DARKSTALKERS (tm)
"A FRIEND IN NEED..." By HrdcorEcW
Felicity House. A calm, soothing place where orphaned children stayed because they had nowhere else. An orphanage where the children were treated like human beings and were taught the right way to live. A safe haven created for human children, by a not-so human adult. Felicia, a so-called cat woman, born with special abilities that were non-excitant in most humans. This made her known as a "Darkstalker" by everyone who knew what the word meant. With these abilities, though, came easily- recognizable physical features, those of a feline. Felicia had white fur scattered in patterns on her body, beautiful patterns that would make you think of a costume from the Broadway play, "Cats". She also had cat ears, claws, fangs, senses, and a tail. But the children didn't mind. They thought she was pretty, especially her flowing blue hair. Most these features became hidden at times when Felicia wore her traditional nun outfit. All the workers at the orphanage wore outfits. They were sisters, to each other and to the children.
Their tranquility, though, was put to a halt one day. It all started with the simple knock of the orphanage door. Felicia had been reading the daily story to the children who chose to listen to her, when the "knock, knock" of the door sounded. Immediately, Felicia's above-human senses perked up. Her ears, hidden under her hood at the time, popped up from their regular sitting position. She sniffed the air. The children stared at her, since she'd just stopped in the middle of the story. She noticed that, and began reading again. Sister Maria came from down the hall and went to answer the door, where the visitor on the other side knocked again.
"Sister Maria, come here," Felicia said, just finishing a sentence from the story. "Sister Felicia, I was just going to answer the door," Maria exclaimed. Felicia, realizing how she must have sounded hostile, replied, "I know. Here, finish the story. Something tells me it's for me." Maria took over, and Felicia walked to the entranceway. She gripped the knob slowly, expecting some kind of electric shock, for reasons she herself didn't know. She turned the knob pulled the door open, making it emit a squeaking sound from it's hinges. "Can I help y...", she stopped in mid sentence. There, in the doorway, stood the visitor that she knew was there to see her.
Another Darkstalker stood there, this one much more conspicuous than Felicia. A human-honey bee hybrid, with purple hair upon her head, surrounding a pair of antennae. Her eyes seemed made of entirely pupils, her regular eyes. Above them were a pair of bulbous compound eyes. She was dressed in a tight purple suit, which, in the back, opened up for a large, bee-like abdomen, complete with yellow and black stripes, and a stinger. "Q-bee. To what do I owe the pleasure, which this surely isn't," Felicia exclaimed, with a hint of anger. "The master remembers you well, as he perfectly described your face for me. Come with me, and we shall have the meeting I have come to set up", the bee woman replied, with an annoying, cartoon-like buzzing accent.
Q-bee seized Felicia's shoulder, and a haunting glow surrounded both of them. Before Sister Maria could look up, both of the Darkstalkers had disappeared. "It must have been important", Maria said to herself, and resumed reading to the cheery-eyed children. Had they known what was to happen to their beloved Sister, they would not have been so interested in the story book's tale.
Felicia opened her eyes, which she had shut through the transportation. Her sight revealed a forest setting. Q-bee had used some magic and brought her to a forest, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Her robe had also vanished, leaving her in her natural state. She turned her head and found the reason. In front of her was a swarm of Darkstalkers, all exactly alike Q-bee, except for their hair colors. "So these are Q-bee's subjects", Felicia quietly said. "Figured there were some." And there were. Dozens. If she wasn't in one of the forest's large, treeless openings, she wouldn't have been able to see them all.
Q-bee spoke up, surprisingly easy to hear over the other bee-women's buzzing. "The master has decided that you may become a threat to his new plans. He has ordered us to...how would the humans put it? To...'take you out'." "Great. A bee mafia. Not funny." The bees didn't listen to Felicia's comment. Instead, they advanced on her. At Q-bee's command, one of them struck, stinger armed, at the cat woman. Felicia dodged the attack, leaped around, jumped into the air, and came down upon the attacker with a hard kick to the head. Two more dove, Felicia dodged, defended herself. More came. She wondered how she could hold them off. She used all of the attacks she'd taught herself, and kept out of the range on her enemies' poisoned stingers. All but one.
SLASH! A piercing sting went through Felicia's left side. She reached her right paw over to feel it, then drew back. Blood was flooding her palm. A stinger was lodged into the ground in front of her, one that had zoomed by and cut her open. Her side stung as she turned to see one of Q-bee's subjects fall to the ground. Honeybees die after losing their stingers. I didn't think they could shoot them. Felicia got caught up in her thoughts and another stinger slashed her shoulder, this one still connected to it's owner. The poison in the blades seeped into her body. She couldn't take anymore. She ran into the tree-filled forest, hoping for escape.
