Hiya! A New Year is upon us, can you all believe it? I wander how 2015 will turn out... But now, the story. Rayne's mission is nearing its end, or is it? Please enjoy! :)

BTW, here is some music to listen to. When you see this symbol, *, that means that's when you should play it.

*= Shadow Hearts - Battle in Europe (NDE: Near Death Experience)

*/= this symbol means that the music ends there.

Author's Note: Blood, gore and profanity ahead.

Colonial Power Plant

The buzzing of electricity droned on in the distance as Rayne closed in on the power plant. Even after most of the people were gone, the plant was still producing electricity to the town of Mortton. A Diseased man was shooting at a large group of Mutates, three Tentacles and two Frogs. He was making quick work of them thanks to his double-barreled shotgun. Taking advantage of this distraction, Rayne ran up another telephone pole and jumped onto the wire and leapt behind the Diseased man as he was facing his last opponent, a Tentacle Mutate.

After he blew his last foe away, Rayne stabbed him in the back, slicing upward through the spine and cranium with her left blade and she decapitated him with her right. As the man's mutilated corpse crumbled to the ground, Rayne turned her attention towards the power plant. It was a massive brick building sporting two cylindrical chimneys that had smoke pouring out thick as fog. 'Colonial Power' was painted in bright red paint on the front of the building.

Around the building was a simple wooden fence with barbed wire placed on the top and there were signs that said "Warning: High Voltage" on both sides of the entrance. Undeterred, Rayne activated her Aura Sense and she saw that her last target was, quite obviously, inside the building.

"Great!" She said to herself. As soon as it had started, Rayne's first official mission for Brimstone was nearing its end. Strangely enough, she couldn't wait for it to end. Rayne wanted to get out of the thick, humid air where swarms of mosquitoes flew about looking for blood and where pretty much every living creature was out to get her with either guns, teeth or claws. As she neared the building, Rayne saw a fallen ladder.

Curious, she saw with Aura Sense that there were two monsters up on the roof of the building. Deciding to pay them a visit, Rayne got onto some telephone wires and she slaughtered the Tentacle Mutates that were there. Besides the Mutates, there were a few sticks of dynamite too. Maybe the two men who were to become these Mutates fled up here and held out for as long as they could before the infection set in and they became monsters. Collecting the TNT, Rayne jumped from the other side of the building and she began to dispatch every monster she saw with brutal efficiency.

With the monsters outside now gone, Rayne proceeded to go inside the plant. An overpowering scent of blood and rot instantly pierced her nose like a sucker punch. To her right, Rayne found the source of the foul smell. Behind a desk, slouched over a revolving chair was the bloodied and pale corpse of a woman, probably the plant's former secretary. A thick layer of dried blood coated the woman's mouth and there was a massive bloodstain behind her on the wall along with a small crater from a bullet hitting it.

On the woman's lap was a revolver. Wanting another gun, Rayne gingerly removed the weapon from the woman's pale, stiff fingers all the while feeling that the woman's ghostly, turquoise eyes were staring at her even though they were permanently fixed on the wall. It struck Rayne that this was the only corpse she had seen during the entire mission. Why weren't there other corpses? Wouldn't there have been more suicide victims as things got worse here in Mortton?

Maybe the Maraisreq ate them all or they transformed into monsters before they could even take their own lives. The sound of metal ripping brought Rayne's attention to what was behind her and what she saw next were the fangs of a Maraisreq charging towards her. With quick reflexes Rayne managed to kick away the demonic insect right in the face. The creature recovered quickly and it tried to assault Rayne again but she had her blades out for it this time and the creature ended up impaling itself through the mouth on one of them. Retracting Malebranche, Rayne looked to see where her unwanted visitor had come from.

It was a metal air duct which now had a massive hole framed with bent sharp edged metal. But Rayne was more curious on how that thing could have fit through such a narrow space. Her gaze wandered around the room to make sure no one else came in to surprise her. The only thing that stuck out to her were the papers on a billboard resting in front of the wall. From what she had glanced the whole billboard was covered in flyers talking about the town quarantine with topics regarding on how to prevent from getting sick and how to improve on personal hygiene.

