The Chaos Chronicles
Lady Death
Dark Alliance
Part Two: Fury
Lady Death reeled from a devastating punch, her magical weapon, Scynister, flying from her grip. The brutal thug, Slaughterhouse, sang joyfully as his blow connected.
"BAM! Put a hurt on youuuuu!"
Before the pale-skinned demi-goddess could recover, Slaughterhouse rammed his boot into her stomach. "WHAM! Get a taste o' my boot!"
As Slaughterhouse advanced for another strike, Lady Death threw a bolt of mystic fire into his face. "Shut your mouth!" she ordered.
As Slaughterhouse staggered back, his entire head burning, Lady Death took a moment to recover from the thug's beating. "Your singing...was more lethal...than your blows!"
Slaughterhouse beat away the flames from his face, then grinned down at her. "Booyah! You put a hurt on me too! Just like makin' looove! Let's see if we can make it last all night long!"
His fury undiminished, Slaughterhouse ran at her and backhanded her across the room. "WHACK! Try 'n' keep up wid me, bay-bee!"
In the corridor outside, the red-headed vampire, Chastity, led the teenage runaway, Sarah Wilson, to the exit. As they approached the room in which Slaughterhouse and Lady Death fought, Chastity held up her hand, warning Sarah to stay back. The two of them listened carefully to the sound of the frenzied battle.
"Whatever is going down next door is going to wake the whole house," Chastity said. "We better get out..."
Sarah interrupted her. "Chastity! It's Lady D! I can feel it!"
Chastity peered around the corner and stared into the room, where Slaughterhouse held Lady Death by the throat in his massive grip, and was throttling her. "Sarah, Kiddo, you sure?!" Chastity asked her. "She doesn't look like the last time I saw her!"
"Yes!" Sarah was adamant. "That's Lady D! And whatever she's fighting is killing her!"
"Okay, if you say so, kiddo!" Chastity responded. "Hang back!"
Chastity charged into the room, and as she did so, her face underwent a change, becoming more feral, her teeth lengthened into fangs, and her pupils disappeared. "I'm gonna have a little dance with big and stupid here!"
Chastity leapt onto Slaughterhouse's back, causing him to drop Lady Death in surprise. "Hi there, big boy!" she greeted playfully. "I'm feeling a li'l peckish! Mind if I have li'l bite?!" And with that, she sank her fangs deep into his throat.
The vampire took a single sip, then lifted up her head and howled in agony. "Gahhhk! Your blood is like lava!"
While Chastity attempted to spit out his boiling blood, Slaughterhouse reached up behind him and grabbed her arms. He then swung her up, over, and down, slamming the vampire onto Lady Death, who was still attempting to recover her breath. "KLOP!" he howled. "Two pretty girls to play with?! My lucky day!"
The two women attempted to disentangle themselves from each other. "What...do you think...you're doing?!" Lady Death hissed.
"Umm...helping?" Chastity replied.
Lady Death was unimpressed. "You call this...helping?!"
Slaughterhouse advanced on them once more, still as unstoppable as ever. "Okay girlies! Let's all play stomp the bitch flat!"
Suddenly, Slaughterhouse heard a voice scream behind from him. "Leave them alone!"
Turning around, he saw a teenage girl waving her fist defiantly at him. As the thug advanced on the girl, Lady Death and Chastity looked on in horror. "Sarah!" Lady Death shouted desperately. "Get away!"
Sarah did not move. She stood her ground as Slaughterhouse approached. "Looks like they both care something for you!" he snarled. "Guess it'll hurt them when I rip you apart like a rag doll!" He raised his fists to strike. "Come to Daddy! Daddy wants to spank!"
"No!" Sarah replied. She raised both her arms up high, and mystical energy began to glow all around her. "I am sick of all you demonic types who think you can't be hurt! I want you to know pain! Hell or no Hell, I want your soul to burn!"
Slaughterhouse suddenly staggered, as he felt his strength fading, and a glowing mist began to seep out of his body. "Eh? This can't be right." he muttered, as a look of confusion crossed his face, but then his features creased up in unspeakable agony and he screamed as a translucent image of himself was torn out of his body, shredded, and vaporized. As the mist faded into nothingness, Slaughterhouse took one final step, and then collapsed to the floor.