Fortunately, she found more than she had hoped for. Once Felicia had escaped the swarm, which had stood their ground, except one that pursued Felicia until accidentally ramming a tree, she started walking. She still held onto her left side, trying to keep in blood. She couldn't do much for the shoulder cut. She needed a medic. Or a first aid kit. Suddenly, as she looked up from her bruise, she noticed something very familiar. A wooden cabin in the middle of a small opening in the forest. Not just a cabin, THE cabin. The house where she could get help. She staggered towards it, trying to stay upright. Just a little further and she was saved...
Inside the cabin, a man sat in his wooden chair, eating an apple. A ripe apple, the only fruit he'd be having for the next three days. When the time came, all he would crave was meat. His curse made it that way. Soon, the moon would rise. A sharp pain raced through his stomach. It was very close to the time. He threw off his purple vest, not wanting it to be destroyed in the coming transformation. He took one final bite of the apple, making sure he'd eaten to the core, then tossed it as well. The apple core fell into the small basket which this man used for a wastebasket. Just as it hit the bottom of the basket, the door to the cabin flew open. In the entranceway stood...no, crawled someone he'd not seen for almost two years.
"Felicia?" Jon questioned the figure in the doorway. "Jon...help...please..."Felicia signified her identity by her voice, just before collapsing to the wood floor. Jon Talbain rushed to his cabnet to fetch his small box of medical equipment. He laid Felicia on his bed in his bedroom and started to work on her side. She winced when he applied the ointment. As he worked, he asked how the cat woman had gotten so injured. "Well, you remember that Q-bee Darkstalker? Her and her swarm brought me out into this forest and attacked me. I hope their stinger poison isn't too deadly," She replied, a bit of weakness in her voice. Jon assured her, "Don't worry, this healing fluid should help the poison and the cuts."
Just as he finished bandaging Felicia's shoulder, he drew back. "What's wrong?" Felicia gasped,"Did you get some of the poison on you?" After one quick glance out the window, though, she realized she was far from being correct in her question. The full moon had risen. When she turned back to face Jon, he'd already disappeared. His regular physical appearance had, anyway. In front of Felicia stood a hulking, blue and white furred werewolf, with yellow claws and a bushy tail. A thought came to Felicia's mind. "Oh, you just reminded me another reason I came here..."
Not many people would think of a cat and dog working together to help one another. Of course, Most dogs and cats aren't half human hybrids. Felicia and Jon Talbain left the cozy cottage to return to Felicia's earlier battleground. Not surprisingly to Felicia, Q-bee and her swarm were still there, waiting, anticipating. "I knew you would return. I do have your only ticket home, you know," the bee creature said with a tone of pleasure in her voice. "Yeah, well, I've evened the odds a little bit, "Felicia replied, referring to Jon. "Yes, Felicia, two-on-thirty pretty even," Jon blurted. Unexpectedly, the bees gave off some sinister laughs. Unexpected to everyone but Jon. He used the diversion to summon his power and fly in his blue fireball directly into the swarm. Three of the bees were knocked back, one of which was burnt to a crisp. Q-bee gave the order to attack, then was immediately decimated by the cat woman. As their queen fell to the grass, the swarm became angry. They lashed out at Felicia with sting strikes. Felicia was only hit in the tail by one. She, too, had been ready, and used her supreme agility to dodge and strike. Six more swarm members fell. Jon then burned through ten more. The bees kept up, and even tried using hypnotic pollen to subdue their two foes. Alas, though outnumbered, Felicia and Jon Talbain were still too much for the swarm. They were both quick enough, and , surprisingly, were better working as a team than the bees.
They narrowed the swarm down to one, then cornered her. "Okay, sweetie, who are you working for?" Felicia angrily asked the final soldier bee. "Your queen wouldn't shut up about your glorious leader wanting to rub me out. Who is he?!" The bee shuddered. A tear rolled down her cheek. She uttered her last words, "I have failed you, Jedah. I shall never fail you again. Then, in one quick motion, she produced a knife and impaled herself. "Jedah. The dark prince. I figured his soul stealing days were done," Jon remarked. Felicia quipped, "Well, thank God this is done with." "It is not quite through yet, cat woman." It wasn't Jon's voice. But Jon was the first to recognize. "Donovan."
There, in between two tall trees, stood the vampire hunter, Donovan Baine. He was cloaked in his read cape, along with red hat, small amounts of symbolical bodypaint, and some kind of Native American pants. By his side stood Anita, a young girl wearing simple school girl cothing, and holding a doll in a red dress. She showed no emotion. Donovan's right eye glowed yellow. Half of his blood was that of the Darkstalker. Jon Took a fighting stance. The vampire hunter hated all of the dark, and swore he'd rid the human world of it. He'd never had any compassion for any Darkstalker, even if they proved to be kind hearted. "What now? We jsut finished a battle," Felicia coughed," Please, leave us alone. We never hurt you!" Donovan just looked on at them. "I have not come here to harm you." "This has to be a trick," Jon growled, still in his attack stance. "You've always tried to rid the world of us." "That may be true, but I have come not to eliminate you this time, but to ask a favor of you." Jon stopped, his eyes widened. Felicia became confused. "Favor? What could we do for you?" Donovan took off his hat and held it to his side. "Before that bee creature took her life, she mentioned the dark vampire lord, Jedah. It so happens that I am en route to combat him, and though she claims to be able to care for herself, I need someone to protect Anita during the battle."