Exhibited along with them were doomsday leaflets that advised the citizens of Mortton to pray for the salvation of their immortal souls since this plague was punishment for their sins and that they should repent while they can. Other than that, there was nothing else of note and Rayne continued on with her mission. Inside the main complex Rayne found the nest. Unfortunately, it was on the lower floor surrounded by water and to make it worse, there were streams of electricity flowing through a square perimeter using the steel pillars as conductors. This was quite discouraging.

"Well that's just great…" Rayne grumbled.

Even if she used Blood Rage, the electricity in the water would shock her and do more damage. Remembering the sticks of dynamite she had, an idea popped into Rayne's head. She could throw the TNT at the nest just like she did to the one back at the warehouse. But the nest was too far so first, she had to find a way to lower the water around a large piece of machinery that was by the nest so she could stand on it safely. There had to be something here that could help do that.

Aura Sense showed that what could help Rayne was on the upper mezzanine. Running up the stairs and along the railings of the upper floor, Maraisreq, both yellow and red, began to pop out of air ducts and oil drums and began to sprint after Rayne. Reaching a dead end, Rayne turned to face her opponents. Activating Blood Rage, she cut up all of the creatures and to save her strength, she used the last of the ammo from her A5 shotgun to finish off the few who were still moving. With that done, Rayne turned to a window that was at the dead end.

Breaking in, she startled a Diseased man who was there but one quick diagonal slash caused the man's head, left shoulder and arm to slide off onto the floor. Big, complicated looking machinery stood along the wall of the control room. The red and black dials of gauges shook gently under the glass. Looking closely, Rayne saw exactly what she was looking for. On one of the machines was a lever that had a plaque above it saying: "In case of flooding, pull back lever all the way to the front. The light should turn green and the draining mechanism will engage in five minutes."

Complying with the directions, Rayne pulled back on the lever and a red light by the machine switched to green. A loud rumbling noise began to sound throughout the building. Looking out through the front windows, Rayne saw the water down below starting to recede. However the water didn't go away entirely but the nest was now exposed.

"All well, I guess this will have to do…" Rayne said aloud. "Is there no dry land anymore?"

A shower of glass and bullets crashed into the room and Rayne turned to see a Diseased woman and man shooting at her. Running out to attack them, two Maraisreq burst into the control room behind Rayne. Before she could deal with them, Rayne got to the Diseased first. She sliced off the legs of Diseased woman and she cut the Diseased man vertically in half. As their blood poured around their mangled bodies, Rayne jumped into the damaged control room and she annihilated the two Maraisreq inside.

Now with those annoyances gone, it was time to deal with the nest. Feeling smug and confident, Rayne ran down towards her target. Jumping on the wheel like mechanism near the nest, Rayne smirked as she lit a stick of dynamite.

"One." She said as she threw the first stick.

It sizzled as it fell into the water. A burst of flame and water materialized and it damaged the nest. Rayne lit another one.

"Two!" She said in an excited tone.

Another explosion did the nest in. The final nest had been vanquished. Rayne had completed her first mission for Brimstone.

"Finally! Hallelujah!" Rayne said.

She jumped off the machine and onto the metal mezzanine.

"Time to get back to Mynce and the others." Rayne said and she headed off with a skip in her step.

The humid Louisiana air never felt so good as Rayne exited the plant. There were more Diseased who congregated aimlessly outside. A slight hindrance to her return to Mynce but Rayne didn't care. She was in too much of a good mood. That good mood was shattered however when, as Rayne was running up towards the monsters, a familiar face turned up.

The same giant catfish from the Ghetto emerged from the water. Growling, one of its elongated whiskers whipped out and it wrapped up a Diseased man tightly. As he struggled, the whiskers lifted the man up and hovered him over its mouth. The cavernous hole opened and the whisker let go of the Diseased and the fish swallowed him whole. The other Diseased fired back at the monster but the giant fish eliminated them with its whiskers and its massive mouth by lunging at them with it and dragging them into the water.

