Chapter Ten: Seek and Slay Part One.
Darkness and hazed thoughts went through the mind of the captive woman. A pounding came over the head of the woman who was breathing in and out. It took a moment to come to, and when she did, the realization entered the woman's mind.
Talia al Ghul's eyes shifted open. She replayed the last couple of moments in the back of her mind. The trip down to the caves after she fought the ghoulish vampires, then the fact she came across a Lazarus Pit which had been tainted. Someone modified it, and she didn't know who, but she knew the pit had been destroyed at all costs.
The realization of failure hit the woman completely hard as well.
Now she rolled over on the cot which she had been placed on. Someone stripped her out of her League attire, and also stripped her of all her weapons. She dressed in a rather ratty looking black shirt and a pair of jean shorts. Her hair stuck out in every single direction. She looked at her hand, which had been bruised.
Talia got a full glimpse of her surroundings and it just hit her how messed up this entire situation was. She had been stuck in this location, without any way out, and the very fact simply caused her to be unnerved.
"I demand to know who is holding me here."
No answer happened, which stirred up the fire in the mind of the Daughter of the Demon. Whispers could be heard.
"I demand to know who is holding me here!" Talia yelled. "The League will be to this location, and you will be decimated."
A cold laughter followed. Talia's arms covered with goosebumps with the person in the shadows speaking. The woman extended her gaze off to the side.
"There is no League coming," a voice from the shadows said. The tone was calm, soft, tranquil, to the point where it almost resulted in more shivers blowing down Talia's spine. "Face it, child of the demon, we took out your followers, and there is no one left here other than yourself. The sooner you embrace it, the better."
Talia placed her hands on the bars which released a discharge. She flew up into the air and landed down on the ground with a sickening thud. Her breath knocked straight from her lungs. The Daughter of the Demon collapsed down, agony beyond all belief spreading the woman's body.
"I kindly ask you not to do that again," she said. "I wouldn't want you damaged."
Talia scoffed. She really didn't know what to do in this particular situation. The only thing the assassin could state with clarity was this was not something to be liked.
"It's not enough," the figure muttered when pacing back and forth directly out of Talia's line of sight. "It's never enough."
Talia placed a hand on the wall and waited for the woman to speak. She was curious, perhaps to the point of insanity what level of madness this particular woman cooked up.
"The Pit was good, the idea is sound, but I need more of them, to feed off their energies, as they feed off of others," the figure said. "And then, it's just….we're just in need of a cure to fix this. And I will fix this, I will because I must!"
The figure's frantic pacing started to bring Talia a great deal of annoyance when she watched the woman. She moved back halfway, and then forth the rest of the way before circling around the room several times.
"Show yourself!" Talia demanded. "I demand you show yourself at once."
The woman continued to ensure no one was around them.
"I even infected several women in an attempt to find the cure, but the results were mixed," she muttered to herself. "I'll keep finding a way; I will keep finding a way."
She took a couple of moments to collect her thoughts. Talia could tell she was dealing with a very sick woman, who was also fairly disturbed as well. This combination made her very dangerous.
"The definition of madness," Talia said, hoping to break through the woman's thoughts and her mutterings. "Is attempting the same process on multiple occasions, and thinking you could potentially have different results."
"Your team was valiant," the woman said as if ignoring anything Talia said. She would have had better luck conversing with a brick wall. "They suffered the same fate as many others have. They could not help me find a cure."
Talia's mind started to move over and she thought about the ghastly fate of her team members.
"I wonder if the Daughter of the Demon would be able to help me create a cure."
A pale skinned woman stepped out of the shadows. She dressed in a red gown which showed her cleavage and came down at a slit exposing her long, milky legs. Her black hair formed a curtain about her face. A very alluring expression showed a combination of seductive and very deadly.