"You want us to take care of your daughter?" Felicia asked. "She is not my daughter, but yes, I need you to keep Jedah from attacking her," Donovan said. "I still need her." Jon and Felicia exchanged glances. Felicia thought, We did just defeat a swarm of bee creatures. If Donovan attacks, we should be able to stop him. "Okay, we'll do it, but no funny stuff." "I give you my word. The only one I shall battle tonight will be the dark vampire warrior," the hunter assured. He nudged the young girl at his side. Anita scampered over to the two Darkstalkers, still clutching her headless doll, the doll decapitated by Donovan himself to prove that she had a will to live.
"The word of a vampire hunter," Jon muttered. "Just one more thing to complicate my life." As Donovan turned to leave, the sky grew darker. The moon, the stars, all became blocked out by an unknown force. Then, a ominous voice that seemed to come from the darkness, said, "Nice try, warrior, but you can't stop me from taking what I want. Not that easily. Suddenly, the glowing light that had surrounded Felicia earlier appeared on all who were in the clearing, and , in the blink of an eye, they were gone.
Where they appeared was a place more vile and blasphemous than anything ever seen. A large room that appeared to be the inside of a body, surrounded in bodily organs and fluids. The quartet was in some confined place where the fluids could not touch them, most likely in one of the organs. The putrid stench of wastes and unknown substances filled the air. The most disgusting of all, though, was a gigantic, deformed fetus that was laying in the same organ. It was an unhealthy red color and had an exposed brain. Above the two closed eyes on it's face was a third eye, also closed, on the front of the brain. There were also two eyes on it's feet, one on each.
"What on earth is this place?" Felicia said, plugging her nose. The ominous voice came again, saying, "Oh, my dear, this place is not on your precious planet earth." A bright violet light came down in front of them, it's source not known. Down from the top, enclosed in the perfect cylinder of the light, came the vampire lord, Jedah. He calmly floated down, a small, sinister smile on his face. His feet touched the ground and the light faded. There stood the evil one, the one who thought he was God, downed in blue armor. His fingernails were pointed and looked almost feminine with their red color. His hands and his face were the only parts of his real body that could be seen. His metal wings sat calmly on his back.
"Welcome to my spirit room," the dark lord said. "This is where I take the soles of those foolish enough to challenge me. This is God's fetus." "This is the most sacrilegious thing I have ever seen," Jon growled. "Stay your ground, werewolf," Donovan said, holding his hand out. "I will deal with the demon." "You figured it out, did you?" The demon said with a laugh. "Yes, this is the demon world. You happen to be the first to challenge me who was smart enough to figure that out. You may very well be the last." Jedah threw his arm out and his red fingernails grew into pointed tentacles that lashed at Donovan. The hunter dodged and commenced his attack. He drew his oversized sword and swung at one of the lashing nails, severing it. Jedah used the nails on his other hand. The tentacles wrapped the vampire hunter in a hard casing. Donovan said a strange sentence, not of any earth language, and the encasement broke.
The hunter took his sword in hand. The coconut sized balls that draped across his body took on an orange light. They hovered above his body and took the form of what looked to be the top half of a large, bearded warrior of the dark ages, made of fire. The sword in Donovan's hand appeared in the fire warrior's hand. The warrior slashed the sword, which became flame. The vampire lord simply used a violet sphere that encased his body as a shield. He drew his scythe and charged Donovan. Donovan had returned to normal and used his sword to guard himself.
The fighting went on and on. Felicia and Jon still stood their ground, protecting Anita. Anita stood there, still showing no emotion on her face, still hugging her decapitated doll. Felicia kept her hand on the girl's shoulder. Donovan used all his powers against Jedah, and vice versa. The soul stealer kept on blocking Donovan's attacks, Donovan kept avoiding Jedah's. Jedah thrust out his hand, which stretched and caught Donovan. A surge of electricity came from Jedah's body and poured into Donovan's. Jedah used this to his advantage and used his other hand to slash Donovan. A clouded, violet sphere now surrounded the vampire hunter. Jedah gave the sphere a few slashes with his fingernails, then used his scythe to destroy the sphere, and wound the hunter.
