Chapter 7: Black Rage
The black night roiled at the impending justice of Team Darkphyre. Storm clouds howled overhead, threatening rain, but without enough back bone to try and stop Team Darkphyre. The night screamed impotently against the rage stalking the streets. Phyrestar went blindly into the night in search of the Grigori. Her silver blade sang and her pulse hammered in her ears as she and her team raged down on every evil in their paths. They slaughtered every ghoul, freak and monster on their quest for restitution and information leading to the hiding place of the fallen angels. Shadestrike had killed her assailant, but the bloody torture vested upon her body by the Grigori would be avenged upon the flesh of every unholy fallen angel stalking the earth. The Grigori would each suffer ten fold..
In a darkened warehouse, on the Hudson River , Team Darkphyre found their revenge. Phyrestar bent no shadow, she left her rifle at home, and just wasn't in the mood to hide from anyone. Generally she frowned on such brute displays of the vampiric gifts. Tonight she would make an exception. She walked up to the warehouse's steel double doors, "Phoenix Star" in hand and used every ounce of her vampiric strength to kick the doors in to the cement walls and the extra force tore them off their hinges. She stepped forward into the warehouse and breathed in the stench of death. Her shoulders and back tensed and her mind raced forward. She felt her team move into the warehouse and fan out from her like a visible manifestation of her rage. She brought "Phoenix Star" to bear in front of her and smiled like a wolf in the fold. Moonlight glinted off the cold silver blade. She would taste blood tonight. She felt her fangs extend and power rippled off of her.
She could feel her team, waiting for her word. She thought of the family here tonight. This was a vengeance that no one stayed home for. Even Phyremind and Kelly Fitzpatrick came to rain down death on every evil. Kelly stood just off of Phyrerage's side, baseball bat in hand, ancient blood blade in his boot. Just because he wasn't a fighter, didn't mean he didn't know how. You didn't get to be a few centuries old and not know how to survive. His anger was so rare that right now, he frightened half of Darkphyre with his righteous conviction. All Kelly knew was that someone was gonna pay for every Vampire death in his tavern tonight and especially for Shadestrike's suffering
Phyremind stood close to Phyrestone. Phyremind needed no weapon. She closed her eyes for only a moment and focused. A psionic blade lept forth from her open palm. She closed her hand around the crackling blue energy blade. When her training was complete she would quite possibly be the most dangerous of the vampire's present. The gifting of her vampiric state brought forth a rare side effect. The ancient mind disciplines of the elder Vampire Lord's. She had latent vampire blood in her family and didn't know it. And very old blood it was. No one had seen the mind disciplines in centuries. The gifting from Phyrestar had surged these disciplines to the surface. And Phyremind had every intention of using them this evening. The rest of the team waited only a few seconds as flashes in the shadows started to pick up their paces.
Phyrestar breathed in the decay deeply and arched her back. "Victrix Sanguinarius!!" Phyrestar cried to the heavens. The ancient battle cry translated roughly from old Latin into "Blood Victory!!".
Her team heard her cry and rallied to her call. They picked up the cry and made it their own. Darkphyre fell on the living shadows and felled the Grigori hideout. Phyrestar set her blade, "Phoenix Star", to feast on the soft flesh of the Grigori. Angels, fallen or otherwise, shared many properties with the unborn fetus. Their flesh was soft and while muscles reproduced and healed at an exponential rate, the flesh did not. So in effect, a fatal thrust would not kill, but a Grigori could bleed out through a thousand razor cuts and then, in their weakened state, could be easily decapitated.
Hardcore wasted no time. He lept onto the back of the first Grigori he found. He was taken a back by it's sheer strength and found himself swiftly tossed aside. He thought of Shadestrike's broken, bleeding body in his arms and felt his blood boil in his veins, and his chest explode with rage. He propelled himself to his feet and glared at the monstrosity of faith before him. His fangs extended and he felt more animal now then Vampire. He went head to head with the beast, and this time there was no surprises. They came in and grappled each other's heads, fighting for purchase. There could be only one winner and one death. Hardcore did not kid himself. If he didn't win this battle, if he didn't avenge Shadestrike's honor, death would be the only answer he would accept. He would be a disgrace. The fight continued, the beast and the warrior jousted in and out, seeking purchase, looking for weakness. No quarter asked, and none taken. Hardcore moved in swiftly and took a hold of the beast's head again and before the Beast could gain leverage he stomped down and knew he had won. "Failure is not an option." He growled into the beast's ear. In that moment of the beast's distraction, Hardcore found purchase on it's skull and twisted. The veins in his arms pulsed and he felt his muscles scream in protest, and he let out a cry of unbridled rage. He tore the beast's head clear off it's shoulders. The body crumbled to dust and the eyeless head shriveled in his hands. He threw the head to the floor with a snarl, a cloud of dust, and stomped it into the earth as he stalked father into the black warehouse. "Victrix sanguinarius." He whispered to the darkness. His heart ache eased fractionally, but his rage burned on. On his back he felt "Grypon's Rage". It grew heavy, calling to him, calling for blood and he knew it was time to feed the blade the black blood of the fallen angels. He unsheathed the blade with the tell tale sound of steel on leather and felt the blade vibrate in his strong hand.