Sarah's body ceased to glow, and she was just a normal girl again. Chastity kneeled down next to the body and checked his pulse. "Well...this is weird! Creep's alive but it's like nobody's home!"
"His soul was consumed and Sarah willed it." Lady Death turned her gaze upon the girl. "I want to know how you did that."
"Later, okay?" Chastity interrupted. "I hear voices which means we'll have company in a minute."
Lady Death turned and began walking towards the exit. "Very well. We'll retire to my Sanctuary."
"No. I'm not going." Sarah announced, and Lady Death turned back to gaze at her questioningly. "Look, something weird is going down here. I live here. I can find out what."
Chastity placed a hand on her shoulder. "She's got a point."
"There are other kids here," Sarah continued. "I don't want anyone sacrificed like Tommy was, okay?"
"So be it," Lady Death agreed. "You speak like a warrior. I would not deny that to anyone."
As the pale goddess and the vampire headed for the exit, Chastity looked back at Sarah. "I'll sneak back and check with you, kiddo." She then whispered to Lady Death. "LD, we need to take this outside."
A short while later, on a nearby rooftop, Chastity told Lady Death what she knew.
"Here's the poop. There's this guy calling himself Neox and he's started this Church Of Divine Ascension. CODA, for short. Some people are calling him the new Messiah. Brand new religion. No ties with any other. It's growing fast but there's something weird connected with it and if, as you say, these Lords of Hell are connected to it, then things are bad strange. I'm working for this guy named Gallows. Secret agent sort of guy. Knows a lot. I need to get this info to him and I think I know where to find him. You game?"
"I will consent to meet with this 'Gallows,'" Lady Death replied.
Chastity instantly leapt up, and headed for the next roof over. "Then let's get gone."
Lady Death, calling upon her magic, flew after her.
Half a world away, in the ancient land of Egypt, a great crowd of people gathered in the desert outside one of the great pyramids. Atop a podium before the crowd, a charismatic preacher spoke to them all in a persuasive and compassionate voice.
"These are dangerous times," he told them. "A conflict is coming between great enemies that will spill into the streets! Innocent blood will be shed by these false gods for they have no love, no regard for humanity.
Most within the crowd stared up at the man with awe and wonder. But two of them, both women dressed in ghurkas, gazed at him with open suspicion.
One of the women spoke to her companion. "You must admit, Sakkara, this Neox is quite...compelling."
"We came to observe this 'new Messiah,' Rakshasa – not to enlist!"
Neox continued to speak to the crowd. "I speak with my Lord! I speak for my Lord! And so you might know the truth of my words – behold! The desert blooms!"
At the preacher's words, the barren desert behind the crowd suddenly sprang to life. Shoots rose up from the sand and grew into mighty trees. Grass spread out around them, and a large pool of clear water rose up at the centre of this new oasis.
As the crowd surged among the trees, the growths on the branches came loose and fell to earth. But instead of fruit, it was bread that fell from the trees. Several of the crowd caught up the strange bread and took a bite, and they gasped in pleasure at the wonderful taste.
"Behold!" Neox cried. "The sky rains down bread! Eat your fill, my friends. I must...retire...for I am weary...!"
As the crowd joyfully filled their stomachs with the miraculous bread, Neox left the stage and disappeared inside the pyramid itself.
"Follow," Sakkara bid her companion, and as they both furtively headed for the same doorway that Neox had passed through, Sakkara hissed. "I do not trust those who claim to be messengers of gods."
As the two women approached the doorway, they are stopped by three large suited bodyguards. "Stop right there, ladies," the largest one tells them. "Neox does not wish to be disturbed."
"Wrong twice," Sakkara replied. "I am not a lady and I do not care what Neox wishes.
Instantly, Sakkara slammed her foot into the bodyguard's face with such force that his neck broke. As the other two guards charged at them, Sakkara ducked the first one's blow, dodged behind him and grabbed him from behind round the neck. With a single twist, she broke that one too. Rakshasa, meanwhile, laid out the third guard with a single punch.
Leaving the bodies behind, the two women headed into the darkness of the pyramid's interior.
