Longer chapter than usal, so I hope you enjoy. Sayianwarrior, thank you so much for you reviews. And please, someone else say something.
Chapter 8
Before Reptile could leave this forsaken mansion, he would have to find Sareena: the demon Ice-fists wanted returned. This was not hard, as he quickly discovered her unconscious form in Eye-mark's dungeon.
When he returned to the rendezvous spot, Ice-fists and Bat-wings both waited eagerly for their prize.
"My part," he hissed, passing the trophies off.
"Yes," Ice-fists muttered quietly. Surrounding water vapors suddenly froze and fell to the ground with a cling. Blind-sword unsheathed his blade slightly, nudging it forward with his thumb. Reptile was suddenly all too aware of the empty sheathe on his back and the fact that Blind-sword's powers made fleeing impossible.
"Stop it, both of you," Bat-wings roared.
"You don't know what he's done, Nitara," Ice-fists said, neither removing his eyes from the Raptor nor lowering his stance. "He's killed countless innocents. He deserves to die."
"The Lin Kuei weren't angels, where they Sub-zero? Not when they started, and not when you were still apart of their old ways. Whole villages were slaughtered: men and women and children. And you Kenshi, allowing your vanity to blind your sight. Leading Shang Tsung to the souls of your ancestors and forcing them to exist in agony for decades. You've no right to speak."
Bat-wings opened a portal in the air. "I thank you both for the roles you played in freeing my realm. So please, just leave. This will take you back to your home realm."
While they would both proceed through the vortex, Ice-fists first turned to Reptile and sneered. "We will meet again, and when we do you will pay for the lives you've taken." Then, lifting Sareena over his shoulder, he was gone.
Reptile turned to Bat-wings. "My turn," he growled.
The vampire smiled. "Of-course. You see Reptile."
The front of Bat-wings stomach exploded in a spray of blood and torn skin. She gasped confused as she looked down at the lance that had emerged just below her breasts. The weapon was pulled from her chest, her eyes filled with horror as she tumbled back.
"You can run Reptile," Green-staff said, dancing with her pole. Bat-wings gurgled softly, her lungs slowly filling with her own blood. "But I will always find you."
Enraged, the Raptor leapt upon his opponent, who swung her pole and knocked him from the air. He flipped, landed on his hands and pushed off the ground, managing to leap over the green female ninja. As he fell to her blind spot, he brought a bone shattering kick to the back of her head.
A normal creature would've fallen. But as Reptile knew from the time he'd worked with Green-staff, she was not normal: even for an Edenian. Green-staff had managed to bend forward, which saved her from the brunt of the attack. She brought her foot behind her and into Reptile's groin, which made him roar in pain.
"You taught me how to fight," Green-staff cackled. She clapped both fists together and swung into Reptile's jaw, which knocked the Raptor back. "Remember, when we were sent to capture Kitana, you showed me how to play dirty. How to do whatever it takes. You're regretting it now I'll bet."
Reptile caught the pole when Green-staff swung it and forced it away. But even unarmed, his opponent was not to be underestimated. Green-staff pulled a shuriken from her belt and caught Reptile in the stomach with the speeding projectile.
"Taught me that too," she laughed retrieving her weapon. Reptile leapt upon the distracted Edenian and slammed her head into the ground. Seeing she wasn't dead, he grabbed her skull and rammed it into the hard earth again, and again. He completed the assault with a head butt that would have knocked down Goro himself.
A groan pulled the Raptor from his bloodlust.
Reptile hoped his basic knowledge of humanoid anatomy would suffice. Green-staff's pole had entered just below Bat-wing's breasts, but had wounded her heart. He tore skin and cracked bones so he could see her organ and discovered a rip in a pulsing wall he had to seal with his thumb. The organ was working itself into destruction, something Reptile could not allow. He ignored the cuts his arms suffered as ribs scrapped his scales. He was forced to work the already substantial hole in her chest larger so he could better examine the pulsating organ. Despite stopping the blood lost, he could feel her skin growing colder by the second. He had only one more desperate chance.
His hand sunk beneath flesh lips as it was engulfed by her chest. The rough pad of his hand massaged her beating heart gently. Applying too much force and the Raptor would crush her organ. Apply too little, and it would work itself into oblivion.
This ritual went on for an hour. And after an hour of blood soaked work, it was over. Bat-wings was dead.
Green-staff!
It was her fault alone. She'd killed Bat-wings just because the vampire made contact with the Raptor. She'd destroyed Reptile's one chance to learn of his race. She needed to die.
As Reptile moved to the place his rival had fallen, he roared in anger. Green-staff had escaped. Desperate to drench her in his acidic saliva and relish in her screams, the Raptor searched the air for even the slightest trace of her but could find nothing.
The irony was not lost to Reptile. He had trained Green-staff in stealth. He had trained that bitch in everything. When Skull-mask had ordered him and her to find Fan-hands, Reptile was disgusted by Green-staff's lack of skill. In the time they traveled throughout the realms together, the Raptor had taken her as an apprentice and taught her much of what he knew. In his own way, he'd even grown to like her. But all that changed when she betrayed him for Fan-hands, when she'd thrust her pole through his chest, and he'd been the one on the ground, slowly dying.
Reptile caught a scent he wasn't expecting. It was like Bat-wing's, spicy and metallic: the smell of vampires. And it was very strong, which made the Raptor think of a village. Reptile still possessed the amulet that Bat-wings had been so eager to claim. Perhaps it was worth something to others of her kind. But what was important to him? Information? Bat-wings had probably lied just to have his services.
But there was a chance. There was some possibility that Bat-wing's words were true and that she knew of Reptile's species. He forced himself to believe that perhaps her village shared this knowledge.
Reptile was about to set off when his gaze fell to Bat-wings. The spilled blood would attract predators: the vile creatures that prowled Outworld's wilderness and the cadaver would be picked to the bone. Bat-wing's family, if she had one, would never know what happened to her. No matter how hard or long they searched, she would never be found and they'd live the rest of their life in doubt. The revelation was shocking. Reptile felt empathy. But Reptile had never felt empathy, he'd never felt anything as strong in his chest.
Reptile pleaded with some higher force to make these feelings stop. He didn't want to suffer emotions. Emotions would make him weak, that's what Skull-mask had taught him. "Skull-musk!" he realized. Of-course. Skull-mask must have bent his mind when he forced the Raptor to assume the human form. Skull-mask must have changed him into something obedient and soulless to better suit his needs. But Reptile was free of the magical influence, and now there was a flood of new passions assaulting his mind. Defiantly, Reptile embraced these sensations
Growling under the weight, Reptile hoisted the vampire corpse of his arms and entered a brisk run. His nose followed the smell of the town as it grew stronger and stronger.
It was a two day agonizing dash through Outworld's hot sun and cold nights. Two days with the vampire's useless corpse weighing him down before he reached a town with a strong spicy, metallic scent. The bat-winged residence gawked stupidly at him as he entered the village, though none tried to stop him. The amulet beat his chest rhythmically with each stride.
Exhausted from the travel, Reptile's body suddenly gave way. Bat-wings tumbled a few feet before him. She was quickly looked over by other Bat-wings and taken into one of the villages huts.
Reptile was too weak to resist the Bat-wings' hands as they groped his body and snatched the amulet from his neck. He cursed under his breath. He'd lost his leverage. They'd kill him now, he was useless.
His mind gave way. He was sure his life would soon follow.