2006, 2nd February,
Paris, France
A man burst into Lionel Bellone’s office, an air of alarm around him, an act not undertaken lightly.
“Sir! There’s been an attack! They’re saying it's terrorists, or government-”
Lionel simply clacked his teeth together.
The man’s sense of self preservation was not so forgotten, and he immediately ceased speaking.
Looking up from a computer screen in front of him, Lionel reclined in his seat, an unspoken command to continue.
“Sir, the O’Brien foundation office- It’s been attacked. Police are saying it was napalm… There have been no survivors.”
Thunder crashed through the skies outside.
Lionel smiled.
“Sir, there’s going to be a serious investigation if substances like napalm are involved. We might even-”
“Bring out the car. And there’s no need to accompany me. I have something to do on my own.”
The man didn’t dare argue further, simply ducking his head and heading out to do as he was told.
Shortly, Lionel drove out into the streets wet with rain to inspect the scene of crime.
The volatile flames born of napalm, easily visible over the horizon, were not so easily doused, even by the rains.
Even as Lionel got closer, he sensed a presence brush against his mind.
Then something shifted in the air around him, and the traffic around him began scraping against his own vehicle, one even colliding against his rear bumper.
Almost as if.. Almost as if they didn’t even notice the presence of his vehicle, several of the people around him honking and inspecting their own damaged vehicles, wearing expressions of confusion.
The vehicle lurched, with a split second’s worth of warning-
More than enough-
Lionel pushed the door clean off his car, and rolled out, a fraction of a second before it shot through the air, flying up into the atmosphere.
Clearly, Lucia had leaned heavily on her allies at Apotheosis for this attempt.
Now, time to find out where they were leading him if they intended to-
A lightning bolt crashed down from the sky, straight on his back, heating the air to temperatures that would put the sun to shame for a moment.
A bolt of lightning would never persist long enough to cause lethal harm in most cases, but this stream of current persisted long enough to cook the surrounding a dull red hot.
Lionel remained unharmed, but the bystanders around him recoiled with sounds of shock and horror; clearly, whatever enchantment had caused onlookers to not notice him had gone the way of his car.
The police officers, gathered around the site of arson, started to turn in Lionel’s general direction, drawing their weaponry at the site of him for no discernible reason.
Lionel could guess, though; they had been mesmerised, and were about to fire on him on someone else’s will.
The firearms would not hurt Lionel, but it wasn’t good for the general populace to see a man bouncing bullets off his skin; these tactics were rather antithetical to Apotheosis, unless his assailant expected him to somehow smother this tactic in its inception.
Which he did, lashing out with a psychic pulse of his own, overriding whatever had taken control of them.
Now, time to turn the hunt on its head.
Michael, flying higher in the sky, invisibility spell in effect, saw Lionel’s eyes focus right at the point where he was, and with a burst of speed, he took off.
“He’s seen me. We’ve got him on the move.”
Lucia had the other communicator, sat in a standard issue SUV, ready to move, with Rayyan, Magnus and Anders all packed within.
“Good. Did you inconvenience him, at least?”
A stream of lightning barely tickled him. We’re going to throw a lot more at him, I’m afraid.
Lucia sighed; disappointing, but within expectations.
Now to strike back at the source.
“Michael, make sure to keep him within sight. Magnus and Anders are going to raid his office right now.”
It was a risky manoeuvre, since they had no idea of Lionel’s entire range of capabilities, but the same could be said of this entire venture.
The SUV streaked across the wet streets, stopping right in front of where Lionel had emerged, and Magnus and Anders walked in, shotguns in hand, choosing not to shift where there was any chance of being given away.
Metal detectors sounded the alarm as they got through the doorway, but that was fine; this wasn’t meant to be a stealth operation anyway.
They opened fire as Lionel’s men poured out of the inner corridors, unerringly cutting them down, heedless and unconcerned by enemy fire.
A grenade rolled at Magnus from a concealed chamber, and he tossed his weapon away to avoid it getting damaged before the blast caught him head on.
From the blossom of flame and concussive energy, Magnus shot out like a bullet, seared skin and melted remains of clothing clinging to exposed corded muscle, and fell upon the remaining men, his fists powerful enough to tear through bone and muscle like a knife through smoke.
His skin had stitched back together before they even fell to the ground, dead.