"Strange," Sakkara muttered, as she walked down a long set of stairs, with Rakshasa close behind. "I know Egypt of old. I know these pyramids intimately, and I do not know this entrance.
Soon, they entered into a large stone chamber, lit by burning braziers. A large stone block lay in the middle of the chamber, and both the block and the walls were engraved with depictions of animal-headed figures.
"Nor do I know any chamber such as this," Sakkara commented.
Rakshasa inspected the engravings upon the walls. "These images are also wrong, Sakkara. They're not pictographs – they're more like portraits!"
Suddenly, a clawed arm reached out from the wall and struck Rakshasa across the face. The arm was attached to one of the jackal-headed images, and as Rakshasa watched, the image stepped out of the wall as a three- dimensional, living beast.
"Far more than pictures, rash mortal!" the beast snarled.
"Sakkara!" Rakshasa cried out in warning.
All around the chamber, men with the heads of beasts stepped out of the walls. As they were surrounded, the two women moved together, standing back to back.
"Interesting," Sakkara spoke without fear. "As I thought, there is more here than there seemed. As we are more than we seem."
A seductive, malevolent voice spoke in Sakkara's mind. Release me, girl!
Sakkara surrendered to the monster inside her.
In a single moment, her ghurka was shredded as wings tore their way out from her back. Horns sprouted from her temples, her teeth lengthened into fangs, and her flesh became a deep crimson hue. She hissed in pleasure.
"Yeeessss! Ah, this is sweet! Do you know that you face Purgatori, the blood goddess, doomed ones? And of all the blood I have tasted, I most crave the fiery blood of gods!"
Behind her, Rakshasa underwent her own transformation, as black fur sprouted across her body and her face lengthened into a cat-like muzzle, filled with vicious fangs. The werepanther leapt at two of the creatures, and Purgatori charged at the other two, reaching forward with both her claws and her mind.
"But you are not what you pretend to be!" Purgatori snarled. "I have fought Egyptian gods and, when I look into your minds, I see you are not they! You are sendings of some other power!"
Purgatori slashed at a serpent-headed figure, drawing blood. "Who do you serve?" she demanded.
The serpent-headed one responded with a back-hand blow, driving her back. "A being more powerful than you, scarlet harlot!"
Rakshasa, meanwhile, was caught in the grip of two of the other figures. She attempted to break free, but found that her supernatural strength was fading. Even her fur was beginning to recede, and her muzzle starting to flatten. "Purgatori!" she cried. "I...change back to my human form! I cannot stop it! What are these things?!"
A hawk-headed figure lifted up a sickle, which began to glow with golden light. "Amon-Ra was always god of the sun – and the sun is something vampires abhor, isn't it, blood bitch?"
The hawk-headed figure aimed his sickle at Purgatori, and Purgatori was blasted to the floor by a flash of bright light, which burned her skin and drained her strength.
As she attempted to recover, the serpent-headed figure stalked up behind her. "Yesss, you live – for a greater purpose." Lifting her up in its arms, the figure carried her over to the stone block. "Our master would have you learn humility!"
The figure slammed her down onto the block, and instantly stone hands rose up out of the surface and took hold of each of her limbs.
"Purgatori! Beloved!" Rakshasa howled, as she struggled against the grip of the jackal-headed figure.
Purgatori herself writhed desperately in the grasp of the stone hands. "I cannot break the grip of stone?!" she cried. "Who has the power to hold me thus against my will?!"
"I do."
A tall, imposing figure entered the chamber. His skin was red as blood, long horns rose up from his skull, and his eyes glowed with ancient, malevolent evil.
"You shared my bed once, my willing concubine, but that was not enough for you, was it? You sought to make yourself greater than me by drinking my blood. I cast you out then as punishment. I think that now was a mistake – a waste of your succulent flesh."
The figure approached to stand over her, and he leered down at her.
"I am here to correct past mistakes."
"Lucifer?!" Purgatori howled in shock.
The fallen archangel glanced over at Rakshasa, who had now fully returned to her human form. "Is this your current plaything?" Lucifer wondered. "Let her sleep now. I'll have uses for her later."
Rakshasa instantly closed her eyes and slumped down in the jackal- headed figure's arms. Lucifer then returned his attention to Purgatori, and stroked her cheek with mocking tenderness.
