1Chapter Sixteen: Back in the Swing of Things

"We will crush you're unholy bodies, and salt the Earth with you're dust."

He stood like a beacon of light against evil itself, surrounded by undead soldiers and other more shadowy creatures that waited for the right time to strike. His white coat had only small tears, with a smudge of dirt here and there. He held two large blades in a likeness to the cross, eyes closed. He was smirking, the air already filled with the dust of fallen vampires. He had cut through them like a bullet, and they hadn't even left a scratch on him.

Then his forest green eyes shot open, reflecting the moonlight, as his smile become carnivorous, "Amen."

"Shoot him!"

Yet their projectiles met nothing but air as he leapt high into the air and reaching into his coat, sent a rain of blessed silver swords down, cutting them down and pinning them to the ground. Then another wave, and another, until when he finally hit the ground, he was the only thing standing.

He quietly made his way over to the curled up form he had fought to protect. His heavy footsteps seemed impossibly loud, and as he knelt down beside her she began to tremble and sob, "Non..."

"It's alright my child, they will not come back any time soon."

The girl opened an eye tentatively, more to the soothing tone of his voice than the actual words. Seeing that he was human, and that he had just killed all the vampires she began to smile tears of happiness instead of fear, "Mercy'"

"Good to know you're still in prime condition Anderson."

The girl screamed, getting behind the Iscariot soldier, who leapt to his feet, swords ready. Before you could blink an eye, he had already sent half a dozen blades flying straight for the voice. They hit nothing but the burnt out remains of a building. There was a soft laugh, "Now come on, I know we aren't really 'friends' but is that any way to treat someone who's trying to help you?"

"Show yourself demon, if you want the girl you'll have to get through me."

Then another voice, this one with a slightly more distinct accent, "Uh, I've already been stabbed in the chest once by one of those, so if you don't mind..."

"Impossible, nothing survives an encounter with this most sacred blade."

Then the owner of the second voice appeared, leaning against a dead tree. There was an incredibly large revolver visible at his waist, despite the coat, and he wore a cowboy-style hat with his black sunglasses, "At ease Anderson, it's us. Remember, the Americans that you so love."

Another man, also in a black coat appeared, "This guy is Paladin Anderson? I'm disappointed. I thought he'd be more intimidating than this..."

"Don't aggravate him Nathan, he doesn't take kindly to it.", said the first voice, who appeared soon after, long white coat billowing behind him, "I take it things are well with you?"

Anderson gritted his teeth, slowly sheathing his weapons. The girl peeked out from behind him slightly, still very much afraid, "Fair enough... Where's the loudmouthed one?"

"Lui is on a mission somewhere else."

"When did you get here?"

"A few hours ago. We're on our way to meet up with a very powerful vampire ally of ours. It might do you good to come."

"I doubt it."

Another vampire appeared, seemingly both agitated and tired, "Would you stop leaving me like that? I'm not too bloody keen on fighting off one of those FREAK patrols on my..."

She stopped as she saw Anderson, looking, while not hostile, not pleased, "So, how have things gone for you?"

Kyle sighed, pushing his glasses further up on his nose, "Not very good. We're trying to rally the vampires that weren't in on this little plot, but we're pressed for resources. Our government is non-existent, probably all wiped out. We're still trying to access the total damage. How did things go hear?"

Anderson shrugged, "Not much better I'm afraid. Iscariot doesn't have enough members for this kind of fighting, I got separated from my partner a few days ago, and happened upon this little village. They were going to... Well, I couldn't just stand by and watch. How did you find me?"

"Gunshots, crazed priestly ranting, yelled battle prayers, and we've been follow a trail of destroyed vehicles and abandoned weapons for a good three hours, most of them had swords stuck in them. I take it you've been busy?" Johnny asked, examining his revolver.

"We must start somewhere. Wiping out everything that gets in my way has seemed to work so far."

Meanwhile, Cathy had begun to edge her way over to the girl, who was watching her fearfully. Smiling a ten-million watt smile, careful not to show her fangs, she waved to the girl. The girl waved back hesitantly.

"Hello." Cathy said in french, (As I can't speak french at all).

"...H-H-hello..."

"What's your name?"

"I-I-Isabelle."

"Don't be afraid, we aren't going to hurt you. We're here to help."

"R-really?"

Cathy looked questioningly at her, confused by the hopeful tone, "Yes, why?"

Anderson and the others will still talking about different FREAK movements they'd heard of so far, "I saw a convoy of them going south. Too many for me to attack on my own."

"Think they might be going to Italy?"

"Probably. The Holy Sea is protected, and we've expanded the anti-vampiric wards far beyond their original borders. We're taking in as many refugees as we can, but we won't last long. We don't have food and water for them all."

