ic Death Must Die

[RobRX]

Bloodline fired another shot, taking down yet another vampire hunter. "I don't want to kill you!" he shouted, but it seems his assailants were completely unaware that his shots were set to a non-lethal setting, one that would make the target just very sore and give them the headache of their lives.

 

"And you!" the vampire shouted at Filth. "Get out of here!"

[Supercape]

GM

 

The other hunter was hit, hard and true, and was thrown back into a particularly fetid part of the sewer. Out cold, the waters lapped around him and seeped into his skin and cold. He would be smelling of old tunnels and rat droppings for weeks, even with the best soaps and detergents money could buy. 

 

Filth stopped screaming and looked at Bloodline. 

 

"What..what? I'm still alive?" he blubbered, surprised he could still breathe. "I don't know whether to kiss your kick ass shooting skills, or kick your ass for shooting at me!" he wobbled. 

 

His ears pricked up. His nose ruffled, sniffing. 

 

"Some more coming! Here, pull me out of this! Or push me! We need to run for it!"

 

"Ignore me at your peril, dead one! I can save you...just say the word!!!!" hissed the rat on Bloodlines shoulder, before darting back to Filth. 

[RobRX]

"Huh, so that's not an hallucination from serum deprivation." muttered the vampire as the eerie demonic rat once more whispered in his ear. He had to quickly think and react. However, cutting pact with the devil (in rodent form) wasn't really something Bloodline considered an optimal choice, even when stuck in a truly desperate situation. Of course, reasoning with the vampire hunter was presumably an option either.

 

"No." he finally said. "I'll face him head on."

[Supercape]

GM

 

The rat scuttled away into the shadows. Bloodline could swear he heard a snigger from the Rat as it vanished. 

 

Filth had pulled himself out of the wedge he was in, outside in the main tunnels. You would have to be deaf not to hear the boots on concrete, steel, and filthy tepid water at this stage. 

 

"They are coming, man! They are coming!" he said, hopping from one foot to another. "A whole damn gang of them! We gotta split man! Gotta split! Or they going to fry us, burn us, tie us to a flippin' stake, dude! Getting Medieval on us!" he spluttered, too loudly. No doubt the vampire hunters could here them. 

 

Filth decided that, whatever he owed the Vampire, or the other way round, he was going to fall back on a tried and tested tactic that had served him through school and into early adulthood. 

 

He turned heel, and ran!

[RobRX]

"Aw, great." grumbled Bloodline as Filth ran away. "Hey, sure!" he shouted sacastically. "Thanks for saving me, mister time-travelling vampire!" he then continued to shout, sarcastic and mocking Filth's voice. "*?%@! thankless jackass." In other circumstances, Bloodline wouldn't have acted like that but he wasn't in his normal state. He was erratic and the slightest thing ticked him off. All in all, it was a bad day. Or night. He couldn't even remember what time it was anymore. The lack of serum was slowly but surely eroding his mind.

 

Staying in the tunnel, Bloodline waited for his doom to arrive. The one perhaps fated to destroy him.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The doom arrived. 

 

Four people first. Little more than bystanders, innocent crusaders filled with blind purpose and loaded guns. Every reason to suspect they had crucifixes, stakes, and silver bullets too, like the hunters Bloodline had met first. Flashlight beams in every hand, scouring the world with dedicated purpose. 

 

And behind them, another man. 

 

He was dressed in white clothes, almost a robe, or a coat, or a cape. In one hand, a silver edged rapier, in the other, what looked like an ancient musket pistol. He looked a few centuries out of place, bar his head. A military shave, a scar or two, and furious eyes. Something in those eyes was deep and full, a man who could see things that others could. The eyes of a visionary. 

 

"I see you, demon! I am Daybreak! And the world will be cleansed. Death must Die! Death must Die! Death must DIe!" he roared, a chant joined in gleefully by his acolytes. 

[RobRX]

"So, you're the vampire hunter whose been on my trail. I have to say, it's pretty impressive considering so few people even know I exist." said Bloodline, actually quite amused by the whole situation as well as genuinely impressed. What were the odds that a vampire hunter would hear of him, let alone FIND him? "You must have a truly impeccable network of contacts. Well, either that or you are psychic."