"This is a lie...a trick!" Purgatori exclaimed. "You were destroyed...!"
"Energy cannot be destroyed utterly, my dear. Nor can evil. Nor can our hunger for one another ever be truly sated."
Lucifer then lay down on top of her. "But we will try.
Purgatori felt him tearing at her clothing, while she lay helpless, and she experienced fear such as she had not felt since her original mortal life, so many millennia ago.
"No! No!" she screamed. "Get off me! Noooo!"
Back in New York, loud music rumbled through the walls of a warehouse on the east side. Within, a crowd of young people danced manically to the hypnotic beats, and all of them were enjoying themselves thoroughly.
Up on the stage, the dj manipulated her devices with a deft hand, mixing the cds for a sound unheard anywhere else, and she played the crowd like her own personal instrument, and they chanted her name to the beat.
"Oblivia! Oblivia!"
Two more people, both oriental females, entered the warehouse. They did not join the dance, but began stalking through the crowd with a purpose.
One of them, whose features bore the unmistakable mark of the vampire, spoke to her companion. "How do they stand it, Silence – the noise, the stink, the crush of humanity?" Silence did not reply. She never does. "But this new drug – Xorcist – that invades my dominions, it is connected with this Oblivia. Wherever she shows up, it shows up. Tonight, I will learn why."
Beside the main stage, two young party-goers handed over some money to a man, who gave them a small packet in return. "Free samples, hokay?" he speaks with a russian accent. "You try, you like, you come back see Serge for some more, yes? Is good."
As the two youths walked away with their packet, Serge was suddenly grabbed from behind and slammed face-first into the wall. Oblivia leaned in over his shoulder and hissed into his ear, her fangs scratching at his neck.
"You sumbitch, Serge! What I tell you about selling drugs at my gig, huh?"
Serge looked back at her, and grinned cockily. "What you care, hah? What Serge do is so bad? Don't I look after you, baby? Watch over you, protect you, while you sleep all day? Because Serge loves you, baby."
Oblivia threw him to the floor. "Don't hand me that crap! What?! You think maybe I'm some bimbo you can sweet-talk into letting you whatever?! I warned you before about this crap! We're done! You still around when I finish this gig, I will drain you dry!"
As Oblivia stalked away, Serge picked himself up off the floor and muttered to her retreating back. "Is more over than you think, little vampire bitch."
Serge turned to leave, and found a small black cat staring at him. "What you lookin' at, cat?!" he demanded.
Frustrated by his treatment at Oblivia's hands, Serge decided to take it out on the cat. He reached for it, but it avoided his grasp and ran away. Serge ran after it. "Skin you alive!" he growled.
Suddenly, there was a click, and he felt a steel pipe being pressed against his temple. He turned around, to see a blond woman in a leather jacket holding a machine pistol against his skull. The cat rested comfortably across her shoulder, and she stroked its fur tenderly.
"You got a problem with my cat?" Catherine Bell, known to her enemies as Bad Kitty, asked him.
"Problem?" Serge replied. "Is no problem! Serge eat pussy cats – and their guns!"
Serge instantly sprouted fur, and his clothing tore as his muscles grew in size and his limbs twisted unnaturally. His face lengthened into a fang-filled snout, and he charged at her, snarling. Catherine leapt up athletically, avoiding his charge, and he became entangled in the stage curtain behind her. As she gazed at the struggling beast, she sighed wearily. Great. Another goddamn werewolf. Sometimes I think the country's nothing but werewolves!
Serge's struggles tore down the curtain, and the werewolf stood up in front of the entire crowd. While most of the ravers stood paralyzed by fear, the oriental vampiress suddenly cried out.
"Serge Rostov! Werewolf mafia! I know you! And now also I know who is behind drug Xorcist!"
Serge turned and snarled her name. "Hurrrr! Jade!"
Serge then lifted up his head and gave out a great howl. At his cry, many of those in the crowd suddenly began to convulse, their clothes shredding as their bodies began to change.
Catherine Bell's eyes widened in fear. "This is not good!"
Soon, Serge was surrounded by a whole crowd of werewolves, who all slavered hungrily. Serge grinned at Jade.
"Small side effect of Xorcist. Users become werewolves – and they obey Serge. And my command – you die now!"