Felicia could no longer contain her rage, and she lunged at Jedah with a growl. "Felicia, no!" Jon warned, but it was too late. The demon swung around and, with one swift motion of his hand, threw the cat woman to the wall with astonishing force. Suddenly, just ash Felicia hit the wall, chains appeared and held her in place by wrapping around her arms and legs. She tried to break free, but more chains wrapped around her torso. Jedah noticed Jon, who was distracted and trying to get Felicia free. Another wave of Jedah's hand sent chains from another part of the wall, chains that grappled and pulled at the werewolf, trapping him on the wall of the foul smelling room. Anita was alone, standing there, not feelings being emitted. Jedah smiled.
He pounded a fist on the ground. Two flexible arms came from a newly-formed hole and grasped the vampire hunter. They took him down into a deep, underwater purgatory. Two more arms came and commenced pounding on Donovan. Blood filled the water, and Jedah laughed his evil laugh. Donovan was thrown back up, entirely unconscious. Jedah said, "It is as I proclaimed. The vampire hunter is defeated, as are all of my foolish challengers. Now, what shall I do to celebrate?" The monster already had something in mind, and he turned his attention to the lone Anita. She stared back at him.
"What's he going to do?" Felicia aksed Jon, still trying to free herself from the shackles. "Anita's just a little girl. She can't fight back!" Jon struggled as well, and replied, "She does have powers of her own, but I doubt they'll be a match against someone like Jedah." He was right. Jedah made a swift strike with his scythe, but he wasn't aiming to hit Anita. The strike set off a violet blade that sped at the girl. Anita, without words, summoned a blue shield to block the strike. It worked, but the vampire sent two more. The shield shattered and Anita was encased in a bubble. The bubble rose above the ground. Jedah followed.
Anita, for possibly the first time in her life, showed a hint of fear in her face. The vampire hunter awoke and saw it. His eyes widened. Jedah saw the Donovan and summoned chains from the ground to hold him. "I hope you don't care too much for this little one," The demon said. "She won't have a soul to care for in a minute." "NO!" Donovan yelled. He struggled to free himself, but to no avail. Over on the wall, however, Jon Talbain was making progress. At the sight of someone so innocent (or at least innocent looking) as Anita being attacked, Jon became enraged. His eyes glowed with fury and his claws and teeth seemed to grow. The blue fire he used as his power surrounded his body. Felicia thought to herself, He's becoming full of rage! Maybe, just maybe, if he can raise his power, he can free us!
She didn't need to hope for much longer, as the werewolf's chains began to melt under the fires. Jon ripped free of his shackles and rushed at the demon. Jedah used a psychic power to throw Jon back. Jon, still in his flames, crashed into the wall. The flames around him, however, melted two of Felicia's chains. Felicia freed herself, then rushed to free the vampire hunter. Jedah raised his hands. Anita's body began to collapse. Her soul started to leave her body. Jedah began to laugh an evil cackle. Jon and Felicia attacked both at once, Jedah shielded himself in his own bubble.
Donovan clasped his hands together, pointing the index fingers out. He closed his eyes and said another magic chant. A black cloud appeared above Jedah and a gigantic, blue, winged foot came from the cloud and stomped Jedah's shield, sending Jedah, still inside, to the ground. Anita's soul returned to her body and her bubble disappeared. She used her power to catch herself before hitting the ground. Jedah's shield disappeared. Jon dove at the demon and slashed at his chest. Felicia did the same. Claw marks appeared.
A small trickle of blood came from one mark, enraging Jedah. With a flash of light, Jedah flung the two away. He turned to Donovan, who quickly threw his sword into the vampire. It went through the slash mark where the blood came from. Before Jedah could reach to remove it, the vampire hunter called forth another cloud, from which came a bright bolt of blue lightning. The bolt struck the sword. A rush of electricity surged through Jedah's body.
The bolt didn't leave, it kept electrocuting the demon. Jedah screamed, the most horrifying scream any of them had ever heard, or would ever hear. Blue light flooded the room, followed by and explosion that sent the two Darkstalkers, the vampire hunter, and the girl into the wall. When the light faded, they were no longer in the fetus, but back where they had started, in the forest clearing.
Felicia rubbed her head. "Are we still alive? Or is this Heaven?" "We are still alive," Donovan assured her. He stood Anita back up. The fear was gone from her face. No emotion was being shown. "I must thank you for your help, Darkstalkers," the hunter said, returning his sword to it's holster on his back. "I am in your debt." "Good," the werewolf said. "We're safe for a while." The balls that Donovan wore glowed again, and, in a flash, he and Anita were gone.
"Well, I'm glad that's over," Felicia said, then waited for someone to contradict her. No one did. "Hey, Jon, the night's still young. Wanna got split a pepperoni pizza before I make my way home?" Jon replied, "Felicia, you forget I'm a British werewolf." "Okay, how about one of those Meat Lover(tm) pizzas with extra chicken?" "That's better."
