Rise of Souls - IC

[TearsoftheWorld]

The sun had finally begun its slow descent towards the horizon, disappearing beneath the tree tops and casting an eerie glow on the sky. A gentle wind blew down through a quiet neighborhood street in Glen Oaks, shuffling the fallen leaves around before disappearing.

"I hate patrolling," Shauan mumbled to herself as she walked down a sidewalk. People had already started moving indoors, eating dinner or just enjoying the night, completely unaware of the dangers that lurked outside their doors.

Shauna ran a hand through her platinum coloured hair, brushing a few strands aside as her other hand tightly held onto a wooden stake.

Night after night it was her 'duty' to make sure the Vampires and other assorted demons didn't cause too much trouble.

But it really cramped into her social life. Shauna couldn't really remember the last time she went out on a date. But she had her job to do, and any time she thought about taking a night off, someone would always stir up trouble. And sure enough, when the night sky took over and the stars were shining brightly overhead, Shauna started chasing after a Vampire, jumping over fences and ducking under tree branches as she chased him down.

He stopped running and decided to try his hand at killing her, but she was too quick for him, and within a matter of seconds she had rammed her weapon through his chest, turning him into nothing more than a pile of dust.

"Well that's one down," Shauna said to herself. She liked to keep track of her kill count each night, and then try to beat her score the next night.

She turned her chosen destiny into a miniature game, and one she had no intention on losing. There were no reset buttons... no second chances. It was either her life or theirs, and Shauna preferred that to stay alive.

With the lack of activity going on, Shauna stopped in at an X-Tra mart and picked up some coffee. She left and headed for the nearest graveyard, sitting down on a stone wall while she waited for something to happen.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Eliza Westfield

Eliza stood underneath a tall tree, its leaves providing shade even under the night sky. She could hear the wind howling, and her red hair blew gently across her face.

She could smell them... the humans.

They smelled wonderful, and she licked her lips in anticipation.

Eliza had grown strong for a Vampire. She had eluded all of her captors, and even managed to kill a Slayer that had been tracking her. She fled to all corners of the world, and yet the Slayer had followed her around, not giving up the pursuit. Finally, on a dark street in London, Eliza faced her enemy and emerged victorious.

Perhaps it was the taste of a Slayers blood that made her stronger.

Perhaps not.

Eliza was attracted to Glen Oaks, and she could tell that it sat on a Hellmouth. And where there was a Hellmouth, there was sure to be one hell of a party. She wore a fairly revealing outfit, her ample chest and cleavage were extremely useful in luring pretty horny men (and sometimes women) out of their comfort zones and right into her arms.

They would usually be found dead the next morning, two puncture wounds on their neck and all their blood drained from their system. The police usually played it off as a wild animal attack, covering the truth to avoid mass hysteria.

But you can't hide the truth forever.

 

[Sean Renaud]

"This is it boys, the Hellmouth. Well more accurately a Hellmouth, there's another in Cleveland and one in New Orleans. These things are kinda like volcanos, you might have built your house on a dormant one and never fid out till it goes all Mount Saint Hellens on you."

Jermaine was wearing the wearing black, grey and blue urban digital camoflauge and matching face paint as he spoke to his platoon of twelve highly trained soldiers each dressed identically. They were standing at Parade Rest, a fancy military term for hands behind the back and legs comfortably spread. In addition to the uniform Jermaine wore each of them wore type V "Dragonskin" vests. They were designed to stop rifle rounds and offered enough protection to keep most super natural threats from ripping through a man like rice paper. In addition they were armed, five round combat shotguns, collapsable silver spike and a side arm of their choice.

"I'm telling you all that we're here on a Hellmouth because I don't no if the stories are true, if that undead bitch will be stronger here or not. I don't know if it really gives the beasties and extra edge but I know it makes them [think they do. It also means that places like this tend to collect monsters. We are only here for the target, anything else kill if it attacks otherwise free range evil is allowed to roam. Am I clear?" The troops nodded. Normally a thunderous 'YES SIR' would have been the response but out in the field they were remaining relatively quiet. "Good spread out in teams of two, stay with in radio contact at all times, if you make contact call out your position and hold, do not engage until the rest the entire unit has arrived. Don't be afraid to shoot her, it won't kill her. Well a direct head shot MIGHT at close enough range so aim for the body, legs. If she can't move she can't kill you. With the silver it will hurt her, but its not wood, even a direct blow to the heart isn't likely to be fatal."

