CHAPTER 6:
THE NIGHT WARRIORS
At the Cloven Hoof, Remus came to meet with the exorcists Jon had recommended a couple of weeks ago. His mission to sway the werewolves away from Voldemort had had mixed success: though none had agreed to help Dumbledore outright, only a few packs allied with Fenrir Greyback had openly declared support for Voldemort, and Greyback and his allies had the enmity of virtually every other werewolf pack in Britain. Remus had to accept what small mercies they had gotten.
He also heard from Dumbledore more about this Succubus Harry was bound to, along with her sister. Remus had heard of Morrigan Aensland. If you knew much about the various Darkstalkers of Makai, you tended to hear the names of the most infamous, like Morrigan and her father Belial, or the powerful vampire Demitri Maximoff, or the ones who, while benign to humans, didn't keep a low profile, like Jon Talbain, or Felicia. You heard the rumours of the Frankenstein-like entity (and a more human-like sister) created by Professor von Gerdenheim in Germany, or the cursed samurai known as Bishamon.
Morrigan was infamous to those in the know as a shameless hedonist who occasionally fed on the men she slept with. Not evil by any means, but amoral and hedonistic. And also known for a bitter rivalry with Demitri Maximoff due to Belial Aensland exiling the vampire when Demitri tried to launch a coup. Given what happened to Jedah Domah, another would-be ruler of Makai, Demitri got off lightly.
Still, apparently Morrigan had made some sort of deal with Dumbledore, but Dumbledore did contact Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling anyway, if only to see if their expertise could help them. And he saw them enter the pub, with a hush descending as they did.
They looked out of place, dressed in old-fashioned Chinese clothing. They appeared to be in their late teens at the latest. One looked normal, but the other had greyish-blue skin, and her sleeves were long, having massive clawed gauntlets sticking out of the ends, though her real, slender arms were poking out of holes where her sleeves met the shoulders of her robes.
Remus stood, and gestured them over. They soon came over. "Mr Lupin, wasn't it?" the more normal-looking girl asked. Her English was very good.
"Yes, I am Remus Lupin. I assume you're the two I was to meet?"
"Yes. I am Mei-Ling, and this is my sister, Hsien-Ko," Mei-Ling said.
"Pleased to meet you!" Hsien-Ko said cheerfully.
Remus found himself relaxing. For all her being a Jiang Shi, Hsien-Ko acted very normally, and while that could potentially make her all the more dangerous, the fact that Jon Talbain recommended these two's services helped him relax. "I'm pleased to meet you both as well. What would you like to drink? Tea? Coffee?" They seemed underaged, after all.
"Tea will do fine for both of us," Mei-Ling said, and Remus got a waiter over. After their order was taken, Mei-Ling finally said, "It's odd to be contacted out of the blue by as apparently august a personage as Albus Dumbledore, even if he said that Jon Talbain and Felicia recommended us. After all, we had only met Talbain a couple of times before."
"I think you can guess what the purpose of the job is," Remus said.
"Yes, we follow the magical newspapers," Hsien-Ko said. "Your Minister of Magic's denying that Voldemort is back from the dead, and labelling Dumbledore as a senile old fool, and this Harry Potter kid as an attention-seeking delusional brat. Dumbledore himself stated that Voldemort is still alive in that letter he sent us."
Remus nodded. "Yes. While the particulars are up to Dumbledore, he wanted your help and advice in finding ways to counter whatever Voldemort uses for immortality."
As the teapot and cups were placed in front of them, Mei-Ling frowned thoughtfully. "We're technically relatively new Night Warriors in some regards, but experienced in others. It's a long story, but the short version is, my sister and I are reincarnations of sisters who fought in the 1700s against Darkstalkers. So we do have experience in a way, albeit from a former life. But we only recently became aware of our powers, as in only a few years ago. During times of combat, I become a talisman that prevents my sister from succumbing to the darkest urges of her Jiang Shi form. While our experience is mostly with dealing with physical threats, we do have significant knowledge of dealing with undead and supposedly immortal creatures. And we found excellent teachers in what you would call Defence Against the Dark Arts."
