I think this interlude is intriguing. These original villains are my
favorites of all the baddies I've created for the story. Some author's
notes will appear below regarding them.
There are two familiar faces here in this interlude as well. One will be easy to identify but I think but the other is a little harder.
Villainous Interlude 2
Mirin hung in the black air watching the three mortals below with delight. This trio of bounty hunters was interesting. They had obviously done some research on appropriate weaponry but they still were steeped in misinformed superstition. They used garlic about they're necks due to a western superstition that was completely ridiculous. The carried UV spectrum lanterns, however, and that could be a little tricky to put out of commission. The purple haired female carried two wicked looking katana, and the blonde female had an impressive machine gun that reeked of silver; the bald man had two wooden stakes in his hands and appeared to have spirit wards in his pocket. She grinned; the only one capable of killing one of the Chouri Three was the purple-haired one with her blades. The bullets would be nothing more than a stinging annoyance, and the man would have to get to close to her to use his stakes. She would just have to be sure to burn the wards. She could sense that their magic was not that strong, they probably weren't even made by a holy man.
Reaching for the minds of her companions she silently looked on as the group below carefully and silently crept forward searching through the shadows for her.
"Lord Koujin" she telepathically stated "you will be pleased to know that these mortals will pose no more threat to us than the previous bounty hunters."
"Excellent" the smooth deep baritone replied "I won't have to help you then?"
"No" she qualified swiftly "Kousou and I can handle them."
"Yes Lord" Kousou replied materializing suddenly next to his female associate.
"Good" Koujin's voice commended "I expect to see you shortly then. Just remember to leave something for me."
"Yes" Mirin said slyly "one of the women."
Laughter filled her head briefly before trailing away.
"Mirin" Kousou spoke to her mind "whom do you want to take?"
She smiled and regarded him with her almond-shaped ruby eyes. "I'll take the man and the woman with the katanas. I know how to deal with his wards and her swords."
The large pale man grinned a fanged smile of respect. He fancied her naturally, as most of the ching-shi did when they regained their sight, and hung on her every word. She was stunning with deep forest-green hair a long graceful neck and delicate looking fine hands with long pointed fingernails.
"You target the one with the machine gun" she inclining her green head.
"Thank you" he chortled in her mind his large bulk heaving in a sigh.
Without a word Mirin floated down to just above the ground in the shadows just ahead of the group of mortals undetected. She watched as Kousou came down as well landing on his stiff legs making her wince. She had no idea why he preferred to walk on his emaciated legs rather than float but who was she to judge him.
"Ren-chan I don't see anything" the mortal man's voice said echoing in the caverns as the group of three bounty hunters approached "its safe to proceed."
Mirin smirked. What luck, one of her targets would be the first around the corner. Giving her companion a silent mental prod as to his actions she waited silently. She squinted as the soft glow of the lamps filtered past the gap in the rocks out stretching her hand palm open in preparation. Her eyes detected the faint glimmer of metal and she latched onto it yanking the sword into her outstretched hand. Leaping forward she braved the light as it made her flesh burn and flung the sword with her smoking hand towards the hated bulb. The two women and one man were stunned enough they didn't realize what was happening until the blade hit its mark extinguishing the light in a spray of glass.
Mirin sighed as her burning flesh was at last soothed by the darkness her eyes quickly adjusting. Now she and Kousou had the upper hand. They were in their element, the dark, and the human's were seriously handy-capped. Having gone through a period of blindness they knew how to hunt their quarry by listening to the sound of their breathing. However, it appeared they were prepared for this eventuality quickly pulling night vision goggles over their eyes.
"Eat silver undead" the blonde woman crowed launching a volley towards Mirin.
Before she could react she heard Kousou lumber forward towards her assailant. She quickly ducked as a blade whizzed over her head and turned to parry the second woman's blade. Her eyes glowing briefly in concentration she latched onto the purple-haired woman with her mind and flung her into the man as he lunged forward at her. She grinned as they both slammed into the cave wall with a pleasing thud. The purple-haired woman fell unconscious immediately but the man shakily rose to his once more.
Kousou charged the blonde woman not at all deterred by the projectiles from her Tommy Gun. He saw her sputter and curse in shock as he reached forward and ripped the gun from her hand. Slashing at her the ching-shi nearly lost his balance as she ducked and ran.
"REN!" the blonde screamed seeing the state of her friend. She tried running only to be lifted off of the ground in the vice-like grip of the sumo wrestler like ching-shi.
