The streets of LA were bustling.
It was in direct contrast to the morbid scene that Sam and Xavier had just departed.
Sam found it hard to reconcile – how could the streets be filled with such ignorant happiness when just twenty feet away, in a now-destroyed underground residence, the hearts of more than fifty children had been harvested.
“Surprising, I know…” The Eternal stuttered, trying to regain his footing. “But just remember, the same way you look at these people is the same way I look at you sometimes.”
“I never thought I would be considered this naïve,” Sam replied, leading the way.
The Shapeshifter didn’t know where he was going, but walking anywhere was better than standing next to a mass grave of children’s hearts.
------------
They ended up walking in circles.
The smell bothered Sam enough to ruin his sense of direction, but Xavier was pleased to know that the Shapeshifter was rapidly adjusting to everything.
‘It was a smart choice to bring him…’
Sam may not have noticed, but Xavier had…
The Eternal had brought Sam exactly because he was curious about the effects it would have, and preliminary inspection proved that his hypothesis was acceptable.
But now wasn’t the time to discuss that.
Xavier could finally stand on his two feet after a couple of minutes. “Okay, I will lead the way this time,” The Eternal voiced.
Sam had no objections – he merely kept brushing his nose as much as possible.
The duo walked but as soon as they turned the corner, they came face-to-face with something unexpected – a Nun had almost bumped into them.
“I’m sorry…” Mother Superion apologized, ignoring the tingle of the Halo seared into her flesh – it had been rippling since she entered the city.
There were many things around – too many things that she couldn’t even begin to identify them.
“It’s fine…” Xavier replied on instinct.
Sam sidestepped at the same time as Mother Superion, and thankfully, they both stepped in different directions so there was no continuance of the intersection.
“I didn’t know there were Nuns in LA?” Sam frowned as they walked.
“There aren’t…” Xavier responded, an incredulous look on his face. “At least, not that I am familiar with – she is probably a stripper or something? These people in cities like that stuff.”
Mother Superion – who had been walking away – picked up on Xavier’s statement with her keen hearing, and his words immediately triggered her.
That the sanctity of Nun Uniforms was being besmirched in large cities was unthinkable to her.
She stopped.
Xavier and Sam, about to depart, also paused their steps and spun around – the men had little choice since the threat they felt radiating from the Nun was palpable.
“What are you?” The Eternal’s eyes dangerously narrowed.
Mother Superion’s closed her eyes and felt the warning of The Halo pulsing from her back, and when she reopened her eyes, her expression had become grim.
This was a fight she was not prepared for, but one that had to be fought nonetheless – The Halo told her as much.
“What are you?” The Nun inquired in turn, spreading her legs into a semi-combat stance.
Things hadn’t reached critical mass as yet.
The more Xavier looked at The Nun, the more familiar she became, but it was almost as if Mother Superion wasn’t the familiar thing… her atmosphere was the familiar thing.
“You feel semi-Eternal-like…” He voiced.
That was the best way Xavier could describe the vibe he was getting from Mother Superion.
“You feel… good,” She responded.
That was as much as Mother Superion could tell about Xavier, and while it may not be the truth, she was inclined to believe the reaction of The Halo.
Xavier’s eyes pulsed with Cosmic Energy, allowing him to see a bit into the Cosmic Spectrum – it was a byproduct of his ability to shoot Cosmic Beams, and it was his only ability not inherited from Ikaris.
He could now discern certain things – for example, Mother Superion had a strange, bright energy surrounding her entire body.
Sam sniffed the air. “I hate to break up whatever is developing here, but…” He sniffed the air once more for confirmation. “We have company incoming.”
“Then, we should take care of them,” Mother Superion replied.
Unphased by whatever was coming, she turned around and dipped into a dark alley, clearly intent on taking whatever altercation was to come away from the public’s eye.
“Do we follow her?” Sam questioned.
“Follow The strange Nun with a cross in her hand into a deep, dark alley that probably has demons?” Xavier answered with utmost sarcasm and trailed after Mother Superion. “Of course, we won’t follow her,” He added.
Sam could only groan as he trailed behind Xavier.
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Mother Superion spun on her heel and scanned the roof of the enclosed space with her eyes.
“I thought you would run away,” She voiced.
“I normally would,” Xavier shrugged his shoulders. “But a Nun about to fight Vampires intrigues me, and you seem very familiar.”
“Vampires?” Mother Superion appeared confused. “I thought it was demons.”
“I prefer vampires,” Sam muttered. “I rather stick to what I know,” He added.