She was beautiful, even if it was in a ghastly way. The woman flashed in a cloud of dust on the other side of the bars and grabbed Talia around the shoulders. The Daughter of the Demon attempted to break free from her grasp, hoping against all hope she could find a way out of this particular position.
The grip of the powerful one tightened. Talia gasped when the woman's hands grabbed onto her shoulders.
"It's no use in struggling."
The woman injected Talia with something. She could feel something foreign enter her body, and she realized it was the same infection which had caused the woman to suffer something fierce.
"There's no use in struggling, my child," the woman answered when looking at her. "Now we're intertwined together, can you feel it?"
Talia tried to struggle against what was spreading through her body. Sheer will power had been exhibited when the energy spread through her blood stream.
"Impressive," the woman said with a smile. She leaned towards her. "I'll leave you here until you can properly understand where your priorities lie, and why it's in your best interest to help me?"
The woman's lips touched Talia's in a warm kiss. She tried to resist, but she couldn't help, other than kiss her back. Her mind and body were becoming enslaved to the Alpha of this pack of vampires, and soon she would be underneath her thumb.
Talia fought off the very worst of the bloodlust caused by the Lazarus Pits, but this, on the other hand, was far stronger.
'I must…fight.'
Nyssa wouldn't admit this out loud, but she had to admit there was something about a few bouts of mind blowing sex to really clear the mind of a person. It allowed her to focus and get back to work on the experiment.
'Now, back to business.'
She stepped in, with Sara and Harry joining her. The Daughter of the Demon figured after the marathon session of sex, the tests would be completed. She walked over and analyzed the vials. The frown on her face, if possible, had deepened even more.
"I'm going to take a guess, and say this was about as you feared," Harry said.
Nyssa frowned, not wanting to jump to the conclusion she feared. The experiment flashing in front of her made these conclusions very easy to jump through.
"Putting it mildly, yes," Nyssa said. "My father's experiment with the Lazarus Pits, the Eternity Protocol, it's come to roost, and in the worst possible way possible."
Sara heard the "Eternity Protocol" in passing a couple of times from Nyssa. She called it a ghastly experiment and one of the League's greatest mistakes. A mistake they would pay for.
"It was my father's attempts to extend the lifespan each trip through the Lazarus Pit afforded him," Nyssa said. "He sent a group of ten women into the Pits. Each of them had nothing to live for, and they had been stamped with a death sentence, therefore they were willing to go through the experiment."
Harry nodded in understatement and made a motion for Nyssa to continue her explanation. So she did ocntinue.
"Three of the women survived the process past the first day," Nyssa said. "Only one remains today, Natalie Knight….she was a former thief in Gotham City. She took up crime to deal with a skin condition, which has gotten worse as time passed."
"Yes, what is the League doing about her?" Harry asked.
"She was supposed to be locked up, but now because of my father's most recent fall from grace, she had been lost in translation," Nyssa said. "Only now, have I been in a position to do something."
Nyssa thought there were a few fugitives from the League who were lingering on out there, but they would get to them when they would get to them.
Harry thought about it. He figured they would get to this point eventually.
"How dangerous is she?" Harry asked.
Nyssa considered her words carefully. Sara placed a hand on Nyssa's shoulder.
"Given her disease turned her into something else, it's….she's very dangerous," Nyssa said. "She's a vampire, she stalks the night. There have been the mysterious abductions of several women, and I think you can pretty much guess who was behind him."
Harry nodded in response. He could tell how someone like this would be desperate to find a cure for their malady at any cost. Whether or not it was right, it would drive them to crime.
"We've sent one of my best agents to track her down," Nyssa said.
"Is she good?" Harry asked.
Nyssa smiled, yes, technically she was good. Just because she was good though, it didn't really stop Nyssa from worrying.
"My sister, Talia, knows all about discretion," Nyssa responded a few seconds later. "And she rarely gets herself into any trouble she can't get herself out of."