Phyrestone had his two handed bastard sword loose and was simply decapitating beasts en masse. His huge, powerful arms swung the blade in large deadly arcs. The blade was sharp, but the sheer weight of it was tearing through fetal flesh like a knife through butter. He laughed as Grigori exploded around him like so many piñatas in the night. His laugh reached Phyremind's ears and she couldn't help but smile. She stood at Stone's back and covered him. Together they made an impenetrable wall of strength. The island in a sea of monstrosities. Stone wore his hair loose tonight, and long black ringlets fell past his shoulders and flew on the air as he destroyed every beast he came upon. He wore a black trench coat and looked every inch a deadly bird of prey. Phyremind wore simple black leather and sent psionic waves into the crowd. She found herself face to face with a Grigori and with Stone at her back and wielding such a large sword, he could not reach her assailant. She gave a slight smirk and squinted at the Grigori as it ran a fat tongue over black lips, taking in her pale, freckled skin and the scent of a female prospect. It tried to coerce her mind and control her as the first one controlled Shadestrike. Phyremind shook her head, shoulder length red amber hair falling forward. Suddenly Phyremind looked less like a delicate flower and more like dangerous woman. "Bad idea." She said as she stared into the eyeless sockets. The beast began to tremble as she forced her will on the beast and forced his black blood to come to a boil. She concentrated hard and she could hear her pulse in her skull like a hammer as she focused on the beast. Her nose started to bleed and blood vessels in her eyes burst. The whites of her eyes became a light crimson and the Grigori shuttered violently, and exploded. Everything was coated with a fine mist of black blood and Phyremind found herself back in her own head again. She crumpled to her knees and her nose bleed freely, yet she smiled. It was a dangerous smile. She got back to her feet and looked at Phyrestone who stood back for a moment to admire her work with a soft nod. He placed a large, firm hand softly on her cheek and they shared a moment within the chaos. The world stopped for only a second and then it was gone, and everything crashed back into motion around them. But that moment was all they needed.
Kelly and Phyrerage were having their own brand of fun. Kelly Fitzpatrick put all his rage into a mighty swing of his bat and smashed it into the closest Grigori's face. He felt the bones of it's face crush beneath all of his vampiric strength. He pulled back for a finishing blow and the Grigori's face puffed back out and filled back in. Other then the surface cuts, the Grigori had healed in mere moments. Phyrerage nodded and looked from Kelly to the beast and back to Kelly again. "Well that just sucks." He said and Kelly nodded his agreement while he looked down at his bat, puzzled. "That it does laddie. Hmmm." Kelly responded and the Grigori took advantage of the distraction to lunge for Kelly. Phyrerage spun quickly and leg swept the beast, causing it to fall well short of it's mark. Phyrerage came back to a standing position and brought the steel toe, steel shank, black leather boot down on the back of the beast's neck. He put only a fraction of his true strength behind it and severed the head from the body. He smiled as he felt the spine crush and the flesh tear under his brute rage. He looked up at Kelly who had his lips pursed as if in deep contemplation. "Ya see...now that there...that sucked for him." and he laughed out loud. Kelly shook his head and smiled. "I be believein' our headless friend 'ere called in de cavalry." He pointed at two more approaching Grigori with his trusty bat. "Now lemme see if I got this correct. It goes somethin' like this." Kelly swung his bat again and took one Grigori's head clear off his neck with a sickening squelch and then a puff of dust. The body crumbled and dissipated. He let the follow through carry the bat one handed up onto his shoulder casually and Phyrerage applauded languidly. "Yup, Kelly me boy, I think you've got it." He did a roundhouse and clipped the next Grigori in the face. The force of the blow spun the beast around and dropped him down on one knee. Phyrerage stalked over and picked him up by a black leathery wing. Already he could her the bones of the beast's face cracking back into alignment. Phyrerage looked up at Kelly. "Batter up boss!" He started to spin in place, pulling the Grigori along with him. "Let'er rip me boy!" Kelly said and would back hard. Phyrerage released and Kelly swung. The head exploded into giblets and then dust. "Whoohoo!" Phyrerage shouted. And Kelly brushed the dust off his blue jeans. "Filthy beasties." He said and then smiled at Phyrerage. "Who's next?" He asked and Phyrerage smiled broadly. "This tattoo is gonna be a big one. How about you Kelly, let me get you a tattoo too. I think it's about time you show everyone your more then just 'the bartender'." Kelly popped one sandly brown eyebrow up in a high arch and smirked. "How 'bout not. I'll be leave'n all the tattoos to you, me friend." Phyrerage smiled. "Wuss." he said and clapped Kelly on the arm. Kelly shook his head. "Time's a wasin' laddie. There's more beasties to kill." he said and Phyrerage gave one resolute nod. "Right you are." Phyrerage pointed into the warehouse. "NEXT!" He shouted and the two of them moved on into the night.