Anders started to rip through the dressers as Magnus took the responsibility of surveying the files stored on the computers themselves.
Outside, Lucia kept watch, senses peeled, before her communicator crackled with sound.
I’ve lost him. He’s melted into shadows. Call Magnus away and scatter.
Pulling a whistle from her pockets, Lucia blew a single ultrasonic note, loud, even to her ears.
“That’s the signal.” Anders said, “Let’s torch this place and-”
The shadows gathered to a central point in the room, and Lionel Bellone emerged like a hell spawned cicada from the heart of the darkness.
The creature grinned.
Anders immediately began to shift, impulsively, before Magnus tackled him out of the way, his skin searing hot, glowing like beaten iron, and wrapped himself around Lionel, who easily shook himself free, dealing a backhand that ripped Magnus’ lower jaw clean off.
But his part was done, and a live napalm grenade now sat in Lionel’s pocket, engulfing him in a tremendous conflagration, the force of the explosion throwing both Ulfhednar back to the wall.
“Now! We’re going!” Anders screamed.
Unable to verbally respond thanks to his still regenerating jaw, Magnus still shot out the door after him, even as Lionel roared in what sounded like rage more than hurt, stalking after them like a persistent nightmare, his skin still ablaze but seemingly affecting him not at all.
Before he was shot by a beam of directed energy from a rifle in Lucia’s hand, who awaited them outside.
The very door frames around Lionel melted and glass shattered, as the air itself rippled around him from the sheer heat, but Lionel’s gait remained undaunted, as he walked through the assault.
As soon as both Ulfhednar were safely seated once more, she put her foot to the pedal, and the vehicle screamed away.
In the rear view, Lucia watched her father melt into shadow once more, leaving burning chemicals behind at the steps to his own establishment, smiling in grim satisfaction.
The plan had been to burn down his place with the same forbidden substance they used to target that mockery of a charitable organisation, but this would suffice just fine.
He would not operate in the same way he always had, even if he successfully killed them tonight.
Magnus clicked his jaws together experimentally as the bone grew back, fibres of biomass soon following to engulf it.
“Michael. Follow us now. Lionel is hot on our tail. We’re leading him to the bleed.”
Have Rayyan inform Hans of the location too. This is where it ends.
“Sure. Threw the whole kitchen sink at him. The gamma component of this rifle should slice apart subatomic bonds- theoretically. Motherfucker walked through it like a stiff breeze. Weakness to fire, my ass.”
This isn’t about killing him. That’ll come later. I promise. Just make sure Hans shows up.
Lucia turned to Rayyan, and blinked.
With intent.
Rayyan tapped Hans on his own communicator.
“Lionel is moving to a Bleed. He’s being herded there for the kill. Apparently-”
There’s only one Bleed in those whereabouts. Near the abandoned penitentiary where I carried out some of my experiments. Now tell me, Hans’ voice through the communicator dropped an octave or so, Where is Michael Kane? I would finally speak to my faceless rival.
Rayyan swallowed, but prolonging the facade was simply delaying the inevitable.
“He’s… not here right now, though he is with us.”
Lucia snatched the communicator from him.
“He’ll be with you shortly. Sit tight.”
Who are you?
“What does it matter? You’re going to die all the same.”
Ah, yes, Hans’ voice took an unmistakable inflection of hatred, The vampire from Iceland.
“Feel free to pussy out, mage. Of course, if you don’t arrive here, your research is at a dead end. But I’ll be right here if you do decide to show up.”
Hahahah, I look forward to it, Hans said, his composure slipping and rage creeping into his voice for the first time.
Lucia crushed the communicator within her palm, then faster than the eye could perceive, reached out and snapped Rayyan’s neck with one fluid motion.
Magnus blinked, then, having restored the functionality of his jaw, said, “Where do you plan to dispose of his corpse?”
“I’ll keep it around in case I need a top up later. Then, we’ll see.”
The SUV sped up, racing through whatever empty patches of street they could find, Lucia deftly manoeuvring the vehicle through traffic, an impending sense of doom prickling at their necks as they were hunted by an ancient vampire.
They knew they were nearing the penitentiary when the traffic grew sparse, then the roads were entirely empty.