Jermaine looked over the men one final time. They were as well preped as they could ever hope to be, but for most of them this was thei first time in field with a real vampire. Not a fledging fresh out of the ground locked in a compound, but a real vampire. These were his best men, possibly the best trained men in the world and still not all of them were going to come back, it was possible that none of them would make it back.

"Finally each of you has been issued an Injector filled with the blood of a deadman. R&D tell ms that this stuff is like poison to a vamp, should put her down without killing her. The slightest pressure will inject it so you don't have to stab. It should work rather immediately as well." What he wasn't telling the men was that this had never been tested. At all, it was just hearsay from hunters. It might just be more Anne Rice bullshit though, that was one of the most dangerous parts of fighting hostiles. Trying to unravel the fairytails from facts.

"Fall out." The men snapped to attention and then spread out in teams of two leaving Jermaine alone.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Shauna lightly brushed the dust off her jacket after she finished dusting another Vampire. That was the one thing that bothered her the most about the job. Aside from the long nights and crappy mornings, she always got her clothes dirty. It was a total drag.

But it had been a fairly productive night, and she was still alive, so that had to count for something.

She walked around in the graveyard, and she remember that someone had been recently buried. Rumor was that they had died of unknown causes, and that pretty much spelled out 'demon'.

"What was his name..." Shauna said to herself, crossing her arms as if she were in deep thought. She tapped her foot a few times before it finally came to her. She quickly ran over to his plot, and she found that it was still undisturbed.

But she knew the truth. Several feet down below her someone was about wake up... and they weren't going to be in a good mood.

Shauna checked the watch on her wrist and she tapped her foot again, growing rather impatient that Mr. Bigglesworth was playing hard to kill.

"Let's go, I want to take a shower before I'm 40," she mumbled impatiently. She sat down on his marker and crossed her legs, placing her head in her hands as she played with her stake.

 

[AmenRa]

He saw her.

It was no accident. Or perhaps it was. An accident hundreds of years in the making. And now it was at hand.

As it had been before, and no doubt would be again, a Watcher had found his Slayer. Such was the way of things. It was not questioned, it was not entirely understood. It simply was.

Isaiah adjusted the old, worn brown fedora on his head and walked with the slight breeze that blew across the street. His long, brown and dusty leather coat made little noise as he entered into the graveyard. He walked a bit more, then stopped several feet away from her. He watched for a moment, seeing her play absently with the wooden stake in her hand.

When he spoke to her, his voice was as gentle as the breeze.

"Patience, child. It will come of its own accord," he said to her.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Shauna almost dropped her stake when she looked up to see who was talking to her. Well... not really. But she was still surprised. Even moreso as to what he said to her. She raised an eyebrow and stood up on her feet.

"What do you mean?" Shauna asked, hiding her stake behind her bag.

She might as well have been wearing a sign that said 'I'm carrying a large, wooden weapon and I know how to use it'.

Before he could get a chance to respond, the ground behind Shauna began to upheave itself, and in less than a second a new Vampire had risen from his grave. Out of sheere instinct Shauna brought her weapon to bear, and she drove it into his body. His face became twisted with pain... and soon he felt nothing.

"Um..." Shauna said nervously.

"That was a uh... he was a uh... It was the moon. Makes you see things," she added.

Once again she felt like holding up a sign that said 'I'm a terrible liar'.

 

[Sean Renaud]

"Sir, we've got a visual. Red head, between five seven and five nine. She at the north end of town. Beneath an oak." Jermaine looked down at his radio. In addition to radio contact each of his soldiers was monitor via GPS, he knew their locations and even their heart rates if he cared to know and the rest of the troops were already closing in on his location.

"Hold your position and wait for my arrival." Jermaine took off a decent trot, the soldiers who had called it in were less than a mile away from him so he could easily be there in a few minutes. In the back of his mind he was already fearful that she might have heard his men, or smelled them or some other demon trick. It was known that vampires grew stronger as they aged there was no way of knowing what exactly she was capable of until she was pushed.

He arrived just over five minutes later baredly winded from the jog to find most of his team spread out in what was nearly a semi-circle around the target, the closest to her was still a hundred yards out, a safe distance to be from a human, for a vampire that was playing in some serious traffic but Jermaine couldn't use the radio to warn the soldier either. It was fortunate that there didn't seem to be any civillians near enough to be worried about collateral damage.

