curious as to what could be troubling Malleus so much. She hadn't been around for a long while, prone to her mother's wanderlust and need to walk, and had missed the fact that coyotes had moved into the area. Effortlessly, the large woman made her way through the cattails that littered the area and made her way toward the tree his silver form was reclined beneath. "Hello, Malleus, that howl sounded like it promised blood...does it?" She smiles and sits with him in the shade, wondering if anyone else would answer the call.

His sister was quick to answer his call. They hadn't interacted much, which was a shame, but the Abraxas were a busy bunch. Malleus had been doing his own thing during her growing up years and it seemed that when she came of age, Aaliyah had gone off to do her own thing. It was the Abraxas way. Eventually, though, they all seemed to come home. He grinned wolfishly at her. "It does indeed." Though the individuals were minuscule compared to most of the Abraxas, a pack of coyotes was nothing to sneeze at. Getting rid of them would be a challenge if they all stuck together. He jerked his head in the direction of the coyote's densite, which was roughly 50 yards away. A few individuals milled around in the shade outside it. "See those coyotes over there? They're thieves and I want them gone. They've been given every opportunity to move and they haven't, so a....ah, firmer hand is needed." He quirked a brow at his sister. "Care to join me in teaching the vermin a lesson?"

An instant smile spread across her muzzle as he grinned and said there would be blood. The young goddess grew excited and danced on her paws as she listened to the rest of what her brother and Emperor had to say and his invitation made her happier than ever. Her dark tail waved as he asked her to join him, nodding emphatically as she answered, "I would love to join you! I have been looking for a good way to let off steam and something fun to do, this is excellent!" There really could not have been a better way for Malleus to make his sister's day than to ask for her help in getting rid of a threat to the Risen Empire. Aaliyah understood the dangers of coyotes, even to giants like them. Food and young were at risk with them around, and Aaliyah was more than ready to bathe in their blood until they were extinguished or ran away. "Speech" Walk. "You." 'Think.'

Malleus grinned again as Aaliyah danced around excitedly. Her eagerness was contagious. He'd been rather clinical about the whole thing until now - it was nothing more than a job that needed to be done - but it was hard to hang onto that mindset when your partner was so eager to begin. He glanced around to make sure no one else was on their way in, then said with a grin, "It looks like it's going to be just you and me, so how about we get to it, eh?" With that he began to slink towards the densite. As soon as the coyotes saw him coming, they began to bark to alert the other members of their pack. Although clearly unnerved by his approach, the coyotes held their ground; barking and kicking up dirt in an attempt to ward him off. Unperturbed, Malleus continued to creep closer. Finally one brazen coyote couldn't take it any longer. She arced around him before running at his left haunch. Immediately Malleus spun to face her and she skittered away, but that brief encounter was enough to rouse the other coyotes into action. With hackles raised and backs arced, they came at him en masse. They took turns racing in to snap at him. Each time he spun to face the nearest one, another would rush in from the opposite side. Malleus was patient. He knew how this strategy worked. Sooner or later one would get a little too close. That moment came sooner rather than later. As Malleus turned to fend off one coyote, another sneaked in behind him and managed to grab hold of his right thigh. In an instant Malleus flipped around and had the coyote by the neck. It squealed, dropping a mouthful of his fur, and began to thrash around. The other coyotes came to their compatriot's rescue and Malleus was forced to relinquish his prize. After one final squeeze Malleus flung the coyote away and spun to face its rescuers with a devilish, bloody grin. Let them try again. He was ready.

Aaliyah couldn't be happier with her brother's decision to get started, though she held back as he began to slink toward the coyote den. With those brilliant gears ticking along in her head, Aaliyah smirked and moved in a wide arch around where the vermin were barking at Malleus. Taking her place in a shadowy area near the scene, but out of view, Liyah watched as the coyotes mock charged her brother. She waited until they seemed comfortable with the idea of one wolf. When they started surrounding him, she moved forward like a ghost, keeping in the shadows and waiting to surprise them with her appearance. Her chance came when the first true biting began, and she sprang for the fray with bounding, bouncing leaps that spoke of her joy. Battering her way into the middle of the ring, Aaliyah shouldered one coyote to knock it into another, and snapped at the rear legs of another from behind it, savagely shaking her head to disable the male once she felt him between her teeth. Coyotes near her sprang away, taken aback by her sudden appearance, and giving her a chance to line herself tail to nose with her brother and take on any coyotes that came her way. His bloody grin sang with challenge, and the vermin pack finally recovered enough to come for them again. The first tried to come for Malleus's tail end, but just before she reached the silver and black of his leg, Aaliyah launched forward and grasped the coyote by the nape and dragged her beneath the dark mass of Aaliyah's forelimbs where the Abraxas woman snaked her head up then down on her throat. Aaliyah clamped her jaws tight, then shook her head to quickly dispatch the female, then threw her at three others who were coming at her right. When she turned, there was another headed for Malleus, but Aaliyah was faced down by a particularly ballsy male who snarled and snapped at her face. "Mal, behind you!" She called, then turned to face off the newest coyote threat. OOC: Lemme know if I need to edit or anything lol. "Speech" Walk. "You." 'Think.'

