Everyone stood dumbfounded. They had traversed a vast distance in search of the whereabouts of the once ruler of the vampires - Dracula. Having discovered he was not dead, they had been disturbed to find him locked away like an animal in a cell but had been even more shocked to be confronted by a woman - if that was what you could call her - and to be betrayed by one of their own number. Now Ororo stood defiantly before the sinister vampiress and her cadre of followers ready for anything.
"Mary Kelly!?"
The vampiress grinned. "The one and only."
Mary Kelly. The most mutilated victim of Jack the Ripper. However, unbeknownst to the constabulary at the time, the Ripper was not merely a man of flesh and blood but a creature of insurmountable darkness; an ancient vampire. He had been approached by Mary Kelly, a young Irish prostitute, and he had set about to continue his bloody killing spree and yet at the moment of death, he spared her; welcoming her into his Dark Embrace. From there, the newly reborn Mary revelled in the powers at her command as "Jack" had found another young girl - almost identical - to which Mary could satiate her fledgling hunger. Back in her home, she fed, and for some time after she watched the still body of the young girl as if looking into a mirror. Sickened by the "reflection" of her own death she mutilated the body on her own bed before admiring her own fury. Before dawn, the two vampires left, leaving the unrecognisable body to be found some hours later and identified as Mary Kelly.
Now the vampiress was utterly insane but cunning and deadly at the same time. Kat stormed to the front and looked at Jon. "What are you doing?! Let Sara go!"
Jon's eyes were filled with rage as he pulled Sara's head back, pressing his knife harder against her throat. Mary took a gleeful step over to Jon and ruffled his hair before licking the side of his face.
"This precious darling belongs to me and he was kind enough to relay your plans, your security codes and the locations of local resistance headquarters."
Ororo bowed her head as Kat lunged for the vampire. Mary Kelly giggled and swatted the anger-blind Kat to the ground before pirouetting back to the head of her horde; flicking her tongue over her monstrous canines. She bobbed her head to try and make eye contact with Ororo but she noticed instead the cowering form of Dracula behind her legs. Mary scowled and stamped her foot.
"Bad puppy! Come here!"
Dracula's glazed eyes flickered to his potential saviours then to Mary and back again. The vampiress unhitched a silver-studded whip from her belt and cracked it in the air. Dracula twitched at the mere sound and began to crawl toward Mary until he was within striking distance and she grabbed him by his hair, dragging him closer toward him and slapping him hard in the face.
"Bad, bad puppy!"
Ororo's fists clenched as she raised her head, staring directly at Mary. "How did you do it?"
Mary looked up with surprise and gestured about her. "What this? This is what a true father gives his children - not the pitiful existence this lowlife-" Mary booted Dracula in the face. "Gave me! Our new lord gave me the power and the means to become my worth!"
"Who? Who is your master!?" Kat stormed forward.
Mary smiled secretively and stared seductively at Ororo. "Can't you...feel him?"
Ororo made a slight gesture to move but found that Mary was much quicker as she lashed out with her whip, ensnaring Ororo around the neck before pulling her hard to the ground.
"You may kneel!" Mary laughed insanely.
The tension of the whip slackened as Mary looked back to find Rayne standing defiantly behind Ororo. Mary's eyes clouded as her facial features became more feral and she growled at Rayne's interference.
"May I cut in?" chimed Rayne with a sarcastic air. "Bitch."
Mary let out an inhuman roar as her vampires heeded her call and launched forward to attack. Mary tried to loose herself in the surge of bodies but Rayne leapt through the air, pivoting and landing directly in front of the retreating Mary Kelly. Mary crouched low and lashed out, catching her across the face with razor sharp claws as Rayne geared up for a tough fight.
Meanwhile Kat back flipped through the air and let fly with a handful of silver shurikens hitting vamps square in the forehead and chest. Dracula scurried to the sidelines as Ororo swung her legs low and knocked three vamps onto the hard marble floor; she then lunged forward and raked her claws through flesh and bone in an attempt to reach Sara who was struggling against Jon's grasp. Sara had back-head butted Jon and elbowed him in the ribs but he still held her by the hair as he swung his knife through the air.
Ororo snatched Jon by the wrist and pulled his arm sharply backward, dislocating him at the elbow. Jon cried out in pain but brought his other hand round to punch Ororo in the face. Sara stumbled to the ground finding herself in the middle of the fray as Kat lets out a battle cry and rams a stake through the heart of a vamp filling the air with a surge of cinders. Sara picks herself up and rushes to her aid, launching herself through he air and slamming kicking another vampire in the spine.