"Shit." Jermaine whispered, she hadn't moved. Not once. Either he'd gotten luckier than made sense or she was baiting him. "Tranquilizers to start, followed by tasers and lethal force only as a last resort."

The soldier closest to Eliza pulled his dartgun from it's holster, released his breath as he took aim at her chest, it was after all the easiest target with the least amount of chance of him hitting bone, and well his eyes were naturally drawn there as well and he squeezed the trigger. . .

 

[Bladesman]

Luke stood on the steeple of a church directly across from the Hellmouth in Glen Oaks. To be truthful, the Hellmouth was very close to a Vampire coven gathering place. He inhaled the night air, the scent of death was in the air. Though it was more then one type of death in the night air. He could tell from the scent that several of the younger members of the coven had fallen. He snarled out at the night air in anger. He breathed in again smelling a different scent; a vampire had fed tonight as well.

He let a primal call ring out from his throat, its dark and foreboding single note carrying from the top of the steeple and out into the town. The sound carried for a moment before fading into the eerie silence of night. It was a call of vengeance; someone would answer for the death of those who had fallen tonight. He looked down at the chapel door as it opened. One of the last members of the church choir was leaving. She was a young woman of about twenty years of age or so and would do nicely for his meal of the night. He smiled, his curved fangs slipping down past his lips to give his smile a very sinister look on it.

“The night is young and my meal in sight. If only the moon were black, then it would be a truly fine evening.”

As he said this, he released his hold on the steeple and dropped soundlessly to the patch of mulch surrounding a maple tree in the courtyard of the church. He cracked his neck with an audible cracking sound. The girl spun around quickly, her eyes darting around in fear. He looked straight at her, his enticing eyes catching her eyes and holding her spellbound as he approached her. As he moved closer to her, he could hear her heart beating and smell the scent of her blood calling to him. He brushed his thumb along her throat so he could feel the pulse of her jugular vein.

She gasped at his touch and he leaned in close to her and kissed her deeply. After a moment she responded with a slight growl as she kissed him back and ran her tongue over his larger then normal canines. He kept kissing her but started moving his way down her neck, and then he struck. He sank his teeth into her jugular vein with a primal growl and began to drink in her warm blood. She screamed loudly as he pierced that vein that was so little yet so important. He savored the taste of her blood but he pulled back before he could drink the final drops of her blood.

She slumped weakly to the ground and he drew one of his short swords and slashed it across her throat easily hiding his fang marks in the slash. Now that he had fed and had disguised the kill, he leapt back into the air and onto the wall of the courtyard. He ran along the courtyard wall and sprang easily onto a nearby roof and began to head closer to the Hellmouth, but being careful not to be seen.

 

[AmenRa]

Isaiah looked up at the moon and watched the wisps of clouds cross its face. He then turned his gave back to Shauna, and with a smile he answered.

"The moon, indeed," he said to her. "And how is it the moon makes Vampires? No, no my dear," he admonished, "the moon makes Werewolves. Surely a Slayer would know these things."

He looked at the ash of the slain Undead. "Impressive," he remarked, "but your style lacks finesse." He then rummaged around in the aged and old leather shoulder bag he carried, occasionally making the remarks of "no, that's not" and "where did I put that thing" until he finally found what he sought. He withdrew an old, yellowed card that looked in the shape of a modern business card. The writing, however, vintaged and faded, was in a flowing caligraphic script that read, simply:

ISAIAH
WATCHER
LONDON - CAIRO - ROME

He handed the card to Shauna with tip of his fedora and a bow.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Well shit. She had another Watcher checking up on her. I guess to each generation there is born like... ten thousand of them. She didn't particularly fancy the last Watcher she had been assigned, and so when she read his card she scoffed.

"So I guess you're here to tell what to do and that you run the show, right?"

"And by the way, the Moon doesn't make Werewolves. Werewolves biting, clawing and scratching other people make Werewolves. The Moon just takes them out for a wild night on the town," Shauna added as she finished dusting herself off. Vamp ashes always had a nasty habit of getting into the most remote parts of your clothes and were a pain in the ass to clean if not removed right away.

Shauna had taken slight offense to having her technique criticized.

