Post by Khaos on Apr 26, 2021 17:44:22 GMT -5
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(Be Advised: Fantasy Violence ensues...)
(Be Advised: Fantasy Violence ensues...)
Night had long since fallen under the New Orleans moon as Damien Carter stood in the Lafayette Cemetery, his eyes on various headstones that adorned the graveyard. It hadn’t really dawned on him until now just how many lives he had taken and the aftermath of those actions. Sometimes, like with the man in the alley a few days prior, the body would be crudely disposed of, never to be found again. Other times, if the Reapers were able to disguise the death as one with natural causes, the body would remain behind but the soul would be taken back to the “Shadow Lord”. The energy here was quiet, peaceful… and yet Damien was restless. Their drive from the gas station had been met with hushed protest from Thea. Even when he had tried to engage her in conversation or offer to turn on music of her choice, she remained mute. He didn’t know why she looked up to him so, he really wasn’t anything special… just another one of Erebus’ grunts who had unceremoniously flamed out the moment his personal feelings got in the way. Thea sat in concentrated silence as she arranged everything she needed for the ritual. Damien could care less about the “mystical arts”, so the less he knew about what they were actually doing here, the better. He patrolled the perimeter, keeping a watchful eye on Thea, while ensuring they would remain uninterrupted during their magical ceremony.
“Would you stop staring?” Thea finally broke the silence, her words laced with annoyance. “You’re making me nervous.”
Damien muttered some sort of an apology as he turned away from her. He felt guilty for his actions back at the gas station. Maybe she was right, he could’ve done more… could be this hero that she sees him to be. Are those the things that she sees in her visions? Does he become some purveyor of good, fighting for the righteous and holy, defending the weak and innocent? Seemed like a fairy tale to him. A crack of a tree branch off in the distance brought Damien back to reality as his eyes searched through the darkness, ready for any danger that may wait. Moments later, Damien witnessed a squirrel dart out from its hiding place, sprinting towards the safety of his home only for an owl to swoop in and devour its midnight snack.
“Almost done,” Thea announced, more-so to herself.
“Try and hurry up,” Damien replied, glancing back over his shoulder at her. “I don’t want to be here any longer than we have to be.”
“Didn’t realize you were so superstitious,” Thea half-heartedly teased, placing the stone obelisks in a triangle-formation around the other various ingredients she’d collected.
“I just prefer not to add the ‘undead’ to my list of foes, thank you very much,” Damien corrected, his eyes still shifting for any sign of danger. “Speaking of which… you do know what you’re doing, right?”
“I’m… pretty sure,” Thea answered truthfully, trying to remember the exact order in how to proceed.
Before Damien could further inquire what “pretty sure” meant, he heard another disturbance off in the distance. Voices… and they were growing closer! Damien shot a warning glance back to Thea, silently telling her to remain quiet, before moving in to investigate further. Carefully moving through the shadows, sneaking from one gravestone to the next, Damien stalked after his prey. Some things never change. Even though he had been a year removed from Erebus’ service, his training was ingrained deep within his DNA. The two men were talking loud enough that he could’ve snuck up on them blindfolded and with bells dangling around his neck. As he got closer, he could practically taste the alcohol on their breath. Just a bunch of drunks on a nice moonlight walk through a graveyard, reminiscing about the “good ol’ days” before the world went to shit. Determining that they were harmless, Damien kept his distance, making sure they disappeared out of sight before turning to return to his ward. As he began to retrace his steps, he noticed the air beginning to grow colder, an unnatural breeze churning around the cemetery. Fog began to swirl up in tendrils from the ground as Damien rolled his eyes, silently cursing Thea. She had started the ritual without him…
His pace quickened, determined to get back to her before she did something that neither of them could undo. It was in this moment that Damien caught a flash of a person slip out from behind a grave, her gaze directed towards him. He stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes meeting hers. She looked exactly the way that he remembered her, her eyes as dark as the night itself, her skin as smooth as milk chocolate. How could this be? She couldn’t really be here, could she!? Damien opened his mouth to call to her in that moment but she turned and disappeared out of sight. He raced after her, determined to not let her slip away again. He went from gravestone to gravestone, searching this way and that. Every once and awhile, he’d catch a glimpse of her. But she was too quick, too far ahead. He raced after her, fighting the urge to call to her. As he entered into a clearing of the graveyard, he came across an old and decrepit mausoleum, the entrance long since boarded up.
“What’s the matter, Khaos?” a seething voice called out from the dark. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Damien traced the sound to the top of the catacomb, watching as a dark-skinned man revealed himself, his greasy black hair tied back into loose-fitting dreads. His shuttered hazel eyes glowed red with anger as his lips curled upward, revealing a pair of sharp white fangs.