As Ororo swings round to take Jon's head clean off, he ducks and spins, scooping up his knife with his good hand and ramming it sharply upward between two of Ororo's ribs. She grunts in agony as she drives her elbow down on his other arm, shattering his forearm as he slumps to the ground - both arms throbbing with agony. Ororo pulls the dagger out and clutches her hand to her wound as blood spills out over her fingers. The injury burned as she tried to keep herself steady. Silver weaponry was standard issue for resistance members...and it hurt - a lot.
Down the corridor, Rayne vaulted a sweep and ran up a wall, spiralling off it and slicing Mary across the face with her boot blade. Mary cursed as she spun to the ground but she was quick to her feet as blood poured down her cheek. Mary grabbed Rayne by the arm and threw her hard into the wall and then high-kicked Rayne in the throat, pinning her in place. Rayne grabbed Mary by the ankle and twisted her sharply, spinning her to the ground but not before Mary arched her other leg around and cracked Rayne in the jaw.
Amidst the vampires, Kat and Sara fight back to back as they find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. Sara punches out, catching one vamp hard on the nose but another rakes its claws across her arm. She recoils in pain and boots the offending vampire in the groin as Kat throws a silver dagger into another vampire's sternum. Sara's screaming catches her attention as Kat turns to find her in the grasp of a vampire; its fangs tearing into her neck. Kat lunges herself forward, phasing the vampire and herself backward until they begin to phase through a wall. Kat part-phases the vampire and then breaks contact, causing the creature to solidify embedded in the wall - the result bellow of agony catching all the other vampire's attentions.
Mary Kelly, however, is not distracted by the cries of her children as she strains against Rayne's strength as the half-vampire attempts to scissor-slice Mary's head off between her silver wrist blades. Mary head butts Rayne and knees her in the kidneys, rolling her opponent off as she kicks to her feet, arching her leg in the air and stamping down hard on Rayne's stomach, causing the half-vampire to cough up blood. Unperturbed, Rayne grabbed Mary's foot and flung her backward before rolling to her feet and performing a spinning back kick, slamming the vampiress hard against the wall.
Ororo, now on her knees as her blood poured freely onto the floor, struggled to stay conscious as she crawled toward Kat and the wounded Sara, still swamped with vampires. Mustering her strength she set her mind to focus as she feverishly recited a critical spell.
"Rivers Shall Flow,
Be Pure and crystalline.
But red rivers must not,
They must be trapped inside my being.
This river so red,
Must Be Stopped with a Golden Net.
Stop now this bleed!"
As she slumps forward a golden glow penetrates her wound, instantly stopping the blood flow and allowing her own vampiric regenerative capabilities to heal. Her strength returning, Ororo stood to one knee and glanced back toward her friends as Kat came phasing through the vampire horde, clutching onto Sara who was weakly clasping on through injuries and fatigue. Kat stumbled and fell, as Sara slipped from her grasp not fully clear from the vampires. Kat unphased and hit the ground hard as she turned to see Sara dragged back by three vampires who instantly clamped their teeth around her wrists and throat. Kat cried out in despair as she reached for Sara as Ororo rose into the air, her eyes dark and burgeoning with power as her voice filled the air like thunder itself.
"Fire, fire burning bright,
May darkness here turn into light!
As my will is burning bright,
By Apollo I call forth the Sun's Might!"
At her word the air over the vampires was suddenly illuminated with the harsh light of day. Though brief, the action was swift and effective as the undead horde turned to search out the source of the light; their skin blackening and cracking as their hair and clothes began to smoulder. With a unified cry of anguish and death each vampire combusted simultaneously as the hall descended back into candlelit gloom, with the added illumination of the glowing embers of the mass vampire grave.
The air was still and silent save for the dull crackle of the charred bodies. Ororo turned away to find Mary Kelly's form slump at her feet with Rayne standing triumphantly over her. Kat rushed to the side of the fallen Sara who was pale and shaking as she lay waiting for her wounds to take her.
"Pp-please...Kat...d-don't le-et me d-die!"
Kat clasped Sara's hand in hers tenderly and looked down on her, tears stinging her eyes. She spared a glance back to Ororo who sadly shook her head.
"I'm sorry, Sara." whispered Kat.
Sara's face flushed with sincere fear. "I-I don't wa-want to c-come baaackk..."
Ororo knelt beside Kat and stroked Sara's forehead softly. Kat looked between her friends unsure of what was to come next.
