I knew they would all get there early to see what the competition would be like. So I gathered all my weapons and tossed my grab-and-go saddle bags on my bike.

 You would think with four magic-wielding creatures around you, one of them could tell you more about the magic they could detect off this old thing. Who was I to complain? It looked like an old Harley costumed out to look like a dragon, with the handlebars being the horns coming off of its head. It was loud most of the time. You could say like a dragon roaring, but when I needed to be quiet and stealthy, you could hardly hear it running at all.

 I checked my duster, making sure both 12 gauge  Benelli M3 Tactical Shotguns were secured in place, along with the extra ammo and many blades it carried. I wrapped it and stuck it in my carry bag. Tonight would be too warm for it. Both of my 460 revolvers were loaded with specialty ammo, along with each quick load I carried. Not all supernatural creatures these days are stuck to honorable fights. 

 I did not know where the two swords came from or what they were made of. That was the thing with this chest or box. One day you removed all the items out of it just to open it the next day to put something in it and low and behold you would find you missed an item.

 I text Marie and asked her to make sure she popped by and grabbed it for me. I knew as much as she did that there were problems brewing between the old packs and the new. The newer ones did not follow tradition and had allowed other species into the packs and positions based on performance in the trials. Old packs only allowed this as an honored spot, or they were born into the pack because of some type of mishap.

 The old packs believed in working behind the scenes, not showing off. New packs did not care if they got seen by humans or if humans knew they ran a town or city. This caused humans to re-train their police forces and for them to seek other supernatural forces to join their police departments. 

 The old packs and covens have warned them this would draw the hunters out. Hunters followed their own rules and dished out justice as they saw fit. They trained their own way and made sure areas of conflict were ended. All communities of supernaturals set aside a tithe for them. Even after they disappeared, they have set this aside each year so that when they came back; they knew they could pay it and would get help when it was needed, or sought out. 

 One of the first things, after we left this pact, was for us to seek out a traditional pack to talk to about this. My parents told me about a distant relative that lived close by that could tell us about this. Said his pack was small but followed all the traditions.

 I started my bike to head off to the training grounds. Might as well do some training and see and hear what was expected of us for tonight's trials. I couldn't imagine that I would do this. Marie was right, though we had to. If we did not, one of the pack would see one of us one day and then make something out of it. I, for one, knew that they would then kill one or more of my friends and the rest of us would be on the run while grieving their loss. In no way I would let that happen. We had always been there for each other and always defended each other.

 The ride there was uneventful. Glad I had brought my bike though, as parking was hard to find. Seemed everyone was out here to see the hopefuls and take odds on who the best would be for each event.

 No need to show off just yet, so a casual work out I think. So I did not need to walk around shirtless or in gym clothes of any type. I walked over to the weight area and waited for a bench press to open up. I was not paying attention to what anyone was benching, so just decided to do whatever the last guy had been doing. As I got comfortable on the bench, I was trying to listen to a group that decided the best time to do tryouts was at night, since there was less competition at that time. As I grabbed the bar to start my first lift a semi-hush fell around the area. Great someone important or high up must be headed this way, or someone was about to make a very heavy lift. Oh well, I thought as I started my lift and brought it up slowly and then all the way down to my chest holding for a second then back up.