FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter -20- The Beast and the Burden

July 10, 1999 - 3:30pm Miami ...

"If you want us to help you, you've got to help us." Karla Chintzy folded her arms beneath her generous bust.

The Chinese man looked down, possibly in shame or possibly to stare at Karla's chest.

The succubus leaned forward and eased her head down so that she put herself directly in his line of view. She looked up in Ching's gaze, inches away from his face. "Stop pouting."

Peri added, "Rook in Kar-ra's eyes. It's not impossibru, Mistuh Ching."

Ching clenched one of his hands into a fist but kept his eyes down. "Don't mock me."

Peri replied with a smirk. "Don't mock me."

"Don't mock me," Karla repeated.

"You're children. You'll get my family killed."

Peri cut back in. "You're children. You'll get my family saved."

Karla flashed Peri a grin.

"God you people and your powers. You think you're above everyone, don't you? But, really, you're just like my sister-in-law. You're afraid of what you have, and you hide behind your ego to mask your fear."

Karla put her finger on Ching's forehead and poked him firmly between his brows. "Jing Yuen is a sweet girl. Her only problem is that she doesn't yet know what she is capable of. Of course she's afraid of what she has. But I'm not. Now, why would they want Jing?"

"They are using my wife to draw her out of hiding. Jing came to Florida to start her life over, and they followed her. All I know is that these people want my wife's sister."

Chance cleared his throat. Sitting in the middle of an upholstered bench seat between Karla and Peri, he patted both girls' knees to draw their attention.

Karla drew quiet. Peri said nothing.

Chance leaned forward and looked at the Asian man sitting at the wheel of the large orange truck. "Ladies, Ching does know why Falcon's people want Jing."

Peri bared her teeth and leaned forward so Ching would see her expression. "You want me to eat you?"

Chance patted Peri's knee. "Falcon's people want Jing Yuen because it's believed that Jing is one of the few fire starters who is genetically compatible with certain others. Kind of like having type 'O' blood, but in reference to her abilities."

Karla furrowed her brows. "Some people's powers are like blood types?"

"Yeah, apparently - at least from what this guy learned," said Chance. "Apparently Falcon learned how to steal the abilities of some people."

"What?" Karla blinked. "Are you serious?"

Chance perceived the knowledge Ching tried keeping to himself. After a moment, Chance said, "Some people are universal donors with the right technology. Meanwhile, some powers can only be moved to select recipients. Mr. Ching's wife didn't manifest any abilities, but the couple knows ... has known about abilities for quite some time, now. That's a little weird, huh?"

Peri looked up. She sat by the passenger window with her clothes folded across her furry lap. "So, Cha-Ching, you know way too much for someone claiming to be a victim. You sold her out, didn't you?"

"What?" Ching downshifted the large truck and turned the wheel. He pointed to a warehouse and a row of matching orange trucks.

Karla eyed the row of massive orange trucks. "They look like Asplundh vehicles, but they don't have any logos or markings on the sides."

In a monotone voice, Ching said, "We're here. They're using my office as a base of operations."

"Don't change the topic," Peri snapped. "You sold out your sister-in-law. You're getting something out of this, and you're playing the victim because your wife is with them. Maybe your kid, too. But I bet your family has no idea what you've done. You're getting something out of this for helping them." She eyed the man, gauging his facial expression.

Ching's jaw tightened.

Peri glowered at the Chinaman. "What is it? Money? I mean, you're already supposed to have money, right? But I know how greedy people can be." Peri received no response. She bared her fangs, adding, "Well?"

Ching tightened his hands on the wheel, frustrated. "They're offering enough money I can provide everything my family has ever wanted!"

Karla turned from Ching to Peri. "Wow, girl. Look at you. Female Colombo."

"Peter Falk is a badass. Glass eye and all." Peri pushed her folded clothes into Chance's hands. She reached across the bench-seat, past Chance and Karla, and put her large left paw on Ching's right knee.

"What are you doing?" Ching said in a nervous voice.

Peri's freshly grown nails, off-white in coloration, had a slight curl to them, ending in points, like miniature talons. "I will cripple you with these claws. You will never walk again without a cane. I don't know this woman, Jing. But if she really is afraid of her ability, she's more than just some victim - she's a scared girl who doesn't deserve for her family to betray her."

"I..." Ching swallowed, unable to find words to speak.

Peri bared her fangs. "Your job was to ram us. You couldn't even manage to kill us, so you're bringing us to them, aren't you? And the sick part is, you're playing both sides for the middle. If we kill them and save your family, you win. If they kill us, and you get rich, you win. Well guess what?"

Ching swallowed. "What? Please don't kill me. My daughter is a bit of a sensitive-hearted girl. She needs her father in her life. Please don't kill me."

Peri gave his right knee a squeeze. "I was going to say, 'No Pop Tarts for you,' but I like hearing you beg for your life. And no ... I was going to tell your girls that you sold them out for the almighty dollar. I never threatened to kill you; I threatened to cripple you."

Ching pulled into a parking spot and put his foot on the brake. "Please, just ... don't."

The werewolf snorted with disdain. "You seem like the kind of person that would be more afraid of being disfigured than dying. And, even worse, something tells me you're even more afraid of your family hating you."

Ching swallowed. "Will you help me get them to safety?"

Chance grinned and shifted the clothing pile in his lap. "You got through to him, Peri. He doesn't want the family to hate him. He's afraid of divorce. He's afraid it will ruin him financially. He's also afraid of you crushing that kneecap."

"You're perceptive," Ching mumbled to the boy.

"I keep saying that," Chance replied with a smirk, "but I'm starting to believe it's something more."

Ching reached for the shifter and put the truck into neutral. He turned off the engine and put on the parking brake. The Chinaman pivoted in his seat, facing the group. "Listen, my wife was part of some test study."