Lady Death
Dark Alliance
Part Two: Fury
Lady Death reeled from a devastating punch, her magical weapon, Scynister, flying from her grip. The brutal thug, Slaughterhouse, sang joyfully as his blow connected.
"BAM! Put a hurt on youuuuu!"
Before the pale-skinned demi-goddess could recover, Slaughterhouse rammed his boot into her stomach. "WHAM! Get a taste o' my boot!"
As Slaughterhouse advanced for another strike, Lady Death threw a bolt of mystic fire into his face. "Shut your mouth!" she ordered.
As Slaughterhouse staggered back, his entire head burning, Lady Death took a moment to recover from the thug's beating. "Your singing...was more lethal...than your blows!"
Slaughterhouse beat away the flames from his face, then grinned down at her. "Booyah! You put a hurt on me too! Just like makin' looove! Let's see if we can make it last all night long!"
His fury undiminished, Slaughterhouse ran at her and backhanded her across the room. "WHACK! Try 'n' keep up wid me, bay-bee!"
In the corridor outside, the red-headed vampire, Chastity, led the teenage runaway, Sarah Wilson, to the exit. As they approached the room in which Slaughterhouse and Lady Death fought, Chastity held up her hand, warning Sarah to stay back. The two of them listened carefully to the sound of the frenzied battle.
"Whatever is going down next door is going to wake the whole house," Chastity said. "We better get out..."
Sarah interrupted her. "Chastity! It's Lady D! I can feel it!"
Chastity peered around the corner and stared into the room, where Slaughterhouse held Lady Death by the throat in his massive grip, and was throttling her. "Sarah, Kiddo, you sure?!" Chastity asked her. "She doesn't look like the last time I saw her!"
"Yes!" Sarah was adamant. "That's Lady D! And whatever she's fighting is killing her!"
"Okay, if you say so, kiddo!" Chastity responded. "Hang back!"
Chastity charged into the room, and as she did so, her face underwent a change, becoming more feral, her teeth lengthened into fangs, and her pupils disappeared. "I'm gonna have a little dance with big and stupid here!"
Chastity leapt onto Slaughterhouse's back, causing him to drop Lady Death in surprise. "Hi there, big boy!" she greeted playfully. "I'm feeling a li'l peckish! Mind if I have li'l bite?!" And with that, she sank her fangs deep into his throat.
The vampire took a single sip, then lifted up her head and howled in agony. "Gahhhk! Your blood is like lava!"
While Chastity attempted to spit out his boiling blood, Slaughterhouse reached up behind him and grabbed her arms. He then swung her up, over, and down, slamming the vampire onto Lady Death, who was still attempting to recover her breath. "KLOP!" he howled. "Two pretty girls to play with?! My lucky day!"
The two women attempted to disentangle themselves from each other. "What...do you think...you're doing?!" Lady Death hissed.
"Umm...helping?" Chastity replied.
Lady Death was unimpressed. "You call this...helping?!"
Slaughterhouse advanced on them once more, still as unstoppable as ever. "Okay girlies! Let's all play stomp the bitch flat!"
Suddenly, Slaughterhouse heard a voice scream behind from him. "Leave them alone!"
Turning around, he saw a teenage girl waving her fist defiantly at him. As the thug advanced on the girl, Lady Death and Chastity looked on in horror. "Sarah!" Lady Death shouted desperately. "Get away!"
Sarah did not move. She stood her ground as Slaughterhouse approached. "Looks like they both care something for you!" he snarled. "Guess it'll hurt them when I rip you apart like a rag doll!" He raised his fists to strike. "Come to Daddy! Daddy wants to spank!"
"No!" Sarah replied. She raised both her arms up high, and mystical energy began to glow all around her. "I am sick of all you demonic types who think you can't be hurt! I want you to know pain! Hell or no Hell, I want your soul to burn!"
Slaughterhouse suddenly staggered, as he felt his strength fading, and a glowing mist began to seep out of his body. "Eh? This can't be right." he muttered, as a look of confusion crossed his face, but then his features creased up in unspeakable agony and he screamed as a translucent image of himself was torn out of his body, shredded, and vaporized. As the mist faded into nothingness, Slaughterhouse took one final step, and then collapsed to the floor.
