The plan had been decided. It was far-fetched but it was there only chance. Taking to a nearby rooftop, Ororo and Rayne knelt before each other as Ororo extended her arm and brought her sharp nails to her wrist. Rayne looked at her briefly.
"You sure this is going to work?"
"Nothing is certain, but it is our only hope. Dracula made me; therefore his blood runs through my veins. If you drink my blood I am hoping your Aura Sense can help you locate Dracula's whereabouts."
"If you say so."
No more words were spoken as Ororo slit her wrist. The blood flowed freely and Rayne took up her wrist and pressed it to her lips. The blood was fiery on Rayne's pallet, like nothing she'd tasted before, as her eyes pulsed with the combined energies of the vampire and the elemental fury of Ororo's mutant powers. It tasted good. But despite her decade-long hunger - suppressed only by the tainted blood of a vampire she had fed on in an earlier conflict - she forced herself to focus and after a moment more she broke off.
Ororo slumped back, clutching her wrist as the wound healed and Rayne swallowed the last mouthful of blood and stared off into the middle distance. Her Aura Sense was a useful ability allowing her to see an enemy's health status and awareness as well as doubling as night vision; but most importantly it enabled her to locate targets.
At first she saw nothing but the auras of Ororo and the other who sat on the roof ledge waiting. But their auras were red and not what she was looking for. Just then a small pin-prick of intense blue light entered her field of vision. It was distant but strong; unless she was mistaken they had found their next destination. Rayne came back to her sense and smiled.
"Got 'im!"
Two hours later Kat, Sara, Jon continued to wait on the roof waiting as Ororo and Rayne sat in a deep state of meditation. There was a large distance to be covered and with their headquarters having being burned to the ground they had little to no resources and certainly no means of practical transport. As such it was up to the mystic energies of Ororo to amass to such a degree that she could safely traverse a vast margin of the distance by linking mind and soul to Rayne, using her Aura Sense as a homing beacon. Kat watched intently, wishing she could help in some way, as Ororo gently opened her eyes.
"Guiding Spirits I ask your charity,
Lend me your focus and your clarity.
Bring me to Dracula at this time,
Restoring me that and my peace of mind.
With harm to none,
This spell be done."
Kat, Sara and Jon stood and approached the two kneeling women, linking hands in a circle around them as Ororo continued her rite, staring deep into Rayne's eyes.
"Separate now, but soon will link,
My soul and yours shall finally sync.
My pride is fiery and so too shall yours be,
Just follow the flame, so mote it be.
Anima mea, turbata et valde sed tu domine, usqueguo!"
In an instant everyone's vision was filled with a pure white light as the very awareness of the physical form vanished leaving them nothing more than incorporeal conscious entities. As their minds swirled in a mystical void they suddenly felt the force of magickal transportation as their very essence seemed to be stretched like a huge piece of elastic. Then as if the furthest end had been cut, they felt themselves catapulted from one point in time and space to another before their spiritual essence was forced back into their physical bodies and they were flung into the material plane was again.
Rayne rolled to a crouch and caught Sara who flew through the air toward her as Kat phased through a wall she headed toward. Ororo and Jon were flung to the floor and tumbled hard but got to their feet as they dusted themselves off before glancing around. Kat came back through the wall.
"Anyone know where we are?"
"Does it matter?" asked Jon, inspecting his grazed forearm.
"Rayne?" Ororo prompted.
Rayne nodded and activated her Aura Sense once again, glancing around. Her senses reeled a little from the mode of transport they had used and her stomach threatened to rebel against her as she detected the pulsing blue orb - now much larger - shining out through their surroundings.
"I'd say about another half a mile." she said turning back to the others.
"Couldn't you get us any closer?" asked Sara.
"Unfortunately temporal magicks are unpredictable at best."
"Don't sweat it 'Ro," said Rayne patting her on the back. "I could use the time to walk my stomach straight."
Taking a short moment to check their equipment before moving off with Rayne leading the way. Though they had no idea exactly where they were they were prepared for anything...anything that is except for the sight that met their eyes as they came out into a large square twenty minutes later.