Chance nodded, "He's telling the truth." Chance cleared his throat expectantly. "Go on, Ching."

"There was a doctor who wanted to study her because he wanted to know why some family members manifest a power, while others do not. My father-in-law could do something special but I never found out what he was capable of doing. So, I just ... I mean, you know ... I was curious. My wife was jealous of her ordinary life. So she joined the study group. The doctor is a geneticist. He wanted to see if my wife could manifest powers like her father. Then we learn that Jing is a sort of universal donor. It's rare."

"What happened," Chance asked.

Ching sighed. "Jing manifested, but she had no idea it would be fire, and she didn't know how to control it. When it started, she turned to my wife for emotional support. My wife responded with more jealousy, and talked her sister into returning for more studies."

"Something tells me you're not finished," Chance replied. "Keep going."

"Long story short, Jing felt uncomfortable. She fled north to Maryland. This group of supernatural people went after her, claiming she was using her powers in public to start fires, but Jing isn't the kind of person to do such a thing on purpose."

"She's not," Karla said. "I got her to safety. I have friends who were able to keep her hidden."

"That is a relief. But my wife still wants abilities. She's willing to work with Dr. Falcon to obtain them. She dragged this family into this. I support my wife's desire to become something more in life."

Karla shook her head. "Jesus H. Christ, are you serious?" She turned to Chance. "Is he serious?"

"I think so. I sense he's being honest, but there's more. He wants his wife to manifest an ability, then he wants to see if Falcon can give him one, as well. He's the control subject - a mundane, born without the genes for abilities, who hopes to be given something special."

Karla groaned. "You're in over your head, Ching."

"What's your blood type?" asked Peri.

Ching frowned. "AB, why?"

Peri gave his knee another firm squeeze. Her muzzle contorted into a smirk. "Oh it's good to know one's own blood type." Her smirk broadened into a cynical grin. "Just incase you wake up naked in a hotel room bathtub filled with ice and a note saying you've had your internal organs surgically removed without your consent."

"You're sick," Ching muttered.

"Funny how that isn't a problem in my country, but it is in yours."

Ching opened is mouth to reply but couldn't think of anything to say. He pursed his lips tightly and sighed through his nose.

Karla grinned back at Peri. "You're dark, girl. I like it."

"I have a big imagination," Peri replied. She gave Ching's knee another firm squeeze. "Asian people are all about zodiac and blood type. I can't remember all the details, but I seem to recall that AB types are two-faced and lack willpower. That's something interesting to me ... that instead of classifying people by their race, the Chinese classify each other by what month and year they were born, and what their blood type is. So, are you two-faced? Do you lack willpower? Gee, I wonder."

"Peri," said Chance with a frown.

"Well, that explains my ex," Karla added. "I'm a type O."

Ching frowned. "Stubborn, promiscuous, impulsive yet loyal."

Karla beamed. "That's me to a 'T' gang!" She cleared her throat with a measure of purpose and said, "Okay, team. We can't go into that building without a plan. So let's talk options, starting with recon."

Chance tilted his head, giving the Asian man a strange look. The teenager reached over to the glove compartment and pulled out a handgun. "Thinking about this, were you?"

Ching ground his teeth together in frustration.

Chance popped the magazine and smirked. "Actually, I have an idea. It's a little cliché but it might work."

"Cliché how?" asked Peri.

"It's been done way too many times in the movies." Chance grinned. "Cliché."

Karla grinned and chimed in. "Too many times as in tried and true, or cliché as in_life imitating art_?"

"Well..." Chance eased the slide back, surprised that he had to use more strength than expected to remove the bullet in the chamber. "Long story short..."

X

X

Fifteen minutes later...

Ching pressed the barrel of his unloaded handgun against Chance's head, walking him in through the front door of the main office.

The Asian man gave Chance a shove, saying, "Park your ass in that chair and don't move."

Doctor Aris Sokolov was nowhere to be found. Instead, a pale white woman came from the back office, looked at Ching and then at Chance. "Marcus Howard? How did you survive the wreck?"

"Which one?"

She walked with confidence, moving in a circle around his chair. The woman wore a long skirt and petticoat that was an amalgamation of modern and gothic style. "The most recent one, child."

"I sensed it at the last second and dove away from the side he hit our car. I woke up on the ceiling." Chance raised his voice as if angry. "Your little fucking stunt killed the rest of them! Do you understand me? Do you know what Karla meant to me?" he demanded, ending on a dramatic shout. "Do you?!"

"Calm down, Marcus - we did you a favor. She's a succubus pariah who could never be loyal to you. She needs sex on a consistent basis, in a volume you could never provide."

"I don't care," Chance said, eyes narrow. He brought his hands up and rubbed his eyes aggressively, as though rubbing away tears, but causing them instead. "I had feelings for her."

"Again, we did you a favor."

"To hell with you," Chance snapped. "For all I care, she could sleep with women or we could share lovers. But now that's not even an option. Don't you tell me you did a goddamn favor! You murdered someone important to me! Where is Doctor Sokolov? Get him out here."

"Mm, I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm not working with a man named Sokolov," said the woman. "And your impure whore of a girlfriend is a disease trap. It's best you stay away from her. My girls' bodies are akin to a temple. Karla Chintzy's body is a sports stadium bathroom on a good day, and, on a bad day, she's a..."

Chance snapped back with a sharp tone. "After all I've been through, you're going to lie to my face about working with Sokolov?"

"Fine. Whatever. You're a telepath, then. No point in coddling or lying to you. You're going to die, and I'm going to be the one that kills you. Dead or alive, I'll turn you over to the Esoteric Council in exchange for immunity for my past ... transgressions."