Still, Paris remained entirely too urbanised for a battle like the one that awaited them to go entirely unremarked; if they wanted to get anywhere, they would have to move Lionel forcibly through the Bleed.
Something cold washed over the exterior of the SUV- not Lionel, Lucia would have recognised his presence- and the vehicle destabilised in motion, veering out of control.
All inhabitants were agile enough to leap clear of the car, save the corpse of Rayyan, and hit the rain soaked ground.
Invisible threads of force wrapped around Magnus’ throat, and he saw Anders similarly affected.
Ghost.
Hans had made his move.
That was when tendrils of darkness lashed through the air where Magnus estimated the ghost to be, and the pressure on his throat eased.
Had Lucia gotten rid of- no.
Lionel Bellone was here.
Try as he might, Magnus could not sense him, not through sight, smell or sound.
And then there he was, in the centre of them all.
“Hello, my daughter.”
Lucia growled, crouching lower.
“You have gained an impressive set of allies. But if this is truly the amount of force you can muster, then this is as far as you will get.”
The ancient vampire hadn’t a scratch on his body to show for the punishment they had dealt him, and even his hair, burned away by the repeated conflagrations they had subjected him to, had grown back, wilder and unkempt.
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Much like his daughter, his anatomy was underfed and possessed of an odd, wiry sense of strength reminiscent of an overgrown arthropod, ribs poking through by the sides of his chest, but the muscle clearly visible, ropy and dense under his skin.
Regardless of anything else, this was a form built for the single purpose of destruction, as all who gazed upon him instinctively knew.
Lucia felt the blood boil within her system.
She had nothing to say to the man in front of her.
This was a time for action.
She parked her weight on her lead leg, when in a flurry of motion, a range of other actors burst onto the scene.
Lionel sidestepped a lance of solid darkness launched from the sky.
Hans, suspended in the air with wings of smoky black, an array of similar projectiles seeming to protrude from the pitch blackness of space around him.
He launched a hail of blackness that Lionel danced avoided at speeds that made it seem as if they were cutting through his image reflected in water-
Then Lucia was upon him, fangs to his throat, pinning him in place with all the strength at her disposal, and the next lance of shadow made contact with his chest-
A weapon of impossible sharpness, an object existing in a mere two dimensions, yet with a solidity to surpass steel-
It failed to pierce Lionel’s skin, who then promptly shook his daughter off, having been similarly unaffected by her fangs.
His skin seemed to ripple, and Lucia knew he had altered it somehow.
Thunder cracked the sky, and Michael, content to wait for his moment, redirected its vectors of motion, and sent it crashing into Hans, cutting him down mid-flight.
Something rippled within the Bleed, and a massive timber werewolf charged through, having been waiting on the other side, colliding with Lionel.
“How many of you are there?” Lionel growled, deep within his throat, simply shrugging the beast off him, then lashing out with a kick, and Victor rolled clear, something having audibly broken within him.
At that moment, the gravity itself amplified around Lionel, cracking the ground beneath his feet, and Magnus and Anders both took that opportunity to shift, chagrin forward in their warforms and hitting nothing, as liquid shadows slipped between their claws.
Anders immediately turned on his heel, lashing out at Victor instead, who wrapped his jaws around Anders’ limb, and with the power of his neck alone, tossed the nine hundred pound behemoth aside.
Lionel reformed, and was immediately set upon by his daughter once more, a dervish of picture perfect blows that he intercepted and parried aside, till he felt her leg entrap the back of his calf, and he was off balance, all his strength being rendered useless against simply leverage and footwork-
Or so it seemed, but Lucia immediately pulled back, as Lionel managed to catch his body weight on the palm of a single hand, and lashing out with a kick from his unstable posture, his leg cutting through the air with a whistle and the wind it generated ruffling Lucia’s hair, even from the distance she had taken.
Enough.
Lucia called on the power of her blood once more, burning within her, and her very flesh seemed to turn inside out, and she began to devour.
The earth sank beneath her feet; trees around the area were uprooted and collapsed; the abandoned building they fought outside shook to its very foundations, brick and mortar tearing free and disappearing down that void cut through the world, before the penitentiary collapsed entirely.
Lionel’s face contorting for the first time, and then-
Nightmarish imagery flashed across Lucia’s mind, causing her to choke when she did not even need air, her heart to beat painfully loudly, ready to burst from her chest, in a way it had not for over a month, muscles locking up painfully-
She lost her tether over her hunger.