In an instant Aaliyah was at his side. Her arrival was marked by the shrieking of startled and wounded coyotes who hadn't seen her coming. Amused by their fright, Malleus chuckled and bared his teeth at the coyotes brave enough to circle back. "Mal, behind you!" In a flash Malleus whipped around and pounced on the offending coyote. Expertly he wrapped his arms around the coyote's shoulders and pinned its lowered head between their chests. With its head down the coyote was powerless and unable to defend itself. It screamed as Malleus drove his teeth into its back. He was quick and merciless as he dispatched the coyote; laying down bite after bite until it quit struggling. Out of the corner of his eye Malleus saw another stalking towards him. He flung the dead coyote at it and then lunged for it. The female coyote, easily his age or older, was no fool. She sidestepped his assault and made a break for it. Malleus' teeth grazed her haunch but he was left with little more than a mouthful of fur. With no coyotes in reach Malleus spun around in search of Aaliyah. Knowing her, all the action would be around her.

Snap, snap, snap! The coyote's teeth came mere inches from her nose as she tucked her head away from the much smaller canid, once she had him thinking he was gaining an advantage, she stripped it away. Waiting for the male to close his jaws, Aaliyah struck and found purchase on his muzzle. She used every ounce of her bite force to crush her way through skin and the thinner bones of his nose. As the coyote screeched, two more rushed her sides, the one she happened to see caught a hind leg in the throat, but the other found purchase on the left side of her neck. It clamped its fangs into the loose skin of her neck and thrashed its head around, making fires of pain lance up and down her side.

Releasing the face of the male, though ensuring he would be out of the fight by mauling him with a wrenching shake of her head and ripping her teeth through the soft tissues of his nose, Aaliyah turned her attention to the coyote on her neck. Ducking her head she aimed her teeth for the hind leg of the creature, snarling loud in her pain, refusing to whimper even though the coyote shook its head in a motion that mimicked her own. Trapping the back of the coyote's leg between her teeth, Aaliyah clamped down and pulled the coyote off of her, jerking her head back and forth on the leg between her teeth in order to disable it.

Unable to stand the pain, the coyote yowled in Aaliyah's ear, making her grimace before she switched her aim to the lower jaw of the pest and wrenched it to the side, dragging the little beast by its lower jaw as it repetitively bit down on her muzzle. Shallow punctures showed, but nothing more as she shook her head to finally dislocate the jaw of the animal.

With the display, the other coyotes seemed to realize they were in too deep, becoming hesitant in their attacks once again. It gave her enough time to look at Malleus, hoping he fared better than she had. A bite wound to the side of her neck and a few knicks and scratches here and there began to show up bright red against the chocolate dusk of her pelt, damn vermin. Her red eyes looked back over the coyotes and waited to see what happened next.

His eyes soon found her. Aaliyah was, to no surprise, holding her own. She tore through the coyotes like a freshly sharpened blade. Malleus was about to join her when a searing pain shot up his left thigh. Without looking he lashed out, kicking hard at the place he thought the coyote might be. He was rewarded by a fresh wave of pain and a yelp as the startled coyote was torn loose and kicked aside. The moment his paw was back on the ground Malleus whipped around and pounced on the downed coyote. For it he had no mercy. He tore it to pieces. Malleus turned once more to Aaliyah, this time with his face painted with ichor. His eyes were dark, his pupils so wide they nearly swallowed the blue of his irises, and his expression was fiendish. It was time to end this. Before they'd started he'd told himself that he was content to let those that fled live, but no more. He wanted them all gone. "I want them all dead," he bit out in a low voice. Then, with more force, he roared, "Kill them all!" He dove towards the ring of coyotes that nervously circled his sister. There weren't many left at this point. The two of them would make short work of them. Fixating on one, Malleus grabbed hold of its spine, right between its hips. He lifted it off the ground and then slammed it down to stun it. It curled in on itself and tried to bite him, but he overwhelmed it; falling on the creature with all the savagery of a wrathful god.

Hearing the command for their death, Aaliyah gave a frightfully bloodstained smile and set to work. Her jaws aimed out at the nearest coyote and snatched it by the left cheek to pin it beneath her. The one that had been closest to it rushed in while she was distracted, grabbing her scruff and trying to pull her off of the one she pinned, but it was no use. She was much heavier than these creatures and there would be no moving her now that she had been set to kill. With a vicious ripping and tearing, she pulled the coyote beneath her to ribbons then lashed out at the leg of the one who pulled on her.

Her mouth latched onto the leg and snatched, causing the coyote to fall and yelp out, though no aid would come for it this time. Aaliyah washed over the creature and made short work of her, ripping and tearing the same way she had done the others. Naamah's rage had been unleashed in the girl and she would not stop until the last one was dead, every bit her mother's daughter this day. Once the last breath left the coyote, Aaliyah looked up and searched for another target, then dashed over to help her brother. It wasn't necessary, and the coyote was dead before she reached them.

Panting, Aaliyah looked around, making sure none had escaped them before she spoke. "I think we did it..." She said, still on high alert for any movement that would suggest otherwise.

Malleus lost count of how many times he bit the coyote. It would kick him and he'd bite it; it would yelp and he'd bite it; it would bite him and he'd pick it up and shake it. There wasn't an order to his attack. He didn't have to bother with one. It didn't stand a chance. Finally Malleus realized it had stopped fighting and he cast its torn body aside. The little scavengers had been given every opportunity to leave. The carnage was on them. He looked up to find Aaliyah standing nearby. It was only then that he realized there was a deathly silence all around them. It was done, wasn't it? He straightened and glanced around, and sure enough, they were alone save for the cluster of corpses scattered about. His breath came in ragged huffs and numerous injuries stung, but his spirits were high as he turned to look at his little sister again. Malleus chuckled. "We did- good job by the way. They didn't know what hit them." He stretched and then groaned playfully as his wounds protested. "I don't know about you, but I could use a healer."