"Ah fuck!" Rayne hissed.

Rayne was caught in a quandary. She had to get rid of this giant mutated fish if Mynce, the Mortton survivors and herself were to leave the condemned town in one piece. But on the other hand, Rayne couldn't go anywhere near the water without getting burned and to add to her woes, her guns were running out of ammo. 'Big Jacques' swallowed down the last Diseased and he turned his hungry attention towards Rayne. Even after all he had eaten, Jacques's gluttony seemed to know no bounds and now he was hankering for dhampir flesh.

*Rayne readied her weapons and she stared at Jacques dead in his huge red eyes. Jacques struck first by lashing out with his right whisker. Rayne evaded the massive, slender appendage, which crashed onto the ground. The left one came flying but Rayne back-flipped over it just in time before it slammed into her. Taking out her guns, Rayne fired at Big Jacques but the bullets only went skin deep through his thick, slimy skin.

Seeing his unprotected left red eye, Rayne aimed at them and fired. An obvious soft spot, blood came out in greater quantities and Big Jacques began to thrash and roar in pain from his wound. The pain was so great that Jacques began to shake his head closer to the ground in a futile attempt to make the pain go away. Taking her chance, Rayne ran towards the giant fish and she activated Blood Rage. Malebranche, powered by Rayne's vampiric muscles, began to slice away Big Jacques's face like it was paper.

A smaller whisker stiffened and tried knock Rayne down but she had a surprise in store. Rayne lifted up her right leg behind her, followed by her left and she circled like a water wheel with her stiletto blades slashing into Big Jacques's face. Despite the attacks, Big Jacques recovered and he managed to pick himself up and he swiped Rayne with one of his front flippers. Rayne dodged him but before she could retaliate, Big Jacques slid himself back into the water and disappeared. Where was he going?

Was it over?

That thought was answered when a tree, broken above the roots and dripping in water, came sailing through the air towards Rayne's direction. Rayne evaded it just as another object, a truck this time, came flying at her. Appears Big Jacques was wisely keeping his distance from his enemy and was attacking her from the comfort of his watery home. Stepping out of its way, the truck crash-landed with a loud bang and Rayne used Aura Sense to see just how far away Big Jacques was. A blue light shone in the distance, but the target was too far away to be struck by either gunfire or dynamite.

What was she going to do? Electricity crackled and sparked from a downed telephone wire from the tree snapping it. Rayne saw the other, much longer piece of fallen wire and an idea was hatched inside her head. The wire reminded her of when she went fishing at the pier at Long Island one summer when she was six. Her grandfather had showed her and her cousin Bentley an alternative to pole fishing by tying a piece of raw chicken to a thin rope and throwing it out into the water and then walking along the shoreline with the rope in hand like walking a dog.

Every now and then you were supposed to pull out the rope and see if you had caught a fish or a crab. Her grandfather had called it trot fishing. Rayne formulated a plan based on this fishing technique. First, she was going to tie a Diseased corpse with the fallen wire without electrocuting herself with it. Second, she was going to throw the corpse out into the water and third, she was going to attract the fish's attention with it and wait for it to take the bait.

If Big Jacques were to swallow the corpse, he would get electrocuted. But it was going to take more than one wire to shock Big Jacques. But on the bright side, he would be closer for Rayne to attack so it was no problem as long as Jacques didn't spit out his snack. Rayne collected a corpse from near the plant and she carried it over towards the fallen wire. Careful not to let the live end of the wire touch her, Rayne dexterously wrapped the Diseased man's body in it and when she was done, she threw it into the water.

The splashing seemed to attract Big Jacques since Rayne saw the giant fin of the fish appear in the distance. Rayne backed up so that Jacques wouldn't see her. Just as she had thought, Big Jacques engulfed the cadaver in its massive mouth. And according to plan, the electricity from the wire began to coarse through his body, causing Big Jacques to pop out of the water, shaking from electrical convulsions. With Big Jacques now within range, Rayne went after him with Blood Rage.