Sarah's body ceased to glow, and she was just a normal girl again. Chastity kneeled down next to the body and checked his pulse. "Well...this is weird! Creep's alive but it's like nobody's home!"
"His soul was consumed and Sarah willed it." Lady Death turned her gaze upon the girl. "I want to know how you did that."
"Later, okay?" Chastity interrupted. "I hear voices which means we'll have company in a minute."
Lady Death turned and began walking towards the exit. "Very well. We'll retire to my Sanctuary."
"No. I'm not going." Sarah announced, and Lady Death turned back to gaze at her questioningly. "Look, something weird is going down here. I live here. I can find out what."
Chastity placed a hand on her shoulder. "She's got a point."
"There are other kids here," Sarah continued. "I don't want anyone sacrificed like Tommy was, okay?"
"So be it," Lady Death agreed. "You speak like a warrior. I would not deny that to anyone."
As the pale goddess and the vampire headed for the exit, Chastity looked back at Sarah. "I'll sneak back and check with you, kiddo." She then whispered to Lady Death. "LD, we need to take this outside."
A short while later, on a nearby rooftop, Chastity told Lady Death what she knew.
"Here's the poop. There's this guy calling himself Neox and he's started this Church Of Divine Ascension. CODA, for short. Some people are calling him the new Messiah. Brand new religion. No ties with any other. It's growing fast but there's something weird connected with it and if, as you say, these Lords of Hell are connected to it, then things are bad strange. I'm working for this guy named Gallows. Secret agent sort of guy. Knows a lot. I need to get this info to him and I think I know where to find him. You game?"
"I will consent to meet with this 'Gallows,'" Lady Death replied.
Chastity instantly leapt up, and headed for the next roof over. "Then let's get gone."
Lady Death, calling upon her magic, flew after her.
Half a world away, in the ancient land of Egypt, a great crowd of people gathered in the desert outside one of the great pyramids. Atop a podium before the crowd, a charismatic preacher spoke to them all in a persuasive and compassionate voice.
"These are dangerous times," he told them. "A conflict is coming between great enemies that will spill into the streets! Innocent blood will be shed by these false gods for they have no love, no regard for humanity.
Most within the crowd stared up at the man with awe and wonder. But two of them, both women dressed in ghurkas, gazed at him with open suspicion.
One of the women spoke to her companion. "You must admit, Sakkara, this Neox is quite...compelling."
"We came to observe this 'new Messiah,' Rakshasa – not to enlist!"
Neox continued to speak to the crowd. "I speak with my Lord! I speak for my Lord! And so you might know the truth of my words – behold! The desert blooms!"
At the preacher's words, the barren desert behind the crowd suddenly sprang to life. Shoots rose up from the sand and grew into mighty trees. Grass spread out around them, and a large pool of clear water rose up at the centre of this new oasis.
As the crowd surged among the trees, the growths on the branches came loose and fell to earth. But instead of fruit, it was bread that fell from the trees. Several of the crowd caught up the strange bread and took a bite, and they gasped in pleasure at the wonderful taste.
"Behold!" Neox cried. "The sky rains down bread! Eat your fill, my friends. I must...retire...for I am weary...!"
As the crowd joyfully filled their stomachs with the miraculous bread, Neox left the stage and disappeared inside the pyramid itself.
"Follow," Sakkara bid her companion, and as they both furtively headed for the same doorway that Neox had passed through, Sakkara hissed. "I do not trust those who claim to be messengers of gods."
As the two women approached the doorway, they are stopped by three large suited bodyguards. "Stop right there, ladies," the largest one tells them. "Neox does not wish to be disturbed."
"Wrong twice," Sakkara replied. "I am not a lady and I do not care what Neox wishes.
Instantly, Sakkara slammed her foot into the bodyguard's face with such force that his neck broke. As the other two guards charged at them, Sakkara ducked the first one's blow, dodged behind him and grabbed him from behind round the neck. With a single twist, she broke that one too. Rakshasa, meanwhile, laid out the third guard with a single punch.
Leaving the bodies behind, the two women headed into the darkness of the pyramid's interior.
"Strange," Sakkara muttered, as she walked down a long set of stairs, with Rakshasa close behind. "I know Egypt of old. I know these pyramids intimately, and I do not know this entrance.