THE END
"A FRIEND IN NEED..." By HrdcorEcW
Felicity House. A calm, soothing place where orphaned children stayed because they had nowhere else. An orphanage where the children were treated like human beings and were taught the right way to live. A safe haven created for human children, by a not-so human adult. Felicia, a so-called cat woman, born with special abilities that were non-excitant in most humans. This made her known as a "Darkstalker" by everyone who knew what the word meant. With these abilities, though, came easily- recognizable physical features, those of a feline. Felicia had white fur scattered in patterns on her body, beautiful patterns that would make you think of a costume from the Broadway play, "Cats". She also had cat ears, claws, fangs, senses, and a tail. But the children didn't mind. They thought she was pretty, especially her flowing blue hair. Most these features became hidden at times when Felicia wore her traditional nun outfit. All the workers at the orphanage wore outfits. They were sisters, to each other and to the children.
Their tranquility, though, was put to a halt one day. It all started with the simple knock of the orphanage door. Felicia had been reading the daily story to the children who chose to listen to her, when the "knock, knock" of the door sounded. Immediately, Felicia's above-human senses perked up. Her ears, hidden under her hood at the time, popped up from their regular sitting position. She sniffed the air. The children stared at her, since she'd just stopped in the middle of the story. She noticed that, and began reading again. Sister Maria came from down the hall and went to answer the door, where the visitor on the other side knocked again.
"Sister Maria, come here," Felicia said, just finishing a sentence from the story. "Sister Felicia, I was just going to answer the door," Maria exclaimed. Felicia, realizing how she must have sounded hostile, replied, "I know. Here, finish the story. Something tells me it's for me." Maria took over, and Felicia walked to the entranceway. She gripped the knob slowly, expecting some kind of electric shock, for reasons she herself didn't know. She turned the knob pulled the door open, making it emit a squeaking sound from it's hinges. "Can I help y...", she stopped in mid sentence. There, in the doorway, stood the visitor that she knew was there to see her.
Another Darkstalker stood there, this one much more conspicuous than Felicia. A human-honey bee hybrid, with purple hair upon her head, surrounding a pair of antennae. Her eyes seemed made of entirely pupils, her regular eyes. Above them were a pair of bulbous compound eyes. She was dressed in a tight purple suit, which, in the back, opened up for a large, bee-like abdomen, complete with yellow and black stripes, and a stinger. "Q-bee. To what do I owe the pleasure, which this surely isn't," Felicia exclaimed, with a hint of anger. "The master remembers you well, as he perfectly described your face for me. Come with me, and we shall have the meeting I have come to set up", the bee woman replied, with an annoying, cartoon-like buzzing accent.
Q-bee seized Felicia's shoulder, and a haunting glow surrounded both of them. Before Sister Maria could look up, both of the Darkstalkers had disappeared. "It must have been important", Maria said to herself, and resumed reading to the cheery-eyed children. Had they known what was to happen to their beloved Sister, they would not have been so interested in the story book's tale.
Felicia opened her eyes, which she had shut through the transportation. Her sight revealed a forest setting. Q-bee had used some magic and brought her to a forest, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Her robe had also vanished, leaving her in her natural state. She turned her head and found the reason. In front of her was a swarm of Darkstalkers, all exactly alike Q-bee, except for their hair colors. "So these are Q-bee's subjects", Felicia quietly said. "Figured there were some." And there were. Dozens. If she wasn't in one of the forest's large, treeless openings, she wouldn't have been able to see them all.
Q-bee spoke up, surprisingly easy to hear over the other bee-women's buzzing. "The master has decided that you may become a threat to his new plans. He has ordered us to...how would the humans put it? To...'take you out'." "Great. A bee mafia. Not funny." The bees didn't listen to Felicia's comment. Instead, they advanced on her. At Q-bee's command, one of them struck, stinger armed, at the cat woman. Felicia dodged the attack, leaped around, jumped into the air, and came down upon the attacker with a hard kick to the head. Two more dove, Felicia dodged, defended herself. More came. She wondered how she could hold them off. She used all of the attacks she'd taught herself, and kept out of the range on her enemies' poisoned stingers. All but one.
SLASH! A piercing sting went through Felicia's left side. She reached her right paw over to feel it, then drew back. Blood was flooding her palm. A stinger was lodged into the ground in front of her, one that had zoomed by and cut her open. Her side stung as she turned to see one of Q-bee's subjects fall to the ground. Honeybees die after losing their stingers. I didn't think they could shoot them. Felicia got caught up in her thoughts and another stinger slashed her shoulder, this one still connected to it's owner. The poison in the blades seeped into her body. She couldn't take anymore. She ran into the tree-filled forest, hoping for escape.