Phrewolf danced in the darkness with his twin blades, slashing flesh, inflicting a thousand wounds and moving swiftly away again. He was a ghost, a phantasm. The Grigori never saw him come and could not catch him before he left. They searched, but they searched in vein. By the time they realized Phyrewolf was gone, Phyrestar stood before them. Merciless murder in her eyes. Her blade swiftly decapitated every foe. Phyrewolf began and Phyrestar finished. Their work was swift, and ruthless. There was no love lost, no concern for possible innocents. No one was innocent here. Phyrewolf stopped his dance for a moment to watch Phyrestar in her glory. She came around in a 360 degree arc and sheered the beast's head off. The art and grace of her body, the animal fury in her eyes, the barely contained rage on her face and her fangs gleaming in the broken moonlight. She was stunning, and deadly. Like death in an evening gown. Her passion was what made her so sensual to him. Maybe no one else saw her like he did, but it didn't matter. He didn't want anyone else looking at her the way he did. Her bared fangs were a huge turn on. Phyrestar did not care for outward displays of Vampire traits. It tended to make the human co-conspirators nervous. But when she did indulge she captured his heart. He became aware of his surroundings and surged back into action. His dance brought him dangerously close to her already arcing blade. But he had total faith in her. The blade glanced by, only inched above his back as he ducked forward completing a leg sweep of another beast. The blade sang and time slowed. He felt the breeze of the cold steel and smiled. They were meant for each other, like a perfectly arranged symphony. Each knew where the other was and anticipated the other's moves. He swept around her slicing another two beasts and spun to face her. She swept her blade through a beast 's throat up and to the right, felt Phyrewolf behind her and feigning to the right so she continued to the right and brought her blade down. She placed a well aimed boot heel in the gut of a badly wounded fallen angel and kicked. She used the momentum of her kick to spin her around to face Phyrewolf. He stepped into her, placed his left hand on the back of her head and entwined his fingers in her mane of dark hair. He fell on her lips with barely restrained passion. Their breathing was already hard and the delicate sheen of sweat she had enticed him. He felt his fangs extend as he ran his tongue quickly over her fangs. Their kiss was deep, passionate and fleeting. It left them both staring into each other's eyes, into their souls, for only a split second. She smiled at him. "Don't you have some work to do?" She asked and he smiled back at her. "Tease." He said and went back to the art of the slaughter. Phyrestar shook her head with a smirk and went back to the short, devistating arcs that were taking heads of all around her.
Team Darkphyre killed hundreds of the beasts that night and when the warehouse was all but empty they met in the center and where greeted by sarcasticly languid applause and a man dressed in a black three piece suit, wire rim spectacles and a very dangerous air about him. "You people are really becoming a thorn in my side. I was trying to leave you for use later, but it seems that you have foiled my plans for now, and that just won't do." He walked forward and the air around him vibrated with raw power. "Too bad." He said and cocked his head to the side and his eyes glowed a deep red. "You had so much potential." He growled. Yet the volume of his words thundered through the warehouse. Team Darkphyre clutched their collective ears and cringed. Phyremind fell to her knees, a new torrent of blood running from her nose. The vibration on the air amplified. "Who are you?" Phyrestar managed to shout above the growing thunder. She leaned weakly on Phyrewolf and he leaned back. The man stopped and looked her in the eye. "I am Mephistopheles." His hand shot out and the vibration raced out to engulf the team and tear them apart. They all screamed. The sound rent the night as their bodies were torn inside out.
