Anita said nothing, but simply stared at the ground, clutching her doll. Donovan had been careful not to let any blood splash onto her, even though he was not sure it would bother her or not.
Donovan froze. He waited, detecting something on the air. He spun and hurled his sword into the air. It was deflected with a loud bang by the buckshot fired from the shotgun. The stranger stared at the two of them with his dark eyes. Donovan gripped his blade firmly by the hilt and dropped into a battle ready stance. The stranger held up his other hand, revealing that it was no hand, but instead a chainsaw was attached to his wrist. He looked at the massive weapon clutched in Donovan's hand, and then at the blade of his own chainsaw, and his face vaulted.
Before either of them could do anything, Hsien-Ko threw herself between them.
"Woa, easy there Donovan! He's a friend." Donovan grew easy at her presence, and once again let his sword rest in place on his back. He bowed to the stranger.
"My apologies for my harsh reaction. I did not intend to startle you."
"Yeah...same to you..." Ash said, not entirely sure to make of the towering figure before him. He once again looked at the huge sword that Donovan had held as if it were a feather. He was beginning to see why Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling respected this guy so much.
"Ash is a...visitor." Mei-Ling said as she stepped up to the group. Donovan arched an eyebrow curiously.
"A visitor?"
"Yeah, from out of town." Ash added.
"He's from another world." Anita said, drawing surprised stares from the four adults around her.
"Another world?" Donovan asked.
"Morrigan Aensland stole something very dangerous from him, and he tried to retake it from her. He got caught in a portal that brought him over to our world." Mei-Ling explained.
"That's what summoned the...what did you call them?" Hsien-Ko turned to Ash.
"Deadites." Ash took a reflexive step back when they all cast him rather skeptical stares. "Well...its not an official title or anything..." he muttered.
"So it is Morrigan who is behind these creatures?" Donovan's voice became darker, understanding the seriousness of the situation now.
"Well, that's the theory, anyway." Hsienk-Ko finished. There was a moment of tense silence between them. Finally, Ash spoke up.
"Hey, now that we've got your boy here, are we gonna go get the book, or what?"
"Its not that easy, Ash" Mei-Ling said, addressing him gravely. "Morrigan is a princess of the Demon World. She could be anywhere by now."
"Oh great. Why must there always be a problem?" Ash threw his hand
in the air in frustration and started pacing.
"There is always a way, friend Ash. We simply need to find it."
Donovan said in a cool manner. Ash looked at him as if he were insane.
"Yeah, well you got any suggestions in the meantime, bright eyes?"
"She's not far from here" Anita said, once again drawing disbelieving
stares from the adults.
"How do you know?" Hsien-Ko demanded.
"I don't know" Anita replied very matter of factly, "I just feel it."
"Any idea where?" Ash asked eagerly.
"Such a large expenditure of power should not be hard to track."
Donovan said, "But we will need transportation. She will not likely stay
in one place for long. And there are bound to be other parties interested
in this power."
"Great, any idea how we do that?" As if some divine power had heard
Ash' question, the wind suddenly picked and blew a piece of paper straight
into Ash' face. He groaned, and yanked it off. Hsien-Ko took it from him,
and smiled as she examined it.
"Actually, I think I just got an idea." She held the paper up for
her companions. It was a promotional flyer. In broad letters it declared
"Pretty Cat Revue! Come see Felicia, the hottest sensation to ever hit the
stage! Coming soon to a town near you!"
"Good thinking, sister" Mei-Ling said with a smile.
"What is it?" Ash asked.
"Felicia is a friend of ours" Hsien-Ko explained. "She's on tour,
concerts all over the place. She travels in a train. And she has really
keen detection skills. She should be able to help us find Morrigan."
"Groovy!" Ash again took a step back when they all threw him
questioning stares.
"You're going nowhere!" a new voice intruded. The whole group turned
to see a young girl, dressed in a bright red bonnet and hood standing
several feet away. She pointed a pair of Uzi's at them, her bright blue
eyes filled with blood-thirst.
The roof of the chapel exploded. It was a massive blast that hurled
debris for miles in all directions. The people on the streets below
screamed and scrambled for cover as flaming shards of tile and wood were
showered into their midst.
Lillith flew out from the smoke and propelled herself as hard as she
could with her wings. But she did not get far before Q. Bee launched
herself onto her. They tumbled toward the ground in a mess of scrabbling
limbs and growled profanity. They were torn from each other by a blast of
energy thrown by Morrigan. The backpack containing the Necronomicon and
all the other artifacts tumbled in the air, and Morrigan dove to retrieve
it.
But she was knocked out of the air by Q. Bee who dove in at
tremendous speed. She grabbed the pack and attempted to make off much as
Lillith had. But she too was quickly overcome by her adversaries, and the
three struggled against each other, each attempting to get a hold of the
prize. Their grabbing hands tore the pack apart, and its contents fell
out. All three of them gasped in shock, and hurriedly dove through the air
to retrieved the items. Q. Bee managed to nab the tape recorder before it
shattered on the ground. Lillith recovered the dagger, and Morrigan
grabbed the folder containing Dr. Knowby's notes. But all three of them
could only watch helplessly as the book feel down toward the earth, sure to
be destroyed once it hit the ground.
But this was not to be, as a pair of decaying hands retrieved it.
All three of them watched in shock as one of the zombies the book had
summoned clutched the book in its rotting hands. It cackled hauntingly and
disappeared into the shadows.
Morrigan's face turned down into an enraged snarl, and she raised her
face to her enemies.
"This is your fault!" she hissed, pointing an accusing finger at both
of them.
"Our fault?" Lillith blasted back.
"You're the one who wouldn't let the pack go!" Q. Bee added.
"You should have let it go first!" Morrigan shrieked in return.
"You're just being greedy!" Lillith responded.
"The two of you are fools!" Q. Bee said.
"Shut up!" Morrigan and Lillith both screamed at her.
"Now, now" a deep, cultured voice broke in. All three of them spun in
the air and found themselves staring into the deep eyes of Dimitri
Maximoff. "All three of you were in the wrong. The book is mine. And I
shall gladly have it out with any of you would who challenge me."