Chance stared in her face, feeding off of her hate, and throwing it back at her with a silent gaze.

Ching looked from Marcus to the pale white woman and said, "I killed them. I couldn't bring myself to execute the survivor. I'm not that kind of person. I'm not some contract killer. But I kept up my end of the bargain. You want this boy? Fine. I'll trade him for my wife and daughter. You can keep my sister-in-law, but let me leave with my family and my money."

Chance turned towards the Asian man and sneered. "I knew it. I knew you were doing this for money. I guess everyone really does have a price."

"Be quiet. I have a gun, boy."

Chance balled his hands into fists. "You're a coward who can't pull the trigger. That's why you brought me to her."

The Chinaman grimaced. He turned to the female vampire and said, "I just want my money and my family."

"In due time."

"No, now!" Ching said in a demanding tone. "I've done everything you asked! I want to leave!"

"Shut up, you slant-eyed little creature."

"Well, well," Chance said with a mocking snort of amusement. "Bad Karma came quickly this time, pal."

"I have a gun. Get my family out here," Ching said in an eerily calm voice. "Now."

The vampire giggled. "Oh, you think you can threaten me?" She opened the door leading to the back office. "I'll bathe in your daughter's virgin blood."

"No!"

"And if you speak again, I'll kill your wife while I'm at it." The vampire paused in the doorway to the rear office and looked around. The smaller office was empty.

Báthory balled her hand into a fist. "How dare..." She turned back to Ching and narrowed her gaze. "There's no other way out of this office. You dare attempt to trick me?"

Chance grinned. In a soft voice, he told Ching, "Told ya the plan would work." He cut his eyes to the vampire in the doorway and smirked. In a louder tone, he added, "Not feeling so clever now, are you? Guess that comes with age, huh?"

The vampire bared her fangs, grinding her molars in frustration. She said nothing, unable to admit confusion or weakness.

Ching withdrew the magazine for his weapon and slid it into the handle. He tensed his forearm and cocked the slide. Ching thumbed the safety and pointed the loaded weapon at the vampire. "Now write the check."

"There was never any money, you bumpkin."

Ching lowered the weapon and fired it. The round glanced off the vampire's shin and struck a wall inches above the floor.

Báthory appeared unharmed.

"You idiot, when Laura is near me, I cannot be harmed."

Chance stood up and looked around. "She's surprised, Ching. Laura must have only just arrived. Dammit. That means whoever brought the little girl is also on the premises."

"I see you're a liar, too," the vampire said. "So, your friend isn't dead after all, hmm? You had me convinced. Well done. But you cannot kill me now that Laura is near. My daughter was born with the ability to render her biological parents completely invulnerable to harm." Her tone turned sarcastic. "Your best chance is to deafen me with that stupid handgun."

Ching's lower lip trembled. In a sudden flit of emotion he lifted the gun and pulled the trigger. The round struck the vampire over her left eyebrow but it glanced off.

At first, Ching appeared horrified that he'd shot her in the face, but his expression changed to shock that the attack didn't harm her.

Enraged that she couldn't be harmed, Ching fired two more times.

"STOP!" Chance shouted, hands over his ears. "It obviously doesn't work. Just stop, man. Jesus, that thing is loud."

"She has to die!"

Chance shouted over Ching's loud tone. "She's Elizabeth Báthory. She didn't get this old by being completely stupid. She planned for you to have a gun and be upset, Ching! She just didn't expect Laura to arrive so soon."

Báthory approached Ching and reached for the weapon.

He moved away from her and headed for the front door. "I'm sorry, boy. I have to think about my family." He hurried outside.

Chance sighed. "Great, he really is a coward."

"No matter." Elizabeth smiled. "The Chinaman brought you to me and I can use you."

Chance arched his brows, disappointed by the woman. "I thought you were supposed to be this super evil villain. You're kind of dumb. We just rescued that guy's family from right beneath your nose. What makes you think I can't get away, too?"

The woman unclipped a small walkie-talkie from a sash at the small of her back and said, "It is time."

"Oh. Shit." Chance frowned and watched as a large group of armed men came in through adjacent doors, which lead out to the warehouse.

There were too many voices for Chance to count, and there was too much influx of stimulus to pause and count.

Some of the soldiers went out through the front door and took up positions. Others surrounded Chance.

The sensation of disorientation began to fade as he grew accustomed to the flood of minds around him.

"Now you see I have you surrounded!" Báthory hissed.

A bloody body in paramilitary gear, one of the soldiers, materialized two feet from Chance at the center of the room.

The body slumped to the floor. The guard was covered in puncture wounds and deep gashes. His armor was tattered and unable to protect him against whatever attacked him.

"What the ... hell?" Elizabeth muttered.

Three seconds later, Peri appeared adjacent to Chance. Even semi-crouched, she still towered over the teenaged telepath.

Chance grinned. "I had a plan, too, lady. This is my backup."

The werewolf stood up tall; fully extended on her hind legs. She roared long and loud, causing several of the soldiers to back away, and others to cover their ears. "Carmilla!!"

Peri picked up the dead man at her feet and flung the body like a rag-doll. It slammed into two of the men at the back of the room.

Báthory stared at the werewolf in shock.

Peri reached out to the two nearest men and buried her claws into their throats, just above their collarbones. She clenched her paws and jerked them, breaking the men's spine from the inside out.

Chance flinched at the gory sight.

Blood drenched her furry paws. The bodies went straight to the ground. "Finally! You get to see the real 'Big Bad Wolf,' and you're all going to be eaten. I'm going to rip the little pigs up until there is nothing left but your chinny-chin-chins! Then," she turned to Elizabeth. "I'm coming for you, Red Riding Hood."