Lionel’s steely fingers wrapped around her throat.
“Do not summon forces you cannot control, child of mine. Especially not here on fragile earth.”
This was it; he was going to pluck her head from her shoulders.
The end was here.
Magnus, blazing red hot, wrapped himself around Lionel, seven inch claws tearing at his eyes.
Lionel let go off Lucia to knock Magnus off him-
And gravity snapped upwards to pull him to the sky.
Michael unleashed his power with a crackle of static through the air.
A strike of raw kinetic force, every vector turned towards the vampire, slapping the third law of motion across the face-
It washed over him on impact, akin to a wave breaking on a cliff-face, and the power spilled around them, shaking those below to the bone, and splitting the very storm clouds above.
Lionel shot towards where the Bleed was, Magnus still barely clinging on, and both of them passed through as Magnus pulled through the membrane of reality.
“Anders!” Lucia cried, and the Ulfhednar was by her side instantly, and they vanished through the Bleed, followed by Victor hot on their heels.
Michael turned to watch Hans, before the temperature dropped around him, and the air around him liquefied, running down his pharynx and drowning him.
Clawing at his chest he floated to the ground below, where Hans awaited him.
“So, I finally see my adversary, who would doom our race to extinction. Michael Kane.”
Michael rose to his feet, slicking his hair backwards.
“Hans. We decide what is right for this world; right here, and right now.”
There were no more words to be said, as they prepared their power, souls flaring with energy, static building in the air even as frost coated the puddles of water around them.
Then a third participant, concealed so far, revealed itself, and the martian spirit Michael had summoned to serve him lashed out with bolts of heat that Hans intercepted on a wall of liquid shadow.
Both mages nodded once at the other.
And they took to the skies.
Michael, propelled by warped gravity, was both faster and more manoeuvrable in the air, while Hans struggled to keep up with wings of liquid shadow.
They traded spells in the air intended to cause direct interference to the other mage’s pattern, spells that slid off the both of them thanks to the Balandin effect.
But Michael’s strength was rapidly flagging, given the onslaught he had previously subjected Lionel to.
So he prepared another spell, amplifying the atmospheric pressure bearing down on Hans, ten times the pressure, then twenty, then thirty-
A viscous black fog erupted from around Hans, blotting out visibility, and Michael’s spell failed as he was forced to switch visual spectrums.
His air began to run out, trapped in the black fog, and the more he struggled, the tighter the substance seemed to grip at him.
So he merely weakened the friction surrounding him, allowing him to slip out.
With a crack, Michael soared through the skies again, Hans behind him.
Invisible strings wrapped themselves around Michael’s throat, and at the velocity he was going, they would have taken his head clean off if it hadn’t been for his barrier.
Hans began to gain on him, but at that very moment, the spirit attacked, bolts of red energy streaking through the dark skies.
Hans weaved around them, before Michael grabbed hold of the vectors of the bolts, and they turned, again and again, to strike unerringly true, cooking meat, even with their power dampened by a Death field.
The two mages found themselves over the river Seine, even as Hans hurtled to the waters below, and Michael turned, charging at him.
Amplifying the surface tension of the waters below, he rendered the surface of the water hard and unyielding, and grabbing Hans by his hair, dashed his skull against it moving at speeds a hair below the speed of sound.
Too much momentum for his Death shield to arrest entirely.
The two magi flew apart, and Michael felt something sear at his left calf, noticing too late, the threads of razor sharp shadow embedded within his flesh, cutting meat down to the bone when they were pulled taut as Michael pulled away from Hans.
And so the two men came to rest upon the water’s surface.
Hans muttered with his final breath, his last words inaudible to all but Michael’s enhanced senses.
“Looks like… you were proven right.., after all…”
Michael inspected his own wounds once more, and laughed.
“We’ll see..”
He felt his consciousness slipping away, and he wondered whether his friends would find him before he bled out or his body sank to the bottom of the river.
It didn’t matter anyway; his work was done.
With the final remnant of his power, he imparted one final command to the spirit under his thrall, then closed his eyes to rest.
On the other side, Lionel stood alone against four adversaries, each of whom would have given a mortal battalion pause, and remained unconcerned.