This time, though, Nyssa wasn't certain Talia could get herself out of this particular trouble. Sara and Harry both noticed this worry coming from the normally stoic woman. She kept herself as calm as possible, trying not to lose herself in both the worry and the frustration she experienced.
"And you're concerned this is the exception to the rule?" Harry asked.
Nyssa looked at him for a second. "Is it that obvious?"
"It's very obvious," Harry said.
"Normally, she won't get herself into any trouble," Nyssa said. "But, the fact she hasn't checked in for several days worries me greatly."
Nyssa offered a sigh and spoke more to herself than the others in the room.
"These days, the Leagues resources are spread thin," Nyssa said. "If the League's enemies knew exactly how thin our resources were, there would be some trouble."
"I see," Harry muttered underneath his breath. He thought about it, only for a second or two, but he thought about it. "I'll be able to find you some help."
"I'd gladly accept it," Nyssa said, not even bothering to miss a beat. "Talia disappeared somewhere in the desert in Nevada, that was her last known location."
A bit far away from California granted, although not as bad as it could be. Harry decided to ask the most obvious question.
"Is there a Lazarus Pit out there?"
Nyssa racked her brain for the answer and came to the conclusion.
"No, as far as I know, there isn't," Nyssa said. "It's not to say there couldn't be one, there just isn't, to the best of my knowledge."
Harry had a clear objective in mind. The fact several women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five had gone missing in the Western United States pointed to one conclusion. The disease as getting worst and the plague was spreading.
'And now, this is the reason why I've been drawn here,' Harry thought. 'thinks like this.'
Buffy walked outside to enjoy one what might have been one of the last nice days of the year. Despite it being very near autumn, it was a bright and sunny day. She wasn't too worried about the weather, though, she was worried about the vampires which had been attacking. These had been different, and while Harry was getting to the bottom of this, all she could do is wait for the next attack to spring out.
They had actually gotten very quiet over the past day. Buffy had been so submerged in her thoughts she could barely hear Willow talking.
"Sorry, I must have zoned," Buffy said.
Willow answered with a knowing smile and put her hand on the shoulder of the blonde girl.
"You're….well you're more out of it than usual," Willow said. She turned towards Buffy and she cleared her throat. "Is that because of your extra circular activities….or your other extra circular activities?"
Buffy answered with a half smile, knowing where Willow was going.
"Oh, I've got a lot on my mind, with the school year and everything," Buffy said. "The teachers are trying to kill us."
Buffy really winced at the very bad flippant comment the second she made it. The teachers trying to kill students weren't exactly something she should say as a flippant remark in Sunnydale of all places. There was a pretty good chance there was a teacher who may intended to the students because of being some demon or vampire or monster, or such, in disguise.
'I wouldn't want to incur the wrath of Murphy.'
"Although, I can see why you're distracted," Willow said. She turned her attention a fraction of an inch to see a dark haired young man with green eyes. "I'm….that's him isn't it?"
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear, and look pretty good in doing it.
"Harry!" Buffy almost squealed. She ran over, almost knocking Willow to the side in a water fountain.
Harry reached forward with reflexes, and grabbed Willow around the shoulder, preventing her from taking a very accidental tumble. She looked up and met his eyes a few seconds later.
"Hey," she said.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, I'm…that was a close one, wasn't it?" Willow asked.
Her arm snaked around his for a second. The two of them pulled apart. He was pretty fast and had a good grip as well.
"Yeah, really sorry about that, it's just…..I wasn't expecting Harry to get back this soon," Buffy said. She drew in another breath and made sure to keep her eyes focused on the young man in front of her. "Sorry about that…..really….just excited."
"She does get a bit overexcited at times, doesn't she?" Willow asked.
"Quite," Harry said, with a half wink. "I'm Harry Potter."
Willow tried very hard to keep her composure. She was just glad all of these words would be strung together.
"Willow Rosenberg, it's a real pleasure to meet you," she said. "Buffy's told me a lot about you, you're…well, you're famous."