Jon covered his nose as Sara puked up a wall at the sight and smell coming from the hundreds upon hundreds of decaying bodies impaled on iron spikes. Men, women, children - none had been spared from the heinous tortures inflicted. The ground was littered with dried blood and viscera impregnated with swarms of flies and maggots and in the distance piles of bones, picked clean by flocks of crows had been bleached by the sun.
Ororo stepped forward in horrified awe. "Monstrous..."
Kat stepped up beside her. "Could Dracula have done this?"
"Perhaps..." Ororo's eyes feel to the floor.
Rayne approached, her eyes never leaving the desolation and despair forever entombed on the faces of the damned souls hanging around them.
"Some piece of work, huh?"
"How much further?" asked Kat.
Once again Rayne search for Dracula's aura and to her astonishment gazed high into the air. The others followed her gaze as clouds began to part to reveal a towering structure clad in bones. An enormous citadel of death stood mere metres ahead of them; the impaled humans present to welcome visitors and trespassers alike to their eventual fate.
"He's up there." Offered Rayne, pointing toward one of the high turrets of the monstrous spectacle of macabre architecture.
Rayne moved off through the "forest of the dead" when Jon called out. "Sh-shouldn't we wait until nightfall?"
Kat turned back to him with a confused glance. "Are you serious? Daylight is our only advantage against these monsters and you want us to waste what time we have left and try a night time assault? Do you want us to get killed!?"
Sara walked past Jon to join the others as they headed toward the citadel. Jon paused for a moment, his face clouded before he moved after them. Shortly after they stood on the steps leading up to a huge door clad with skulls. Ororo nodded to Kat who ascended and phased through the door before moments later phasing back out and signalling the all clear. Whilst Sara, Jon and Rayne linked hands with Kat and phased through, Ororo turned to her mist form and seeped under the door, reforming to stand amidst her comrades.
Their movements echoed unnaturally through the cavernous halls in which they stood and Ororo wondered just what had possessed Dracula to revert to his old ways if he truly was residing in this place. Rayne took point and signalled for the others to follow as she climbed a large ornate staircase. Ororo followed with Kat and Sara close behind as Jon covered the rear, his nervous eyes glancing around at his surroundings casting shades of doubt into Ororo's already troubled mind.
At the top of the stairs the entered a large chamber clad in marble. Though there was not a single window in the place, their surroundings were illuminated by dozens of large candelabras which still burnt with dull candlelight. The floor was littered with several bodies and above them hung three steel cages which also contained bodies. Ororo stepped over the nearest one and inspected it, finding savage wounds to the throat. Rayne did the same on one of the caged bodies to find puncture wounds on the wrists.
"Look's like someone had quite a party..." her voice reverberated around the hall.
They made their way forward, unable to do anything but pray for the poor souls who had perished. They found a small exit behind a large marble pulpit and ducked inside to climb a narrow spiral staircase. This brought them out into a tall corridor with arched ceilings adorned with gilding and chaotic paintings. Rayne pointed down the corridor to a door at the far end as the others followed her toward it.
Ororo paused halfway along as she suddenly tensed. Her senses seemed on edge as the other moved forward but she could not explain it at all. Rayne ran her fingers across the door as if studying it and turned back.
"He's on the other side of this door." she called out quietly, her voice travelling easily in the silence.
Kat stepped forward, ready to phase through the door when Ororo moved at high speed to grab her wrist. She slowly softened her grip and smiled.
"Be careful."
With a nod, Kat was gone; phasing through the door. The few short moments were agonising before she phased back through the door holding on to a pale and emaciated form who slumped to the ground as soon as Kat released her grip. Ororo stood before this fractured being instantly recognising him but refusing to believe what she saw. Gently, she lowered to her knees and when she spoke her voice betrayed her emotion.
"V-Vlad...?"
The broken man lifted his bruised and battered face to look into her kind eyes. She could still see the once noble creature burning in his eyes as he struggled to form words. Suddenly a muffled cry was heard as all turned to find Jon holding a knife to Sara's throat as he covered her mouth. Behind him stood dozens of vampires all glaring and snarling. As Rayne readied herself for a fight, Ororo's nose twitched with yet another familiar scent. The horde of vampires parted then as a shadowy figure stepped forward. It was powerful, dominant and female. As the candlelight caught her face Ororo gasped in amazement at the figure that stood before her.
