Chapter Ten
Three months earlier…
London, England
"You are just an egocentric bitch!!" dark haired man yelled at the woman sitting at the far end of the conference table.
The dark mahogany table was big and it contained forty-four seats. Forty-four seats for forty-four members of the High Council. The reflective surface was shiny as the ceiling lamps shone brightly upon it.
"Don't bring my ego into this. It doesn't like being talked about and attacked. It's very sensitive." The woman just snarked out in an even tone.
The man cursed all the gods known to human race throughout the millenniums of existing and worshiping, for the creation of vampires. They didn't hated humans like the general idea said, they just felt completely indifferent about anything that doesn't involve their respective, arrogant, half-dead asses. Which brought them to this problem.
"The big ones always are." the man drawled out in annoyance and the woman made a hurtful face at that.
Very fake for that fact. Vampires were always good at pretending and role-playing. And they were the only people who could even infiltrate among humans for a longer period of time without drawing too much attention. That is, if the get over themselves long enough to even care about getting caught with their fingers in the cookie jar. So to speak. But when they faked sometimes, they made all the effort to openly show it. Patronizing much??
"Ouch. Now you hurt its feeling. It wont play with you anymore…" the boring, even and annoyed tone from her voice brought only more annoyance.
"We have a big problem on our hand…" he tried to play reason and logic.
Vampires liked reason, logic and purpose. Immortals tend to create their lives with more purpose. Right?
"Don't we always?" there goes the eyebrow.
Alright, maybe that was a stupid proclamation. And obviously completely redundant because they are the hunting society and they are always in some kind of a mess.
"Yes, well. This one is quite bigger than that. Have you noticed it's snowing in Egypt? Did you got the memos? The departments are buried under a storm of news and memos."
"I don't read memos." She stated simply.
Oh, God. Could she make just one sentence simpler and easier?? Just one bloody sentence. It isn't like he is asking for world peace.
"Of course not." he stated defeated and he could swear he saw a quick smile on her face.
"Now, now… There is no reason for panic. I am sure it isn't anything too serious…" she leaned on the table and gazed upon him.
"Well… There is an unknown creature flying around the world, presumed from deep space, creating holes in the earth's ground." He spoke in one fast tone.
The woman just raised on eyebrow and looked at him. After three blinks she spoke.
"Come again…"
"I am not joking."
"What the bloody hell am I suppose to do?" she growled at him in outrage. "My field of expertise are planet Earth and the resident people including the always charming vacation spot called Hell. That would be all."
"I know, I know, but still… Who will do anything about this?"
And just then, a small person ran into the room shouting something in unrecognisable French. Something about something coming toward them.
"Oh, my God!! It's coming toward us??" the man started panicking.
"Lord Carmichael… I know it is serious, but do please calm down." The small person told him and the woman chuckled at them.
"WHAT??" the man growled at her. "What is so amusing?"
"Look!" she pointed with her long alabaster finger toward the window which had a beautiful view of the great London eye.
Yes, proudly standing as the greatest tourist attraction.
"Oh, Lord!!" the man shrieked as he saw the Great Eye slightly bending toward the watery surface.
Both lord Carmichael and the small person ran to the window to see what is going on. The two of them turned around when they heard a faint chuckle breaking their gasping silence. Lord Carmichael eyed the dark eyed woman carefully and angrily. She just smiled back with an innocent smile.
"I told you. No worry. New heroes are in town…" she exclaimed and stood up. "Now, if you excuse me… My presence is needed elsewhere."
And just with that, she turned to leave. Her dark lock waving as she made a sharp yet so fluid turn.
"Sariel!" Lord yelled after her. "This will have severe consequences."
The woman stopped in her stride, but she didn't turn around.
"Oh, really?" she turned around eying him menacingly.
"Yes. Those holes are deep. Really deep. It bounds to leave some consequences to the earth's core. To the world beneath are feet…"
"And you think that this will disrupt the barrier. I don't believe that that space thingy has enough power to disrupt the barrier." She spoke in calm tone and the Lord believed her.
