Author's Note: Thanks to Algeera for reviewing. I thought nobody was reading this and was about to stop but I wrote another chapter thanks to you. The girl in the forrest is coming soon, I'm just waiting for a specific moment for her to show up.
Anyway Enjoy the Chapter and please review.
Kitty opened the French windows and stepped out into the darkness of the night. Most of the younger students had long gone to bed leaving the older kids to themselves. All she had wanted to do was to just relax for a little while. Just being outside in the cool breeze and the low glow provided by the moon gave her that quite sensation of peace. The events of the past few months had changed her completely from a little girl to a experienced woman. The battle on Alcatraz Island and the Professors death were really hard on her. Now that the professor was back, part of her pain had been lifted and unconciously she sighed into the wind with a feeling of relief. She was disturbed by a click as the doors behind her were opened again. She looked round to see Piotr stood in the doorway.
"Hey," He closed the door and took a few steps closer to her. They both smiled at each other as he stood next to her. "Everything alright?" He asked. She nodded her answer which he saw out of the corner of his eye.
"It's just so good to have the Professor back," She leant against a rail that led down some small steps leading off into the gardens. "It's like the school has colour again,"
"I know what you mean, it's nice to see the younger children smile again or to see Storm with a spring in her step," Piotr answered. There were a few moments of silence before Kitty heard something in her head.
"Kitty, would you please join us in my office," said the Voice. Kitty quickly realised who the voice belonged to.
"On my way Professor," She said back without saying anything. Piotr quickly looked at her.
"Got the message?" He asked as he began to walk back into the mansion.
"Yeah," She said as she stepped back through the glass doors into the house just behind Piotr. "Guess we won't be able to get away with anything now that the Professors back,"
"I heard that Katherine,"
Kitty and Piotr knocked and then entered the Professors office after they heard him announced that it was ok for them to enter. Kitty quickly scanned the room seeing that most of her friends were there. Bobby and Rogue were sat on the Sofa once again while Storm and Logan were stood in the bay window talking to the Professor. Hank was stood examining the books on a nearby bookcase while he unconsciously chewed on the plastic part of his glasses. Piotr closed the door behind him causing everyone to look towards them.
"Ah," The professor said as he sat down in the brown leather executive chair behind his desk. "Now were all here, I've summoned you all to discuss the current situation," Logan stepped round his desk and sat in the chair in the corner while Storm opted to sit on the sofa with Rogue and Bobby. "We have a few new guests with us; one in particular is the one I need to speak to you about,"
"James?" Storm said. The Professor nodded before speaking again.
"James' mutation was weak until he became a vampire," He picked up a nearby pen and began tapping it against the desk surface. "From what I was able to retrieve from Laura's memories, It seems to be James' body regenerating it self that has made his power unlimited. Logan's regeneration is on a cellular level but James' and other vampires regenerate on an atomic level which is perfect for James' mutation,"
"What is his power Professor?" Hank asked. The Professor looked at Kitty and Piotr who were still stood next to the door. He gave them a smile, indicating that it was ok for them to speak. Kitty smiled back before answering.
"When we first met him, he was able to walk through walls like me,"
"On the field, I saw two guns slowly materialise in his hands as if from nowhere," Logan said from his seat.
"And that is James' ability," The Professor said as he stood up from his chair. He took a few steps round his desk before he continued. "James has the ability to…" The Professor closed his eyes and trailed off.
"Professor? Are you ok?" Storm asked.
"Excuse me," I pulled on the bottom part of the man's black coat. He was lent against the wall looking out of a nearby window across the gardens. He is the first adult I've seen since I woke up. I'm still pretty tired so I yawned which seemed to catch his attention.
"Hey little one," His voice is very sweet and it makes me relax a little but I really have to look up high to see his face. He's really tall but then again I'm only little. I sleepily smiled back as he leans down closer to me. "What are you doing up at this time?" His eyes were the first thing I notice. Really dark brown, nearly black.Their very pretty.
"I had a bad dream, and I couldn't get back to sleep," He smiles again at me but this time he opens his mouth a little wider showing more of his teeth to me. He has two pointed teeth on either side, like a dog only they look very sharp.
"What's your name?" He asked.
"Tiffany"
"Well Tiffany, I'm James. We'd better get you back to bed," He stands up and once again, he towers over me. "I don't really know this place very well yet, which way is your room," He says it so softly that if I were any further away from him I wouldn't be able to make it out but I hear him and point down the hall towards the stairs that lead up to my room. He put his hands down by his side and I quickly grab his hand before leading him towards my room.