“Been awhile Ishmael-“ Damien began, before he was rudely interrupted.
“The name’s ‘Thorne’ now!” Ishmael growled, leaning forward, preparing to pounce.
Damien instinctively called out to the darkness, opening his palms and expecting for the obsidian daggers to appear instantly in his hands. But those were the weapons of “Khaos”… and he was no longer the Reaper. Thorne had anticipated this response, had seen the Reaper in action first-hand before, but for the darkness to not respond to Damien’s command only made his smile even wider.
“What’s the matter, Khaos?” Thorne taunted, nodding his head as more vampires emerged from their hiding places. “Can’t get it up anymore?”
Damien’s eyes darted from one to the other, counting at least four new threats surrounding him, neither of them the woman he had been chasing. He had fallen right into their trap and without his powers he was most likely not walking out of this encounter alive. He thought about calling out to Thea, warning her of the impending danger before they ascended onto him. But it would be pointless, she wouldn’t get very far before they ran her down too.
“What do you want?” Damien boldly asked, hoping against hope he could resolve this diplomatically.
Thorne dropped down in front of Damien, slowly approaching him as the others, too, moved in closer. Damien looked around to see if there was any advantage he could exploit and realized that he had one chance… the mausoleum! It would force them to filter in one-by-one, giving him a fighting chance. But first, he had to break down the boards that were obstructing his path.
“I’m really glad that you remember me…” Thorne professed, licking his lips. “… because I sure as hell will never forget you!”
“Been a few years,” Damien admitted, turning his focus onto the leader. “But hard to forget a face as ugly as yours.”
“You took EVERYTHING from me,” Thorne seethed with anger, drawing in closer. “Killed the only family I ever truly cared about!”
Damien recalled the incident in question, some years prior. The darkness had brought him to a nest full of vampires that were holed up in Las Vegas. Normally, Erebus preferred his Reapers not get involved in affairs with other “supernaturals” but in this particular instance, they were protecting someone that the darkness wanted. So Damien did what he was trained to; he collected his bounty and he killed any that got in his way.
“Seventeen!” Thorne screamed, practically foaming at the mouth. “You slayed seventeen of my brothers and sisters that day; practically tore my family apart! But as you can see Khaos, I have a new family…”
“If it’s all the same to you,” Damien interjected, trying to muster up his courage. “Can we just get on with it? I have a prior engagement that requires my undivided attention.”
“There he is,” Thorne snickered, moving in for the kill. “Even now, you think you have a chance-“
Damien didn’t let him finish his sentence as he lunged forward, grabbing Thorne and lifting him off the ground. The other vampires moved in, but Damien was too quick, slamming their leader up against the reinforced wood of the crypts entrance. It buckled, but did not break. Thorne slammed his head into Damien’s, breaking his hold on him and slithering to safety. Damien dropped to a knee, dazed, as his hand felt around for any type of weapon. It fell upon a splinter that had freed itself from the boards when he had sent Throne crashing into it. As the first vampire grunt moved in to strike, Damien turned, shoving the wooden shard into his heart, instantly turning him to dust. This gave the other three a moments pause as they then turned to their leader.
“Don’t just stand there!” Thorne commanded, spitting out blood. “Kill him!”