Soon, they entered into a large stone chamber, lit by burning braziers. A large stone block lay in the middle of the chamber, and both the block and the walls were engraved with depictions of animal-headed figures.
"Nor do I know any chamber such as this," Sakkara commented.
Rakshasa inspected the engravings upon the walls. "These images are also wrong, Sakkara. They're not pictographs – they're more like portraits!"
Suddenly, a clawed arm reached out from the wall and struck Rakshasa across the face. The arm was attached to one of the jackal-headed images, and as Rakshasa watched, the image stepped out of the wall as a three- dimensional, living beast.
"Far more than pictures, rash mortal!" the beast snarled.
"Sakkara!" Rakshasa cried out in warning.
All around the chamber, men with the heads of beasts stepped out of the walls. As they were surrounded, the two women moved together, standing back to back.
"Interesting," Sakkara spoke without fear. "As I thought, there is more here than there seemed. As we are more than we seem."
A seductive, malevolent voice spoke in Sakkara's mind. Release me, girl!
Sakkara surrendered to the monster inside her.
In a single moment, her ghurka was shredded as wings tore their way out from her back. Horns sprouted from her temples, her teeth lengthened into fangs, and her flesh became a deep crimson hue. She hissed in pleasure.
"Yeeessss! Ah, this is sweet! Do you know that you face Purgatori, the blood goddess, doomed ones? And of all the blood I have tasted, I most crave the fiery blood of gods!"
Behind her, Rakshasa underwent her own transformation, as black fur sprouted across her body and her face lengthened into a cat-like muzzle, filled with vicious fangs. The werepanther leapt at two of the creatures, and Purgatori charged at the other two, reaching forward with both her claws and her mind.
"But you are not what you pretend to be!" Purgatori snarled. "I have fought Egyptian gods and, when I look into your minds, I see you are not they! You are sendings of some other power!"
Purgatori slashed at a serpent-headed figure, drawing blood. "Who do you serve?" she demanded.
The serpent-headed one responded with a back-hand blow, driving her back. "A being more powerful than you, scarlet harlot!"
Rakshasa, meanwhile, was caught in the grip of two of the other figures. She attempted to break free, but found that her supernatural strength was fading. Even her fur was beginning to recede, and her muzzle starting to flatten. "Purgatori!" she cried. "I...change back to my human form! I cannot stop it! What are these things?!"
A hawk-headed figure lifted up a sickle, which began to glow with golden light. "Amon-Ra was always god of the sun – and the sun is something vampires abhor, isn't it, blood bitch?"
The hawk-headed figure aimed his sickle at Purgatori, and Purgatori was blasted to the floor by a flash of bright light, which burned her skin and drained her strength.
As she attempted to recover, the serpent-headed figure stalked up behind her. "Yesss, you live – for a greater purpose." Lifting her up in its arms, the figure carried her over to the stone block. "Our master would have you learn humility!"
The figure slammed her down onto the block, and instantly stone hands rose up out of the surface and took hold of each of her limbs.
"Purgatori! Beloved!" Rakshasa howled, as she struggled against the grip of the jackal-headed figure.
Purgatori herself writhed desperately in the grasp of the stone hands. "I cannot break the grip of stone?!" she cried. "Who has the power to hold me thus against my will?!"
"I do."
A tall, imposing figure entered the chamber. His skin was red as blood, long horns rose up from his skull, and his eyes glowed with ancient, malevolent evil.
"You shared my bed once, my willing concubine, but that was not enough for you, was it? You sought to make yourself greater than me by drinking my blood. I cast you out then as punishment. I think that now was a mistake – a waste of your succulent flesh."
The figure approached to stand over her, and he leered down at her.
"I am here to correct past mistakes."
"Lucifer?!" Purgatori howled in shock.
The fallen archangel glanced over at Rakshasa, who had now fully returned to her human form. "Is this your current plaything?" Lucifer wondered. "Let her sleep now. I'll have uses for her later."
Rakshasa instantly closed her eyes and slumped down in the jackal- headed figure's arms. Lucifer then returned his attention to Purgatori, and stroked her cheek with mocking tenderness.