"We don't usually go after wizards, though," Hsien-Ko said. "Even the authorities back home are skittish about dealing with us. They only tolerate us because we're good at dealing with Darkstalkers. Though I guess if he's used some weird method to become immortal, he'd probably be fair game, right sis?"
Mei-Ling nodded. "I've got a few guesses, but I want to talk to Dumbledore about those. How is he working with us?"
"Dumbledore tries to keep an open mind with Darkstalkers. In fact, recently, a couple got involved with Harry Potter," Remus said. "One of them you probably know already: Morrigan Aensland. Apparently she's taken it upon herself to act as Harry's bodyguard, albeit for reasons I can't go into."
"Wait, Morrigan is acting as the Boy Who Lived's bodyguard?" Hsien-Ko asked in disbelief. "Wow, he must have really gotten her interest."
"You've met her?" Remus asked.
"Once, when we got involved in a conflict with Demitri Maximoff not so long ago," Mei-Ling said. "It's where we met Jon Talbain and Felicia for the first time. We helped her deal with Maximoff."
Remus nodded. Demitri Maximoff was debatably the most powerful vampire in the world. Stopping him was no mean feat, even for someone as powerful as Morrigan. "Well, dealing with Voldemort would probably be a different experience. You don't usually deal with wizards, do you?"
"Not someone like Voldemort," Hsien-Ko mused. "I mean, we've dealt with a couple of undead or immortal wizards before, but that's the sort of thing that the local Hit-Wizards should be able to deal with usually, and there are few warlocks as tenacious as Voldemort without pretty much becoming a Darkstalker themselves."
"What do you know about him?"
"Not that much, admittedly, or at least not as much as we'd like. We know he pretty much terrorised Britain during the Seventies. Supposedly, he died trying to kill Harry Potter in 1981 on Halloween, Harry apparently surviving the Killing Curse," Mei-Ling said. "Because of his power and tenacity, along with the Taboo curse he inflicted on Britain during the dying months of the war, people were too afraid to call him by name normally, calling him either 'He Who Must Not Be Named', or 'You Know Who'. But nothing about his true identity. As ridiculous as some family names are amongst the British wizards, I doubt Voldemort is his real name."
"I think Dumbledore knows, though whether he tells you depends on a few things," Remus said. "Will you be willing to speak with him?"
The sisters looked at each other, before they nodded in unison. "We fight monsters, and Voldemort seems like one of the biggest," Mei-Ling said.
"Yeah. Let's kick his arse!" Hsien-Ko cheered.
Voldemort was wondering why he was bothering to meet with this girl. It had been Malfoy's idea. After the humiliation at the graveyard, Voldemort knew that he needed some means of dealing with the Succubus that Potter was with.
Of course, when the girl finally arrived, she had been accosted by Goyle, the senior one. Goyle was never really smart, though the girl hadn't looked that threatening, dressed as she was looking like Little Red Riding Hood. Of course, when he had threatened her, she had whipped out an oversized pistol from the basket she carried and kneecapped him. Which impressed and infuriated Voldemort simultaneously. After all, the moment the gun came out, Goyle had just enough wit to cast a shield charm, which should have been enough to stop anything short of a rifle round at least. The girl, who couldn't have been older than her late teens, and more likely to be in her mid teens, bragged that her bullets, all custom, were designed to nullify magic defences, a necessity when fighting Darkstalkers.
Still, she was here now. And she was peering at his face with mixed disgust, interest, and perverse glee. There was something about that expression that reminded him of a younger Bellatrix. "So, you're Lord Voldemort. I have to admit, I'm impressed. You're pretty damn scary-looking."
"You should be on your knees before your better instead of showing such disrespect, you filthy Muggle!" Macnair made the mistake of snarling.