Fortunately, she found more than she had hoped for. Once Felicia had escaped the swarm, which had stood their ground, except one that pursued Felicia until accidentally ramming a tree, she started walking. She still held onto her left side, trying to keep in blood. She couldn't do much for the shoulder cut. She needed a medic. Or a first aid kit. Suddenly, as she looked up from her bruise, she noticed something very familiar. A wooden cabin in the middle of a small opening in the forest. Not just a cabin, THE cabin. The house where she could get help. She staggered towards it, trying to stay upright. Just a little further and she was saved...
Inside the cabin, a man sat in his wooden chair, eating an apple. A ripe apple, the only fruit he'd be having for the next three days. When the time came, all he would crave was meat. His curse made it that way. Soon, the moon would rise. A sharp pain raced through his stomach. It was very close to the time. He threw off his purple vest, not wanting it to be destroyed in the coming transformation. He took one final bite of the apple, making sure he'd eaten to the core, then tossed it as well. The apple core fell into the small basket which this man used for a wastebasket. Just as it hit the bottom of the basket, the door to the cabin flew open. In the entranceway stood...no, crawled someone he'd not seen for almost two years.
"Felicia?" Jon questioned the figure in the doorway. "Jon...help...please..."Felicia signified her identity by her voice, just before collapsing to the wood floor. Jon Talbain rushed to his cabnet to fetch his small box of medical equipment. He laid Felicia on his bed in his bedroom and started to work on her side. She winced when he applied the ointment. As he worked, he asked how the cat woman had gotten so injured. "Well, you remember that Q-bee Darkstalker? Her and her swarm brought me out into this forest and attacked me. I hope their stinger poison isn't too deadly," She replied, a bit of weakness in her voice. Jon assured her, "Don't worry, this healing fluid should help the poison and the cuts."
Just as he finished bandaging Felicia's shoulder, he drew back. "What's wrong?" Felicia gasped,"Did you get some of the poison on you?" After one quick glance out the window, though, she realized she was far from being correct in her question. The full moon had risen. When she turned back to face Jon, he'd already disappeared. His regular physical appearance had, anyway. In front of Felicia stood a hulking, blue and white furred werewolf, with yellow claws and a bushy tail. A thought came to Felicia's mind. "Oh, you just reminded me another reason I came here..."
Not many people would think of a cat and dog working together to help one another. Of course, Most dogs and cats aren't half human hybrids. Felicia and Jon Talbain left the cozy cottage to return to Felicia's earlier battleground. Not surprisingly to Felicia, Q-bee and her swarm were still there, waiting, anticipating. "I knew you would return. I do have your only ticket home, you know," the bee creature said with a tone of pleasure in her voice. "Yeah, well, I've evened the odds a little bit, "Felicia replied, referring to Jon. "Yes, Felicia, two-on-thirty pretty even," Jon blurted. Unexpectedly, the bees gave off some sinister laughs. Unexpected to everyone but Jon. He used the diversion to summon his power and fly in his blue fireball directly into the swarm. Three of the bees were knocked back, one of which was burnt to a crisp. Q-bee gave the order to attack, then was immediately decimated by the cat woman. As their queen fell to the grass, the swarm became angry. They lashed out at Felicia with sting strikes. Felicia was only hit in the tail by one. She, too, had been ready, and used her supreme agility to dodge and strike. Six more swarm members fell. Jon then burned through ten more. The bees kept up, and even tried using hypnotic pollen to subdue their two foes. Alas, though outnumbered, Felicia and Jon Talbain were still too much for the swarm. They were both quick enough, and , surprisingly, were better working as a team than the bees.
They narrowed the swarm down to one, then cornered her. "Okay, sweetie, who are you working for?" Felicia angrily asked the final soldier bee. "Your queen wouldn't shut up about your glorious leader wanting to rub me out. Who is he?!" The bee shuddered. A tear rolled down her cheek. She uttered her last words, "I have failed you, Jedah. I shall never fail you again. Then, in one quick motion, she produced a knife and impaled herself. "Jedah. The dark prince. I figured his soul stealing days were done," Jon remarked. Felicia quipped, "Well, thank God this is done with." "It is not quite through yet, cat woman." It wasn't Jon's voice. But Jon was the first to recognize. "Donovan."
There, in between two tall trees, stood the vampire hunter, Donovan Baine. He was cloaked in his read cape, along with red hat, small amounts of symbolical bodypaint, and some kind of Native American pants. By his side stood Anita, a young girl wearing simple school girl cothing, and holding a doll in a red dress. She showed no emotion. Donovan's right eye glowed yellow. Half of his blood was that of the Darkstalker. Jon Took a fighting stance. The vampire hunter hated all of the dark, and swore he'd rid the human world of it. He'd never had any compassion for any Darkstalker, even if they proved to be kind hearted. "What now? We jsut finished a battle," Felicia coughed," Please, leave us alone. We never hurt you!" Donovan just looked on at them. "I have not come here to harm you." "This has to be a trick," Jon growled, still in his attack stance. "You've always tried to rid the world of us." "That may be true, but I have come not to eliminate you this time, but to ask a favor of you." Jon stopped, his eyes widened. Felicia became confused. "Favor? What could we do for you?" Donovan took off his hat and held it to his side. "Before that bee creature took her life, she mentioned the dark vampire lord, Jedah. It so happens that I am en route to combat him, and though she claims to be able to care for herself, I need someone to protect Anita during the battle."