Almost.
A week later….
"As half of Shanghai lays in ruins, the heroes celebrate the return of their female member. Sue Storm, presumed dead, returns to life in all her invisible glory. The Fantastic Four, heroes who can beat even Death!!"
The Guardian
"A great cloud washed over the murky sky of Shanghai, but there was one light brightly shining in the darkness… The Fantastic Four, the saviours of our world."
The New York Post
And the list goes on and on and on and on… The whole world is celebrating the Fantastic Four. The last news-papers flew toward the dark wooden table and a few student heads turned to see what was going on. As they gazed at the dark haired female sitting with her legs on the table and menacingly staring at the offensive papers, they forgot about the papers in front of them. Then that cranky head wiped around and glared at them.
"See something more interesting than the evolution of the human race in front of you?"
"No, Professor Blaze." They answered together and bowed their heads back to their work.
The black and way too heavy doors slammed as an infuriating dark figure marched in. Students jumped in their seats and the woman at the table sighed and sat properly in her chair.
"Class dismissed!" the black figure roared and in less than five seconds the classroom was clear.
"Lord Carmichael… How nice of you to drop in…" she drawled out in boredom.
"Seen this, Sariel?!" a growl from the man stopped her and she gazed upon the papers in his hands.
"I only managed to go through The Guardian, The New York Post and the People magazine… Still haven't reached any of the Tribunals…"
"They think it's over. They are celebrating their victory while the barrier breaks with every second. That stupid human shouldn't have created that machine."
"And what of this applies to me?"
"The army of Hell soon to be risen from the ashes…" Lord Carmichael spoke with a fake smile.
Ah, bugger. A sentence which has both Hell, army and risen is never good a good sentence. She shook her head and tried to say something when Lord's hands banged on her table. His tall frame towered over her like that would intimidate her.
"Don't you dare say anything!! We made a mistake and now the Hell is about to break loose. I do not care what you do, who do you call, just fix this and get under the control."
The storm went away few days after that and they all thought they were out of the war zone. Thought, being the key word. The shit hit the fence soon enough, as a bright young boy from one of the classes said. The barrier got loose and evil started leaking out. And all eyes were on Sariel Blaze this time. Yes, trust it to the Hell Rider to fix this.
Lord Carmichael now sat in his gray office and stared at the dark sky. The sun were nowhere to be seen under the thick layer of the clouds. Gloomy and dark clouds. Yes, this was their very own apocalypse if they don't do anything about it. Sariel may have all that great power at her side and the help of the Fantastic Four, but now that they are here…
The great fallen ones. Well, only three of them, but they were still a menace. A deadly menace walking around the world wrapped in human suits. Lord sank deeper in his chair as he prayed to God to save them from the evil.
Present time….
New York
Sariel breathed evenly. At least she thought she was trying to do that. She tried to move her head, but her cheek hurt as she scrapped it against something hard and cold. She couldn't move and everything hurt her.
Slowly gaining more consciousness, she started smelling things around her. Why did everything smelled of sulphur, decay and burnt flesh? She tried to open her eyes, but it was hard. Way too hard for someone like her, so she willed all her powers and strength to cooperate.
After few moments, which felt like an eternity to her, she opened her eyes. Blurry vision and bright light assaulted her and she winced. Forget about the pain and focus…
Her ears picked up a heartbeat not so far from her. It sounded slow and soothing in the silence. But soo she realised it wasn't silence. It was a deep rumble of people shouting, moving around and beeping with their horns.
She grew tired of guessing what was going on so she opened her eyes. Greeting her teeth and softly grunting, she rose from the ground. She noticed she lay in the midst of decay and broken walls and furniture. This was a building once. It still held an unsteady ceiling, but it had holes in it. Sariel blinked away the blurriness and just went through the ruckus. She gazed around her and saw bodies lying under the debris. All dead and in poor shape. Some of them were missing limbs, some of them were squashed to the point on unrecognising.