The three moved in at once as Damien swung at one, forcing him to back off. The other two, however, struck Damien in the head and chest, sending him staggering back against the mausoleum’s entrance. He watched as one of the vampires, emboldened by his successful strikes, went for the quick kill. The vampire leapt at him, flashing his fangs and going for the neck, forcing Damien to guard himself by lifting his arm up. He sacrificed the limb in order to protect himself from having his throat ripped out as the vampire bit down on his flesh, drawing a piercing scream from Damien’s lips, the blood rolling down his forearm. Backed into a corner, his survival instincts began taking over as Damien responded by driving the broken splinter into the neck of the vampire, forcing him to relinquish his teeth from his arm. The vampire fell backwards, clutching at the shard in his neck as the blood gushed from his throat and mouth. Damien had dusted one, wounded another, but there was still two more plus Thorne and now… he no longer had his weapon. Like sharks smelling blood in the water, the two grunts were on Damien, beating him down with stiff punches and kicks. For every blow he blocked, two more snuck past as Damien felt his face begin to swell from the beating, blood dripping freely from a gash across his face and a cut on his lip. He fell to his knees, doing his best to cover up, but knowing that – at best – he was only delaying the inevitable. His breaths came in shallowed gasps for air, a few broken ribs pressing painfully against his insides as the blows persisted. He remembered thinking of the events of this past week, the moments that led him to the here-and-now. Meeting Erebus again, the “Shadow Lord” putting him on this path of destiny; did he know this would happen? Was this how he was supposed to die all along? Did Thea know? Damien wondered if she had heard his cry of anguish when the vampire’s fangs had sunk into his flesh. Maybe if he could hold out a few more seconds, buy her the precious moments she’d need to try and get away. His legs betrayed him as he remained kneeling before Thorne’s goons, a broken shell of a man who had – at one time – been a symbol of fear from the Underworld. It was only a matter of time now…
And that’s when it happened; the unnatural wind that swirled around them became a powerful gale that ripped through the graveyard. A swirl of electrical energy circulated near where the battle had taken place as Damien watched the fabric of his reality seem to rip itself in two. From where the rift appeared, a pool of blue liquid began to expand outward, creating a shimmering doorway into another world. His left eye swollen shut, Damien averted his gaze to Thorne, only to see the vampire looking back at him, just as perplexed as he was. And that’s when she appeared…
She emerged through the gateway, a feral beast by her side. The wind whirled around her, tussling the bleach-blonde hair (with blue dip dye on the left side and pink/red dip dye on the right) into her eyes. She annoying blew it from her face as her gaze narrowed while the vampires exchanged curious glances with each other before looking her up and down; this new interruption sporting a tight pair of blue-and-red shorts with a ripped t-shirt, satin jacket, fingerless gloves, fishnet stockings, studded belt, and a pair of lace-up boots. By her side was her slender and wild four-legged pet, its thick fur coated with chain-like marks with black rosettes on the sides and back. Its legs were long; its tale even longer. The ocelot snarled at the men before them, its teeth flashing bright in the moonlight...
The mystery woman looked around at her surroundings, confused as to what had drawn her through space and time. Before she could fathom what was happening, the portal closed behind her, trapping her in this new world. The woman spun on her heel, her focus on where the rift had ceased to exist and, for a moment, all was deathly quiet. Her eyes darted back and forth, blinking a few times, as if trying to wake from a bad dream. When this didn’t work, her chest heaved with each exasperated breath that she took as she reared her head back and let out a carnal scream. Enraged, she turned back around, glowering at the two vampires that stood before her…
The mystery woman looked around at her surroundings, confused as to what had drawn her through space and time. Before she could fathom what was happening, the portal closed behind her, trapping her in this new world. The woman spun on her heel, her focus on where the rift had ceased to exist and, for a moment, all was deathly quiet. Her eyes darted back and forth, blinking a few times, as if trying to wake from a bad dream. When this didn’t work, her chest heaved with each exasperated breath that she took as she reared her head back and let out a carnal scream. Enraged, she turned back around, glowering at the two vampires that stood before her…
The two looked warily at each other, unsure of what to do with this new development. She didn’t give them the time to react as she charged forward, leaping onto one and digging her nails into his face. The vampire fell to the ground with the vicious harlot still a top him, screaming in torment as she clawed out his eyes. The other vampire turned to make a quick get-away, only for her loyal pet to leap forward, landing on his back, the beasts jaws ferociously biting down on his neck. Out of desperation, the blind vampire managed to flip the woman from him as he scrambled to his feet, sightlessly trying to escape. She gave no quarter, however, as she pushed herself to her feet, drawing forth a concealed revolver from her back. Taking aim, she fired a few rounds at her victim, the bullets shredding through the vampire and dropping him to the ground. The gunshots echoed in Damien’s head, breaking him from the trance as he turned back to Thorne, only to see that the lead vampire had disappeared. Shaking off the effects of his beating, Damien crawled his way over to the vampire that he had wounded earlier, the man still clutching at his throat. Damien practically collapsed on top of him, crudely freeing the wooden shard from the vampire's neck, drawing forth a fountain of blood that splattered onto his face. Exhausted, beaten, and broken, he managed to lift the make-shift stake over the vampire’s heart as the man frantically lashed out with his hands, trying to prevent the final blow. The two grappled with each other as Damien felt his heart pounding faster, his arms shaking from the anger that began flowing through him. With a rush of adrenaline, Damien unleashed a primal cry as he slammed his hands down, the splinter severing the heart of the vampire and reducing him to ash. Another series of gunshots sounded, the mysterious woman seemingly having finished off the vampire her pet familiar had downed moments earlier. Warily lifting his head, Damien managed to look upon her face once more as she came to stand before him, her smoking revolver now aimed directly at him.
“What the hell did you do!?” she screamed, cocking the hammer.