"Tiffany?" I looked up at the man next to me before I realised the voice was in my head.
"Yes Professor?" James heard me speak and stopped in the middle of the corridor. He looked down at me with a questioning look.
"Would you mind bringing James to my Office before you go back to bed?" I smiled at the Professor's question.
"Of course Professor," I tug at James' arm and pull him in the opposite direction towards the Professors office. "The Professor would like to see you," He just smiles and follows me down the hall. When we arrive at the door, I knock and the door slowly opens to reveal Dr. McCoy opening the door. We step into the room to find most of the adults were in there as well as the Professor. He instantly smiles at me.
"Thank you Tiffany," He says from his desk. The Professor turns towards Storm before speaking again. "Storm, would mind taking Tiffany back to bed?" She nods and walks over to Tiffany who yawns again. Storm quickly bends down and picks her up before carrying her out of the room. Tiffany was looking over Storm's shoulder and she gave James a quick wave and a smile before they both vanished around the corner. Hank closed the door behind them and the room went silent. It was like that for a few seconds while James quickly glanced around the room.
"Ok what's going on Charles?" James asked finally looking over at the Professor. Charles just smiled.
"Normally we wouldn't want to force a mutant to use their powers but I believe your abilities are too powerful for us not to ask," He said as Storm returned from her task and entered the room. She quickly walked over to the side of Charles' desk and joined everyone else at staring at the mystery before them.
"Professor, I don't mind showing you my powers as you call them, for health and safety reasons of course" James smiled at all of them. "I can understand you needing to protect your students,"
"Of course," Charles answered with a quick nod of his head. James tilted his head to one side and everyone watched as his eyes turned from dark brown to bright silver. The room went cold for a moment before something appeared in the centre of the room. It was difficult to explain and it was only there for a few moments. It was like a swirling mist of dust that quickly took the form of a man. Over the next few moments his clothes appeared. A worn pair of jeans with a cowboy belt, a pair of dark docker boots and a wife beater top.
"Logan?" Storm said before looking over at their Logan who had stood up from his seat in the corner and was staring at his double before him. James' eyes turn back from silver to brown and he let out a sigh. There stood before them was Logan's twin. His exact double wearing the exact same clothing he was wearing now. It didn't move, didn't even blink just stared towards the Professor.
"What is this?" Logan asked as touched the skin on the face of his double.
"An exact cellular copy of you," James said as his eyes turn silver again. James held up his hand to the nearby fire place where there was a much quicker swirling of dust. It quickly changed into an antique wooden dining chair padded with green leather. James took off his coat and placed it over the back of the chair and sat down looking back towards the crowd which were still staring at the chair.
"That's your power?" Hank asked. "You can duplicate things,"
"Well yes and no," James answered. "I have a few abilities which all tie in to a couple of core abilities," There were a few blank faces around the room which caused James to smile "I can recreate any atomic structure using my own atomic structure as a base, also I have complete control over the structures I create thanks to a little think called cell transplant memory and vampirism combined together,"
"Which means what?" Kitty asked from her seat. James just smiled and stared back at her. His eyes turned silver again and Logan's twin turned to look at her before speaking.
"The Vampirism keeps the cells alive while the mental link between them and my mind, gives me complete control over them," It was said by Logan's twin and in Logan's voice. "Oh course this leaves me at a slight disadvantage as I'm not in control of my body so I very rarely use this ability,"
"So this is an exact copy of me being controlled by you?" Logan asked.
"Even down to that metal skeleton of yours," The claws of the twin slid out of the skin between the knuckles on his hands. "As well as your healing ability," The twin lifted the claws and scraped them across his own chest cutting deep into the skin. Within seconds the skin had healed leaving a small amount of blood left where the wounds had been.
"So is walking through walls an extra ability?" Piotr asked keeping an eye on Kitty next to him.
"No," James said from his chair. The twin froze again before evaporating into thin air. There was a intake of breath from everyone as they watch Logan's twin just vanish as if he was never there "That's one of the thousands of abilities I have collected over the years,"
"What?" Bobby asked.
"Well one of my core abilities is to sense other atomic structures beside my own up to a distance of about 200 feet and of course being able to sense them, means I can recreate it," James stood up from his chair and walked over to where the twin had been stood a moment before. "Therefore I can create a small amount of your DNA which is where the details of your mutations are stored. I can then attach that to my DNA so I can use any ability. Apart from Mental abilities such as telekinesis or telepathy, those I can't do,"
"Why can't you create those abilities but you can create everything else?" Storm asked.