"Close your eyes." said Ororo to Sara.
Sara's eyelids fluttered shut as Ororo silently brought a stake from behind her. Kat's eyes were wide as she felt Sara grip her hand tighter. Not hesitating, Ororo plunged the stake through Sara's heart, the human convulsing with an instants pain before relaxing into death; a small ebb of blood trickling from her mouth. Kat lowered Sara's limp hand before turning to Ororo's arms, embracing her old friend as she had when she was a child; sobbing away years of pent up pain and anguish.
Mary Kelly squirmed under Rayne's boot, her own back blood oozing from her mouth. Rayne stuck her heel deeper into her spine, causing the vampiress to emit a high-pitched wail of pain. Kat broke away from Ororo and glared across the hall at the fallen form of Jon who still cradled his injured arms. She stood up and walked over to him, towering over him with rage broiling across her face.
"Get up." Jon looked up at her, shock glazing his eyes. "GET UP!"
Jon staggered to his feet, finding Kat dragging him the rest of the way by his jacket collar. She waited for him to find his legs before she let go and drew back, slamming her fist square into his nose, sending blood squirting left and right as Jon slumped back against the wall and slid back to the floor.
Meanwhile, Ororo moved over to Dracula who spent the entire incident huddled in a shady alcove. He winced slightly as she crouched next to him and physically jumped as she stroked the back of his neck. The sorrow she felt for him was a strangely potent feeling. In decades past she would have done everything she could to stop his malicious plans, yet ultimately he was her maker - her father - and as such she loved and respected him. He was draped in merely rags and his pale skin was visible; covered in recent bruises, burns and lacerations slow to heal in his weakened condition.
Ororo turned and signalled Rayne who stuck one of her wrist blades into Mary Kelly's lower spine, lifting her high into the air and the vampiress hissed and wailed in agony. Rayne brought Mary near and let her drop to the floor where her jaw bounced off the hard marble. Ororo turned back to Dracula who was peering out from the darkness with luminous eyes.
"Look at her," she said. "She is nothing."
Mary hissed. "Nothing!? I am-!"
Rayne booted Mary in the back of the head, forcing her face to smack into the marble, instantly silencing her. Dracula continued to look at his captor as reached out slowly with a bony, calloused hand which clenched into a fist that he swung sharply to the ground, impacting the marble a fraction away from Mary Kelly's head. Ororo reached out and touched his clenched hand which instantly relaxed and lightly grasped her fingers as she helped Dracula to stand to his feet. He looked down into her eyes and tenderly kissed her forehead.
"Thank you, beloved."
Ororo supported him. "You are weak. You need to feed."
A second impact on the marble caught their attentions as Kat threw Jon down in front of them. She looked at Ororo but didn't need to say a word. Ororo nodded and let go of Dracula who bent down, seizing Jon by the throat and despite his weakness, lifting him high into the air with a single hand. Jon was wild-eyed and in shock as he tried to mumble a defence but his breath caught in his throat as Dracula tore into his throat and gorged himself on the hot tang of fresh blood - denied him for many long years.
As the final breath left Jon's lips and his eyes rolled back into his head, Dracula let his corpse slump to the ground as he stretched; his body almost immediately healing and filling out as muscle definition rippled across his body. When he turned back to Ororo he looked on her with the roguish handsomeness she remembered and his eyes were fiery with the passion for unlife he had once possessed. He glanced down on Mary Kelly who was still squirming under the boot of Rayne and moved toward her. Grasping her by the hair, he dragged up and glared into her eyes. She spat blood-streaked spittle in his face as he slapped her across the face with monstrous strength.
"Worthless wench! You dare to think yourself better than me!"
Mary hissed with contempt but Dracula was unphased as he grabbed her around the throat with his other hand and pulled until vertebrae and cartilage exploded and Mary Kelly's head was pulled clean from her body. Their was a split-second where Mary's severed head blinked and then as Dracula tossed the refuse to the ground, they combusted into a cloud of dust which swirled about them as he turned to Ororo, Rayne and Kat.
"Ladies," he graciously bowed.
"A smooth one ain't he?" whispered Rayne to Ororo.
Kat stepped toward him, her eyes dark. "Listen to me. I don't much care for you or what your kind has done. But when all else fails, we need you."
Dracula turned his gaze to Ororo who nodded. "We have to find away to stop this madness and bring down the leader of the vampire nation. Will you help us?"
"Naturally," Dracula's eyes flared. "For I know where the bastard sleeps!"
"So let's move!" said Rayne, confidently.