"Jesus," Chance murmured, seeing all the blood. He grimaced, immediately sickened. Yet, at the same time, he silently applauded himself for not throwing up the way he reacted when Karla killed Ethan and the other man - it seemed like ages ago.

As the soldiers fell around Chance, and as their shocked minds went quiet, all that was left was Peri and Elizabeth.

Confidence radiated from both women; neither was affected by the sight of blood. Instead, both were delighted by the sight and the scent of it.

Chance fed off of their focused thoughts. He was able to push aside his initial disgust. His body relaxed and he looked around at the corpses a second time with fresh feelings on the matter. "Jesus," he repeated, but this time he sounded impressed by the carnage.

Karla walked in the front door, looked around the room and waved her hands at each of the bodies until they all disappeared.

Only a spatter of blood on the walls and carpet remained.

Karla tossed a lock of blond over her shoulder. "Okay, somebody was a little too overzealous ... Peri. Good God." The succubus grinned at the werewolf, offering a playful wink.

Peri's furry facial expression shifted, beaming with pride.

"You could have just bashed everyone up instead of smooshing them into paste."

"Aw, but I liked smooshing them into paste!"

"Yeah, I see that, babe." Karla folded her arms beneath her bust and approached Elizabeth. "By the way, the guys out front won't be needing a paycheck come Friday. That should save you some money, Beth - you're welcome."

Elizabeth scoffed. "I know why you're here, pariah."

"Pariah huh?" Karla scoffed.

"Yes, you're a pariah, you filthy little tramp."

Karla rolled her eyes. "Let's get down to business. The mirror. Fork it over, bitch."

"I'll trade you the boy for the mirror."

Karla balked. "Tch, as if. You have a lot of nerve. I saw your kid pulled up. So, you're invulnerable. But that doesn't mean shit to me. She's not near enough to you to be in the little mommy-bubble. I'll teleport her away from you, then I'll rip into your ass. You give me that mirror, or the kid will appear in Never Neverland with Peter and Wendy. Don't test me."

"The pariah has attitude. Hmm. I can see why the Esoteric Council strongly dislikes you. Did you know I used to run a finishing school? You would not have passed. You're far from lady-like."

"Weird," Karla said with a chuckle. "My first impression of you is that you lack poise and a lady-like demeanor. So how about you shut-the-fuck up, ankle biter."

Báthory lifted her chin, staring down her nose at Karla. "Mm, perhaps you are right to a degree. I find myself having adapted some of Jasper's mannerisms. No matter. Let's focus on your punishment, Jezebel. To teach you a lesson, I'll kill the boy, keep the mirror, and throw you to the EC when I deliver his body."

Karla clenched her fist. The front desk ripped up from where it was bolted into the floor and slammed into Elizabeth. The desk shattered to splinters with the force of the strike, but Báthory stood up and dusted herself off.

"I'm impervious to attack, you nitwit."

Karla smirked. "Let's go, Elizabeth!"

Peri cracked her knuckles, paws matted and dripping with blood. "Time to die, Carmilla!"

The vampire replied with a brilliant smile. "Until today, I've not been called Elizabeth in many centuries, succubus. No, Karla, the times have changed and so have I. Let us leave the name Elizabeth Báthory in Hungary, Carmilla in Austria, and Millarca Karnstein in Styria. You both may refer to me as Mrs. Camilla Cunningham. Or, if you like, you can simply call me The Countess."

Chance offered a blank stare.

Karla face-faulted, same as Chance.

Peri tilted her head. Her ears perked up. She leaned to the left and whispered from the side of her muzzle. "Are you kidding me with this hokey shit?"

"A bit cliché," Chance whispered back.

The woman calling herself 'Camilla,' called out in a sing-song voice. "Oh, Laura, please come out here my dear!" She clapped her hands firmly together and a young girl came from the side door.

Camilla's smile brightened. "Come here, sweetheart."

A lowly looking servant girl of about seven years old approached the countess with haste. She knelt before the woman, placing her cheek gently against the countess' hip. "Yes, mother?"

Chance blinked.

Camilla slid her fingertips through the girl's hair with a smile. "This is, Laura, my daughter. She manifested recently. She can protect my physical body when in proximity to me. She became my vampiric servant, forever unable to age so long as I let her drink a bit of blood from my wrist. When we are together, I cannot be harmed. You've already tried to strike me; you see we are invincible when together."

Karla smirked. "My friend, Conner Parker, has quite a collection of interesting artifacts. One of them is a whip owned by the viceroy of Poland. I remember reading that he whipped you before locking you in your room in 1610. I'm willing to bet..." Karla found herself interrupted before she could finish her taunt.

"I remember! How dare he raise his hand to me!" The countess bared her fangs and hissed. "I was royalty! He was forbidden to strike or kill me. And yet he whipped me; he confined me to my room!"

"Aww," Karla said, delighted to get a reaction. "Keeping you locked away means the whipping was never proven."

"It happened!" Camilla shouted! "I demanded to be freed from my room for four years, so I could rightfully prove my unjust injuries and reverse my sentence!"

Karla smirked, using psychology to upset the woman. "Well you didn't die from being whipped, after all."

Camilla narrowed her eyes. "Little did I know he was putting small amounts of poison in my food and I succumbed after four years."

Karla tapped a pink-painted fingernail against her bottom lip. "I see, now. In order to become a true vampire, you need to die first. What an unorthodox method."

"Be silent! Stop mocking me!" Camilla said, seeming erratic and anxious. "I will kill you where you stand! You cannot comprehend what I have suffered! I went into a state of hibernation called 'torpor' and was buried! I survived by clawing my way out!"

"Aw, must have been traumatic." Karla grinned. "But I bet it was fun whipping you."

Báthory ground her molars in frustration. "It was the whip that upset me the most."