"Nice of you to drop by, sweetness!"
"Mary Kelly!?"
To Be Continued...
"You sure this is going to work?"
"Nothing is certain, but it is our only hope. Dracula made me; therefore his blood runs through my veins. If you drink my blood I am hoping your Aura Sense can help you locate Dracula's whereabouts."
"If you say so."
No more words were spoken as Ororo slit her wrist. The blood flowed freely and Rayne took up her wrist and pressed it to her lips. The blood was fiery on Rayne's pallet, like nothing she'd tasted before, as her eyes pulsed with the combined energies of the vampire and the elemental fury of Ororo's mutant powers. It tasted good. But despite her decade-long hunger - suppressed only by the tainted blood of a vampire she had fed on in an earlier conflict - she forced herself to focus and after a moment more she broke off.
Ororo slumped back, clutching her wrist as the wound healed and Rayne swallowed the last mouthful of blood and stared off into the middle distance. Her Aura Sense was a useful ability allowing her to see an enemy's health status and awareness as well as doubling as night vision; but most importantly it enabled her to locate targets.
At first she saw nothing but the auras of Ororo and the other who sat on the roof ledge waiting. But their auras were red and not what she was looking for. Just then a small pin-prick of intense blue light entered her field of vision. It was distant but strong; unless she was mistaken they had found their next destination. Rayne came back to her sense and smiled.
"Got 'im!"
Two hours later Kat, Sara, Jon continued to wait on the roof waiting as Ororo and Rayne sat in a deep state of meditation. There was a large distance to be covered and with their headquarters having being burned to the ground they had little to no resources and certainly no means of practical transport. As such it was up to the mystic energies of Ororo to amass to such a degree that she could safely traverse a vast margin of the distance by linking mind and soul to Rayne, using her Aura Sense as a homing beacon. Kat watched intently, wishing she could help in some way, as Ororo gently opened her eyes.
"Guiding Spirits I ask your charity,
Lend me your focus and your clarity.
Bring me to Dracula at this time,
Restoring me that and my peace of mind.
With harm to none,
This spell be done."
Kat, Sara and Jon stood and approached the two kneeling women, linking hands in a circle around them as Ororo continued her rite, staring deep into Rayne's eyes.
"Separate now, but soon will link,
My soul and yours shall finally sync.
My pride is fiery and so too shall yours be,
Just follow the flame, so mote it be.
Anima mea, turbata et valde sed tu domine, usqueguo!"
In an instant everyone's vision was filled with a pure white light as the very awareness of the physical form vanished leaving them nothing more than incorporeal conscious entities. As their minds swirled in a mystical void they suddenly felt the force of magickal transportation as their very essence seemed to be stretched like a huge piece of elastic. Then as if the furthest end had been cut, they felt themselves catapulted from one point in time and space to another before their spiritual essence was forced back into their physical bodies and they were flung into the material plane was again.
Rayne rolled to a crouch and caught Sara who flew through the air toward her as Kat phased through a wall she headed toward. Ororo and Jon were flung to the floor and tumbled hard but got to their feet as they dusted themselves off before glancing around. Kat came back through the wall.
"Anyone know where we are?"
"Does it matter?" asked Jon, inspecting his grazed forearm.
"Rayne?" Ororo prompted.
Rayne nodded and activated her Aura Sense once again, glancing around. Her senses reeled a little from the mode of transport they had used and her stomach threatened to rebel against her as she detected the pulsing blue orb - now much larger - shining out through their surroundings.
"I'd say about another half a mile." she said turning back to the others.
"Couldn't you get us any closer?" asked Sara.
"Unfortunately temporal magicks are unpredictable at best."
"Don't sweat it 'Ro," said Rayne patting her on the back. "I could use the time to walk my stomach straight."
Taking a short moment to check their equipment before moving off with Rayne leading the way. Though they had no idea exactly where they were they were prepared for anything...anything that is except for the sight that met their eyes as they came out into a large square twenty minutes later.
Jon covered his nose as Sara puked up a wall at the sight and smell coming from the hundreds upon hundreds of decaying bodies impaled on iron spikes. Men, women, children - none had been spared from the heinous tortures inflicted. The ground was littered with dried blood and viscera impregnated with swarms of flies and maggots and in the distance piles of bones, picked clean by flocks of crows had been bleached by the sun.