"Just the four of us?" inquired Dracula with uncertainty.
"He's right," admitted Kat. "We wouldn't stand a chance."
Ororo's eyes illuminated with thought. "Then we go recruiting."
To Be Continued...
"Mary Kelly!?"
The vampiress grinned. "The one and only."
Mary Kelly. The most mutilated victim of Jack the Ripper. However, unbeknownst to the constabulary at the time, the Ripper was not merely a man of flesh and blood but a creature of insurmountable darkness; an ancient vampire. He had been approached by Mary Kelly, a young Irish prostitute, and he had set about to continue his bloody killing spree and yet at the moment of death, he spared her; welcoming her into his Dark Embrace. From there, the newly reborn Mary revelled in the powers at her command as "Jack" had found another young girl - almost identical - to which Mary could satiate her fledgling hunger. Back in her home, she fed, and for some time after she watched the still body of the young girl as if looking into a mirror. Sickened by the "reflection" of her own death she mutilated the body on her own bed before admiring her own fury. Before dawn, the two vampires left, leaving the unrecognisable body to be found some hours later and identified as Mary Kelly.
Now the vampiress was utterly insane but cunning and deadly at the same time. Kat stormed to the front and looked at Jon. "What are you doing?! Let Sara go!"
Jon's eyes were filled with rage as he pulled Sara's head back, pressing his knife harder against her throat. Mary took a gleeful step over to Jon and ruffled his hair before licking the side of his face.
"This precious darling belongs to me and he was kind enough to relay your plans, your security codes and the locations of local resistance headquarters."
Ororo bowed her head as Kat lunged for the vampire. Mary Kelly giggled and swatted the anger-blind Kat to the ground before pirouetting back to the head of her horde; flicking her tongue over her monstrous canines. She bobbed her head to try and make eye contact with Ororo but she noticed instead the cowering form of Dracula behind her legs. Mary scowled and stamped her foot.
"Bad puppy! Come here!"
Dracula's glazed eyes flickered to his potential saviours then to Mary and back again. The vampiress unhitched a silver-studded whip from her belt and cracked it in the air. Dracula twitched at the mere sound and began to crawl toward Mary until he was within striking distance and she grabbed him by his hair, dragging him closer toward him and slapping him hard in the face.
"Bad, bad puppy!"
Ororo's fists clenched as she raised her head, staring directly at Mary. "How did you do it?"
Mary looked up with surprise and gestured about her. "What this? This is what a true father gives his children - not the pitiful existence this lowlife-" Mary booted Dracula in the face. "Gave me! Our new lord gave me the power and the means to become my worth!"
"Who? Who is your master!?" Kat stormed forward.
Mary smiled secretively and stared seductively at Ororo. "Can't you...feel him?"
Ororo made a slight gesture to move but found that Mary was much quicker as she lashed out with her whip, ensnaring Ororo around the neck before pulling her hard to the ground.
"You may kneel!" Mary laughed insanely.
The tension of the whip slackened as Mary looked back to find Rayne standing defiantly behind Ororo. Mary's eyes clouded as her facial features became more feral and she growled at Rayne's interference.
"May I cut in?" chimed Rayne with a sarcastic air. "Bitch."
Mary let out an inhuman roar as her vampires heeded her call and launched forward to attack. Mary tried to loose herself in the surge of bodies but Rayne leapt through the air, pivoting and landing directly in front of the retreating Mary Kelly. Mary crouched low and lashed out, catching her across the face with razor sharp claws as Rayne geared up for a tough fight.
Meanwhile Kat back flipped through the air and let fly with a handful of silver shurikens hitting vamps square in the forehead and chest. Dracula scurried to the sidelines as Ororo swung her legs low and knocked three vamps onto the hard marble floor; she then lunged forward and raked her claws through flesh and bone in an attempt to reach Sara who was struggling against Jon's grasp. Sara had back-head butted Jon and elbowed him in the ribs but he still held her by the hair as he swung his knife through the air.
Ororo snatched Jon by the wrist and pulled his arm sharply backward, dislocating him at the elbow. Jon cried out in pain but brought his other hand round to punch Ororo in the face. Sara stumbled to the ground finding herself in the middle of the fray as Kat lets out a battle cry and rams a stake through the heart of a vamp filling the air with a surge of cinders. Sara picks herself up and rushes to her aid, launching herself through he air and slamming kicking another vampire in the spine.