The first thing she saw as she stepped out on the street were ruins of a few nearby buildings. Just blocks of buildings scattered around the big alley. Yes, it was a big alley and it was in New York. She saw the same billboards once standing proudly on top of them, scattered around. A commercials for Dove and Sony lying like they were just thrown on the ground by a giant. She blinked.
What the hell happened here??
She couldn't remember. The only thing she remembered was sitting on the couch in the living room of the apartment in the Baxter Building. Sitting there long after Johnny went to sleep. How the hell did this happened?
The only logical thing that came to her mind was that this is Rider's doing and that is why she doesn't remember anything. It will come back to her eventually. It just needed time. As she moved through the chaos, she tried to be as silent as possible and as unnoticeable.
"WE HAVE A SURVIVOR!!" somebody shrieked and Sariel cringed.
In less than few seconds a dozen of people were around her asking million questions. She waved her hand at them and tried to focus on remembering what happened. She gazed at the people around her. Rescue times formed of firemen and doctors with few military men helping to move the debris so they could get to the wounded. No, there wasn't any wounded. Only dead people. Sariel cringed and hissed again.
"Shut up all of you. You are giving me a headache…" she finally spoke and noticed how her throat was dry and her voice raspy.
"Come on, give her some air." A doctor ran to her and pushed away other people.
"How are you feeling?" the same doctor asked.
"Like a building fell on my head." She replied, glaring at him in annoyance.
"Oh, yeah! That would do it… Come on, lets get you out of here."
"No, what happened?" Sariel tore from his grip as he tried to move her.
The doctor gasped at her strength, but she really didn't care of keeping low profile at this very moment. Not while she tried to remember who or what threw a building at her head.
"You mean, you don't know??" the shock on he doctor's face was palpable.
"There would be no point in asking if I knew…" she replied, now completely agitated.
"We don't know the details, but it started late last night. The Fantastic Four was caught up in a fight between that flaming creature and some other three creatures. They racked havoc across the New York until the Fantastic Four came and tried to lower the damage. As you can see, they kinda failed at it."
"What??" Sariel only managed to blink.
Why can't I remember that?? But just then, the memories attacked her in one fluid and not so cohesive moment and she regretted ever wanting them back.
Images of fire, sulphur, bodies, decay, falling buildings, people screaming, metal shrieking in protest of being pulled into impossible ways, blood everywhere… She yelped in pain as it all exploded in her head, not even realizing that she found herself on her knees.
"Where are they??" she rasped in pain as she tried to form a fluid, unbreakable line of memories.
"Who?"
"The Tooth fairy and Santa Claus…" she looked at the doctor in disbelieve.
"The Fantastic Four is in the hospital. The Storm siblings are in quite a bad shape, dr. Richards quite better due to his rubbery body, while the Thing is fine." He nodded his head.
"The siblings?? How bad?" dread came over her and an image of Sue's unconscious body falling on the ground hit her.
Sue Storm never expected being attacked during her invisible state. Neither did she ever expect this kind of an attack. She saw Reed on the opposite side of the roof trying to fight against a woman with blazing red eyes. she tried to see where Johnny were, but the creature attacked her and if was left unknown. Blinding pain surged through her body as it completely shut down. The last thing she heard before she succumbed to the world of darkness were two males screaming her name.
Sariel grabbed her head and tried to not throw up. The world was spinning and along with it her stomach. She knew the attackers. She simply knew them and something told her that wasn't good.
"Take me to the hospital where they are… NOW!" she growled at the doctor and he had no choice but to comply.
Ben stared at the unconscious Sue. Her once darker skin, recently gained on the honey moon, was now replaced by a sick shade of pale. The stark white sheets were making it look even worse. Her face was bruised and her right arm was broken. She was still sleeping under the influence of anaesthesia, from the operation which stopped her internal bleeding. She was connected to all the monitors which were promising that she was still breathing and with them.
