Chapter 1
"Jean, Storm, Rogue and Kurt, assemble and meet me in my office please. I need you for an urgent mission," the telepathic call rang out.
Upon entering Professor Xavier's office, the team was greeted by a somber Charles Xavier wheeling around from behind his desk.
"We have an urgent matter to attend to. I have located a new mutant in London, England. I don't have all the details but she is very dangerous. She has some sort of vampiric mutation that has just developed. She seems to be trying to fight it but she's being compelled to drain people of their blood with a desire she can't overcome. I know she has killed two people already. We must stop her before anymore lives are lost."
Kurt felt an unease in the pit of his stomach. He always felt a slight apprehension before any mission but this one in particular was unsettling to him.
"Kurt? Kurt!"
He snapped out of his thoughts abruptly, "Ja? Vas?"
"For the second time, stop hitting me with your tail," Rogue stated exasperatedly. She was standing there rubbing her arm. Kurt steadied his whipping tail with a three-fingered hand. He may have been able to hide the agitation on his face, but his tail belied him.
"Jean, obviously I want you on board for your telekinetic powers. Storm, you're the best at flying the jet and you all may need some creative weather coverage to land undetected near the city. Kurt, you have the added benefit of being able to navigate in the darkness and shadows where she will be moving, not to mention porting everyone to safety if things should take a turn. Rogue, if things should become more difficult than originally thought, I want you to only use your powers as a last resort. You may be taken over by a temporary bloodlust from absorbing her powers. That could be very dangerous for everyone," Charles warned.
Rogue was beginning to share Kurt's uneasiness over this mission. Jean and Storm stood calm and alert as always. Rogue and Kurt both silently envied the two women's ability to remain stoic in the face of crisis.
As the team swiftly moved through the halls of the mansion toward the jet hangar, Kurt's uneasiness was growing rapidly. He couldn't put a finger on why this mission was upsetting him anymore than any other he had been a part of since joining the X-Men. Psychic ability was not part of his mutation but he couldn't help feeling a sense of foreboding about this. He reached inside the collar of his uniform to finger the rosary that he always wore. He did not say a prayer, but rather just found a small comfort in knowing it was there. Since joining the X-Men, Kurt had seen too much death and destruction. It had shaken his faith and he no longer desired to take the path of a man of the cloth. He couldn't bring himself to form the entire thought, but he wasn't sure he still even held the belief in his God. Now was not the time to be thinking of such matters and with that Kurt removed his hand from inside his uniform and mentally steeled himself as much as he could for something that none of them could fully prepare for.