"What is it about that whip, hmm? As I recall, it was used again to take you out several years later until someone woke you up in the 19th century."

Camilla pushed Laura slightly behind herself. "You continue to mock me, knowing you cannot defeat me? Do you have a death wish?"

"I can't figure out why you haven't attacked me yet. I'll just keep fucking with your head until you do. Incidentally, how on earth did you get pregnant?"

"I'm not an un-dead vampire like your friend, Kalen Kincade or his creator, Natalia."

Karla rubbed her chin, appearing impressed. "Not many people know I was close to Kalen. I'll give you points for having good intel."

"I know you used to fuck Kalen's creator, fifty years ago. You see? You're not the only one who can use psychology in a..."

Peri sighed, agitated. "Okay, you two. If you two need to smack talk before fighting, fine. But I'm not here to be Mean Gene - I'm here for the goddamn Rumble!"

The succubus smirked. "I was waiting for her to make the first move, but whatever." Karla cut her gaze back to the vampire. "You ready to see the whip for a third time?"

"That whip has been lost to time, you narrow-minded child!"

Karla reached behind herself and withdrew a coiled whip from her handbag. The succubus snapped it, causing Peri and Chance to cringe.

Karla un-shouldered her handbag and tossed it to Chance. "Hold my purse, I'm about to go medieval on this bitch."

The tether that kept the whip coiled hit the ground with a clang. The viceroy's crest was on the metallic object.

Karla's smile broadened.

"You ... jezebel pariah." Camilla sneered, recognizing the viceroy's crest emblazoned on the metal clasp. Her eyes lifted to Karla's whip. "I will leave your body to rot in a ditch!"

Karla smirked again. "You're not the only one with accurate intel. We got the word you'd be here, so we came prepared. You ready for the worst beating of your life?"

The countess's scowl melted into a thin smile. "I told you, already... with Laura at my side, we cannot be physically harmed. She is my blood and she is my shield. That whip is an insult at best - nothing more."

"We'll see about that," Karla said.

"You honestly thought you could use it to harm me? I told you, I am invulnerable."

Peri began to lose her patience. "I'll tear them apart with my claws. Ready your whip, Karla."

"You will see, then!" Camilla laughed. She slid her fingers down through Laura's silky hair, curling her fingers into her daughter's soft locks.

Camilla and Laura began to levitate. Their physical form frosted over with an icy coating.

"You've got to be kidding me," Karla said. "I wasn't expecting a diamond-coated freak show to fly around the freaking room."

Peri drew her claws and jammed them deep into the crystalline structure, causing it to crack.

Karla followed suit using the whip, empowered with telekinesis, to lash at the shielded floating orb.

Peri and Karla attacked the ice structure together until it shattered. "That was surprisingly easy," said Peri, as if confused. "I expected something harder."

The succubus struck Camilla's flesh with the whip; the countess shrieked in pain and surprise.

"Momma!" Laura's hands balled into small fists. The little girl brought her hands together, tucking them beneath her chin in fear and worry.

The crystalline shield reformed around Camilla and Laura. A second layer formed overtop the first, creating a denser protective barrier. This time, there were jagged edges, like spikes, surrounding the sphere.

The levitating couple, encased in the shell-like shield, moved around the room aggressively. It struck the ceiling of the front office, ripping the roof open with ease.

Insulation and debris rained down over the group, causing Karla and Chance to cover their faces.

Peri swung at the orb, sheering off one of the jagged crystal thorns, but fell back to the ground with a grunt. A thin line of blood trailed down Peri's right shoulder where she'd been wounded by one of the spikes.

The werewolf snorted with aggravation. "God, this is like some sort of boss battle from one of my husband's video games." She rose to her feet and snarled at the hovering object. "Same as before. Whip and claw. We alternate, Karla."

"You got it, Wolfie!" Karla snapped the whip at the floating orb again.

The spiky object came towards Karla. She dove away from it. "I think we pissed off the driver, Peri!" Another jagged thorn bounced on the carpet, landing in one of the splotches of blood on the floor from earlier.

Chance ran his hands back through his hair, frustrated her couldn't help.

Karla's palms glowed vibrant pink. "God, that thing is way more resilient this time."

Peri hurled herself at Laura's orb once more, striking it with all her pent up aggression and anger.

Laura countered the move and changed direction; slamming into Peri so hard it made her teeth rattle.

The hulking werewolf flew through a nearby wall but was quick to pull herself back from it, too dazed and in shock to stay down.

"Shake it off girl!" Karla called back to Peri.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Peri snarled. "This thing is a pain in my ass."

"What, no more Pop Tart jokes?"

"Why, you got one?" Peri brought a paw to the side of her head. "Don't tease the hungry werewolf, alright?!"

"Get over here, I'll boost you." Karla held her palms out at hip height. Her hands and forearms glowed with pink glyphs beneath the skin.

"Right on," Peri said and dashed toward Karla. She put her enormous right hind-paw into Karla's telekinetically empowered hands.

In one smooth move, Karla launched Peri straight up in the air.

Peri struck the orb like a missile, her claws cracking the surface. She bounced off in another direction but abruptly disappeared.

Karla tensed up, jaw clenched, and waved her hands.

Peri appeared on the carpet, rolling twice from leftover momentum. She sat up, panting. "Did you just...?! That was awesome!" Peri got back to her feet just in time for the orb to bowl her back down. "Goddammit!"

"Yeah, I've been practicing and..." Karla grimaced in disgust, seeing Peri knocked right back down. "I can't teleport that thing or hit it with a kinetic energy wave. It doesn't do anything!"

"Attack it with everything else in the goddamn room!" Peri shouted.