"You want us to take care of your daughter?" Felicia asked. "She is not my daughter, but yes, I need you to keep Jedah from attacking her," Donovan said. "I still need her." Jon and Felicia exchanged glances. Felicia thought, We did just defeat a swarm of bee creatures. If Donovan attacks, we should be able to stop him. "Okay, we'll do it, but no funny stuff." "I give you my word. The only one I shall battle tonight will be the dark vampire warrior," the hunter assured. He nudged the young girl at his side. Anita scampered over to the two Darkstalkers, still clutching her headless doll, the doll decapitated by Donovan himself to prove that she had a will to live.
"The word of a vampire hunter," Jon muttered. "Just one more thing to complicate my life." As Donovan turned to leave, the sky grew darker. The moon, the stars, all became blocked out by an unknown force. Then, a ominous voice that seemed to come from the darkness, said, "Nice try, warrior, but you can't stop me from taking what I want. Not that easily. Suddenly, the glowing light that had surrounded Felicia earlier appeared on all who were in the clearing, and , in the blink of an eye, they were gone.
Where they appeared was a place more vile and blasphemous than anything ever seen. A large room that appeared to be the inside of a body, surrounded in bodily organs and fluids. The quartet was in some confined place where the fluids could not touch them, most likely in one of the organs. The putrid stench of wastes and unknown substances filled the air. The most disgusting of all, though, was a gigantic, deformed fetus that was laying in the same organ. It was an unhealthy red color and had an exposed brain. Above the two closed eyes on it's face was a third eye, also closed, on the front of the brain. There were also two eyes on it's feet, one on each.
"What on earth is this place?" Felicia said, plugging her nose. The ominous voice came again, saying, "Oh, my dear, this place is not on your precious planet earth." A bright violet light came down in front of them, it's source not known. Down from the top, enclosed in the perfect cylinder of the light, came the vampire lord, Jedah. He calmly floated down, a small, sinister smile on his face. His feet touched the ground and the light faded. There stood the evil one, the one who thought he was God, downed in blue armor. His fingernails were pointed and looked almost feminine with their red color. His hands and his face were the only parts of his real body that could be seen. His metal wings sat calmly on his back.
"Welcome to my spirit room," the dark lord said. "This is where I take the soles of those foolish enough to challenge me. This is God's fetus." "This is the most sacrilegious thing I have ever seen," Jon growled. "Stay your ground, werewolf," Donovan said, holding his hand out. "I will deal with the demon." "You figured it out, did you?" The demon said with a laugh. "Yes, this is the demon world. You happen to be the first to challenge me who was smart enough to figure that out. You may very well be the last." Jedah threw his arm out and his red fingernails grew into pointed tentacles that lashed at Donovan. The hunter dodged and commenced his attack. He drew his oversized sword and swung at one of the lashing nails, severing it. Jedah used the nails on his other hand. The tentacles wrapped the vampire hunter in a hard casing. Donovan said a strange sentence, not of any earth language, and the encasement broke.
The hunter took his sword in hand. The coconut sized balls that draped across his body took on an orange light. They hovered above his body and took the form of what looked to be the top half of a large, bearded warrior of the dark ages, made of fire. The sword in Donovan's hand appeared in the fire warrior's hand. The warrior slashed the sword, which became flame. The vampire lord simply used a violet sphere that encased his body as a shield. He drew his scythe and charged Donovan. Donovan had returned to normal and used his sword to guard himself.
The fighting went on and on. Felicia and Jon still stood their ground, protecting Anita. Anita stood there, still showing no emotion on her face, still hugging her decapitated doll. Felicia kept her hand on the girl's shoulder. Donovan used all his powers against Jedah, and vice versa. The soul stealer kept on blocking Donovan's attacks, Donovan kept avoiding Jedah's. Jedah thrust out his hand, which stretched and caught Donovan. A surge of electricity came from Jedah's body and poured into Donovan's. Jedah used this to his advantage and used his other hand to slash Donovan. A clouded, violet sphere now surrounded the vampire hunter. Jedah gave the sphere a few slashes with his fingernails, then used his scythe to destroy the sphere, and wound the hunter.