As the girl tensed, about to retaliate, Voldemort shot Macnair a look. "Macnair…this Muggle is a guest for now." His red eyes went back to the girl. "But Lord Voldemort advises you not to try his patience."
The girl seemed to refrain from rolling her eyes, barely, instead, saying, "Well, it's polite to introduce ourselves, as my grandmother always said. You've already done so, so you can call me Baby Bonny Hood. BB Hood for short. Now, the guy who hired me, Malfoy, he said you had a little Darkstalker problem. And he was offering me a lot of money to deal with it. So, I need to know, what do I have to kill?"
Straight to business. Good. "Are you aware of Harry Potter?"
"Hmm? Oh, I wasn't aware he was a Darkstalker. But yeah, I know who he is."
"Potter is not a Darkstalker…but he seems to have gained the allegiance of one. A Succubus." Voldemort gave an edited account of what happened. Then, he said, "I want the Succubus dead, and Potter delivered to me alive and as intact as you can manage."
The girl frowned, thoughtful. While greed still glittered in her eyes, he also noted that she seemed to have a thoughtfulness that belied her youth. And there was also something very predatory about her. "Hmm…tricky. Succubi tend to be stronger Darkstalkers, especially if they're anything like Morrigan Aensland. Does Potter need to be wholly intact, or can I do to him what I did to Goyle?"
"As long as he is still alive, able to regain consciousness and doesn't need special healing, I care not."
"Right. Well, from what I know, it's your Malfoy who's bankrolling this, so I'll need to discuss the price with him. And it needs to be in American dollars, not these Galleons you use here. Or precious stones."
"I do hope you aren't trying to bankrupt one of my allies," Voldemort said silkily, noticing the glimmer of greed in her eyes.
"My services are very highly sought-after. I know the value of a life, down to the nearest cent," BB Hood said coldly. "And the only time I do things pro bono is when the people who hired me stab me in the back…though that's because I loot them afterwards."
"Is that a threat?"
"A promise. I don't care about your desire to be head honcho here, as long as I get paid. You could pay me to kill Dumbledore or the Minister of Magic or even the Queen if you liked, and as long as I got my money, I'd do it with a smile. But I've been stabbed in the back before by people who thought they were cleverer than me and thought they wouldn't have to pay me if I was dead. I can even tell you where to find the graves…well, those I didn't put through a woodchipper. Bodies make a wonderful GGRRRRGRRRR noise when they go through. And when they're alive…well, the screams are music to my ears." Her eyes narrowed. "I will bring Potter to you on a silver platter and kill this Succubus…and I will be paid. Otherwise…woodchips."
Shortly after BB Hood left, having nominated a ridiculously high sum (half of it to be paid in advance), Lucius Malfoy came in. "Of all the most vulgar people we've had to deal with…it may have been a mistake to hire her."
"True. That Muggle girl's insolence and arrogance knows no bounds, but they will avail her naught when she has outlived her usefulness," Voldemort said. "She had better savour what money we give her. Promises to Muggles have no validity. When Potter is in our hands…she will die(1)…"
While required to reside in the Dursley home, it didn't mean that Morrigan didn't take Harry and Lilith elsewhere when the whim took her. Usually, she took them to Castle Aensland in Makai, and taught them various lessons. Either of the history and politics of Makai, or else teaching them combat skills.
Today, she had decided on the latter. Harry was sprawled on a chair, panting, as was Lilith, while Morrigan, while standing, was looking a little tired, but not much. "You're a sadist," Harry muttered.
"Of course I am," Morrigan said with a smirk, one which changed to a more solemn smile. "I'm also a concerned sister. There are worse things out in the night than Voldemort. Lilith has the raw power and some skills, but she needs more skill and experience. You, on the other hand, are still very much human, with all the weakness that entails. And if you die, so does Lilith. So, we need to get you both stronger."