Ben's huge form moved to the opposite window where her brother lay. He was in a bit worse shape since he was thrown of the building into the next, but he was holding on too. Operation also went well, and he was experiencing faster recovery. Though he had a concussion and a broken leg.
Ben cursed the day the Silver Surfer visited their planet. He cursed the day the Hell thought of going against them. He remembered how the Rider fought those three creatures. Not humans, but creatures. Ben didn't care that they were in human's bodies, they were creatures from Hell.
And he cursed the day those same creatures managed to defeat the Rider. Fine, the girl was obnoxious and completely rude and stubborn, but it wasn't her fault. The Rider was a part of her and you couldn't get one without the other. Both of them fought to protect both people around them and destroy the menace in the most excruciating way. But they both failed.
Ben cringed as he remembered the way that tall man with blazing red eyes grabbed the Rider and threw him of the building, managing to squash that same building on the Rider. Was she still alive? Could even a Rider survive that?
"Ben?" a voice from the hallway startled him, but he relaxed when he saw Reed limping toward him.
"Hey, Stretch. How's the leg?" Ben tried a soothing tone.
There was no reason for panic anymore. Sue and Johnny are stable, and they needed calm and familiar sense around them to get better.
"Better. How are they?" Reed moved toward the window where Sue lay.
"Stable and on the good way to completely recover without any consequences. Even Johnny who has a concussion… It's not like he uses that head of his." Ben tried to sound normal, like all hope isn't dead.
Reed tried to help Ben attempting a faint smile, but it all looked way too forced. The nurse came and went into Sue's room to check her status. Both Ben and Reed were forced to stay out. It was the Intensive care so rules must be obeyed.
"What were those creatures?" Ben suddenly asked Reed as they watched the nurse checking Johnny's vitals.
"Don't know. But it looks like Sariel knows them."
Then Reed's head snapped up as he remembered that they still didn't heard anything from Sariel.
"Do you think anybody can survive that kind of fall?" Reed asked him and Ben shook his head.
"But then again, she is the famous Hell Rider. Doesn't that count for something?"
Reed looked at him in question. If they failed to defeat those three creatures… If the Hell Rider failed to defeat them… How can they expect anybody to win? In solely one night they racked more havoc across the city than all the times something bad happened.
"You can't this fight." A deep voice rumbled from down the hall.
Both Ben and Reed turned to look at the dark stranger. He wore black leather jacket and pants, while his ebony black hair was rustled. His piercing blue eyes were a contrast to the darkness he wore. He looked somewhat familiar to them.
"Who the hell are you??" Ben roared as he stood between the stranger and Reed.
"Funny you mention hell…" the stranger drawled in heavy Texan accent.
"No need for growling and yelling. This is a hospital." Reed warned Ben as he saw him getting ready to clubber the guy.
"Knowing what happened last night, he has every right to be pissed off." The stranger added and Ben gaped.
"Who are you?" Reed asked again.
"My name is Johnny Blaze." The stranger grinned at them.
"Oh, shit…" Ben mumbled while Reed tried to figure out why is that name familiar to him.
"Does Ghost Rider ring a bell?" the stranger spoke to Reed whose eyes immediately grown.
"What are you doing here?" he asked as he recuperated from the shock.
"I came looking for my daughter. You know. Black haired girl, wears leather, rude and obnoxious with a British accent…" Johnny Blaze smiled. "Sets pretty much anything on fire and the only thing sharper than her tongue are her fangs…"
"Sariel Williams is your daughter… The Hell Rider is your kid??" Ben and Reed asked in one voice.
"Her name is actually Sariel Blaze, but yeah… That little hellien is my kid. I found out that the Fallen ones are back in town after few millenniums. What a welcoming party. So, tell me where can I find her?" Johnny Blaze moved toward them.
Ben and Reed froze as they thought about what happened yesterday. How can they tell him that they don't know is she dead or alive??
A/N: Heh… Now this was interesting to write. And Daddy was the little surprise I had... Hope you liked it!
Read and review. Keeps the muse happy…