Harry looked towards Buffy for a half of a second, and she responded with a shrug.
'Don't look at me,' Buffy thought. 'Although, if I have to say so, this might not be the thing, you think this thing is for.'
"I mean an heir to one of the biggest technology companies on the West Coast, Horizon," Willow said, almost toppling over with excitement. "The Evans family, they were really well off, and they were ahead of the curve."
Harry had just been learning about the Evans family. Petunia wasn't inclined to answer any questions, preferring a more mundane and bland existence.
"They were something," Harry said. "I have to admit, my maternal grandparents being so well off is new to me….my aunt didn't say much about them."
Buffy resisted the urge to gnash her teeth when Harry mentioned his aunt. He mentioned enough about his relatives in passing to make Buffy think his childhood was not the most stable. At least he acquired a taste for bedding multiple women, instead of becoming a serial killer who dismembered small children and animals in a dim lit basement for his jollies.
So, really, Harry could have turned out a lot worse.
"The new Horizon facilities are opening," Harry said. "How about I give you a tour sometime?"
"Oh, that would be great!" Willow yelled, almost hugging him in response. She grew red around the area of the cheeks and pulled away. "So…..did you want to talk to Buffy?"
Harry didn't want to be rude.
"Yes, actually," Harry said. "You don't mind if I borrow her for a second, do you?"
"No, of course not, go ahead," Willow said. "It was nice meeting you."
Willow wasn't going to lie; she hoped to see more of Harry. It was just something about him which caught her interest, and the list of most other women with taste, she was sure.
Buffy leaned in and stole a quick kiss from Harry, before of the two of them walked over. The moment they were out of earshot and to what they hoped was a private location.
"So, what's the damage?" Buffy asked.
Harry answered with a sigh.
"It's worse than we imagined," Harry said. "And things are going to get very dangerous pretty soon. One of the League's experiments has come back to bite everyone."
"Is this a bad vampire pun?' Buffy asked. Harry gave her one of those looks and Buffy shivered underneath Harry's stern expression. "Um, right, tell me all about it."
Harry launched into his explanation regarding Natalia and the experiments. Buffy allowed him to finish before she made her comments.
"So, we're going to have to help the Daughters of the Demons clean up the mess their father caused," Buffy said. "Slayers and the League working together."
'What's next, dogs and cats living together?' Faith asked, speaking in from the bond Harry created between the three of them.
It had been useful for communication and coordinating, both with the Slaying thing. Faith was pretty sure there was some kind of magical nonsense to go along with how it worked out, but all she knew was there were voices in her head.
"The enemy of the enemy is our friend," Harry said.
"That's…always a very pragmatic way to take things," Buffy said. "But, I guess we don't have many options, do we?"
"No, we don't," Harry said. He reached in and touched his hand on Buffy's shoulder. "So are you in?"
"Yes."
'You know I am.'
Harry wasn't going to sugarcoat these matters. Ra's being in transition made things a bit worse than they were before. They would have to proceed with added care and a tiny bit of caution as well.
Faith joined Harry and Buffy no sooner then they left their little meeting. The two Slayers dressed for battle, with a few of the weapons they favored from Harry's collection. When they were going in with trained assassins, they didn't want to look second rate, not if they could help it. Therefore, they dressed for success.
Both of the women turned their attention towards Harry. Harry always looked oddly calm and the fact he was so chill, so calm, it could make anyone more than a little bit nervous.
"So, they're coming?" Buffy asked.
"Actually, we're already here…"
Sara and Nyssa appeared in a blink of an eye right in front of them. Buffy couldn't resist vocalizing one thought.
"I can't believe I was going to school with a dead girl," Buffy said. Faith just barely cracked a smile at that statement.
"Seriously, out of all of the things in the world, going to school with a dead girl is the one thing that makes you all weird and squicky?"
Buffy folded her arm until the girl in question looked towards her with a raised eyebrow.