As Ororo swings round to take Jon's head clean off, he ducks and spins, scooping up his knife with his good hand and ramming it sharply upward between two of Ororo's ribs. She grunts in agony as she drives her elbow down on his other arm, shattering his forearm as he slumps to the ground - both arms throbbing with agony. Ororo pulls the dagger out and clutches her hand to her wound as blood spills out over her fingers. The injury burned as she tried to keep herself steady. Silver weaponry was standard issue for resistance members...and it hurt - a lot.
Down the corridor, Rayne vaulted a sweep and ran up a wall, spiralling off it and slicing Mary across the face with her boot blade. Mary cursed as she spun to the ground but she was quick to her feet as blood poured down her cheek. Mary grabbed Rayne by the arm and threw her hard into the wall and then high-kicked Rayne in the throat, pinning her in place. Rayne grabbed Mary by the ankle and twisted her sharply, spinning her to the ground but not before Mary arched her other leg around and cracked Rayne in the jaw.
Amidst the vampires, Kat and Sara fight back to back as they find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. Sara punches out, catching one vamp hard on the nose but another rakes its claws across her arm. She recoils in pain and boots the offending vampire in the groin as Kat throws a silver dagger into another vampire's sternum. Sara's screaming catches her attention as Kat turns to find her in the grasp of a vampire; its fangs tearing into her neck. Kat lunges herself forward, phasing the vampire and herself backward until they begin to phase through a wall. Kat part-phases the vampire and then breaks contact, causing the creature to solidify embedded in the wall - the result bellow of agony catching all the other vampire's attentions.
Mary Kelly, however, is not distracted by the cries of her children as she strains against Rayne's strength as the half-vampire attempts to scissor-slice Mary's head off between her silver wrist blades. Mary head butts Rayne and knees her in the kidneys, rolling her opponent off as she kicks to her feet, arching her leg in the air and stamping down hard on Rayne's stomach, causing the half-vampire to cough up blood. Unperturbed, Rayne grabbed Mary's foot and flung her backward before rolling to her feet and performing a spinning back kick, slamming the vampiress hard against the wall.
Ororo, now on her knees as her blood poured freely onto the floor, struggled to stay conscious as she crawled toward Kat and the wounded Sara, still swamped with vampires. Mustering her strength she set her mind to focus as she feverishly recited a critical spell.
"Rivers Shall Flow,
Be Pure and crystalline.
But red rivers must not,
They must be trapped inside my being.
This river so red,
Must Be Stopped with a Golden Net.
Stop now this bleed!"
As she slumps forward a golden glow penetrates her wound, instantly stopping the blood flow and allowing her own vampiric regenerative capabilities to heal. Her strength returning, Ororo stood to one knee and glanced back toward her friends as Kat came phasing through the vampire horde, clutching onto Sara who was weakly clasping on through injuries and fatigue. Kat stumbled and fell, as Sara slipped from her grasp not fully clear from the vampires. Kat unphased and hit the ground hard as she turned to see Sara dragged back by three vampires who instantly clamped their teeth around her wrists and throat. Kat cried out in despair as she reached for Sara as Ororo rose into the air, her eyes dark and burgeoning with power as her voice filled the air like thunder itself.
"Fire, fire burning bright,
May darkness here turn into light!
As my will is burning bright,
By Apollo I call forth the Sun's Might!"
At her word the air over the vampires was suddenly illuminated with the harsh light of day. Though brief, the action was swift and effective as the undead horde turned to search out the source of the light; their skin blackening and cracking as their hair and clothes began to smoulder. With a unified cry of anguish and death each vampire combusted simultaneously as the hall descended back into candlelit gloom, with the added illumination of the glowing embers of the mass vampire grave.
The air was still and silent save for the dull crackle of the charred bodies. Ororo turned away to find Mary Kelly's form slump at her feet with Rayne standing triumphantly over her. Kat rushed to the side of the fallen Sara who was pale and shaking as she lay waiting for her wounds to take her.
"Pp-please...Kat...d-don't le-et me d-die!"
Kat clasped Sara's hand in hers tenderly and looked down on her, tears stinging her eyes. She spared a glance back to Ororo who sadly shook her head.
"I'm sorry, Sara." whispered Kat.
Sara's face flushed with sincere fear. "I-I don't wa-want to c-come baaackk..."
Ororo knelt beside Kat and stroked Sara's forehead softly. Kat looked between her friends unsure of what was to come next.
"Close your eyes." said Ororo to Sara.
