Chapter 4

2006 October 20th

New York

Kali nursed her wounds in the relative safety of her own little sanctuary, her escape from the Nightstalkers had been a bloody one; despite no one having been alerted by her earlier carnage. She had killed at least three more of them and wounded two others before she reached street level. But once she had she was home free, she took to the rooftops and fast out ran any pursuit.

Now she was tired, bloody and seeking her bed as the sun began to rise, she could feel it pressing against the building as she retreated into the deepest part of her home, a completely sealed and isolated room where she kept her narrow little cot. It wasn't much but luxuries were not high on her list or priorities.

Rest was. Rest and healing sleep. When she awoke she was going to loose part of her night hunting, but that couldn't be helped. After that it was a simple matter of deciding on her next priority. Carving a bloody path through Armaya? Or finding Ana? Maybe both. Either way carnage was on the menu.

Kali awoke with the coming of darkness, and in the new night she felt different, renewed, a cool sense of control had settled over her. There would be no pretences that night, no more hiding who and what she was. Death and destruction would soon walk the streets of New York.

She drew on a pair of tight form fitting leather pants, which settled against her body like a second skin. Her tunic was next, fastened tightly across her body so that her moulded high-grade tactical armour could then fit over it. Dark silver plated steel edged boots reached to her knees and gave her another inch in high. Like soldiers of old she strapped her short sword to her belt so that it hung by the side of leg while she holstered a nine mm glock beneath her right arm. She strapped her scalpel like silver blades to sheaths on her arms and finally slid into the embrace of her leather coat.

Running a hand gently down her face she found the damage Brutus had inflicted on her was long healed, and what had been a bloody wreck the night before had become a useable if somewhat grotesque version of her hand. Kali slipped on a pair of leather gloves to conceal the damage before she strapped the final weapon in her arsenal to her belt. The UV flash grenade. She would feed and heal further and then she would kill; how many vampires could a UV grenade ash in a tightly packed, enclosed space. She was curious to find out.

Some nights it felt like fate was on Kali's side, fate, kismet, destiny, or sheer coincidences of epic proportions. Everything lined up as if it were meant to be, and who was she to argue with fate on those rare nights?

She had stalked the fringes of the same Armayan club she had frequented the previous night, her keen eyes piercing the shadows to find Ana, almost as if she were waiting. Huddled in a corner of the booming room; for the first time Kali noticed she looked uncomfortable, perhaps it had something to do with the large gauze bandage that now marked her neck.

Watching the hunter wince as she slowly turned to look around the club was a satisfaction in its own right. Sometimes Kali wondered if she wasn't a little too sadistic, wondered if she didn't enjoy the game just a little too much. But she quickly shrugged that off as she edged across the room, using the bodies of the frantic mass to shield her from sight.

Whether her brief exposure to the booming music's and human masses had anaesthetized her already, or whether she was just too intent on her prey, her senses too focused on a single individual to take in the disorientating scene around her Kali was simply glad she wasn't succumbing like she had the first night. Her pride could only take so many blows.

For a time the vampire simply watched Ana, occasionally moving her vantage point to keep from being detected herself. It was almost an irony that in her full battle attire Kali actually blended into the crowd better then she had in a dress.

But sooner or later someone was going to get too close, brush past the sword she was attempting to conceal, and despite her intention to carve a bloody hole in Armaya, she would prefer to do it on her own time table, so she began to slowly make her way towards Ana.

When the shit hit the fan Kali didn't want her slipping away.

In the moment before Kali almost miraculously appeared beside Ana she noticed the clenched teeth, the strain across her jaw and the glow of pain seeping from her eyes. Kali had to admire that, the hunter had returned to the lion's den the night after having part of her neck cut away and being thrown across a room, and she was there without any kind of pain medication.

Of course meds could make one drowsy, could make one slip up. A death warrant for a hunter.

Smiling sadistically Kali slid into the booth beside Ana and clasped the girl's hand from where it was resting on her knee. Ana's head jerked to the side, as she looked at the vampire in startled shock.