"I have to able to understand how something works to recreate it. A brain I can recreated but a mind to put into it is impossible because nobody really knows how the mind works and those abilities exist in the mind,"
"So how do you remember all those different DNA structures?" Hank asked from the doorway. James turned and looked towards him before a small smile crossed his face.
"It's like a photographic memory, I just remember them," James answered.
"Well thank you James," Charles said he sat down once again behind his desk. James followed suite and sat down on the chair he had created by the fireplace. "Your mutation is extremely powerful. Most people would never be able to harness such power,"
"I hope that no one ever has too," James sighed and looked towards the floor. The room fell silent for a few moments. Kitty watched as James rubbed his thumb against a silver colour ring on his right hand. She couldn't see the ring clearly from this distance but it obviously meant something to James.
"James?" Kitty said. He looked up from the floor and gave her a smile. "Who is the girl downstairs?" She asked.
"Laura was the one of several scientists involved with my turning ten years ago,"
"Turning?" Logan asked from his corner of the room. James nodded before answering.
"When a human becomes a vampire," He said before he looked down again and began rubbing his ring again. "That's what's happening to the other girl down there,"
"So she is becoming a vampire?" Hank said.
"Yeah," He continued looking down at his ring. "She's in the first stage. The calm before the storm,"
"What are the stages?" Rogue asked. "Is she gonna be in pain?" James let out a small laugh before looking up.
"Pain like nothing else," He sighed and leant back so he was sat straight in the chair. "In the first stage, the virus heads straight for the brain. It slowly kills off all conscious thought, which causes the victim to slip into a kind of coma. That takes around twenty hours. About 15 hours into that, the virus will spread and kill off the immune system allowing it to create the parasitic organs it needs to survive on a large scale. When the first stage ends, the victim regains consciousness aware of nothing around them apart from the pain. They can't see, they can't hear, all they feel is the pain. The victim begins by cutting their fangs by losing the two top cyanine teeth which just get pushed out and sometimes the incisors surrounding them which is as you can imagine is quite painful. That all takes a couple of hours before it shuts down all your body's systems. It will then start up the vampire system with the extra organs. Once that's fully running, the virus attacks your skin killing off the living cells and replacing them with the vampire cells. After that comes the final nail so to speak, the virus kills your heart and turns what's left of it into a vampire heart. Capable of nothing more than taking the nutrients it needs from feeding,"
"Feeding on what?" Logan asked. James looked at him with a smirk on his face.
"Chicken," James said with a rather sarcastic tone in his voice. "What do you think we feed on?" There was a quick intake of breath as Logan's anger began to bubble.
"Blood?" Kitty said from her seat. She had unconsciously moved to the edge of the sofa during James description on what happened during a turning. James looked at her and smiled.
"Yes," James said as he pointed to Kitty. "The only thing that can truly sustain us is good, healthy human blood,"
"How often do you feed?" Storm asked suddenly concerned for the students.
"Me, once every couple of months maybe," James answered. Storm looked around the room and met Hank's eyes which had an equal look of concern. "A normal vampire will need to feed once a day but the dark gift, as it was once called, is different for everyone. You normally develop the thirst after the first feeding,"
"The thirst?" Storm asked. James sighed as if he was getting a little bored explaining everything.
"Haven't you guy's ever seen a vampire movie?" He said as he stood up again and began taking small steps around the room seeming to trace an invisible circle. "The thirst is the pure craving of blood. When vampire's drink blood, our hearts release a chemical which puts us into a state of euphoria. Of course the more you feed the more irrational the thirst becomes meaning you have to feed more. Drinking Mutant blood doesn't release this chemical because of the presence of the X gene. It will sustain you but not quench the thirst so it's pretty much useless," James suddenly stopped and sniffed the air before looking towards the double doors that led out into the corridor. The watched him as he continued to stare at the double doors. Then everyone heard the scream throughout the mansion. James darted towards the door before phasing through the floor towards the lower levels. Kitty quickly followed him but was unable to keep up due to his shear speed at moving. She however had an idea of where he was going and headed directly towards the infirmary. She faded through the roof and onto the marbled floor. The first thing she noticed was the screaming. It was almost unbearable. Kitty instantly covered her ears before looking up. On the medical bed where the young girl had be laid perfectly still before, she was now wildly thrashing around on the bed and screaming in pain. James was towering over her and holding her down by keeping a single hand on her chest. It was obvious he just wanted to keep her on the bed so he was using as little force as possible.