“These are not the kinds you know,” Xavier replied and added. “Heads up, they’re coming.”
WHOOOOOSH
Four vague figures appeared at the end of the alley.
They sauntered their way to where Xavier, Mother Superion, and Sam stood – the trio had relaxed their bodies, giving no indication that they were prepared for the battle to come.
“And what is a Nun doing out so late?” The Bearded Vampire smiled disgustingly. “Don’t tell me you’re back here losing that Nun-virginity to two dicks. Why not add four mo—”
CRACK
The Bearded Vampire’s neck leaned to one side – it had been broken by the hands that stretched from the darkness behind him… hands that belonged to Mother Superion.
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Sam’s eyes widened…
Xavier was also confused about what happened – he felt fluctuations but it wasn’t gravity, and in the next second, The Nun that was beside him had disappeared.
“FUCK!”
The yell of one of the three remaining Vampires awakened Xavier and Sam from their daze.
WHOOOSH
The Eternal blurred forward, and in the next instant, the Youngest Vampire had collided with the alley’s wall – a hand firmly clutched around his neck.
BZZZTTTT
Xavier’s eyes pulsed with Cosmic brilliance and a beam melted through the skull of The Youngest Vampire – it took exactly two seconds from start to finish.
Still, The Eternal was slower than The Halo Bearer.
Mother Superion’s questioning gaze met Xavier’s, and then, both Supernatural Beings directed their attention to Sam as if telling The Shapeshifter to prove himself.
Sam used the wall as leverage, pushed himself several feet in the air, and shifted into a nearly seven-foot-tall wolf that ripped the head off of a frozen vampire.
The vampire’s body crumbled to the ground without a head.
Sam quickly returned to his human form with a head in his hands – it was not the crystal hardness he expected…
“These ones bleed,” The Shapeshifter noted.
Sam, Mother Superion, and Xavier all examined each other… their thoughts were more or less all the same.
Xavier noted that Sam’s speed of change had reached new levels.
Mother Superion noted the blur-like speed of Xavier’s and the ferocity of Sam’s.
Sam noted the ease with which Xavier could now use the beam from his eyes – that meant The Eternal had been faking previously.
WHOOOOSH
The trio was distracted enough to give the final vampire a chance to escape.
Mother Superion had broken the neck of the first vampire, and for good measure, she utilized some of The Halo’s energy to set the body ablaze.
Xavier had burned through the head of the second vampire.
Sam had severed the head of the third vampire.
And the fourth vampire was already halfway up the thirty-foot wall – he had simply used unnatural coordination to leap and stick to the wall.
“Hmmm…” Xavier hummed.
Just as The Eternal was about to simply float up to the vampire and dispatch it… another party chose to make themselves known at this time.
WHOOOOOSH
A shadow shot into the air from atop the building and twirled in the air, and with the flash of a silver blade, the vampire’s head had been severed.
The person in question landed right in front of the trio.
There was the small shattering sound of a fractured bone, but the person straightened up not even a second later – they had healed the damage in an instant.
A person capable of leaping ten feet in the air and falling forty feet with a simple fracture that healed instantly?
The man was definitely not normal.
Kaulder sheathed Hexenbane, unwilling to be perceived as a threat by three individuals as capable as himself – he had been watching them, and each of them could give him a run for his money, let alone if they attacked all at once.
The trio had turned to four…
“I guess introductions are in order,” Xavier mentioned, examining the newcomer and Mother Superion simultaneously.
Sam went first – he was aware that he was the weakest person there. “Sam Quileute – Alpha of The Quileute Tribe, Werewolf.”
“You’re not a Werewolf,” Kaulder examined Sam from head to toe and chuckled. “It’s a full moon tonight, and werewolves are extinct.”
“I am—”
“Doesn’t matter,” Xavier quickly skipped the topic, not willing to educate Sam about the nuances of his species just as yet. “Sam, you’re a Shapeshifter – we have to discuss that in the future, not now.”
Sam wanted to argue but he knew Xavier had knowledge that was beyond him – the only question was why Xavier hadn’t told him before now.
“Mother Superion…” The Nun reported, still wary but warming up. “Halo Bearer – though I am best known as The Warrior Nun…”
“Sounds familiar,” Xavier nodded, the name bouncing around in his head.
“I have never heard of you,” Kaulder frowned – to think there were so many species he remained unaware of even after eight hundred years of life.
It was unthinkable, and that meant something else was afoot.
“And you?” Xavier urged.