"That thing deflects or absorbs energy directly, or maybe it..." she trailed off with a grunt and found herself on the floor. "And it moves erratically. That's getting really annoying."

"It's not an it," Peri grumbled, getting back to her feet again. "It's a little girl in there, throwing a tantrum because we whipped her mother."

"Whatever, I'll call it whatever I want!" Karla vanished. She reappeared on her feet.

Something akin to a gunshot sounded, causing the trio to look around the room in confusion.

Peri rubbed either side of her head at the base of her ears.

Chance looked down at the hair on his arm. A powerful presence appeared in his mind. "Karla get us outside! NOW!"

Without question, Karla tensed her arms, and the three of them appeared out in the parking lot.

A white bolt from the blue reached up from inside the building and connected to a glowing hot fork of lightning in the stratosphere.

Everyone covered his or her face. The ensuing clap of thunder deafened the group and stole their equilibrium.

Chance stumbled, Karla fell to the ground and Peri went to all fours.

The lightning bolt deflected back out of the orb and blew the front office apart with a concussive shockwave blast.

The orb, hovering over the wreckage, cracked with a spider web pattern.

Standing in front of it was Nathanial Carrington, his arms folded with a gruff demeanor. "I'm here to bury your ass, Cammy," he said in a terse tone.

The orb hurtled toward the old man at breakneck speed.

Nathan brought his hands out before himself and clapped his palms together. A massive spike of focused electrical energy struck the incoming sphere.

The energy threw the shielded vampire and her daughter back through the debris of the front office, into the wall leading to the main warehouse.

"Nathan!" Karla ran towards him. "Jesus, that was badass, old man!"

Nathan gave a downward tug on his shirt. "We've gotta finish her off and get the hell out of here," said Carrington with a measure of finality in his tone. "Volunteer 606 are on their way here right now."

"Who?" Peri asked.

Karla frowned. "Firefighting priests who try and burn anyone with abilities. They think they're crusaders and we're heathens. They're no joke. They train their whole lives to fight people with abilities."

"And they're overzealous extremists," Nathan added. "Let's finish this broad, get the mirror, and get the hell out of here."

"How much time do we have?" Karla asked.

"Not enough," said Chance, sensing the answer from Nathan. "Let's break into two teams. Peri and I can lead those guys away from here. I'm telepathic, so I know what they're thinking. I can stay two steps ahead of them."

Nathan nodded. "And us?" He tilted his head towards the remains of the office building. "You want us to handle those two?"

Chance nodded. "You two finish off that crazy lady. Grab the mirror then lightning-teleport it out of here. Karla, you can teleport the rest of us to safety."

"Chance, no, I'm not going to..."

Nathan buried his face in his right palm. "I knew it."

"No!" Karla said. She turned towards Nathan and threw her hands outward. "I'm not letting him out of my sight! I can't lose him!"

Peri approached Karla. "It's a good plan. We'll lead them away from here, they'll see me and want to fight. They'll try and lead us in a trap and Mark, here, will keep us from falling into it. We'll whip their asses, and then you zap us out of the area and we all leave."

"God this plan sucks," Karla groused.

"No, it's a good one," said Chance. "Trust me. Please?"

"It's a good plan," said Nathanial. "I'm pretty sure that things played out differently the last time."

"The last time? What the hell does that mean?" Karla exclaimed.

"The way I saw things come unglued. The oracle shit. The stuff I have to change so that the good guys don't lose, Karla."

Karla looked back at the destroyed office building and bit her lip. "What did you see last time?"

"Camilla kills him in what I saw. The kid's plan is solid - you and I kill her instead. He stays away and buys us time to fight her. She dies; therefor he'll be safe. Peri has her back broken against the pyro-priests in what I learned, but now she'll have someone who can keep her two steps ahead of them."

"You're sure this is a good idea?" asked Karla.

Nathan remained stoic. "Karla, we have to try and make this work."

"Goddamnit!" Karla threw her hands up in the air. "Chance, you'd better not die. Neither of you had better die, or I'll be pissed off."

"God, shut up - I love you, too." Chance took her face into his hands and kissed her aggressively, possessively.

"Here we go," Peri said with a lame smirk.

"Enough. We don't have time for this!" Nathan exclaimed. "Nobody is dying this time. Let's go!"

Chance gave Karla a firm swat on her rump then said, "Go kill that weirdo then come help us. I love you."

"I love you, too, baby boy." Karla turned from her boyfriend.

Chance pointed towards the building. "Go, babe. Let's finish this."

Karla grabbed Nathan's vest, clutching it firmly in her left fist. "I promised never to leave his side, Nathan. If something happens to that boy, I'll kick your flashy old ass. That's a promise." The scenery around her and the old man changed abruptly.

Karla and Nathan appeared at the heart of the warehouse. There were bodies strewn everywhere. Dead bodies in uniform with weapons.

"What happened here?" he asked. "They weren't there five minutes ago."

"You're right, they weren't." Karla knelt beside one of the fallen soldiers. She examined the body briefly.

"Well?"

Karla stood up with a shrug. "I don't know what happened to them. It wasn't that orb-thing. They weren't mauled or cut up. He's just pale and lifeless."

Carrington looked around the warehouse, eyes narrowed. The expression caused wrinkles around his eyes. "Mm, someone took these guys down for us. Just keep your eyes open. That weirdo could be anywhere."

"God ... dammit." Karla walked around the side of a large orange truck with its hood open. "God these orange trucks are big." She paused. A slight smile spread across Karla's lips. "Nathan, get over here."

His body disappeared.

She felt the heat of his lightning teleportation.

He formed adjacent to her, arms folded. The couple stared at a huge hole in the ground with the crystalline orb wedged in the concrete.

"I'll be damned."