Mirin, aware of her pupil's success, floated to the dazed man. Kousou grinned as she sent a telepathic okay to drain his conquest. The other woman would be the Lord's prize. Kousou, however, was not in a hurry and opted to watch the ching-shi sorceress deal with the mortal magic user.
The mortal man's eyes grew wide as Mirin approached and his hand darted to his pocket. Pulling out a ward he raised it and closed his eyes. She could feel him as he silently called upon the magic of the incantation written on its face.
"I call upon the powers of darkness and fires of Hell to destroy the holy ward he seeks to use against us" Mirin muttered her own incantation quietly. She smiled as she felt the strength of her magic eclipse his and his cry as he dropped the flaming talisman.
"Fire consume all his magic!" she called swiftly.
Again he screamed and snatched the papers as they leapt into flame flinging them at her. Dodging deftly she continued her slow approach. The man could only clutch his stakes, his only means of defense, ready to jab them at his assailant. Mercilessly she swung the blade lopping off first one hand and then the other. She grinned as he screamed in pain and horror and attempted to struggle to his feet.
Snagging him by his collar Mirin brought him up to her face. "Pitiful" she chided softly bringing her lips up to his. She chuckled once again as the man held his breathe. "Stupid human that won't safe you" she shouted punching him hard in the midsection. He doubled over and expelled his breath and she wrapped her fingers around the base of his skull. Softly she brushed her colorless, full lips to his tasting the aroma of his spirit. Sucking on his exhalation brought his last breath into her mouth pulling his soul out along with it in a thick vaporous stream. The man jerked and stiffened as his spirit left him and his body fell tonelessly to the ground as she released her grip on him. Mirin licked her lips savoring the after taste and the new feeling of energy that warmed her body.
"Bitch!" the blonde woman shouted. "How could you do that?"
Mirin turned around annoyed that Kousou had not yet claimed his prize.
"Kousou" she scolded "didn't I tell you to drain her?"
Focusing exclusively on his Mistress Kousou shrank and cowed back unaware of the woman struggling and cursing in his arms.
"I'm sorry," he muttered "but."
"Just shut-up and drain her already" Mirin said floating by him.
Kousou turned to watch her and sighed disappointedly only then noticing the woman.
"I don't think she'll mind me taking a quick bite first" he mumbled bearing his fangs and biting a chunk of flesh from her shoulder. He shivered in delight as she screamed in pain. He preferred beginning to eat his victims alive, their pain added so much more to the experience. Suddenly he bellowed as a sword hacked into his arm dropping the chunk of meat in his mouth and releasing his grip on his prisoner.
"Come on!" the purple-haired woman screamed yanking the other woman along with her as they ran knocking aside the female ching-shi.
Thinking quickly the blonde pulled a bomb from her satchel and struck a match lighting it and throwing it at their pursuers further stalling them.
"Now what?" the blonde demanded narrowing her green eyes.
"It should be getting light out" the purple-haired one shouted in answer "we just have to make it."
Seeing their goal ahead and the soft morning light pouring through it. The blonde screamed as she was yanked back by her hair. The katana was quickly dispatched to hack at the female ching-shi's hand and caused her to quickly relinquish her hold. Quickly the two women dived out of the mouth of the cave into the sunlight outside.
Mirin and Kousou could only watch with glowing red eyes as the two surviving mortals laughed in nervous joy. After a few moments Mirin cursed and turned to her companion.
"Come" she said to the pale man observing for the first time one of his arms was hanging by nothing but pale leathery piece of skin "there's nothing we can do now."
Gripping the arm and tearing it off he watched in fascination as the limb crumbled into dust and fell through his fingers.
"At least" he mused, "we got one of them."
What is a Ching-shi? They are Chinese Vampires or Reanimated Corpses. They are technically more like western zombies than western vampires. They have an appetite for flesh eating and blood drinking of humans to sustain themselves but kill by sucking the spirit right out of you. The modern Chinese vampire was popularized in the 1980's by Hong Kong Cinema and is actually a hybrid of the ancient Chinese supernatural "reanimated corpse" legends from the Qing Dynasty (probably why all of them dress in Qing Dynasty wardrobe in the movies) and the influence of western vampires. My version of the ching-shi is actually a mix of the ancient supernatural stories and the cinema vampires.
To read an ancient story called "The Reanimated Corpse" by a Qing Dynasty scholar click on the link below:
http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/liaozhai/pu06.html
To read a synopsis of the Hong Kong Movie "Mr. Vampire" that started the furor for vampire movies check out the link below:
http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/tao/mrvamp.html
More info on Chinese vampires:
http://www.godofvampires.com/whatiknow.html
There are two familiar faces here in this interlude as well. One will be easy to identify but I think but the other is a little harder.