"This is a lie...a trick!" Purgatori exclaimed. "You were destroyed...!"
"Energy cannot be destroyed utterly, my dear. Nor can evil. Nor can our hunger for one another ever be truly sated."
Lucifer then lay down on top of her. "But we will try.
Purgatori felt him tearing at her clothing, while she lay helpless, and she experienced fear such as she had not felt since her original mortal life, so many millennia ago.
"No! No!" she screamed. "Get off me! Noooo!"
Back in New York, loud music rumbled through the walls of a warehouse on the east side. Within, a crowd of young people danced manically to the hypnotic beats, and all of them were enjoying themselves thoroughly.
Up on the stage, the dj manipulated her devices with a deft hand, mixing the cds for a sound unheard anywhere else, and she played the crowd like her own personal instrument, and they chanted her name to the beat.
"Oblivia! Oblivia!"
Two more people, both oriental females, entered the warehouse. They did not join the dance, but began stalking through the crowd with a purpose.
One of them, whose features bore the unmistakable mark of the vampire, spoke to her companion. "How do they stand it, Silence – the noise, the stink, the crush of humanity?" Silence did not reply. She never does. "But this new drug – Xorcist – that invades my dominions, it is connected with this Oblivia. Wherever she shows up, it shows up. Tonight, I will learn why."
Beside the main stage, two young party-goers handed over some money to a man, who gave them a small packet in return. "Free samples, hokay?" he speaks with a russian accent. "You try, you like, you come back see Serge for some more, yes? Is good."
As the two youths walked away with their packet, Serge was suddenly grabbed from behind and slammed face-first into the wall. Oblivia leaned in over his shoulder and hissed into his ear, her fangs scratching at his neck.
"You sumbitch, Serge! What I tell you about selling drugs at my gig, huh?"
Serge looked back at her, and grinned cockily. "What you care, hah? What Serge do is so bad? Don't I look after you, baby? Watch over you, protect you, while you sleep all day? Because Serge loves you, baby."
Oblivia threw him to the floor. "Don't hand me that crap! What?! You think maybe I'm some bimbo you can sweet-talk into letting you whatever?! I warned you before about this crap! We're done! You still around when I finish this gig, I will drain you dry!"
As Oblivia stalked away, Serge picked himself up off the floor and muttered to her retreating back. "Is more over than you think, little vampire bitch."
Serge turned to leave, and found a small black cat staring at him. "What you lookin' at, cat?!" he demanded.
Frustrated by his treatment at Oblivia's hands, Serge decided to take it out on the cat. He reached for it, but it avoided his grasp and ran away. Serge ran after it. "Skin you alive!" he growled.
Suddenly, there was a click, and he felt a steel pipe being pressed against his temple. He turned around, to see a blond woman in a leather jacket holding a machine pistol against his skull. The cat rested comfortably across her shoulder, and she stroked its fur tenderly.
"You got a problem with my cat?" Catherine Bell, known to her enemies as Bad Kitty, asked him.
"Problem?" Serge replied. "Is no problem! Serge eat pussy cats – and their guns!"
Serge instantly sprouted fur, and his clothing tore as his muscles grew in size and his limbs twisted unnaturally. His face lengthened into a fang-filled snout, and he charged at her, snarling. Catherine leapt up athletically, avoiding his charge, and he became entangled in the stage curtain behind her. As she gazed at the struggling beast, she sighed wearily. Great. Another goddamn werewolf. Sometimes I think the country's nothing but werewolves!
Serge's struggles tore down the curtain, and the werewolf stood up in front of the entire crowd. While most of the ravers stood paralyzed by fear, the oriental vampiress suddenly cried out.
"Serge Rostov! Werewolf mafia! I know you! And now also I know who is behind drug Xorcist!"
Serge turned and snarled her name. "Hurrrr! Jade!"
Serge then lifted up his head and gave out a great howl. At his cry, many of those in the crowd suddenly began to convulse, their clothes shredding as their bodies began to change.
Catherine Bell's eyes widened in fear. "This is not good!"
Soon, Serge was surrounded by a whole crowd of werewolves, who all slavered hungrily. Serge grinned at Jade.
"Small side effect of Xorcist. Users become werewolves – and they obey Serge. And my command – you die now!"