"My technique isn't that bad. See me standing here? Mr. Vampire is all dusty now," she noted in a somewhat child-like manner, using her stake to first point at herself and then at the pile of ashes.

She hadn't really anyone to properly train her for a short while, so perhaps Isaiah was right in some regards. But it wasn't her fault that the last Watcher she had been assigned had been too old and vulnerable. Shauna was just far too energetic and 'reckless' as he had once put it. She hardly even read the manuals (if she ever even knew they existed).

 

[Sean Renaud]

Adjusting for things like wind are difficult for shooters under ideal circumstances with flags to clearly show the direction and speed of the wind and that's with a high powered rifle firing a small bullet. Adjusting at night for an air powered dart gun was almost like playing roulette, at best you had a fifty fifty chance and today was looking good for Private Jenkins. The dart thudded uselessly into the tree next to Eliza giving her just a few seconds warning before the dozen soldiers started to charge her.

The war cries weren't meant to frighten her, that might have worked against human targets but in this case it was a simple matter psyching the men up, and it didn't suck to know that you really weren't alone, there were other men behind you and it was just one girl when you got right down to it. How much trouble could a single woman actually be?

Jermaine wacould have watched from a safe distance, that probably would have been the smart thing to do. Let his men do what they were trained to do but he wasn't going to stand back, instead he was rushing in as well though all of his men had a head start that the battle would be well underway by the time he made it to the melee. His men had their orders though. If such a thing was possible she'd be brought down by a combination of taser blasts and being hit with batons.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Eliza had been standing next to the large tree when she heard something pierce the air and imbed itself into the tree next to her. She quickly looked at the dart and realized that someone was obviously after her.

It was a lucky miss for her...

But something was a bit off. Why aim for an area that wasn't a weak point?

She quickly left her position and began running, hearing their cries pierce the night sky. If she could get the upper hand again, Eliza would certainly make her trackers pay with their very lives. She wouldn't even grant the sweet taste of relief.

They would be tortured... slowly, brought to mere inches of their pitiful lives. She enjoyed killing, sure. But they had gotten the jump on her, and for that she couldn't forgive them.

Eliza ducked and jumped over a few low-lying tree branches, and her quick speed provided her with some manner of comfort. She decided to try and trap them one at a time. Eliza grabbed one branch and she swung herself up and around it, landing on top and steadying herself. From there she would wait until someone came underneath her, and then it would be too late. She figured that whomever was after her was probably just some lone bounty hunter trying to get lucky.

 

[Sean Renaud]

She was fast, incredible fast actually. That might have been the reason why she so easily out distanced the commandos pursuing her. It might have been that seeing her moved that quickly really sent home the fact that she wasn't human and they really didn't want to catch her just yet. Whatever it was she was easily able to put a bit of distance between herself and the soldiers.

"Sir, we lost contact." One of the soldier said into the radio.

"Continue to pursue. She's two hundred yards past your current. . ." Jermaine trailed off. "Stop!" It was at that moment that Jermaine realized something, she was cocky. Maybe it was that she'd never been up against men who both had modern technology AND knew what she was. Maybe she was just old enough that she'd started to buy into the myth of immortality. Whatever it was she wasn't even trying. She'd just stopped in a tree. "Spread out, this time for a ring starting with your location."

This time Jermaine decided to make contact himself. He paused considering his thoughts, he wasn't sure if he should announce himself and see if her pride brought her down to tear him to shreds and spread him around the field like confetti. He decided quickly on the second option pulling a taser from his hip and fired. The wires fired out and connected with her hip and sent ten thousand volts through through her corpse.

It was only good for a single shot so Jermaine had already dropped the weapon and was reaching for his batton.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Eliza had reached her hand up to hold onto a branch, and she calmed herself down to see if she could sense where her pursuers were. Most of the time they made a bee-line straight for her, and she usually turn right around and tear them to bits.

She was certainly hungry enough.

Eliza thought she heard the sound of feet quickly running against the ground, but it all stopped after a moment.

This was actually kind of fun.

Or at least it used to be.

Eliza certainly didn't expect to be shot witha taser gun... she had never been tasered before! Sure, she had seen her fair share of axes, daggers, knifes, swords, lances, darts and even a stake or two, but never a taser. Electricity immediately coursed through her body and she felt her senses and motor functions go numb. The grip she had on the branches momentarily left her, and she fell down towards the ground with a thud.