Kali just continued to stare out across the room as she crossed her legs, from her time flitting around observing her prey she had seen that Ana was wearing a simple black dress, almost a twin to the white one she had worn the night before, with a long wide slit through it. A silver ankh decorated her neck and the same black jacket as the night before was casually placed beside her.

Though tonight she wore her hair in a loose cascade over her shoulders, partially obscuring her bandage.

"Hello Ana"

After a few moments of their tableau Ana frowned, "Hi Kara. Thanks for the remembrance", she said while she slowly stroked the gauze.

"Call me Kali" she grinned in genuine amusement then and slipped an arm around her companion's waist so that their bodies were pressed together. It was partially so that if Ana tried anything it would be a simple matter for her to be silenced without drawing any unwanted attention…but somehow she didn't think Ana was going to try anything. She also did it because simply put she enjoyed resting against the other woman.

They were two predators in an enemy den, both curious as to what the other was going to do.

Acting as the intimates they were not Kali leaned into the hunter and whispered what would appear to be sweet nothings in a lovers ear, she knew her breath was warm as she could feel the shivers it sent down Ana's spine when she spoke.

"I have a nice pair of chains at home just waiting for you baby," Kali's hand glided down the silk fabric of the hunters dress, playing along the slit over her leg.

Ana closed her eyes and leant back, biting her lip to suppress any breathy sounds that might have escaped as Kali's hand continued to edge under the dress.

The sharp metallic click of hand cuffs, and the cool bite of metal around the human's hand belied what they had apparently been doing. "Mmm" Kali murmured, "Somehow I thought a girl who liked chains would be carrying cuffs"

Ana just turned pouty lips towards the vampire, this time it was her turn to whisper. Her breath brushed across Kali's neck like a warm breeze, and her voice still rang with that unmitigated authority.

"Why do I get the feeling you want me to stick around?" Her voice was tinged with amusement as she lifted her delicate human hand to emphasise the cuffs that now bound her to one of the booths metal legs.

"Because you're very intuitive" Kali drew out the last word, playing it across her tongue as she finally lent back a little, allowing Ana at least the illusion of space.

"If I'm so intuitive why is it that I would have picked another hunter to seduce?" The first time they had met Ana was playful, even a little childish. But now that voice of authority came from a maturer woman, like she had radically shifted her entire persona.

Traditionally women had been called the deceivers, betrayers, liars, thieves, they wore a thousand faces. Kali had the strangest idea that Ana fully embodied that traditional view, she was more then a little curious to find out just how many sides she could discover.

"You are the Kali that messed up the Armayan two nights ago, aren't you?" she elaborated, almost questioningly

Kali smiled sweetly, with a hint of coyness in her expression, as if to say, who me? She even went as far as to point with one delicate and shapely finger towards herself.

"My god" Ana breathed out, "What you did to him…I mean, they had to ash him" there was just a little bit of awe in the hunters eyes, "He was so messed up the higher ups didn't think he had a chance in hell of healing the damage, or that anything would be left of his mind if he did"

"I have skills," Kali said simply.

"Why does that sound like a threat…?"

There was nothing nice about the vampires smile or demeanour then, "It's really too bad I killed you brute so quickly, I would have deeply loved to have shown him what torture really is. Guess I'll be educating you instead "

Ana took that in better humour then Kali would have expected, with a quirked brow she said, "I like pain"

She really was psychotic. And yet that twisted streak just made her more appealing to Kali.

"Well my sadistic little hottie, I'd love to stay and chat but I have so many things to kill before I take you home" Kali slid a finger down Ana's nose as she spoke, giving it a little flick as she finished. "You might want to stay down, I hear inhaling too much ash is bad for you"

And with that remark and Ana's quizzical look Kali slid out of the booth and emerged from the shadowy little realm at the edge of the club into the mainstream. Dancing screaming bodies were pact around her and the violent vibrations from the sub woofers echoed through her bones.

The mind numbingly horrific music was reason enough to immolate the club and everyone in it, the fact half of the occupants were Armayan vampires and familiars was just a bonus.