Faith wasn't done. "Especially when you go to school in Sunnydale?"
"Well, if we have to be fair, I got better," Sara responded. "And I agree with Faith, out of all of the weird things you've fought, that's…the one thing that weirds you out?"
Nyssa cleared her throat to get the entire group back o ntrack.
"As emotionally stimulation as this conversation is, we're going to have to make an attempt to remain on task," Nyssa said. "If you don't mind."
Nyssa turned her attention towards Harry. It was very rare she took any kind of directive from anyone, Ra's al Ghul being the most notable exception. Still, she found herself taking more and more directive from Harry as time passed.
"She's quite correct," Harry said. He turned towards both Buffy and Sara. He could already tell those two had some tension to work out and they would, much later, on their own time. "Proceed, as you want. You know the most about this."
Nyssa answered with a swift nod in confirmation.
"Yes," Nyssa agreed. "I do."
She drew in a fairly deep breath and spoke.
"The League has made a mess, and we're duty-bound to clean it up, no matter what the cost may have been, "Nyssa answered. She put her eyes on the Slayers, on Sara, and finally on the Dragon himself, Harry Potter. "While Eternity was my father's experiment, I still feel it's my responsibility to clean up this mess."
The Daughter of the Demon really wished her father had just peacefully gotten on with his demise. Life may have been a lot simpler if he had not clung onto life like a security blanket. Of course, there would be problems, given how the League could not function without him.
'By design, I don't doubt,' Nyssa thought. 'He set it up that way on purpose.'
"My sister disappeared into the Nevada desert several days ago, when searching for Ms. Knight," Nyssa said. "By retracing her steps, we hope to find her."
"And if we run into vampires…?" Faith asked.
"Then do your job," Nyssa said. "You're Slayers, so slay them."
Buffy had some serious reservations. It was obvious Nyssa's approach to taking out a problem was to kill them.
"Aren't they sick, though?" Buffy asked. "It's not like they're beyond hope….."
"Let's worry about how far gone they are when we get there," Harry said. "If they're beyond any hope, I'll know."
Harry knew the further the infection spread, the stronger the plague spread the further off they would be to the end. Time ran out for the ones who had been infected even more.
"Thank you for your help, you didn't have to agree to this," Nyssa said.
"As you said, it's our job," Faith said.
"When we find the tainted Lazarus Pit, it must be destroyed at all costs," Nyssa said. "I trust we understand each other."
"Yes," Harry said. "And I have a way to do it where it can never be used again."
The five of them would need to work together. Now they were on the same page, it was time for them to go out and see what needed to be done.
"Nyssa, just think of the last known location your sister transmitted from, and grab my hand," Harry said.
Nyssa didn't even wait a moment later. She grabbed onto Harry's hand and constantly was thinking of where she was last known to be over and over again.
A golden dome surrounded all of them and they disappeared into a flash of light. Harry transported them all without breaking a sweat.
The five of them dropped down into the middle of nowhere. Harry craned his neck a second later. Something was not quite right here, but he couldn't figure out what.
"She should be around the area of that cave," Harry said.
Faith frowned. She sensed something was off, but couldn't really figure out what.
"You couldn't transport us inside?" Faith asked. Harry shook his head. "Something was blocking you, wasn't it?"
"Yes, and they're expanding a lot of magic to try and make sure I don't get in the cave," Harry said. "Almost a draining amount, which might work in our favor."
People who performed such magic didn't understand how much magic took out of them.
It was a long hike up into the cave on foot. A good thing they were all in pretty good shape and there wouldn't be many problems when getting into that cave.
Buffy sensed they were drawing closer to the cave. She put a hand on the crossbow.
'Well, here we go.'
The stench surrounding them when entering the cave caused them to be taken aback.
Natalie stepped towards the cave, dress billowing. She admired Talia for the fact she managed to keep her wits about herself and not succumb. For however much she admired Talia though, the Alpha became angrier someone was very stronger.