Villainous Interlude 2
Mirin hung in the black air watching the three mortals below with delight. This trio of bounty hunters was interesting. They had obviously done some research on appropriate weaponry but they still were steeped in misinformed superstition. They used garlic about they're necks due to a western superstition that was completely ridiculous. The carried UV spectrum lanterns, however, and that could be a little tricky to put out of commission. The purple haired female carried two wicked looking katana, and the blonde female had an impressive machine gun that reeked of silver; the bald man had two wooden stakes in his hands and appeared to have spirit wards in his pocket. She grinned; the only one capable of killing one of the Chouri Three was the purple-haired one with her blades. The bullets would be nothing more than a stinging annoyance, and the man would have to get to close to her to use his stakes. She would just have to be sure to burn the wards. She could sense that their magic was not that strong, they probably weren't even made by a holy man.
Reaching for the minds of her companions she silently looked on as the group below carefully and silently crept forward searching through the shadows for her.
"Lord Koujin" she telepathically stated "you will be pleased to know that these mortals will pose no more threat to us than the previous bounty hunters."
"Excellent" the smooth deep baritone replied "I won't have to help you then?"
"No" she qualified swiftly "Kousou and I can handle them."
"Yes Lord" Kousou replied materializing suddenly next to his female associate.
"Good" Koujin's voice commended "I expect to see you shortly then. Just remember to leave something for me."
"Yes" Mirin said slyly "one of the women."
Laughter filled her head briefly before trailing away.
"Mirin" Kousou spoke to her mind "whom do you want to take?"
She smiled and regarded him with her almond-shaped ruby eyes. "I'll take the man and the woman with the katanas. I know how to deal with his wards and her swords."
The large pale man grinned a fanged smile of respect. He fancied her naturally, as most of the ching-shi did when they regained their sight, and hung on her every word. She was stunning with deep forest-green hair a long graceful neck and delicate looking fine hands with long pointed fingernails.
"You target the one with the machine gun" she inclining her green head.
"Thank you" he chortled in her mind his large bulk heaving in a sigh.
Without a word Mirin floated down to just above the ground in the shadows just ahead of the group of mortals undetected. She watched as Kousou came down as well landing on his stiff legs making her wince. She had no idea why he preferred to walk on his emaciated legs rather than float but who was she to judge him.
"Ren-chan I don't see anything" the mortal man's voice said echoing in the caverns as the group of three bounty hunters approached "its safe to proceed."
Mirin smirked. What luck, one of her targets would be the first around the corner. Giving her companion a silent mental prod as to his actions she waited silently. She squinted as the soft glow of the lamps filtered past the gap in the rocks out stretching her hand palm open in preparation. Her eyes detected the faint glimmer of metal and she latched onto it yanking the sword into her outstretched hand. Leaping forward she braved the light as it made her flesh burn and flung the sword with her smoking hand towards the hated bulb. The two women and one man were stunned enough they didn't realize what was happening until the blade hit its mark extinguishing the light in a spray of glass.
Mirin sighed as her burning flesh was at last soothed by the darkness her eyes quickly adjusting. Now she and Kousou had the upper hand. They were in their element, the dark, and the human's were seriously handy-capped. Having gone through a period of blindness they knew how to hunt their quarry by listening to the sound of their breathing. However, it appeared they were prepared for this eventuality quickly pulling night vision goggles over their eyes.
"Eat silver undead" the blonde woman crowed launching a volley towards Mirin.
Before she could react she heard Kousou lumber forward towards her assailant. She quickly ducked as a blade whizzed over her head and turned to parry the second woman's blade. Her eyes glowing briefly in concentration she latched onto the purple-haired woman with her mind and flung her into the man as he lunged forward at her. She grinned as they both slammed into the cave wall with a pleasing thud. The purple-haired woman fell unconscious immediately but the man shakily rose to his once more.
Kousou charged the blonde woman not at all deterred by the projectiles from her Tommy Gun. He saw her sputter and curse in shock as he reached forward and ripped the gun from her hand. Slashing at her the ching-shi nearly lost his balance as she ducked and ran.
"REN!" the blonde screamed seeing the state of her friend. She tried running only to be lifted off of the ground in the vice-like grip of the sumo wrestler like ching-shi.