Karla smiled. "Funny how the cookie crumbles, huh? The thing that protected those two is going to be the thing that gets'em killed. Finally, some good Karma came our way."

"Yeah. How about that." Nathan approached the orb and waved Karla away. "Stand back. I'm going to create a superheated plasma burst. It's going to blast this thing open."

"Hell yes."

Nathan swiveled his head, slowly, glaring at Karla over his shoulder. He narrowed his eyes. "I said get your ass back. There might be shrapnel."

Karla positioned herself in front of the large orange truck's gas tank, beneath the driver door. "I'll create a telekinetic shield. Don't want to blow up the big ass gas tank on this thing."

"This isn't a movie, Karla. It'd just leak on the floor."

"And then you'd use your lightning power, and ignite the fumes."

Nathan offered a weak smile. "It's diesel..."

"I don't care! I'm protecting the goddamn gas tank!"

His smile broadened. "Fair enough, kiddo."

She tensed her hands, creating a soft pink glow just beneath the skin of her palms. "Okay, I'm ready."

Nathan put his hands on the large crystal orb wedged in the concrete. His pupils became difficult to see due to the glowing of his eyes. They almost appeared white through-and-through. He curled the corner of his top lip and ground his teeth together. "Almost..."

The cracks on the orb continued to deepen.

Karla drew the whip and tensed her upper body.

The orb shattered like before.

Camilla and Laura launched vertically, high above Nathanial.

Karla snapped the whip. It snagged on Camilla's leg, forcing Karla up into the air. She clenched her fists and telekinetically drove herself back down in the opposite direction.

To the surprise of the succubus and the vampire, the whip held, snagged around Camilla's ankle.

The vampire's ankle joint broke - Báthory shrieked in pain, surprised to feel something so sharp and intense after so many centuries of not knowing such a sensation.

Karla's palms rubbed raw and became slick with blood, holding the handle as tightly as she could manage. The whip slid from her grip.

Karla went to the ground - her telekinetic shield caused a second crater in the concrete.

Camilla and Laura shot upward in the other direction, struck the hurricane-resistant roof and went straight into a pillar, snapping the I-beam within.

A section collapsed, dropping concrete debris upon both Camilla and her daughter.

Nathan looked back at Karla, saw she was moving, and dashed toward the vampire and the child. He used a blast of lightning, supercharged with static energy. It threw a large concrete block off the top of the pile.

Camilla climbed from the debris, half trapped, and sneered. "I told you I'm invulnerable! Besides that damn whip, which is buried beneath me, you cannot hurt me when she is at my side!" She pushed a rock off of her daughter's body.

Carrington raised a hand. A bolt of lightning linked the vampire to the atmosphere.

Camilla screamed in anguish.

By the time the bolt disappeared, Camilla appeared fazed with static-charged hair.

Nathan struck her again with another bolt. He threw both hands up into the air.

The second bolt widened and increased in its intensity. The color changed; it became so bright that Karla had to cover her eyes.

The bolt of lightning encompassed the entire debris pile, including both Camilla and Laura.

Static in the air caused Karla's blouse to float around her body.

Nathan's shirt did the same, floating around his torso.

Nearby papers and a notepad lifted in the air.

Electricity forked out, linking up to the nearest standing pillar and raced across the roof. The energy web raced through the rebar beneath the concrete, causing the warehouse to hum. Metal rafters glowed. Electricity forked back from the remains of the ceiling and joined the main bolt at the far end of the room, beneath the hole in the ceiling.

After near half a minute, Nathan slumped to all fours, panting softly.

Karla sprung up and ran towards him. Without thinking about it, she teleported herself near to his side and stumbled. She dropped adjacent to him and threw her arms around him, protectively. "Jesus Christ, old man, what the hell did you just do?!" Her words were loud, shouting over the ringing in her ears. "I haven't seen you hit something with that much juice since that day in Tunguska!"

Nathan rolled onto his back, panting. Sweat beaded his forehead and trickled down his face. His lips opened and he spoke but Karla could only read his lips over the high-pitched tone still in her ears.

"I'm getting too old for this shit," he muttered beneath the ringing of obnoxious silence.

The succubus looked forward and saw Camilla unconscious, still half buried in the debris.

Laura lay atop the blocks adjacent to her mother. The little girl was on her side, holding her stomach. She appeared pale and in worse shape than the old man.

Karla rose to her feet, slowly, and took a step toward the little girl but stumbled. The ringing began to subside, and Karla's equilibrium returned. The blond demon pushed her locks back from her face and trudged towards the little girl, cautiously.

Laura rolled over onto her other side and threw up onto the floor. Her skin began to crack and peel. Beneath was a patchy layer of rubbery flesh.

The little girl's hair fell away from her head in clumps. She rolled onto her back, distraught with pain.

The small girl cupped her left hand in her right. Her fingernails flaked away. Laura's appearance grew more monstrous with every passing second.

Nathan rose to one knee. With a gruff grunt of displeasure, nThan got to his feet. He approached Karla, watching Laura's transition. He pursed his lips and sighed through his nose.

"What's ... what's happening to her, Nathan? That's not normal. Why is she doing that?"

"So that's_how it happens," he whispered, mostly to himself. "That's how she becomes _Lara. The creature."

"What?"

Laura rolled over, threw up again, and took a moment to check on her unconscious mother. "No!" she roared in a freakish voice. The little girl picked up one of the chunks of debris and threw it aside as though it weighed nothing. Then another, and another.

The child grasped her mother's body and jerked it away from the debris pile, shaking Camilla aggressively, "Wake up!"

"You're going to kill her!" Nathan shouted. "Stop shaking her like that!"

"No, wake up!" Laura exclaimed. She shook Camilla's body vigorously, like a child shaking a doll until the toy broke in her hands.