Just as their collective consciousness was about to fade out, time stopped and they were all suddenly aware of their bodies again. They looked around tentatively. "Are we dead?" Phyrerage asked and Kelly shook his head. "No laddie, but there be somethin' a wee bit bigger then you n' I goin' on 'ere this night." They all shared a few more moments of quiet contemplation before a woman walked out of thin air. Mephistopheles raged against unseen hands holding him sound. The woman was long, dark and frightening. Like Mephistopheles, power vibrated around this woman. For the first time in several centuries, some of Team Darkphyre felt fear. It was a dark, seeping fear. Phyrestar looked this woman in the eye and shuddered. Like a black widow, Phyrestar had no doubt this woman would eat her mate and maybe even her own young. The woman looked Phyrestar in the eye and laughed out loud. It was like nails on a chalk board and everyone cringed. "Oh you think the nicest things my dear." She said. The voice was that of a woman but laced with a thousand infant screams. It made the hackles on everyones necks stand straight up.
"Let me do this quickly, I hate being in the mortal world. It smells here, like sweaty monkeys. I am Lilith, and this greebly little demon is Mephistopheles. I saved you because you just did me a huge service. This little anal wart of a demon wants ultimate control and eventual dethroning of Satan himself. He was planing on making an army of Vampiric Nephilim to conquer Earth, and then conquer Hell. All nine rings. Presumptuous imp. However in his quest he crossed me." She turned her predatory gaze on Mephistopheles. He quaked and stammered. She waved a swift hand at him and the guise of a man disappeared. He stood as a red skin, cloven hoofed demon. Two broad horns arched from his skull, one snapped off half way out. "Mistress Lilith, I did not cross you." He stammered. He knew in this moment how badly he had underestimated this woman. Lilith sneered and Darkphyre looked away. "You half baked, minotaur excrement. By claiming the women and defiling them with fallen angels you keep them from having any additional children and thus...enter into the realm of crossing me. Those infants are MINE!" She thundered with barely contained rage. Her image doubled and her power filled the room. "For I am Satan's Queen! Devouerer of infant souls. I am the FIRST demon!! I am...LILITH!!!!"
Her voice thundered and she pointed at Mephistopheles. The Staff of Hell and the red Book of Souls were torn from his grasp and cast aside. The floor trembled and the warehouse's tin roof started to buckle. Lilith unleashed the full force of her power. She was everywhere and no where all at once. The air reeked of ozone. She appeared behind Mephistopheles with one pale hand on his red, fleshy throat. Her head reared back in a feral growl and her jaw parted exposing the rows of sharp teeth. Her skull folded back into a snapping set of jaws. Slavering, murderous and terrifying. The whole of Darkphyre was forcefully compelled to witness the wrath of Lilith. Her head came down on the demon Mephistopheles and closed with a vicious snap. She tore and shook her head like a wolf would tear meat from a kill. The head came off and blood splattered the walls, floors and Darkphyre. Lilith made a swift jerking motion with her head, flipping the severed head up into the air and back down into her waiting, inhuman jaws. She snapped and swallowed Mephistopheles' head down. Her face returned to normal and she released Mephistopheles' lifeless body. It disappeared in a puff of black and purple smoke. Lilith took a handkerchief from thin air and dabbed her face demurely. She belched discreetly and glanced back at Darkphyre. "This in no way means I like you scuttling vermin either. You are spawn of the slimy power thief Caine. I saved you today because you helped keep the balance of good and evil. Oh goody for you. Now get ye gone from my sight before I decide to have some vampire flesh for desert." She swept her hand towards team Darkphyre and they blinked, only to find themselves back in "Dark Waters".
The tavern was repaired as if nothing had ever happened. A voice spoke to the group, the voice of Lilith. "I am taking the abomination created 2 nights ago. It is beyond your comprehension and has no business in this world of men. Let the woman, Shadestrike, know nothing of what happened, I have taken the child, her memory, and the memory of those who worked on her. I don't care what they are told, but she must never know of the deed that was done to her. You got your vengeance ten fold and one of Satan's generals is dead. Be content in this knowledge, children of Caine. Your much more useful then you ancestor, that's for damn sure. Remember, this is no child. It is a monster and shall be kept and treated as such. This is my will, and damned be those who cross Lilith." The voice faded. Team Darkphyre collectively shuddered at her voice and looked at each other in bewilderment. "Wow...she is a total character." Phyrestone said and thunder rumbled in the distance. "I heard that, you oversized ape." Lilith said and Phyrestone blinked in surprise. Phyrestar snickered and looked around. "Let's get cleaned up folks. I have had enough weirdness for one night. I'm gonna visit Strike. Anyone else?" Everyone nodded. Phyrestar pointed at Kelly. "Kelly bring your best bottle and we'll figure out a story to tell Strike on the way over. I don't know about you, but if Lilith says it's a secret, then I am ok with that." Everyone nodded and no one could shake the terror from their minds at the mere thought of her voice. Not one member of the renowned Darkphyre wanted to cross Lilith, ever..