So much for her element of surprise. Eliza wasn't dealing with some mindless thugs... these hunters were professionals, more interested in disabling her first.

"Fuck," she cursed under her breath, her hand grabbing at the grass and tearing it up as she stood to her feet.

Well if they wanted to play dirty she could certainly go along with it.

 

[AmenRa]

Isaiah raised an eyebrow at her. He wasn't about to argue the moon's influence over the transformation of a lyncathrope.

"Child," he admonished, "this 'show' is not for me to run."

He moved closer, then stopped, raising the brim of his hat as he turned his attention to the sounds of the night.

"Do you hear them?" he asked Shauna. "Can you feel them out there?" He reached forward and took her chin gently in his hand. She was soft and innocent and so beautiful. The attachment he felt to her was instantaneous, as it should be between watcher and slayer, as if it were the melding of a symbiology of father and daughter, yet so much more. He gave her a little smile, then spoke in his quiet and decidedly European accent. "They can sense you, and they will come for you. And although you so efficiently smote down 'Mr. Vampire', he was but one of the Lessers.

"You have yet to see the power of an Ancient," he finished.

He then turned to the old, leather bag he carried and rummaged around some more in it. He pulled a very old and tarnished silver crucifix that hung on a chain from the bag and placed the artifact in her hand.

"Wear this," he said, "and trust me."

He held out his hand to her.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Shauna grumbled at being called a child. She was anything but a child. Children laugh and run and play, free of the worlds influence and naive of its dangers. Shauna's entire life revolved around danger. She was the Slayer, after all.

It was her destiny to fight. And if she met her end, another was chosen to take her place.

But if she could give all that up without dying she would glady do so.

When he moved closer she felt like inching back, but he already took her chin into his gentle hands. She felt a little awkard, but she knew in her gut that he wasn't trying to take advantage of her.

Shauna also knew that they could sense her. And she could spot them out a crowd of a hundred people or more. She reached out her hand and Isaiah placed in it a necklace. It looked extremely worn, but its symbolism was not lost to her. She raised her hands to her neck and she clasped the chain around it, the cross dangling just above her chest.

"Thank you," she said softly.

Even though Isaiah held out his hand, Shauna didn't feel like taking it. She didn't trust him completely yet. Those kinds of bonds took time to form.

"So what next?" she asked. If he was her new Watcher, then Isaiah would surely have some idea of what she should be doing.

 

[Bladesman]

He ran easily along the rooftops heading toward the graveyard. His breathing was light and barely heard as he moved. He leapt across another gap between two roofs and caught scent of a paticular scent. Luke stopped for a moment, his eyebrow furrowing as he tried to recall that scent. After several moments he remembered what that scent had been. A watcher was in the area, in close proximity in fact. Watchers always had that smell of old books and vampiric dust about them.

He raised his voice loud enough that it would carry to the watcher. Then spoke to him in the ancient Vampiric language which he was fairly certain the watcher would know.

"Found yourself a new Slayer have you? Is your new slayer male or female and how would you feel to have them turned and hunt you in turn? Never forget Watcher, you might watch us, but we do the same toward your type. Strike while you can Watcher, your time comes as well."

 

[Sean Renaud]

"Wow, tough girl. A shock like tha twould have put down a bull." Jermaine bantered nervously. The taser had hardly even stunned her. Sure it had knocked her out of the tree but beyond that it seemed to have accomplished terribly little outside of pissing her off. Jermaine reached for his baton telescoping it out to it's full length as he charged in swinging for her gut.

The men had been trained to for just this posibility and they were closing in as a ring cutting off any route of escape. Well assuming she couldn't fly, half of the men weren't certain she wouldn't sprout bat wings and fly away, or turn herself into a bat like something in a cheap movie. Tasers and dart guns were brought up, but with Jermaine engaged in melee combat they were all holding their fire waiting for an opening.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Eliza had managed to get up on her feet by the time one of her attackers came charging at her, a large weapon held in his hand.

"Now that's not fair. I'm completely unarmed," she said playfully.

When he gotten close enough, Eliza jumped into the air and planted both her feet on his chest. She could see all his friends had gathered around them in a tight circle. She did a sort of backflip after kicking the soldier down to the ground, and she wasted no time in throwing herself into the thick of things.