Camilla's back gave out, followed by her neck. The immortal vampire went limp in her daughter's beast-like hands.

Laura paused and laid her mother's body back down on the debris pile. She lifted Camilla's head slightly but then released it.

Camilla's lifeless head thumped on the concrete pile.

Laura brought her hands to her mouth. Tears filled her eyes. "I ... I can't hurt her. She said she could never be hurt when I was near."

"You're not the same little girl you were before," Nathan said, as if rationalizing what he just witnessed. "Something changed. You changed. I'm sorry."

"You are not sorry," she shouted. "You did this to Lara! You changed Lara to this! You!" shouted the horrific child-beast.

"We've gotta get the hell out of here," Nathan said. "I've seen that thing. I've seen what it can do. It can't be killed."

Karla swallowed. "Just like the ones in Marseilles."

"I think those were the unstable super soldier attempts, Karla. The ones that came before Jasper."

"What kind of name is...?"

"Save it, Karla. That's his daughter. Somehow my lightning must have accelerated her growth instability."

"What...?"

"Jasper was stable. His offspring apparently isn't. Electricity made it happen sooner. I triggered it. That's why she's got the rationality of a seven-year-old. She was just a child. A sentient child creature. She's going to attack Vincent one day, and it's all because I triggered her to change."

"Who the hell is Vincent?"

"Never mind. He hasn't been born yet. Karla, we have to go. Get us the hell out of here."

"You're going to leave her alone? She's a scared little girl, Nathan!"

"She can't be stopped. She can't be killed. She's Aris' problem, now. We need to get the hell out of here, Karla. She doesn't have her claws yet but she's still dangerous. And she just saw her mother die in her hands. She's dangerous and emotional."

Karla frowned. "She's just a little..."

Laura suddenly charged the couple.

Karla threw her hands up to create a telekinetic repulsing field. The little girl pushed against it, inching closer. Karla's eyes widened. "That's ... not normal."

"I told you, she's dangerous as hell. Get us out of here. We need to check on Chance and Peri."

"Lara will make you dead!" shrieked the child-sized creature.

Karla swallowed. "Jesus, Nathan. What did you do to her?"

"She was eventually going to become this anyhow! I just made it happen quicker! Let's GO!"

Both Karla and Nathan disappeared.

Laura fell to her knees where Karla and Nathan had stood seconds earlier. She began to cry but froze at the sensation of a gentle hand upon her back. She looked up into the face of a man in a dress suit and lab coat. "Doctor ... Sokolov?"

"Call me Dr. Falcon, Laura."

"It's Lara," she said, mispronouncing her name with a Hungarian dialect.

"Lara, then. I saw you break your mother's neck. You killed her."

"No!"

"Don't raise your voice to me," he said in a firm tone. "Your father is coming any minute and he wouldn't like it if you treated his friends with disrespect. Are we clear?"

"I ... I'm sorry. But they hurt my mother and..."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, sweetheart. Did you know I have two adopted little girls of my own? I'm a father too. You can trust me. I will do what I can for your mother, but I fear she's..."

"Camilla?" Jasper hurried into the warehouse. He looked around, saw the creature first, and spotted his wife second.

Jasper ran over to Camilla's body and dropped down beside her motionless form. He cradled her into his arms. "What happened?!"

Aris glanced over his shoulder at the super soldier prototype and sighed. "_You_happened. I always feared this was possible but this confirms it..."

"What are you talking about?" Jasper exclaimed, his voice a stew of emotions.

"This is your daughter right here. This is Laura ... Lara. Like the unstable soldier tests before you, she became one of them because your sperm must have unstable DNA strands in it - junk code that was passed onto her. She doesn't know her own strength, but she still seems cognizant. She accidentally snapped your wife's neck and broke her spine while shaking her, likely in an attempt to awaken her. I saw it happen."

"She did what?!" Jasper exclaimed. "My daughter is that freak?! And she killed my wife?"

"Daddy!" Lara cried, heartbroken by her father's words. "I didn't mean to! And I'm not a freak!"

"Yes you are! You killed my wife because you're one of those goddamn monsters we kept frozen in France!"

"Jasper!" Aris exclaimed. "She's a little girl. She didn't mean to..."

"But she still did! She killed my wife!"

"It was her mother, and it was an accident," Aris protested.

Jasper picked up Camilla's broken body and stepped down off the concrete debris pile. "Fuck you both. I need to bury my wife."

"Daddy please," Lara begged.

"Stay away!" he shouted and walked out of the warehouse.

Lara dropped to the floor, undone by her father's words.

Aris looked around the large empty room with a sigh. He lowered to a knee and put his arm around the patchy flesh of the creature's shoulder. "Lara..."

"Nobody loves me! Nobody will ever want me, now! I killed my mother, and daddy hates me! I just want to die!"

"You _can't_die, Lara."

"I'll be alone forever!"

Aris frowned and shook his head. In a gentle tone, he said, "I will take care of you. I promise never to leave you."

"You don't want me! Nobody wants me!"

"Lara!" said the doctor in a stern tone. "That isn't true. You can be a great big help to me if you do what I tell you. Your mother's death was an accident. You didn't mean it."

"But she's gone and I miss her already! I don't want to miss her anymore, and now I have to miss her forever. I don't want to live anymore."

"You can't die. You're like the other super soldiers in the old batch. You can't die. But, unlike them, you still have your_mind_. You can still think. And if you let me love you, I will help you and I will raise you, just like my own adopted daughters, Krys and Anne."

"I killed my mommy," she wailed, tears streaming down her face.

Aris lowered to both knees and gently wrapped his arms around her. She buried her gnarled face into his neck and cried.

---

Next Chapter: https://www.sofurry.com/view/899118