As soon as the blades cut into Big Jacques's skin, a surge of electricity flowed into Rayne's body and even in her enhanced state, she felt the pain of the shock. Her left elbow seized up and her muscles tightened, regardless however, she still had enough self control to pull her blade away since her hand had been locked in a death grip from the volts going through her. Rayne jumped back and she grabbed her shaking arm. She had regained control of the limb again but it still quivered a little, leaving her hand unsteady.

"Shit that hurt!" Rayne said to herself.

Not to be deterred by this, Rayne pulled out a stick of dynamite she had gathered earlier upon her arrival at the plant. With a match, she lit and threw the stick at the fish. It landed beneath him and it exploded, tearing a giant, dark red hole in its gullet. Blood and bile poured out of the hole but the fish still didn't notice, as its seizure was too powerful. Rayne was ready to light another piece of dynamite but Big Jacques suddenly collapsed dead, smoke pouring out of his body and his eyes were white from being heated by the current.

*/Big Jacques had been effectively fried.

Taking in this moment, Rayne felt that this scene was worthy of some sort of victory quote.

"Now that there is big ole fried catfish!" Rayne said complete with a deep Southern drawl and with both hands on her hips.

Rayne froze for a moment.

"What the hell…? Did I just say that?" she chuckled. "Well that was just fucking stupid…"

Rayne turned towards the direction she first came. It was time to go back to Mynce and the others. After the survivors were taken out of the town by whatever means that could be utilized, Rayne and Mynce would remain to find and kill Marassa. A fitting end to her first mission. As the smell of cooked fish began to reach Rayne's nose, she turned and left to return to the Famille Tremain Masoleum with the news that all nests had been eliminated.

Meanwhile…

Water lapped gently against the hulls of old boats, both wooden and metal. On one was Marassa who was sitting on the roof of one with her legs folded in front of her. Before her was a book written in French and illustrated in macabre ink drawings of the loa. The book laid in the center of a veve made out of finely crushed bone powder and it was surrounded by candles in pewter candlesticks. Marassa chanted and performed incantations with feathers, beads and animal parts.

A man watched her from the deck of the boat.

"I've done everything you asked Marassa." The man said in a cold, scratchy voice accented with German. "Now where is my end of the bargain?"

Marassa continued her chanting. The man was undeterred.

"I know you can hear me. Your chanting isn't that loud. So tell me when you will give me my reward so I can get out of this stinking swamp."

Marassa continued on with what she was doing. The man shook his head.

"Damn negroes…" He said to himself.

That caught Marassa's attention and she looked at the man with a haughty look.

"Be calm Monsieur Wulf… You will have what you have been looking for soon. I am just communicating with the soul of the Mother of the Underworld. I am placating her with my magic just long enough so I can get more sacrifices to complete the ritual's preparations. If she can be patient, you too can be patient, Monsieur Jurgen Wulf."

Marassa spoke in a cool yet harsh tone and Jurgen wasn't pleased. Instead of retaliating however, he lit a cigarette and placed it into a black stick embossed with a strange X like symbol painted on a white base and surrounded by red. He grumbled with hesitant approval.

"Very well Marassa. I will take your word for it. But so help me…"

The man's right hand began to extend, the tips of his fingers stretching and sharpening into a blade surrounded by a sinister flame.

"If you fail to deliver on your promise." He pointed his demonic hand towards her. "You will be the next sacrifice for your precious Mother of the Underworld."

Marassa stared nonchalantly at the man. His threat meant nothing to her. Although the woman's cool demeanor infuriated him, Jurgen kept his composure and he "sheathed" his hand with a sigh of defeat.

"Alright, proceed." Jurgen said.

Marassa smiled smugly at him and she went back to her ceremony.

Jurgen meanwhile, hid a sly smile of his own.

So what did you think of the battle with Big Jacques? That will be nothing compared to what is coming up later! Thanks for reading, have a great New Year if I don't post anything else and please review! :)