Eliza noticed that they were all dressed in similar fashion, and reacted to her movements as if it were a training exercise.

But this was not an exercise.

This was real.

And she was a killing machine!

Eliza dodged a few kicks and punches, and for a good while she maintained dominance over her attackers. She tossed them around a little like rag dolls, punching them every which way and even kicking some of them straight in the gut. Their armor had probably provided them with a comfortable amount of cushioning, as they got right back up and went at her again. Though she was stronger and a little faster, they had more in numbers. Eliza finally managed to get in a solid blow to one of the soldiers, and she took immediate advantage of his moment of weakness.

With swiftness she had ripped a part of his collar aside and saw the exposed area of his delicious neck. She bit down hard and savored the sweet taste of his blood. Her eyes remained locked on the rest of his teammates while she continued to feast. She had an iron grip on his body, and there seemed to be no chance of escape for the poor bastard. Aside from the sweet taste of his blood, Eliza drew sheer pleasure from the pitiful looks on their faces as they watched one of their friends die.

After a few moments one of the soldiers managed to hit her with a taser. And just as quickly as before, Eliza felt her motor functions shut down for a few brief moments.

It was one of the most annoying feeling in the world... She absolutely hated it.

 

[Sean Renaud]

"Now that's not fair. I'm completely unarmed," she said playfully.

Good he'd gotten her to talk, he already knew she was faster than he was, a lot faster but if he could keep her talking. She terminated that line of thought with a flipping drop kick to the chest that sent him head over heels before resting on his back in the cool grass. She was strong, even with the bulletproof vest that blow had knocked the wind from him and left him slightly dazed.

As well trained as his men were she was still batting them aside like they were children. By the time Jermaine sat up one of his men was already feeling the final embrace from the lovely vampiress. A part of him breifly wondered if there that was really a horrible way to die. Worse she was obviously stronger than any vampire they had captured before, usually a taser would slow one down, she just seemed to be getting pissed off.

Jermaine rose to his feet and grabbed for a shotgun chambering a round and charging forward. He wasn't worried in the least that he'd hit Lance Corporal Jaeger, the fact was that the man was going to die, if he got lucky he might die quickly. Jermaine took the shot emptying buckshot round directly into her back and quickly chambering another round. If tasers weren't gonna put her down a more direct approach would have to be tried and damned if Jermaine was going to be the one to try the deadman's blood when he still had safer options that didn't involve hand to to hand with a monster.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

If Eliza had thought that the taser was annoying... being shot in the back was even worse. The blow sent both her and the soldier she was biting lurching forward, and she fell towards the ground, letting him go in the process. The shot had been well placed, and Eliza had to fight back a cry of pain. The combination of being tasered and shot had really knocked her around a bit.

Things were starting to get messy... and Eliza hated getting messy. The gunshot wound would take a while to heal, and she would need to buy a new outfit.

She felt her body being tasered again while she rolled on the ground, and she constantly felt her body being barraged with attacks.

They were like tiny gnats... and she wanted to just swat them all away.

Her lip was bleeding and she was covered in grass stains and dirt. Eliza groaned when she felt a swift kick to her stomach. As one of the soldiers aimed another kick at her side, Eliza angrily reached up and grabbed his foot, twisting it a little and causing him to fall down on the ground. It gave her enough time to scramble onto her feet. She ducked a punch and managed to grab onto one of the soldiers batons as it was swung at her face. She tore it out of his grip and swung it against his head.

The soldier fell to the ground and didn't get back up.

Blood continued to trickle out of the gunshot wound from her back, and Eliza winced a little. It fucking hurt.

 

[Sean Renaud]

"Goddamn it!" This was starting to seem like a worse idea each second that passed. There was no need for him to check the first soldier she'd gone after she'd done enough damage to his throat. He was either dead or would be in the very immediate future. The other had taken a direct blow to the skull from her and he hit the ground with an impact that would have split his skull even if she hadn't already broken his nose. That man would probably never get up either.

It wasn't the death that really concerned Jermaine, soldiers were tools. It's true that a good worker takes care of his tools, keeps them clean and dry, uses them properly, screwdrivers don't work well as pry bars, and a good worker would never use a screw driver as a prybar. At the same time he doesn't cry when he breaks a hammer working on a project. Tools break.