 

Everything in Bloodline's body screamed bloody murder. His instinct were telling him to pounce the vampire hunter and make short work of him, tearing him apart. "S-so, you're here to kill me. What now? I figure talking this out really isn't your style, huh?" As he said that, the chanting continued. "Figures."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"I have ways and means, undead. Ways and means. I have hunted the undead for decades. First for the Vatican, and now for God. For the old men and fools of the Vatican are locked in their ways. Unable to dirty their hands with blood" he said, genuinely angry for a moment. 

 

"But, the vaults of the Vatican hold many marvels, my friend. Like this!" he smiled, aimed his antique musket, and fired. 

 

It was not the flash of gunpowder, not its smell, but rather an harmonious tune of light, that beamed its way to over Bloodlines head, before exploding in majestic brilliance. It was undeniably beautiful. It was undeniably light. The whole sewer lit  up like a midday sun was overhead. 

 

"Hunters! Spare not his life, for he has none!" he said, commanding his flock. Whilst he seemed to have no qualms about sending in his soldier, he was more tactically astute himself. He ducked into a side tunnel, taking cover. 

[RobRX]

Bloodline shrieked, briefly covering his eyes, trying to shield them from the harsh, burning light. The groaned and blinked as spots danced in his field of vision, while his skin itched and burned from the direct and sudden exposure to light akin or like that of the real sun.

 

"Allright, just as I expected." the vampire said, after regaining his senses and turning his blaster to the vampire hunter and opening fire.

[Supercape]

GM

 

The blaster hit Daybreak solid and true, despite the man's speed. His white clothes shredded on the shoulder, revealing a more pragmatic armour underneath. He gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes at the shock, which would have felled a lesser man. But he was driven beyond reason. 

 

"I will not falter! I will not fall! God has appointed me to this holy task! Death must Die! Death must Die!!!!" he shouted. 

 

"Take him my devout and loyal hunters! Take him for God! Be his holy hand!" he ordered the four recruits, who started advancing, crucifixes in hand and fear in their hearts, for all their devoutness and loyalty. 

 

Daybreak was clearly using them as fodder. As for himself, he brought his gun around again. 

 

"Witness the holy power of the Firecracker!" he said, brandishing that very gun. An apt name, as it spat fire with a crack. This time, the flare was full of light and fire, and hit Bloodline square in the chest...

[RobRX]

For a brief moment, as a result of the pain, desperation and hunger, Bloodline was almost overwhelmed by his vampiric instincts, ingrained in his disease-twisted undead body. He wanted to leap at the vampire hunter, to pounce him and feed. His survival instincts screamed at him to do so; after all, the infusion of blood would allow him to regain strengths and heal himself.

 

With all the willpower he could conjue, Anton resisted the urge and instead began to run away.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Even in unfamiliar terrain, tired, and hungry, Bloodlines undead limbs were faster and stronger than the hunters. Daybreak gave chase, faster than his minions, but despite his speed fuelled by moral certainty and righteousness, he could not come close. Bloodline was faster than any man alive by a long shot, and did not tire. 

 

The tunnels sped past, left, right, damp, with varying degrees of foul ordor. It was easy to get lost, and that was exactly what happened. 

 

As he stopped, Bloodline took stock of the small, dusty, dirty and damp tunnel he was in. This was deep in the bowels of Freedom City, alive with rumours of various creepy crawlies, ghouls, and worse. Perhaps even some of the rumours were true. 

 

In front of him, staring at him with black eyes, was Filth's Rat. 

 

"Need a way out?" it squeaked in a dead voice. 

[RobRX]

Bloodline turned to look at the demonic rat, once again. And once again he found himself wishing the damn (or perhaps damned) thing was an hallucination from his deranged mind. Or maybe he really was completely crazy by now and having a conversation with a rat.

 

"Look, rat...thing. What do you want from me?" said the time-traveller to the demon rat.

Edited November 1, 2014 by RobRX

[Supercape]

GM

 

"You are hungry? Yes?...no need to answer...I can smell it...I can smell it, so delicious, a beautiful gnawing agony in your bones...."

 

The rat stayed stone still, its pure black eyes fixed on Bloodline. It barely seemed to move its mouth, but the words came out all the same. 

 

"I am hungry too. I was not always...like this...but this is the form I have taken, and I am chained to that ridiculous boy you met. My hunger is for different...things...I want to eat demons...I wish to consume the essence of them, I want to consume any hellfire, any sulphur, any power, I can get my tiny teeth into"

 

Now, it seems to grin. 

