The hummers followed up what used to be a winding path, but now years of foliage and branches had shrouded it. While Striker scanned the woods, he brought his hand to his face almost tempted to start biting his finger. It had taken more than a year for him to get here. The hardest part had been getting the department of homeland security to grant the money for his plans.

Behind them drove a heavily armed truck usually used when abducting- no, acquiring special mutants. It all started when whispers blew his way of the ancient folklore of immortal men who had a beastly nature and survived off the blood of other humans. At first, he rolled his eyes 'Yes every culture has their scary stories be it vampires and werewolves or bigfoot but after all of the things he had seen why couldn't it be true?' He had seen men that could manipulate fire, A woman who could shapeshift, men with super strength like dukes, and John could teleport across the globe before you could blink. Maybe just maybe these stories had some truth to them. Thus he the put money into a large team of historians and anthropologists to dive into all cultural legends who's heroes and villains could have been mutants.

The latest legends would give them the best chances of finding mutants and that brought them to the small mountainside village. Small villages usually held a lot of talk of seeing things in the woods. This one kept up stories that they've sworn to see something too big to be an animal roaming in the woods and near Castle Velken. No different from the folk living near loch ness claim to see the sea beast or how a few people back home believe to have bigfoot living in their woods. Almost every Romanian had heard of this monster, and many claim it to be the last member of the Velken family, Rhaella.

As ridiculous as the stories of monsters in the woods were, Rhaella was a very real person indeed. It was said that in the very late 18th century the daughter of Prince Raymont Velken, Rhaella, was cursed at birth for her father's refusal to bend to the Roman Catholic Church. Rhaella was said to marry the Hungarian Prince Tristane Augustus. Legends say she would sing to children and lure them into the woods, and kill any men that dared to slay her in her castle. Other stories described her as a shapeshifter lurking in the woods, larger than any predator alive. All legends did have one thing in common; this woman had beast-like features, an appetite for blood, was still very much alive and in Castle Velken.

Finally, the trucks had made it up to the stone fortress of Castle Velken. The castle was covered in vines, and trees rooted themselves between the cracked walls. Striker stopped in front of the fortress' iron doors and took everything in. His eyes followed up the tall stone towers that pierced the sky and then looked behind him at the view from the top of the mountain. It was so strange that even the satellite couldn't find such a distinct landmark.

It only took a pound of c4 to blow open the rusted doors. The men flew in past the clouds of debris. He followed behind his team as their lasers scanned around the great halls. It was quiet, as silent as a graveyard "are we clear?" Striker asked.

"Clear in this wing" came over his radio. "Nothing in here boss" came another. Striker took his time scanning the large rooms and arched halls. what once was a home to a dynasty was now a stone skeleton stripped of tapestries and furniture iron torches lining the hall had been blown out, leaving only backend spots from their smoke. In the great room, a colossal chandelier lay in a heap on the floor covered in cobwebs and browned leaves scattered across the floor.

"I found something you're gonna want to see" came the agent from down the stairs. Strikers heart jumped in excitement.

The team made its way down the stone steps into a dungeon-like area with a long dark hallway. At the end of the hallway was a room with a glass ceiling shining lights down onto the large slab of stone. The men stood around the stone table waiting for him.

"Get the coats in here!" He commanded. He knew this wasn't a just a slab, and it wasn't an altar. No this was a tomb, and he wanted his team of scientists ready to experiment if there was anything in there. "We're gonna haul this off men," and with that, they started hammering the cables into the stone. Ten men tried to pull the stone off without a budge. Striker ordered fifteen more to start pulling while some men stood on all four sides of the coffin weapons ready in case any surprises should come out to greet them. Dr. Arnsen, a young man who had been working with his mission for years stood away from the commotion, waiting to be needed. Dr. Arnsen rubbed his arms, still cold despite the layers of hoodies and jackets he had on. His place was back at base working in the laboratory, not hopping into a truck full of armed soldiers heading out on dangerous missions.

BANG

The stone fell onto the ground and the scientist hurried excitedly to see what lay in the tomb. Striker rushed in holding his breath.

"Nothing but a corpse boss" someone sighed. Striker felt his stomach drop. This is exactly what he feared, a dead end. The mission had taken so much time to get approved, no one had wanted to invest the money into what sounded like a madman's vision. traveling halfway across the world to find some mythological creature, it was crazy. A delirious laugh left his lips, oh how was he going to explain this to his superiors? "What is it, doctor? Is it a female?" he asked with some interest.

"Given the hip size and clothing on her, I believe so." Striker leaned in to get a better look. The body looked like an Egyptian mummy. The skin was gray but still wrapped around the bones. The head had sunken eyelids with a few wisps of white hair on the bald head. The body was dressed in a long faded skirt-like pants that where cusped in gold at the ankles and jeweled around the hips. The top only covered where breasts once were and had long sleeves cusped in gold jeweled cuffs like the pants.

"Boss..." One doctor exhaled in shock. Striker looked over at the doctor's face and followed his eyes to the corps' mouth. And then he saw it too.

The exposed teeth revealed two longer than normal canines. He knew those teeth and those teeth alone belonged to ferals.

If this creature was anything like the brothers he hired, she could probably heal as well. "But after how long of starvation could a healer last until it died?" Would starving Logan or Creed for a hundred years truly kill the immortals? Was the secret to killing an immortal to bury them alive until they lose their nutrients?

Striker hovered over the corpse to get a closer look. His hand reached to touch the incredibly long canines. All of a sudden, a white hot flash of pain went through him, and he found himself jolted back from the corpse gripping his hand. As he came to his senses he looked down at the bleeding fingers that had been touching the corpses teeth. He could have sworn in one moment the corpse had come to life to take a bite from him, but when he looked back in the tomb the corpse lay there unmoving and as dead as could be. When he leaned in again, the blood gushing from his finger landed on the corpse's skin and disappeared entirely. Striker's eyes widened and he looked over to the doctor, who had witnessed the whole ordeal.

The doctor gulped, "I have an idea" he turn and ran to the trucks and came back with a bag of red liquid. He suspended the bag carefully over the body's mouth. His fingers fiddled with some of the tubes and a slow rhythm of blood dripped out landing the back of her throat.

They waited and watched closely to see any change

"It'll be like watering a flower on the brink of death," the doctor said excitedly to himself, completely enamored by his newest project.

They waited and watched closely to see any changes. Everyone leaned in and held their breath. After 20 minutes the could see a change in the corpses skin color.

And an hour later the fibers of muscles began to form. The change was barely noticeable.

"You truly are a genius Dr. Ansem!" Striker looked up to him with a wide grin.

"This is going to take a long time sir."

"Agreed, let's lift her out of this thing, bring her with us back to the states, and keep that blood going." Striker commanded smiling all the while.

The team worked together to gently lift the corpse out of the tomb and onto a cot. They brought her outside of the castle walls for the first time in a hundred years and loaded her into the back of a truck.

Slowly but surely they would bring her back from the dead, hopefully, most of her would be back by the time they landed in America.