Their strikes would not pierce his skin, if he allowed the contact at all, instead of merely slipping away like a typhoon wind.
Throughout all this, Magnus kept watch on Victor’s form while he attacked, and he knew the inverse was true as well.
Where Victor charged forward, seemingly erratically, but always striking unerringly true, even against an opponent as fast as Lionel was, Magnus himself preferred to wait for when an opening was presented, exploiting it for maximum effect.
As Lionel turned to a side to avoid another charge from Victor, the timber wolf turned on a dime, losing no speed despite the change in direction and slammed into him-
Which was exactly when Magnus, seizing his own opportunity, would attack the leg on which Lionel and Victor had placed their combined weight, looking to take out the knee.
They were sizing each other up in the midst of battle, but the most disconcerting fact was how little Lionel himself seemed to care, taking their most aggressive charge like a bull walking through a swarm of flies.
It irritated him, perhaps, or perhaps not even that, but it certainly didn’t inconvenience him.
Then he unleashed his own power once more, and all around him knew fear.
Fear tearing at their guts, overloading their psyches with horrific yet nonsensical imagery-
Lucia was the first to tear free, and she looked- really looked- at her father.
She hated him.
There was no deeper reason to the hatred; she hated him because this is who they were, regarding each other.
Lionel did not hate her.
He did not even view her as a threat.
No matter what happened, that part would change tonight.
Bolts of crimson energy streaked across the blackness of the spirit plane, as Michael’s tamed spirit appeared through the bleed to assail Lionel.
He was surprised, but then rallied, and blindingly fast, he was upon the creature-
That simply slipped through his fingers, crackling with energy, and bombarded him once more.
Neither Lucia nor Magnus failed to notice Michael’s absence.
Spurred into action, they pressed forth.
But from the corner of his eye, Magnus saw Anders change directions, and slam into Victor’s flank.
Who had apparently been expecting such an assault, and hooked and arm around Anders’ own, and tossed him into the fray.
And then, Victor rushed out through the Bleed behind them, and Magnus, heart leaping into his throat, reversed course, running after him.
With Lucia right at his heels.
He grabbed her arm in his own, pulling her through.
And Lionel cut them off right as they were about to exit.
Lucia snarled; Michael, if he was still alive, was outnumbered at this point.
Neither Lucia nor Lionel could freely move through the Bleed without assistance, and right now, someone needed to give chase to Victor.
She gave her body up to liquid darkness once more, choosing to restrain the hungry void boiling within; for now.
And forced herself down Lionel’s throat.
Magnus was torn in indecision for a split second, before deciding on his course of action.
“Hold out!” He cried, as he disappeared through the Bleed.
Outside, into the wet night air once more, he dropped on all fours, chasing down Victor’s strength, and the scent of blood mingled with the night air.
Hot on his heels, he saw Victor dash towards the river and charged him down, unthinking of the danger.
At which point, Victor assumed the form of a human once more, and drawing one of the shotguns they had discarded at the side, let it loose at Magnus’ massive form bearing down on him.
Even then, Magnus was able to move out of the way, avoiding them, but given the automatic fire, the silver slugs found his chest eventually, and he dropped.
It was at this moment that Victor pounced, but gritting his teeth through the pain, Magnus locked his jaws around Victor’s thigh, tearing a chunk of flesh away.
Which proved to be a mistake, as acidic blood poured down his maw, hissing as it dissolved flesh.
Magnus dimly saw Victor’s form silhouetted against the glow of the inferno around them, staring him down.
“Shame. The great Magnus, finest warrior the Ulfhednar produced. At least, that’s the story. Not the dirty little secrets they sweep under the rug back in Denmark…”
Magnus attempted to lift himself up on one arm, only to have it kicked out from under him.
“Such a disappointment. Here I was, ready to really go, you know. It’d have been the time of our lives. But you walk face first into a trap. For that guy? How important is that mage to you anyway?”
He seemed to consider for a moment.
“Maybe I’ll just kill him.”
“Maybe you won’t.”
Ciara stepped forth, psychically concealed from the senses no longer, and Magnus heaved an internal sigh of relief.
Victor laughed.
“You gave me a pretty good run for my money on that boat, girl. Think you can do it again?”