In The Eternal’s mind, Kaulder was the only person who could pose a threat to him, simply because the man felt and appeared to be an ordinary human.
“Kaulder – Slayer of The Witch Queen and Witch Hunter,” He reported.
Suddenly, it clicked in Xavier’s mind as if a fog had been lifted from his memories – a stream of memories emerged, though he could not scan through all of it immediately…
Alcides had mentioned that crossing The VEIL had allowed him to remember some things, and Xavier was currently experiencing the same thing.
Whatever memories that had been locked away from Ikaris’s mind were slowly being recovered – it caused a strain on Xavier, but at this point, he preferred to know what was happening instead of guessing.
“Kaulder – The Last Witch Hunter, and Mother Superion – 7th Halo Bearer…” The Eternal groaned.
Mother Superion and Kaulder quirked their brows.
“You know of me?” The Human Immortal questioned.
“I am afraid things just got infinitely more complicated,” Xavier muttered, holding his head in a manner that showed his mental age.
Now, there were some guesses that could be made…
Firstly, The VEIL divided the world into Glamoured Layers that separated Supernatural Creatures from each other… while the Supernatural Creatures occupied the same world, they remained largely unaware of each other.
A werewolf could appear as a dog…
A vampire could appear as a bat…
Anything supernatural would appear as the nearest mundane association…
Secondly… The VEIL clouded not only people and environments but memories as well, and if the memories floating in Xavier’s mind were any indication – the world was once whole.
That meant someone made The VEIL and crippled his memories – someone more powerful than The Warrior Nun, The Last Witch Hunter, and multiple vampire species.
Lastly, this world was just a single world that consisted of several series and movies from his past life… thus far, Xavier can confirm Blade, The Warrior Nun, Twilight, and The Last Witch Hunter.
‘But there will be more…’ He frowned.
“And who are you?” Kaulder inquired in a voice that was the spitting image of the actor that played him – Vin Diesel.
Mother Superion and Sam seemed equally curious – Sam was aware of Xavier’s abilities, but they had never discussed exactly what Xavier was.
First of his kind, one of a kind, or one of many?
“Ikaris Xavier Aionios,” Xavier spoke, scratching the back of his head to hide the weakness of his splitting headache. “I am not sure about the specifics, but I am what you call an Eternal.”
Kaulder frowned, seemingly searching his memories for something. “Homo-Immortalis? That kind of Eternal?” He inquired.
“You know my species?” Xavier was a bit excited – he hadn’t been able to find out much about other Eternals.
Even if he wasn’t exactly Ikaris – though that could be questioned due to recent discoveries – the possibility of being the last of his kind left a bitter taste in his mouth.
“Scribbles on walls in caves, and a particularly vicious mention carved into The Witch Queen’s Plague Tree. An offshoot of humanity that battled The Plagues of the world for thousands of years,” Kaulder mentioned, looking at Xavier with a hint of sympathy. “Last I read from those walls, your kind was extinct – you lost the war against The Witch Queen.”
Xavier was able to confirm something new – this world had its very own history, woven from the beginning of time, and it could take lore from a wide range of movies and series.
“What now?” Sam inquired, relaxing his guard a bit more.
“What are the chances that we would all be in this city simultaneously?” Mother Superion casually asked. “I would say we are here to kill each other, but seeing as we killed those… vampires? It seems we have similar views concerning things that prey on humans.”
Xavier, Kaulder, and Sam nodded.
Though it didn’t show, they had all been watching each other carefully, ready to respond to an attack at a moment’s notice.
But now that common ground had been found, they could build from there.
“It was flashes of a temple in the unrenovated part of Los Angeles,” Kaulder revealed. “But I haven’t been able to pinpoint the exact location.”
“Don’t you have resources at your disposal?” Xavier inquired.
“I have books dating back as far as the 10th century, but I can’t find something that isn’t there. I think magic is at play here,” Kaulder voiced.
“If you can get me to the general area, My Halo can pierce through any magical protections or illusion,” Mother Superion offered.
“I can smell where the strongest scent of vampires originates from,” Sam revealed.
“Then, I guess it will be my job to get us there,” Xavier compromised, rousing the gravitons and using the particles to latch onto the outline of everybody around him.
Slowly, Kaulder, Mother Superion, and Sam started to barely float off the ground.
“It will be difficult to keep this up for long and I can’t guarantee the landing will be smooth,” Xavier mentioned. “But luckily, everyone here can take care of themselves so I don’t have to worry much.”
The Eternal rose into the air, carrying Sam and his two new companions along.