Immortal Undeath

Disclaimer: All familiar characters belong to DC or Marvel. I own Leon/Crisis and Bast.

Chapter 5: Old Flames

Leon looked around,

"Anyone else getting the feeling that Crucifer may be waiting for us?"
Barda had her weapon drawn,

"Yes."

War Machine hit the side of his armored head as he commented,

"My scanners are on the fritz, but I'm compensating."
His head then snapped in a direction,
"Motion sensors just turned on. Something's here."

The red-eyed powerhouse and the former Fury stood back to back, their weapons drawn. Batman had a Bat-arang out while Superman and Zatanna got ready. The tension in the air was thick and Martian Manhunter pointed,

"I sense something approaching."

A voice called out,
"Wait!"

A pathetic woman crawled on her hands and knees out of the darkness. She was disheveled and obviously weak. She held her hand close to her stomach. It was clear this woman was a vampire; her fangs and eyes screamed something feral about them. Crisis shook his head,

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Superman looked at her,

"Why are you here?"

The woman pleaded,

"Please. I wanted to be a part of Crucifer's cult, but, after what they made me did… I don't want to do it anymore!"
She was sobbing, looking at the Man of Steel. The red-eyed Howling Commando member grumbled,

"We should kill her."

Clark looked back,

"She's not a threat. She's been beaten up."

Leon shook his head, rolling his eyes,

"How do we know she can be trusted? For all we know, this place is a big vampire lair!"

Superman turned his back to the vampire as he tried to reprimand Leon,

"She wants out, and I believe her."

Crisis got in close and pointed threateningly at the Last Son of Krypton, practically yelling;

"In case you forgot, this place housed an ancient evil for a very long time! I can barely trust what I see in front of me, much less what just came out of the shadows!"

The vampire woman shook her head,

"But, I am just a fledgling."
Martian Manhunter tried to run a telepathic scan on her,

"It is difficult for me to read her. It appears as though being a vampire blocks some telepathic scans."

War Machine then said,

"Uh, guys?"

Superman and Crisis continued their heated argument. Crisis screamed,

"You're actually going to make this a debate, aren't you?"
Clark nodded,

"I am! You can't prove your point by taking someone's life, ever!"

War Machine rolled his eyes,

"Screw this!"

He raised his hand and fired a grenade from his gauntlet. The grenade traveled between them into the darkness. Seconds later, a fiery blast emitted from one of the ruins and several charred vampires, not much older than the woman in front of them, were screaming in agony. Many of them were incinerated into ashes, but, to the few that were not totally engulfed, they made a mad, desperate dash to the heroes. War Machine unloaded with his shoulder-mounted gatling gun, raining them down with hot lead bullets. The vampires fell down, allowing the flames to consume their bodies. The woman vampire that was with them looked up, hissed, and lunged for Superman. Superman tried to get a grip and keep her from biting him while Barda clubbed the vampire from behind, breaking her neck. The vampire fell unconscious, but, then, twisted her body around and looked up. Zatanna chanted a spell,

"DNAS NI DLOH!"
Sand came from around the vampire's ankles and consumed her up to her legs. Rendered completely immobile, the female vampire could only hiss and glare,

"You can't stop him! Crucifer will consume this world in darkness, and there is nothing you can do!"
Crisis took out his lightsaber and decapitated the vampire on the spot. When the fight was over, the others could hear the sounds of another battle further up in the ruins. Bast had encountered more vampires, no doubt. Martian Manhunter and War Machine led the way. Crisis, Batman and Superman followed, but, as they moved, the red-eyed precog cast a dark glare at the Man of Steel. Superman looked right back at him, not even flinching.

Further inside, Bast had encountered more vampires. It seems this place was some sort of breeding ground Crucifer had developed; augmenting people into vampires and something beyond them as well. Bast had her flaming scimitar in hand and was able to keep the vampires away from her as she was backed into a corner. Her senses were running wild at the number of vampires trying to overrun her position, but, with her waving the scimitar so quickly, very few vampires were willing to risk getting incinerated in a blaze of magical fire.

The goddess of vengeance roared aggressively at vampires that challenged her,

"I will not rest until your master is dead!"

One of the vampires foolish enough to try and go after her did so, and Bast cleaved him in two flaming pieces. The other vampires took this opportunity to try and breach her defenses. Suddenly, as Bast was about to be overrun, all of the vampires were suddenly incinerated in a ball of fire. The fire looked unusually agonizing and, as the fire disappeared, the other heroes came on the scene. Bast nodded,

"My thanks to you, Zatanna."

The tuxedo-wearing magician blinked,

"What are you talking about? We just got here."

War Machine ran a scan,

"There's more signatures, but they're dropping like flies."

Indeed; not too far from their location; the vampires were running their way into the chamber, but, as they did, many of them were being set ablaze mysteriously. Leon shook his head,
"What's going on?"

Bast then cringed,

"I sense something else. A demon is here."

Leon groaned,

"Great. A demon on top of vampires."

As the number of vampires disappeared, the darkness that crept through this place was clearing. Zatanna looked around,

"It's getting easier to see. The vampire numbers must have been creating an area of darkness and, with their numbers dwindling, it's getting easier to see."

The torches around the room began to light up, and a voice called out,

"You know, you could thank me for saving your life. It's customary."

Leon instantly widened his eyes at the voice,

"Oh, crap."

Batman looked at him,

"You know who this is?"

The red-eyed commando nodded silently and footsteps began to echo in the halls. The sounds of someone wearing high heels was too easy to distinguish and, the shadow of a female figure could be seen. As this woman rounded the corner, Crisis groaned,

"Not you. Any other woman but you."

A tall, voluptuously curved woman with fiery red hair, wearing a black bikini top and black tights, had the most lustful grin on her face; her eyes feral and wild with desire. She blew a kiss, smirking,

"What? No, how have you been, Satana? I'm hurt."

Next Chapter:
What is Satana doing fighting vampires? How does it all connect to Crucifer? Stay tuned, fellow readers!