 

"And I need help to do it. Your help. That is not so bad, is it? Feeding one demon to another? And in return, these dark tunnels can be yours. I, Vermin, will aide you. For all his weakness, the boy you know as Filth has power over the rats beneath the city. Great power. His eyes are everywhere, and so are his little pets..."

[RobRX]

Bloodline growled at the rat, baring his fangs. "Enough! I...I-I..." He hesitated to find the right words. Demons weren't something he had been used to deal with, in fact, he had never met a demon in his life (and unlife) before, at least not something proven to be the genuine article, at any rate. "I don't make deal with demon rats! What do you want, my soul? I'm not even sure I still have one."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Always the soul, the soul. Why would I be interested in your soul. I don't even know what a soul is..." said the rat calmly. 

 

"What do you take demons for? The mythologies and theologies of Man, half forgotten legends, echoes of truths...whatever you think a demon is, that is what it isn't" said the Rat, cryptically, scuttling up to Bloodline to take a closer look at him. 

 

"I don't want your Soul. I want power, I want to escape this form. When I say I care not who gets crushed in my path, do not think I wish to crush. Rather, that it matters to me not one way or other if the crushing occurs. I do not care..."

 

"I wish to eat other demons and grow stronger. Is that something you abhor? Is it such a price? In return, I will give you these sewers. The boy, Filth, is easy manipulated and I am not without my means. Blood, I can give you. Solace, I can give you..."

 

"All you have to do is feed me demons..."

[RobRX]

"Sorry, even if I did agree I wouldn't even know where to begin when it come to finding demons, you know." Explained the time-traveller, while still bothered he was having a conversation with a sentient, demonic rat. That one would take quite a lot of time to ever be properly swallowed.

 

"If...if we were to agree, what guarantee do I have you won't later harm innocents once you're done demon-binging?" Then, Bloodline adjusted the settings on his weapon to make his point clear.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"None" replied the rat, coldly. 

 

"I care nothing for the lives of innocents, not one atom" its said, frankly. "But in this matter, be not concerned. If I care not for the lives of innocents, this does not mean I will harm them, or indeed will save them. I am a force of nature, sometimes benign, sometimes malign, but never concerned. I might be the storm that destroys, or the rain that nurtures" it said. 

 

"You, on the other hand, are free to be concerned as you will. Free to impose your fate on them, if you wish. Every crack and noose of the tunnels will be yours, a hobo, a drunkard, a maintenance guy...you can feed freely, and to your whim, and melt away, or not...but you will have strength to determine your fate..."

 

"As for my feast, I am a patient one. I need not sate myself today, or this month, or even this year. There is there is who have walked the earth, there is the who has tormented me, or there is the seeped in the blood of demons. There are many more..." it sang in a cold strange voice. 

 

"If you swear to feed me, then I swear the tunnels and sewers of Freedom City are yours, to skulk in, to feed in...and that the fate of Daybreak and the Firecracker he uses are yours to decide. I will not decide it for you, although if I was you I would drain them to husks..." it smiled. 

[RobRX]

"I'm not swearing anything, especially not to some damn demon rat! If I do meet a demon, fine, I'll make some nice and lovely holes in it and feed you the scraps. Honestly, I'd be doing the world a favor anyway." Growled Bloodline at the demonic rat. That was as much as the rat would get for now, no more no less.

 

"Other than that, no, I'm not going on some demon hunt...N-not...now...getting weak. Getting thirsty."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Really? Getting weak are you..." said the Rat, slowly walking around Bloodline. 

 

"Weaker and weaker...weaker and weaker...and soon, Daybreak and his ridiculous group of weak minded fanatics will be coming...especially if they were...guided...Quite a treat, I would think...rich blood, flowing freely..."

 

"But Daybreak is not quite the easy feast, is he? No, he wishes to wipe you and your kind from the face of the earth. And...I can smell it on him...he has wiped quite a few deathless bloodfeasters from the face of the earth already. He is good at it. Perhaps you will be his next victory? Or perhaps he will be your next feast...who can say...who can say..." said the rat in a cold voice. 

 

"You give me little, dead one. But if you do happen upon a demon, you will feed me it?" he asked, pressing for answer.