As the music shifted into a fast paced dance number, white lights began to flash over the room. Hard white lights, which sent stars across Kali's vision and was probably just as uncomfortable for every other vampire in the room. What the hell was the point of a club run by vampires and catering to vampires if it wasn't even going to create a comfortable freaking environment for them?

Time slowed to Kali's perception as she stopped in the centre of the dance floor, the surrounding bodies flitted around her, blurring as if it they were moving incredibly fast. It was strange how perception worked.

In time to the flashing lights Kali unclipped the UV grenade, clicked the safety lock off and threw it high into the air, the first pulse of ultraviolet light spread through the club with a light searing effect. Like a bad tan, flesh burned and almost instantly every vampire in the club looked up in horror.

The booming beat of absurd music silenced as the weapon arched through the air. It glowed a faint violet and the Armayan's watched on in horror as the second pulse of searing light spread out, once more perceptions deceived everyone.

It seemed as if they had forever to move, to run or flee but in reality only tenths of a second past before that second pulse echoed out across the room.

While the second pulse spread in an ever-growing sphere Kali dove to her knees, drawing her thick leather coat across her body to shield her from the deadly ultraviolet rays, every item of clothing she wore that night had been specifically designed and made with a black out effect so that no light, no matter how minute or microscopic could penetrate it.

The only part of her body that was truly exposed was her face and neck, and as the light seared the flesh from vampire bones her head was safely hidden beneath a light impenetrable material.

With her heightened senses she heard the brief, almost inaudible screams of vampires and familiars, heard the vampires ash. It was the sweetest of music's, and finally after what felt an eternity but had in reality only been moments she heard the clarity of the UV grenade strike the floor and bounce once, twice, and thrice before it came to a stop.

Casting off her protective barrier Kali rose to her feet to take in the carnage, a few vampires had survived the pulsing weapon. But their bodies were badly burned and they lay immobile, straining to move. Humans looked around in horror and fear, for some of them it was their first encounter with the vampire world.

The ash from the now dead vampires had been caught by the light breeze coming from the AC and was now stuck to the hot sweaty bodies of the humans, mingling and running down their flesh creating a grungy look throughout the room.

For a brief moment Kali caught Ana's eyes, once more the hunter looked impressed with her actions, crazy as they might have been. She too was covered in the grime of ash after nearly half the establishment's customer had just been turned to dust.

The tableau of shock and horror across the room lasted another fraction of a second before all out chaos took effect, men and woman rushing, clawing their way to the exits. A number of them crushed the now brittle bodies of the surviving vampires in their haste to flee…but others were running in a different direction.

The first familiar to rush her stood at six foot five and outweighed her by as much as three hundred pounds, his lumbering mass charged towards her and she casually sidestepped him. Drawing her blade and slicing across his ample belly in a single movement, shock over took him as he stopped to see a slim line of red cross his stomach, followed by the hard press of his guts and perforated bowels pushing themselves out and across the floor.

A god-awful stench from his bowels assaulted her senses a moment later and he collapsed over his own spilled entrails.

The music that had just moments ago boomed through the room came to an abrupt and sputtering halt as ash clogged the speakers.

The second familiar to make a play for her was faster but just as stupid as the first, Kali heard the squeak of pivoting boots and felt the rush of air as he tried to close around her in a bear hug from behind, she let her body drop forward as she fell into a tightly executed roll, as she came to her feet her blade slid behind her and cut the man from sternum to throat.

It was a long slash up his body, but a shallow one. She heard his gasp, more from the shock of the sting then from any real kind of pain as she swivelled and drew her sword from left to right across his throat.

A gush of blood splattered over Kali's body armour before the man could clasp his hands over his own throat, a meaningless action since her blade had cut him deep. She could see the white of his spine through the gaping whole in his neck and it was only a matter of moments before his brain caught up with the fact that his body was dead.

Two more familiars came at her in a semi coordinated attack, the first man was African American and just short of six feet, though he made up for the height with muscles that strained through his shirt as he circled around her. The second man had a distinctly Asian appearance with oval eyes and short cropped black hair, if she was being generous she would have said he was five foot five. But he was lean muscle and he held an aluminium bat like he knew how to use it, and with each circling step he showed an awareness of his environment. The pooling blood and bodies that may have proved obstacles to an inexperienced fighter.