The vampire turned towards Talia and narrowed them towards the youngest Daughter of the Demon.
Talia currently sat in the middle of the cell, legs crossed. Her eyes were shut and she started muttering something in a language Natalie did not recognize underneath her breath. Sweat rolled down the Daughter of the Demon's face when she kept up the act of trying to purge the effects.
"You're stronger, daughter of Ra's Al Ghul," Natalie said. She placed a single hand on the bars of the cage. "And you could have the potential to purge the effects in time…but the effort and the exertion could kill you."
Talia ignored the words of the vampire and continued the rapid muttering underneath her breath. Every time she muttered, another thought crossed her mind.
"If you're waiting for me to help you, you might as well kill me," Talia said.
Natalie's smile grew even brighter.
"You're at an interesting state, my dear Talia," she said. Her hand touched the side of the cage wall, the same discourse which kept Talia from escaping. "You can't be killed, because of the disease. At least until it spreads through your body, changes your mind, and turns you into a bloodthirsty demon of the night."
The woman snorted in response.
"Charming," Talia murmured. She stopped the spread, or at least stalled it for now, through the sheer force of will.
Natalie tried a different set of tactics, to try and get Talia behind.
"I would have thought you had more heart in helping your fellow women," Natalie said. "You must have judged me to be a monster for infecting some women with my gift."
"The thought crossed my mind, yes," Talia said, keeping her jaw set and glare focused on her.
Natalie leaned closer towards the woman. How could she make the woman understand how this tactic was only done to help the women.
"You can help them," Natalie said. "They're not beyond hope, at least not yet, and neither are you. If I find a greater source of Lazarus, we can finish the process."
Talia tried to reconcile that particular offer in her mind. She had a couple of thoughts floating through her mind.
'These women didn't deserve to suffer,' the Daughter of the Demon responded. 'On the other hand, by helping her, I could unleash an army of invincible vampires, who may have also retained their intelligence.'
The Daughter of the Demon made her attempt to look towards the person on the other side of the cell.
"I would sooner perish in this cell, rotting away, then helping you."
Talia slipped back into the state of meditation she submerged herself in. She could hear the brutal growl coming from the vampire, and didn't really care. She was at peace with herself.
The door swung open and a follower stumbled in. She was one of the most coherent members of her pack, having not succumbed to the blood list and the magic.
"Someone is lurking around the area of the caves below, Mistress," she said.
Natalie took a moment to realize the League must have sent someone after all to retrieve Talia. She sensed the hand of the other Daughter of the Demon at hand. She took a half of a second to calm herself down before speaking.
"How many more people?" Natalie asked. "How many more people are going to have to pay for your arrogance? And the arrogance of your father? How many more are you willing to sacrifice?"
The woman stood up. Despite the pale, clammy look on her face, she stared down at Natalie. She stared down the infected woman with absolutely malice dancing in her eyes.
"As many as necessary for you to take the hint."
Talia figured if her sister was coming, she would not be coming alone, and they could figure out a way. Until Nyssa arrived, Talia would need to calm herself down, and purge the greater effects of the blood lust. It caused her more strain the more she struggled with this.
Natalie thought she would have liked the set of both of the Daughters of the Demon. It would be suitable revenge for what Ra's Al Ghul had done to her. She thought herself as a fiercely independent woman, and she had been manipulated.
"Inform the others," Natalie said. "Make sure they have a suitable reception. And I want to deal with them personally. Do you understand?"
Natalie's servant bowed before her, with a smile on her face.
"Yes, Mistress."
The woman turned around to inform the others. Natalie turned around. Despite her outward appearance, she sensed Talia's resolve chipping away.
'Now we wait.'
To Be Continued on September 12th, 2016.
Talia's resolve is pretty strong, although she's slowly breaking down.
Some very enjoyable character interaction came up in this chapter, at least I thought.
Until Monday.