Sara's eyelids fluttered shut as Ororo silently brought a stake from behind her. Kat's eyes were wide as she felt Sara grip her hand tighter. Not hesitating, Ororo plunged the stake through Sara's heart, the human convulsing with an instants pain before relaxing into death; a small ebb of blood trickling from her mouth. Kat lowered Sara's limp hand before turning to Ororo's arms, embracing her old friend as she had when she was a child; sobbing away years of pent up pain and anguish.
Mary Kelly squirmed under Rayne's boot, her own back blood oozing from her mouth. Rayne stuck her heel deeper into her spine, causing the vampiress to emit a high-pitched wail of pain. Kat broke away from Ororo and glared across the hall at the fallen form of Jon who still cradled his injured arms. She stood up and walked over to him, towering over him with rage broiling across her face.
"Get up." Jon looked up at her, shock glazing his eyes. "GET UP!"
Jon staggered to his feet, finding Kat dragging him the rest of the way by his jacket collar. She waited for him to find his legs before she let go and drew back, slamming her fist square into his nose, sending blood squirting left and right as Jon slumped back against the wall and slid back to the floor.
Meanwhile, Ororo moved over to Dracula who spent the entire incident huddled in a shady alcove. He winced slightly as she crouched next to him and physically jumped as she stroked the back of his neck. The sorrow she felt for him was a strangely potent feeling. In decades past she would have done everything she could to stop his malicious plans, yet ultimately he was her maker - her father - and as such she loved and respected him. He was draped in merely rags and his pale skin was visible; covered in recent bruises, burns and lacerations slow to heal in his weakened condition.
Ororo turned and signalled Rayne who stuck one of her wrist blades into Mary Kelly's lower spine, lifting her high into the air and the vampiress hissed and wailed in agony. Rayne brought Mary near and let her drop to the floor where her jaw bounced off the hard marble. Ororo turned back to Dracula who was peering out from the darkness with luminous eyes.
"Look at her," she said. "She is nothing."
Mary hissed. "Nothing!? I am-!"
Rayne booted Mary in the back of the head, forcing her face to smack into the marble, instantly silencing her. Dracula continued to look at his captor as reached out slowly with a bony, calloused hand which clenched into a fist that he swung sharply to the ground, impacting the marble a fraction away from Mary Kelly's head. Ororo reached out and touched his clenched hand which instantly relaxed and lightly grasped her fingers as she helped Dracula to stand to his feet. He looked down into her eyes and tenderly kissed her forehead.
"Thank you, beloved."
Ororo supported him. "You are weak. You need to feed."
A second impact on the marble caught their attentions as Kat threw Jon down in front of them. She looked at Ororo but didn't need to say a word. Ororo nodded and let go of Dracula who bent down, seizing Jon by the throat and despite his weakness, lifting him high into the air with a single hand. Jon was wild-eyed and in shock as he tried to mumble a defence but his breath caught in his throat as Dracula tore into his throat and gorged himself on the hot tang of fresh blood - denied him for many long years.
As the final breath left Jon's lips and his eyes rolled back into his head, Dracula let his corpse slump to the ground as he stretched; his body almost immediately healing and filling out as muscle definition rippled across his body. When he turned back to Ororo he looked on her with the roguish handsomeness she remembered and his eyes were fiery with the passion for unlife he had once possessed. He glanced down on Mary Kelly who was still squirming under the boot of Rayne and moved toward her. Grasping her by the hair, he dragged up and glared into her eyes. She spat blood-streaked spittle in his face as he slapped her across the face with monstrous strength.
"Worthless wench! You dare to think yourself better than me!"
Mary hissed with contempt but Dracula was unphased as he grabbed her around the throat with his other hand and pulled until vertebrae and cartilage exploded and Mary Kelly's head was pulled clean from her body. Their was a split-second where Mary's severed head blinked and then as Dracula tossed the refuse to the ground, they combusted into a cloud of dust which swirled about them as he turned to Ororo, Rayne and Kat.
"Ladies," he graciously bowed.
"A smooth one ain't he?" whispered Rayne to Ororo.
Kat stepped toward him, her eyes dark. "Listen to me. I don't much care for you or what your kind has done. But when all else fails, we need you."
Dracula turned his gaze to Ororo who nodded. "We have to find away to stop this madness and bring down the leader of the vampire nation. Will you help us?"
"Naturally," Dracula's eyes flared. "For I know where the bastard sleeps!"
"So let's move!" said Rayne, confidently.
"Just the four of us?" inquired Dracula with uncertainty.
"He's right," admitted Kat. "We wouldn't stand a chance."
Ororo's eyes illuminated with thought. "Then we go recruiting."
To Be Continued...