"I'm not a Succubus!" Harry protested.
"Not technically, no," Morrigan mused. "But you've had the power of one sealed away within you for over a decade and a half. You have access to the same raw power as Lilith, as you are technically one being. But the power recognises that your body isn't powerful enough to wield it. But you are still more than human." The training room they had had cupboards filled with weapons along the side, and Morrigan, in her full Succubus form, strutted over to one, deliberately wiggling her hips to tease Harry and infuriate Lilith. There, she pulled out a metal staff, and then threw it over to Harry. "Think quick!"
Harry caught it, and frowned. "Are we training with staves now?"
"Well, we could if we wanted to, but that's not the point. That doesn't feel very heavy, does it? But that staff is solid metal, and of a type of dense metal you can only find in Makai. You are currently holding in your hand about two hundred kilograms. It feels about as light as aluminium, doesn't it?"
Harry began spinning it slowly, and his eyes widened. "How…?"
"Your power adjusts itself automatically to the situation at hand, and what's more, it also gradually changes your body so that you'll be eventually strong enough to use all of it," Morrigan said. "Anyway, that's my hypothesis, and it's looking pretty damned good. Training you helps get your body more used to more of the power, thus making your strength, durability, speed and magic generally stronger. Obviously, that'll go down VERY well with the Ministry if they heard of it," she concluded sarcastically.
"Having a Succubus as a familiar would be bad enough," Lilith mused morosely. "But if you're stronger because of that…"
"I get the picture. It's a bad idea to discuss it publicly," Harry said.
"Obviously. Humans in general have too narrow a view of what is moral, though many would gladly discard them in pursuit of power," Morrigan purred. "I cannot say that I am good or evil. I just do what I enjoy. However, I don't seek dominion over humans or to kill them unnecessarily. They are too interesting to do so. But there are Darkstalkers who think otherwise. I mentioned Demitri Maximoff, with whom I have clashed before, and Lord Raptor. And there was also Jedah Domah, who disappeared a century ago. Anyway, you are pretty much a brother-in-law to me, and I intend to make sure you're strong enough to deal with anything that comes your way…by hook or by crook…"
CHAPTER 6 ANNOTATIONS:
So, two sets of Night Warriors have been retained by opposing sides, and Harry has learned something new and disturbing about himself and his relationship with Lilith.
Incidentally, I screwed up when I answered Gabriel Herrol's review. Lilith ate the Horcrux some time ago…
Review-answering time! TheSpokesman1: And what spelling mistake is that?
Thunder Dragon: I'm basing the story mostly on the Udon depictions, but I intend to get a hold of the manga that crosses over with Red Earth or whatever it is some time. But in the end, as this is a separate continuity to the games and so on, it's up to me how to depict them. I'm going to try to avoid having Jedah Domah in the story, as he isn't really in the Udon comics (though I'll watch clips from Marvel vs Capcom Infinite to see if I can get a better grip on the character). Demitri is another matter. I chose to put in Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling because I'm pretty sure I got a good read on their characters from watching clips from Marvel vs Capcom 3.
DalkonCledwin: When I said gurning, it wasn't a typo. 'Gurning' basically means pulling a grotesque face. Believe it or not, there's a world gurning contest at Egremont in Cumbria, England. No, really. Look up 'gurn' on Wikipedia. As for Mudo being Yoda…well, he's short and green, but his resemblance to Yoda, aside from his diction, ends there. Finally, while I answered this question in correspondence, I should answer it here: the town of Mackay in Queensland was pronounced 'mak-eye' by just about every news and weather presenter I have heard during my life, and apparently that's the correct Scottish pronunciation.
Mecha Manda: Pyron, probably not, but I'm strongly considering Demitri becoming a threat. I just need to find the right point to bring him in.
1. Voldemort's line is based on the Cyberleader's line "Promises to aliens have no validity" in Doctor Who: The Five Doctors.