Mirin, aware of her pupil's success, floated to the dazed man. Kousou grinned as she sent a telepathic okay to drain his conquest. The other woman would be the Lord's prize. Kousou, however, was not in a hurry and opted to watch the ching-shi sorceress deal with the mortal magic user.
The mortal man's eyes grew wide as Mirin approached and his hand darted to his pocket. Pulling out a ward he raised it and closed his eyes. She could feel him as he silently called upon the magic of the incantation written on its face.
"I call upon the powers of darkness and fires of Hell to destroy the holy ward he seeks to use against us" Mirin muttered her own incantation quietly. She smiled as she felt the strength of her magic eclipse his and his cry as he dropped the flaming talisman.
"Fire consume all his magic!" she called swiftly.
Again he screamed and snatched the papers as they leapt into flame flinging them at her. Dodging deftly she continued her slow approach. The man could only clutch his stakes, his only means of defense, ready to jab them at his assailant. Mercilessly she swung the blade lopping off first one hand and then the other. She grinned as he screamed in pain and horror and attempted to struggle to his feet.
Snagging him by his collar Mirin brought him up to her face. "Pitiful" she chided softly bringing her lips up to his. She chuckled once again as the man held his breathe. "Stupid human that won't safe you" she shouted punching him hard in the midsection. He doubled over and expelled his breath and she wrapped her fingers around the base of his skull. Softly she brushed her colorless, full lips to his tasting the aroma of his spirit. Sucking on his exhalation brought his last breath into her mouth pulling his soul out along with it in a thick vaporous stream. The man jerked and stiffened as his spirit left him and his body fell tonelessly to the ground as she released her grip on him. Mirin licked her lips savoring the after taste and the new feeling of energy that warmed her body.
"Bitch!" the blonde woman shouted. "How could you do that?"
Mirin turned around annoyed that Kousou had not yet claimed his prize.
"Kousou" she scolded "didn't I tell you to drain her?"
Focusing exclusively on his Mistress Kousou shrank and cowed back unaware of the woman struggling and cursing in his arms.
"I'm sorry," he muttered "but."
"Just shut-up and drain her already" Mirin said floating by him.
Kousou turned to watch her and sighed disappointedly only then noticing the woman.
"I don't think she'll mind me taking a quick bite first" he mumbled bearing his fangs and biting a chunk of flesh from her shoulder. He shivered in delight as she screamed in pain. He preferred beginning to eat his victims alive, their pain added so much more to the experience. Suddenly he bellowed as a sword hacked into his arm dropping the chunk of meat in his mouth and releasing his grip on his prisoner.
"Come on!" the purple-haired woman screamed yanking the other woman along with her as they ran knocking aside the female ching-shi.
Thinking quickly the blonde pulled a bomb from her satchel and struck a match lighting it and throwing it at their pursuers further stalling them.
"Now what?" the blonde demanded narrowing her green eyes.
"It should be getting light out" the purple-haired one shouted in answer "we just have to make it."
Seeing their goal ahead and the soft morning light pouring through it. The blonde screamed as she was yanked back by her hair. The katana was quickly dispatched to hack at the female ching-shi's hand and caused her to quickly relinquish her hold. Quickly the two women dived out of the mouth of the cave into the sunlight outside.
Mirin and Kousou could only watch with glowing red eyes as the two surviving mortals laughed in nervous joy. After a few moments Mirin cursed and turned to her companion.
"Come" she said to the pale man observing for the first time one of his arms was hanging by nothing but pale leathery piece of skin "there's nothing we can do now."
Gripping the arm and tearing it off he watched in fascination as the limb crumbled into dust and fell through his fingers.
"At least" he mused, "we got one of them."
What is a Ching-shi? They are Chinese Vampires or Reanimated Corpses. They are technically more like western zombies than western vampires. They have an appetite for flesh eating and blood drinking of humans to sustain themselves but kill by sucking the spirit right out of you. The modern Chinese vampire was popularized in the 1980's by Hong Kong Cinema and is actually a hybrid of the ancient Chinese supernatural "reanimated corpse" legends from the Qing Dynasty (probably why all of them dress in Qing Dynasty wardrobe in the movies) and the influence of western vampires. My version of the ching-shi is actually a mix of the ancient supernatural stories and the cinema vampires.
To read an ancient story called "The Reanimated Corpse" by a Qing Dynasty scholar click on the link below:
http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/liaozhai/pu06.html
To read a synopsis of the Hong Kong Movie "Mr. Vampire" that started the furor for vampire movies check out the link below:
http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/tao/mrvamp.html
More info on Chinese vampires:
http://www.godofvampires.com/whatiknow.html