Ororo stepped forward in horrified awe. "Monstrous..."
Kat stepped up beside her. "Could Dracula have done this?"
"Perhaps..." Ororo's eyes feel to the floor.
Rayne approached, her eyes never leaving the desolation and despair forever entombed on the faces of the damned souls hanging around them.
"Some piece of work, huh?"
"How much further?" asked Kat.
Once again Rayne search for Dracula's aura and to her astonishment gazed high into the air. The others followed her gaze as clouds began to part to reveal a towering structure clad in bones. An enormous citadel of death stood mere metres ahead of them; the impaled humans present to welcome visitors and trespassers alike to their eventual fate.
"He's up there." Offered Rayne, pointing toward one of the high turrets of the monstrous spectacle of macabre architecture.
Rayne moved off through the "forest of the dead" when Jon called out. "Sh-shouldn't we wait until nightfall?"
Kat turned back to him with a confused glance. "Are you serious? Daylight is our only advantage against these monsters and you want us to waste what time we have left and try a night time assault? Do you want us to get killed!?"
Sara walked past Jon to join the others as they headed toward the citadel. Jon paused for a moment, his face clouded before he moved after them. Shortly after they stood on the steps leading up to a huge door clad with skulls. Ororo nodded to Kat who ascended and phased through the door before moments later phasing back out and signalling the all clear. Whilst Sara, Jon and Rayne linked hands with Kat and phased through, Ororo turned to her mist form and seeped under the door, reforming to stand amidst her comrades.
Their movements echoed unnaturally through the cavernous halls in which they stood and Ororo wondered just what had possessed Dracula to revert to his old ways if he truly was residing in this place. Rayne took point and signalled for the others to follow as she climbed a large ornate staircase. Ororo followed with Kat and Sara close behind as Jon covered the rear, his nervous eyes glancing around at his surroundings casting shades of doubt into Ororo's already troubled mind.
At the top of the stairs the entered a large chamber clad in marble. Though there was not a single window in the place, their surroundings were illuminated by dozens of large candelabras which still burnt with dull candlelight. The floor was littered with several bodies and above them hung three steel cages which also contained bodies. Ororo stepped over the nearest one and inspected it, finding savage wounds to the throat. Rayne did the same on one of the caged bodies to find puncture wounds on the wrists.
"Look's like someone had quite a party..." her voice reverberated around the hall.
They made their way forward, unable to do anything but pray for the poor souls who had perished. They found a small exit behind a large marble pulpit and ducked inside to climb a narrow spiral staircase. This brought them out into a tall corridor with arched ceilings adorned with gilding and chaotic paintings. Rayne pointed down the corridor to a door at the far end as the others followed her toward it.
Ororo paused halfway along as she suddenly tensed. Her senses seemed on edge as the other moved forward but she could not explain it at all. Rayne ran her fingers across the door as if studying it and turned back.
"He's on the other side of this door." she called out quietly, her voice travelling easily in the silence.
Kat stepped forward, ready to phase through the door when Ororo moved at high speed to grab her wrist. She slowly softened her grip and smiled.
"Be careful."
With a nod, Kat was gone; phasing through the door. The few short moments were agonising before she phased back through the door holding on to a pale and emaciated form who slumped to the ground as soon as Kat released her grip. Ororo stood before this fractured being instantly recognising him but refusing to believe what she saw. Gently, she lowered to her knees and when she spoke her voice betrayed her emotion.
"V-Vlad...?"
The broken man lifted his bruised and battered face to look into her kind eyes. She could still see the once noble creature burning in his eyes as he struggled to form words. Suddenly a muffled cry was heard as all turned to find Jon holding a knife to Sara's throat as he covered her mouth. Behind him stood dozens of vampires all glaring and snarling. As Rayne readied herself for a fight, Ororo's nose twitched with yet another familiar scent. The horde of vampires parted then as a shadowy figure stepped forward. It was powerful, dominant and female. As the candlelight caught her face Ororo gasped in amazement at the figure that stood before her.
"Nice of you to drop by, sweetness!"
"Mary Kelly!?"
To Be Continued...