"I see... We're having a similar problem. We need to capture back some cities, get them warded as best we can. We have a new system that, while not as total as you're wards, will allow us to work with you."

"What kind of system?"

"The chip in these FREAK vampires is susceptible to certain types of radio interference. If we can set up a perimeter of transmitters around a city, it should keep any and all FREAKs from even coming close, while letting us..." He motioned to the vampires present, "Won't be writhing in pain."

"And how many of these 'transmitters', do you have?"

"We brought a few with us, not enough for a city. But we can have more delivered."

Anderson rubbed his chin, deep in thought. He didn't particularly like working with any undead, but he could clearly draw the line between the ones he had been ordered to kill before and the ones he had happened to meet. There seemed good reason that they had never been found, they didn't do anything.

"That is good news. So, where is this vampire friend of yours supposed to be?"

Johnny scratched the back of his head uncertainly, "Well, funny thing... We don't really know."

"You don't know?"

"Well, he is in a secret base. We were looking for him when we came upon you're trail."

"I see..."

"Um... Not to interrupt or anything..."

All eyes turned to Cathy, who was looking to them pleadingly. The girl had her hands in a death-grip, pleading to the vampire in French. Kyle cocked his head to the side, unable to decipher any real language between the sobbing and seemingly babbling, "What's wrong with her?"

"She says that her family and many of the villagers were taken captive. She wants us to free them."

"We must save them. Which way were they taken?"

A short exchange, then Cathy pointed, "That way. She said that their village was attacked a day and a half ago."

"A day and a half? They could be in Germany for all we know." Nathan retorted cynically.

"True, but I doubt they'd be making that good of time." Kyle looked around, considering the options he had. Then with a sigh he told them, "You continue searching for Vincent. I'll go after them."

"What? On your own? Have you completely lost you're mind?"

"Anderson, you couldn't keep up with me if you tried, neither could Cathy or Johnny, and you'll need Nathan in case you run into a pureblood. Besides," He drew his sword, holding it easily in one hand with a smirk on his face, "I need to get back into practice."

Then he was gone. No sound to mark his leaving, it was as if he had never been standing there at all. Nathan and Cathy blinked, looking around, "How did he?"

"Ah, it's a Kyle thing. He says that he's not as fast as Lui, but I don't believe him. He can practically be in two places at once."

Then an ear splitting scream filled the air as everyone looked back to the horrified girl, who was obviously not used to people disappearing into thin air. Anderson rolled his eyes, "Oh great, what do we do now?"

"Cathy, calm her down, Anderson come with me. Johnny, stay here in case anything shows up."

"What? Why me?"

"Because, I said so. Anderson."

The two dashed off, leaving a wailing, terrified girl, a highly concerned vampire, and one who was leaning against the wall, grumbling under his breath. Cathy removed her sunglasses, showing her crimson eyes, which served only to send the girl into further hysterics. Johnny began to practice quick drawing his massive pistol. After several minutes he got bored and did random gun tricks, spinning it on a finger, tossing it between hands, and various other maneuvers.

Then he tossed the gun high into the air, in preparation for a much harder trick. As it came down, he let it fall behind him, and as it did he kicked it back up with the heel of his foot. It arched back over his shoulder, where he kicked back up again. Angling his shoulder, he let the gun land and roll down his arm before he caught it in his hand.

At that point he noticed that the wailing had stopped. Glancing over, both of them were staring at him, which made him a bit uncomfortable, "Eh heh... What I've had lots of free time..."

Lui opened his eyes groggily at a new noise. It sounded like a phone, but louder and more annoying. Sitting up, he glanced at the control panel in front of him. For a moment he didn't see anything, then he looked at the radar. His eyes widened, "Oh my-"

A shockwave shook the plane, as at least a half dozen high tech jet fighters flew right past the American transport. And the radar indicated that they were coming around for another run, and that posed a problem.

"BUCKLE IN BACK THERE!" Lui yelled to John as he strapped himself into his seat, taking the controls. He heard the awful shrill beep that indicated one of their planes had a lock, and a missile had been fired. He dove the plane straight down, and he was sure he heard the missile scraping the top of the aircraft.

John, who had been asleep also, did not hear Lui's warning, and was tossed from the floor, his head slamming into the roof. He cried out in pain as the vampire jerked the plane again, this time to the side, causing the were-wolf to be thrown to the wall. There happened to be a window where his head was, so he looked outside. He didn't see anything for a moment.

Then a rather large missile flew straight down his line of sight, missing the wing of the plane by inches. He started to pull himself towards the cockpit, but he was tossed to the other side of the craft by another maneuver.

"John get up here you idiot!"

"I'm trying!"