Felicia could no longer contain her rage, and she lunged at Jedah with a growl. "Felicia, no!" Jon warned, but it was too late. The demon swung around and, with one swift motion of his hand, threw the cat woman to the wall with astonishing force. Suddenly, just ash Felicia hit the wall, chains appeared and held her in place by wrapping around her arms and legs. She tried to break free, but more chains wrapped around her torso. Jedah noticed Jon, who was distracted and trying to get Felicia free. Another wave of Jedah's hand sent chains from another part of the wall, chains that grappled and pulled at the werewolf, trapping him on the wall of the foul smelling room. Anita was alone, standing there, not feelings being emitted. Jedah smiled.
He pounded a fist on the ground. Two flexible arms came from a newly-formed hole and grasped the vampire hunter. They took him down into a deep, underwater purgatory. Two more arms came and commenced pounding on Donovan. Blood filled the water, and Jedah laughed his evil laugh. Donovan was thrown back up, entirely unconscious. Jedah said, "It is as I proclaimed. The vampire hunter is defeated, as are all of my foolish challengers. Now, what shall I do to celebrate?" The monster already had something in mind, and he turned his attention to the lone Anita. She stared back at him.
"What's he going to do?" Felicia aksed Jon, still trying to free herself from the shackles. "Anita's just a little girl. She can't fight back!" Jon struggled as well, and replied, "She does have powers of her own, but I doubt they'll be a match against someone like Jedah." He was right. Jedah made a swift strike with his scythe, but he wasn't aiming to hit Anita. The strike set off a violet blade that sped at the girl. Anita, without words, summoned a blue shield to block the strike. It worked, but the vampire sent two more. The shield shattered and Anita was encased in a bubble. The bubble rose above the ground. Jedah followed.
Anita, for possibly the first time in her life, showed a hint of fear in her face. The vampire hunter awoke and saw it. His eyes widened. Jedah saw the Donovan and summoned chains from the ground to hold him. "I hope you don't care too much for this little one," The demon said. "She won't have a soul to care for in a minute." "NO!" Donovan yelled. He struggled to free himself, but to no avail. Over on the wall, however, Jon Talbain was making progress. At the sight of someone so innocent (or at least innocent looking) as Anita being attacked, Jon became enraged. His eyes glowed with fury and his claws and teeth seemed to grow. The blue fire he used as his power surrounded his body. Felicia thought to herself, He's becoming full of rage! Maybe, just maybe, if he can raise his power, he can free us!
She didn't need to hope for much longer, as the werewolf's chains began to melt under the fires. Jon ripped free of his shackles and rushed at the demon. Jedah used a psychic power to throw Jon back. Jon, still in his flames, crashed into the wall. The flames around him, however, melted two of Felicia's chains. Felicia freed herself, then rushed to free the vampire hunter. Jedah raised his hands. Anita's body began to collapse. Her soul started to leave her body. Jedah began to laugh an evil cackle. Jon and Felicia attacked both at once, Jedah shielded himself in his own bubble.
Donovan clasped his hands together, pointing the index fingers out. He closed his eyes and said another magic chant. A black cloud appeared above Jedah and a gigantic, blue, winged foot came from the cloud and stomped Jedah's shield, sending Jedah, still inside, to the ground. Anita's soul returned to her body and her bubble disappeared. She used her power to catch herself before hitting the ground. Jedah's shield disappeared. Jon dove at the demon and slashed at his chest. Felicia did the same. Claw marks appeared.
A small trickle of blood came from one mark, enraging Jedah. With a flash of light, Jedah flung the two away. He turned to Donovan, who quickly threw his sword into the vampire. It went through the slash mark where the blood came from. Before Jedah could reach to remove it, the vampire hunter called forth another cloud, from which came a bright bolt of blue lightning. The bolt struck the sword. A rush of electricity surged through Jedah's body.
The bolt didn't leave, it kept electrocuting the demon. Jedah screamed, the most horrifying scream any of them had ever heard, or would ever hear. Blue light flooded the room, followed by and explosion that sent the two Darkstalkers, the vampire hunter, and the girl into the wall. When the light faded, they were no longer in the fetus, but back where they had started, in the forest clearing.
Felicia rubbed her head. "Are we still alive? Or is this Heaven?" "We are still alive," Donovan assured her. He stood Anita back up. The fear was gone from her face. No emotion was being shown. "I must thank you for your help, Darkstalkers," the hunter said, returning his sword to it's holster on his back. "I am in your debt." "Good," the werewolf said. "We're safe for a while." The balls that Donovan wore glowed again, and, in a flash, he and Anita were gone.
"Well, I'm glad that's over," Felicia said, then waited for someone to contradict her. No one did. "Hey, Jon, the night's still young. Wanna got split a pepperoni pizza before I make my way home?" Jon replied, "Felicia, you forget I'm a British werewolf." "Okay, how about one of those Meat Lover(tm) pizzas with extra chicken?" "That's better."
THE END