Asian man saluted her with the bat, an almost courtesy warning before he moved, on instinct she block his bat with her sword and instantly regretted it. The reverberations through her arms and the painfully loud clang revealed that her sword had just been dented, and bent inwards.

That pissed her off.

Forgetting him for a moment she let loose a wild spinning side kick that sent her airborne and caught the black guy across the face, he went down hard, but before he could drop more then a few inches she followed up her side kick with a hard back kick that shattered several of his ribs.

As he suddenly went flying across the room Kali's feet found the ground again and she stepped into the Asian mans next swing, she caught the bat before it had gathered any real momentum and pivoted into his body.

With a savage vindictiveness to revenge her ruined blade Kali brought the man's arm down over her shoulder. It was a simple but effective strike when used against a shorter opponent, the resulting leverage of a shorter persons arm being bent over a taller persons shoulder quite nicely resulted in a broken arm. The Asian man was no exception to that rule, his arm snapped and as she continued to pull his weight down she dislocated his shoulder as well. Remarkably he contained himself to a pained grunt.

Kali continued with her previous actions and turning her hips further into him so that she flipped the man into the ground, dropping a knee into him she smacked an open palm strike into his face. She felt the cartilage shatter under her blow, but doubted that she'd used sufficient force to drive it back into his brain.

Liberating his bat she rose to her feet and swung the metallic club in a mockery of an uppercut, shattering the lower part of another familiars face, she let the momentum from the strike turn her so that the bat smashed back into that same familiar.

Kali was liquid grace as she dispensed crippling injuries and death to the familiars who came towards her. The blood of her enemies coated her body and stained her jacket, but in the midst of all that death a few bodily fluids went unnoticed.

As she brought the dented and bloody baseball bat down on what she thought was the last familiar a resounding boom echoed through the nearly empty room. Closely followed by a second, and a third.

The bullets smacked into her chest, jerking her right then left before the final one struck her dead centre. In the flickering lights of what remained of the club Kali saw a female familiar standing in a two-handed gun stance, an obvious smirk decorating her face, as she believed she had just killed the renegade vampire.

Admittedly she may have done just that…if Kali hadn't been wearing body armour.

In a flash Kali raced the room before the familiar could realise her error, before the gun could find her again Kali was knocking it from the woman's hands. On a scale of one to ten the formerly armed familiar was a minus three on the attractiveness scale. But her blood was as good as anyone's.

Kali spun the woman and reared back before sinking her teeth into that soft fleshy part of the neck, she tasted only a brief spurt of blood before she proceeded to snap the familiar's neck. She didn't have time to really feed, and it would rain in hell before she sired a vampire by accident. Kali would only impart the curse of Blades bloodline on someone if she truly meant to, if she truly wanted to. She was not careless enough to do it by mistake.

And it was done. The only two people left alive in the club were herself and Ana…and technically it was debateable as to whether Kali was alive or not.

Looking towards her prisoner she began to stalk towards her, her leather coat trailing through blood and thicker remains as she moved. Her face and clothes were saturated with the blood of the dead and yet as she walked towards Ana the hunter was looking at her as if she were the embodiment of Christmas. A present waiting to be unwrapped.

"Kali" she whispered, "Traditionally thought of as a goddess of death and destruction" her eyes strayed to take in the room, "Well you certainly have that part down"

"That's sweet" Kali replied, she could feel the blood already staining her lips as it cracked around her words. "But I'm still going to torture you"

Kali snapped the cuffs binding Ana and preceded to set the Armayan club on fire, it was only as she was slipping out the back alley with an unconscious hunter over her shoulder that she saw the clubs name. It sent a merry chuckle through her that expanded until she was almost giddily laughing as she made her escape moments before Armayan enforcers arrived, closely followed by the police who must have been called in by some of the normal human escapees.

Le feu de la mort. The fires of Death.