Lui decided at that point that hitting the air brake would be a good idea. The sudden deceleration caused three of the pursuing fighters to pass right by him. It also caused John to go flying forwards, slamming his head into the wall of the cock-pit. He quickly pulled himself in, sitting down and strapping himself to the chair.

"Where were you?"

"Shut it vampire. What's going on?"

"We're getting shot at."

"Naw, I hadn't noticed."

"You asked."

"Why are we being shot at?"

"I dunno, let's check shall we?", Lui hit the radio button, "Hello are you people out there? Why are you shooting at us?"

"Just shut up and-"

Lui flipped the switch back to off, "That answer you're question?"

(Master of Puppets, Metallica, Album: Master of Puppets)

They heard bullets ripping through the armor of the plane, and felt the vibration of the impact. Lui unstrapped himself quickly, "Take the stick for a minute."

"What? Where are you going?"

The vampire stood up, shrugging, "To say hi."

With that, he jumped, phasing through the roof of the cockpit, and out of the plane. The transport soon left him behind as the wind dragged his speed down. Then he saw his target. Using his powers and aiming his body, he made his way to intercept one of the pursuing craft. And as the fighter passed, he reached down and punched a hole in the armor to hold on with. Moving fast, he made his way to the clear bubble of the cockpit, and promptly ripped it off. The pilot whirled around, snarling at this intrusion. Lui didn't care, and quite simply ripped him out of his seat and tossed him off the plane.

The American took his spot in the plane, and as he did he thought 'You know, if I wasn't already dead I bet this would be very uncomfortable'. Then shaking the thought off, he brought the plane behind one of the other fighters. He quickly established a lock, and sent a missile flying. It found it's mark, destroying one of the planes.

"Four left..."

He heard the locked alarm go off, and making a split second change in course jumped out. The plane rocketed in a wide curve, arching and miraculously ramming into another of the planes, the missile only adding the icing to the cake.

The vampire managed to gain purchase on this plane as well, holding onto it by the tail of the craft. Moving down, he looked over at the plane that was flying wing-man for the one he was on. He quickly grabbed the tail of his plane, ripped it off, and tossed it into the other, causing it to explode.

Yet as Lui clung there, the last plane came up behind his and unloaded with it's chain gun. While the bullets weren't silver, the sheer volume was posing a problem. He let go, drawing one of his swords as he did. With a battle cry that could be heard over the roar of the jets he swung the blade down with all his might. It cut straight down the center of the craft, he could feel his arms snapping at the strain. Then the aircraft zoomed past him, both of them leaking out smoke. And as they made it off into the distance, they exploded with no further fight.

(Fade out music)

However, this left Lui with another, more pressing problem. He was falling, and falling fast. The ground rushed up to meet him, and he was quite sure he didn't want to know if he could survive a fall from this height. So, closing his eyes and preparing for pain, he summoned up his powers, and created a portal below him...

John didn't know what happened, but suddenly the entire plane shuddered, as if a rock had just hit the side of it. He glanced back to see what had happened.

Lui lay there, moaning in pain, "Ow..."

"You ok?"

"...Ow..."

The vampire crawled back up to the cockpit, strapping himself in again. John winced as the bones in the vampires arms, legs, and face popped and groaned as they replaced themselves and grew back. He couldn't see how the vampire could keep a straight face. He was breathing heavily, but it seemed like nothing considering what he'd just done.

"Where did you learn to?"

"Different places... Never tried it with jets before though... Chain guns hurt, did you know that?", he checked his instruments, then looked out ahead, "Well, here we are. Japan..."

John looked out, and he too saw the approaching island country. He smiled to himself, "I've missed this place."

"That makes one of us..."

"Not too fond of it?"

"Just shut up and get on the radio. I don't want to ditch over another island."

"Another island? What are you talking about?"

Lui truly didn't want to go over the entire story of a few years back during the first FREAK wave in Britain. It would take too long, and the story bored him now. Instead of saying anything, he just grabbed the radio and said in poor Japanese:

"Hello, is there anyone down there?"

It took several minutes before they got a reply, "This is the J.S.D.F... State your business..."

"Give me that, you speak Japanese like someone from France." John told him, before grabbing the radio, "This is John Arden, former J.S.D.F., with an ally from the United States. We have weapons and supplies, we need a place to land."

"...Roger that, we have you on radar. Turn southwest, we'll guide you in."

"Alright, on our way..."

END CHAPTER

Sorry again. Never try writing seven stories at once, it just doesn't work. I'm trying to keep this one up on the priority list, but I'm also trying to concentrate on my original works... I dunno. I should have said it earlier, this fic is officially on a update when I find time basis. I'm sorry... I'll try, but...