Chapter 6
Loraine knocked Nathan onto the ground of the Park. She jumped on top of him in Vampire form. Before she could lean in for the bite, though, he got out a cross and pinned it to her chest. It started to burn her, so she jumped off and turned back into her human guise. Before Nathan could get up from the ground, though, a hand reached out of the ground below him and grabbed his arm. He reacted instantly, stabbing it with the cross. A shriek-like sound came out of the ground as he backed away. The hand was burning. It was a fledgling Vampire that was just rising! Loraine smiled, remembering how she'd gotten to sire a few people on her last hunt. The Vampire dug itself out of the ground and joined fight, followed by a few more Vamps.
"OK, that's a challenge," Tech said, remembering the shadow demon's warning about how they couldn't face Vampires.
Kyra ran over to one of the Vampires and kicked it, knocking it backwards and into a tree so that one of the branches pierced it in the heart, making it turn to dust. "Whoa. I'm never gonna get that image out of my head." She ran over to Nathan and helped him up from the ground so that he could re-join the fight. "You OK?"
"Just fine considering I was almost killed." The first risen Vampire finally tugged the cross out of its hand and threw it at Nathan, hitting him in the head so hard that he fell down again. "Ow."
Meanwhile, Loraine and the shadow demon in Gail's body were going at it. Loraine kicked the demon, who punched her in the nose. Loraine, due to pain reflex, was forced to morph and felt the anger boiling up inside her. She jumped at the demon, pinning it to a tree. The demon yanked a branch off the tree and prepared to stake Loraine.
Loraine, of course, had to act fast and felt herself start to sing again: " …let all your cares slide, leave the pain behind, and let your worries fade away… "
The demon felt itself weakening and dropped the stake, falling to the ground in pretty much the same manner as Cassandra had before at the warehouse (except this time not bleeding out). Gail saw her chance and started to force out the demon, pushing it away from her body. Finally, the demon was forced out entirely and took form outside of her body. But before it could react to this, it melted, too weakened by Loraine's powers to fight back.
"OK, what just happened?" Loraine asked.
Gail grabbed onto Loraine's leg…making her faint.
Zack stared at Gail. "You're a mutant, too?"
Gail stood up and walked over to them, panting heavily. "Yeah, didn't I mention that?"
Loraine got up, angrily. "You are so dead!"
"Uh oh. I'm outtie." Gail ran off.
"Thanks for the help!" Duck called after her.
Gail glared at him, sighed, rolled her eyes, and ran off.
Loraine started to run after her, but noticed that Meredith was already doing something. Meredith held out her hand and a ball of fire emerged from midair and chased after Gail.
"Rev, do something!" Zack yelled.
"On-it!" Rev, being the fastest, ran off and pushed Gail to the ground down the street before the fire could incinerate her. The fire, not being quite as fast, instead burned the grass beside them. "That-was-a-close-one-are-you-OK-cause-that-fire-whatever-it-was-could've-seriously-"
"I get it!" Gail interrupted, getting up, "And yes, I am fine."
"Good." Rev ran back to the park, just in time to see that Loraine, Astrid, Josephine, and Meredith were all gone, leaving the fledgling Vamps to fight the team.
"Did I neglect to mention that Vampires, along with an occasional power boost, also get enhanced speed about 2/3 as fast as Rev?" Tech asked.
"Yeah, you kind of forgot that one," said Zara, staking a Vamp. There was only about 5 left, so it wasn't too bad.
Gail went over to help Zack.
"So you're a mutant?" Zack asked.
"I think we have that established," she said, kicking a Vamp away.
"Cool. What can you do?"
"Calming—like I just did a little bit ago with that lead Vampire—and spiritual manipulation—commanding souls and such."
"Wow."
"I know. My parents are very proud."
Finally, Lexi brain-blasted the final Vamp, knocking him back so hard that Ace got his chance to dust it.
Zack sighed with relief. "That was a close one." He looked at Gail. "So do think we're gonna see each other again?"
"I'll be around." Gail walked off. "Good luck fighting the undead." She left.
The Loonatics and L-Force collected in the center of the park.
"So, uh…" Ace said, "I guess we do kind of need each other in this fight."
"We sure can't do it alone," said Lexi.
Slam said something.
"That's a good point," said Kyra.
"So we call a truce?" Zara asked, "No more fighting amongst ourselves, just against the bad guys?"
Kyra smiled. "I hope so."
"If it helps," Tech said, "since I'm the first one who quit, I'll be the first one to apologize and say I was wrong."
"Great, so I don't have to," Duck said.
"Duck!" Zara snapped.
"OK…I'm sorry."
Zara looked at Kyra. "Friends?"
Kyra smiled. "Sure."
"Group hug?"
"No."
"So let me get this straight," Deirdre said, "You didn't kill any of them?"
"No, but I did find out what my power is," said Loraine, "as did Mer."
"Yes, Lore," Deirdre corrected, "and in the process, the Loonatics and 'L-Force' got back together!"
Loraine then realized her mistake and her smile faded. "Oops."
"Exactly. So why didn't you kill them?"
"Can we pass the 'didn't kill them' part?" Astrid demanded.
Deirdre sighed. "OK." She looked at Cassandra and Roscoe. "You 2 guard the place. We've got something to do." She led the 4 Vampires into the back room and locked the door behind them.
"What's so special about that room?" Roscoe asked Cassandra.
"Don't know," Cassandra answered, "All I know is that we're not allowed back there. It's just for dead people and the leading lady."
Deirdre approached Wake. "OK, these kids had the Loonatics cornered and they didn't do anything-"
"It's not time to kill them yet."
Deirdre was caught off-guard by Wake's rebuttal. "What?"
Wake looked at them, angrily. "However, in your attempt to do so, you not only ruined my plan, but got them back together!"
"Again, oops," Loraine said.
Wake sighed. "On the bright side, we know what your powers are. Loraine, you can…'punish' people that hear you sing. Meredith, you have the gift of Enchanted Elements: Watch-Fire, a fireball that will find a target and attempt to kill them; Dancing-Seas, a hypnotizing water that will entrance a target and drown them; Vile-Vines, which the name says it all; and Anger-Winds, which will paralyze a victim entirely. Astrid, you are able to awaken monsters. And Josephine, you were granted the ability to make anybody fear anything."
"Wow," Meredith said, "What could Denna do?"
"Nothing much," Wake answered, "That's why I didn't turn her. She wasn't as powerful as you. I like to change just the right victims."
"Well, you sure chose well," Josephine pointed out.
"Oh, and one more thing: we do know something about one of L-Force kids that may just come in handy with us."
"What? Which one? What's the secret?" Deirdre asked a flurry of questions.
Wake smiled. "The Death-Bringer. The one who killed your brother."
This got Deirdre's attention. "What about him?"
"Him killing your brother awakened a dark force inside him. His powers were meant for the one person we needed the most and it was him. Every time he experiences a traumatic moment, it turns him evil. What we need. A second time and he goes back to normal."
Deirdre smiled. "So all we gotta do is give a non-lethal experience so 'traumatic' that he stays evil. This ought to be fun."
TO BE CONTINUED…