“I think I don’t even need to try as hard this time, seeing how you’re so completely outnumbered. Or why do you think I’m so late to this party?”
She dropped a psychic veil like a blanket, unveiling unwitting, enthralled members of the police force, up until now, hidden from view, one armed with the energy rifle and one with another one of the shotguns loaded with silver.
“Think they’re fast enough to hit me, girl?”
“I think I can slow you down enough to be hit.”
“Maybe you won't. You haven’t started attacking yet.”
“Maybe I’m giving you an out. Unless you really want to push your luck. I’m fine with it. After all, you knew Hans long enough to know this; we mages don’t feel fear.”
Victor turned to Magnus, a genuinely amused expression on his face.
“Saved by the bell.”
And then, he took the form of a massive wolf, and sprang away, disappearing into the distance.
Magnus pulled himself to his feet, following the smell of blood and charred meat, where he found the two mages in the waters of the river, and dove in after Michael.
Michael was alive, his pulse fluttering, weak.
So was Magnus; for now, though he too, could feel his own strength flagging.
All he hoped was that Michael was right, and Lucia and Anders made it back alive.
On the other side of the membrane, Lucia unleashed her hunger for the second time this night, even as she slipped down Lionel’s throat as a being of pure shadow, meaning to turn him inside out, once and for all.
But Lionel flared the power of his own ancient blood, and two beings of shadow, locked in conflict, with neither Anders nor the spirit able to assist in any meaningful way.
Then Lucia lashed out with her own psychic attack when every other avenue of attack failed.
To no effect.
And they were back to physical form again, Lionel’s steely fingers wrapped beneath Lucia’s jaw once more, wearing an expression on his face that she could not quite place.
Anders tried to exploit this opening, but Lionel tossed his daughter aside, and without even looking, had Anders by the throat.
“You beasts should be able to touch spirits with your kinship to them, yes?”
He used the werewolf’s body as a shield against an incoming burst of crimson energy, then wielding Anders bodily with a single hand, unaffected by his thrashing within his grip, he blurred through space, and bludgeoned the spirit with Anders’ body.
Again.
And again.
The spirit attempted escape.
Not fast enough.
By the end, the spirit had dissolved to particles, and Anders lay in a crumpled, misshapen heap.
Lucia attacked again, relentless.
She did not waste time wondering what it would take to scratch this monster.
All that was left now was instinct.
Nothing else mattered but keeping up the attack.
A sharp shoulder caught her in the gut, and she was tossed away with two broken ribs.
“You are nothing like Aimee. You bared your teeth at me the moment you were born.”
Lucia engulfed him in shrouds of shadow, which he walked through with no resistance.
“From that very moment, I knew how alike we were. It was inevitable; this little disagreement of ours.”
Lucia unleashed a hail of blows to his chest, with nothing to show for it but two broken hands.
The blood flared within her, and her hunger howled as her wounds began to heal.
Then Lionel responded with a blow of his own, fist whistling as it moved, right at Lucia’s glabella.
She was hurled back.
“I… have seen enough.” Lionel said.
This was it.
All of it had come down to this.
This was where Lucia would die.
Lionel crashed through her mental walls, searing her mind as he read her like an open book.
And recoiled.
“I see,” he said, “Perhaps I don’t know as much as I think I did.”
He turned his cold eyes on Lucia, assessing something.
“I remember when I told you fire was a great equaliser for our kind. You learned that lesson well. Perhaps too well. Now remember this. Fire only serves to expose the heat that lies within us. The Vampire is not dead, Lucia. We are more alive than many beings out there. And remember this; we found our way to the plane of Death to stop the fire within us from killing us off. A vampire that cultivates their relationship to the powers of Death need never fear fire again.”
He turned to leave, and delivered his parting words.
“When next we meet, you will have understood what I told you, and learned to let go of the crutches you relied on today. Failing that, I will kill you, no matter what force stands behind you.”
And then, Lionel dissolved into shadows, and was gone, leaving the Spirit Plane, somehow unassisted.
Lucia dragged herself to Anders, her cracked skull knitting back together as her hunger amplified.
She got closer, the urge to bite into his unprotected neck tugging at her gut.
“Haven’t you… regenerated yet?”
Anders grunted as he got to his feet, shaking, and he and Lucia supported one another as they walked out through the bleed, leaving this bitter defeat behind.