The problem here was that two of his best tools had been broken quickly, and with no noticible effect. The main difference between tools of the metal variety and those of the flesh is that flesh is weak and dominited by a mind that seeks to preserve itself. The men who'd started off bold and brazen were now fighting their instincts which in this situation was to run away. If they did that not only would the mission be a failure but there was no garunteed that they could escape her, she might just let them spread out too much to help each other. It had to come to a close and quickly.

"Shotguns. She's strong and she'll heal!" Jermaine roared as he fired another round into his prey. Of the remaining ten men only three had the required motor functions to chamber rounds, remove safeties and point the gun in her general direction and fire. The glory of buckshot is that almost counts, if not she would only have been hit by one of them. The rest of the shotguns only issued clicks as hammers landed on empty chambers or frustrated moans as the trigger refused to budge.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Eliza had dashed off towards one of the soldiers, but she felt a stab of pain in her side and she veered off course. She could move fast, but their aim was pretty spot on. She fell to the ground again, and this time a small tear dripped down the side of her face.

It wasn't a sign of weakness... it was just a natural reaction to her pain.

Her first wound had already started healing, but the new ones wouldn't start for quite a while. Some of the guns wouldn't fire, and so Eliza was spared the pain of being shot multiple times.

She was starting to feel tired... exhausted even. Each movement she made hurt, and she would wince from the pain. Eliza wiped the blood away from her mouth but a new trickle had already begun dripping its way down towards the ground.

She would need more blood, and soon.

Eliza certainly hadn't expected for this to happen. Tonight was supposed to be a relaxed evening of feasting and sleeping. But then these annoying pests just had to go and ruin her fun. She had already killed off two, and there were at least ten or so left. The fight wasn't looking good, however. She was starting to doubt whether she would be able to kill them all. Some were keeping their distance, and their weapons were starting to wear her down.

Growling low, Eliza summoned up a bit of strength and she managed to catch one of the soldiers that couldn't get his gun straight. She quickly tore at his throat, and she sunk her fangs into his flesh, drawing out quite a bit of blood. She was forced to let him go and pushed the body aside when she felt another round pierce her side, blood immediately splattering out of the wound.

 

[AmenRa]

"What next?" Isaiah smiled and adjusted the sit of his hat. "Next, you train, then, you hunt."

He turned with a swish of his long coat and stepped away into the mist. He stopped after a few steps, waiting, his back to her.

He then heard an ancient voice speak an ancient tongue, and deep within himself, he smiled. It was good to know he was not alone, even though the power portrayed by this one was strong indeed.

Strike as you wish, he focused his thoughts, your power holds no dominion over me, and soon it shall not hold any over this Slayer as well. Mark me, and remember the rules to the game.

"Well?" he pondered aloud, turning to look over his shoulder, "are you coming?"

 

[Sean Renaud]

With three of his men down Jermaine was ready to try something a little more desperate, after all at this point it couldn't possibly hurt anything to try so he reached for his syringe. Fear was a powerful motivator for men, it was something of a miracle that the remaining men hadn't fled from the blood splattered demon dancing through them delivering death by devouring their bodies. There training was holding as a few more of them managed to figure out why their guns hadn't functioned properly and fired more rounds into her.

Jermaine saw his opening when one slammed into her hip nearly bowling her over. Taking a running start he speared the woman and jammed the syringe into her gut flooding her system with the deadman's blood. He wasn't certain that it was going to be enough to put her down. They had never actually tested that myth out before and it might not do anything. Worse it might kill her, was 50cc too little or too much? Either way he figured he'd know soon enough.

In the mean while he needed to keep up the pressure, she would heal, and quickly but his dead men would stay dead. Of that he was. . .reasonably certain. She was bleeding all over the place and if they hadn't died from the wounds she inflicted. . .that was a variable he hadn't quite planned. He realized that he'd actually paused for a full second to contemplate that possibility, and she hadn't pressed her advantage. Maybe she was starting to slow down, or maybe he was just lucky either way he reached for his baton intending to pin her down.

Well that wasn't lucky, he'd dropped it when she'd drop kicked him. Well that left the frightening concept of hand to hand, but maybe he could still hold her, after all wrestling is more about the proper leverage than brute strength. Jermaine gripped Eliza by the wrist and rolled himself over her hoping a wrist lock would keep until she could be properly restrained.

"BAG HER!" He roared.