"Oh god, the turning is happening faster than we thought," Laura said as she darted over to James' side and pulled out the two small bottles from his pocket before grabbing a syringe of the nearby instrument tray. "She's only eighteen hours in and she's already fully developed her fangs," She pushed the needle into one of the jars and pulled back on the plunger pulling some of the red liquid until the syringe was full. She then pulled it out and rested it on the silver tray next to her. She filled the next syringe and handed it to James. James switched hands and jammed the needle into the girl's thigh without hesitation. He pushed down the plunger, forcing the liquid into the girl's system. Once it was empty, he pulled the needle from her skin and gave it back to Laura who, after placing it carefully on the tray, passed him the second needle. Kitty continued to watch as a cluster of people arrived through the medibay doors. They all watched in silence as the girl on the bed went from a mad thrashing to a subtle calm. They all heard the sigh escape her mouth and for the first time she opened her eyes and stared up at James.
"Tell me when," James said out of the side of his mouth. Laura simply nodded and they continued to wait for something. The girl turned her head towards the crowd and Kitty noticed how bright blue her eyes were. The girl smiled and Kitty went to smile back but it stopped as she noticed the girl blue eye's slowly turn black as if darkness was washing over them. There was a sudden look of pain on her face and she screamed a piercing scream that shot throughout the mansion. Everyone apart from James threw their hands up to cover their ears. The girl began to wriggle under James grip and before long; James lifted his other hand and began to push down on her neck to just try and keep her on the table.
"I can't hold her for long," James shouted. Just then the girl got just enough space to push James aside and escape his grasp. She quickly jumped off the table and up onto the ceiling. She looked around at everyone before stopping on Rogue. She licked her lips and continued to glare at Rogue. "Everybody get out of here now!" James shouted to them. Everyone immediately began running from the room apart from Marie who seemed to be locked in the girls gaze. Bobby reached the door before he realised that Marie wasn't following him. He looked back and saw the girl on the ceiling about to pounce on Rogue.
"Rogue!" He shouted. The girl pushed off from the ceiling and jumped directly towards Marie.
"Oh no you don't!" James threw the needle in his hand towards the girl. As the girl came closer to Rogue, the needle intercepted and slammed deep into the girl's neck. The girl collided with Marie and they both slammed to the floor in a heap. It took a moment before Marie realised what had happened and pushed the girl to one side so she could stand up. Laura immediately ran over and checked on the girl. She pulled the needle from the girls neck, quickly noticing that the liquid had gone from inside. Laura looked up at James as he walked over to Marie to help her up.
"Nice shot," James just nodded and stretched out his hand to help Marie to her feet.
"You ok Rogue?" James asked. She nodded but as she stood up she wobbled a little on her feet which cause James to reach out to stop her from falling. He looked towards the crowd that had gathered in the open doorway. "Take her upstairs and get her checked out," Piotr and Bobby stepped forward and quickly led Rogue from the room. James bent down and lifted the girl before practically throwing her back onto the bed. She was unconscious again but everyone could see her eyes moving behind her closed eyelids.
"We need to secure her," Laura said. "If she's powerful enough to throw you around and the thirst fully develops, we may not be able to stop her," James slowly nodded in agreement.
"Professor?" James said as he turned towards the door. "I think it would be best if we closed off this floor for the night," Charles nodded and told Storm to lead the children upstairs and put them all to bed. Once everyone had left James walked over to Charles and led him into the corridor.
"Is she dangerous James?" Charles asked once the door shut behind them. James looked at him with a straight expression on his face. He was silent for a few seconds before he answered.
"If the thirst fully develops, she will need to feed and she will stop at nothing to get it," His voice never rose above a whisper but the Professor heard every word. "Best thing to do is to seal off the entire floor with the security locks and bulkhead doors,"
"So it will be just you, the girl and Laura down here?"
"No," He looked back into the room at Laura who was restraining the girl to the bed using some strong leather straps. "She's human. I can't risk Laura being bitten. It will be me and the girl,"
"Will you be alright?"
"Probably," James answered as he moved back into the lab. "Laura, you go with the Professor and take care of Rogue. Make sure everything is secured and I'll contact you through the intercom when it's safe to come down again," Laura finished locking the last strap and turned towards him.
"Are you sure?" She asked seeming to be a little unsure if James could handle this girl on his own. She was reassured by James' smile.
"Of course I'm sure," She showed him and unfortable smiled back at his answer and quietly left the room with the Professor. As they stepped into the corridor, Charles pressed a large button on the side of the oval door. It turned from green and started flashing red and the door slowly closed. Charles watched as James disappeared behind the metallic door. Once it was shut, the centre of the door twisted producing a loud hiss and then a click. The button on the wall switched to a constant red showing that the door was securely locked.