by GoozX, The Eurostar and Grimm
The remains of the once-proud Dawson Apartments Complex:
A creek in the floor boards caused Edulcore Ciccioto's head to spin, followed by his body and Ladnikia. Light reflected off the blade's smooth surface. Edulcore, the Raptor, brushed his chin with his right hand, his rough unshaven hair on end. Shivers went down his spine. Ladnikia spoke to him, directed him. His hawk eyes stared through the darkness of the hallway.
Mick Harrison scratched his head. "Eddie? You okay, buddy?"
Edulcore was silent; with a swift move, he ran past Daniela and raised Ladnikia high into the air. The blade came down on the far wall, easily slicing through it.
Mick ran over and opened the door. On the other side, Ladnikia had pierced a vampire cleanly through its skull, right between its eyes. The vampire struggled and convulsed.
Mick could only muster a, "Whoa," before the blade slid out of the vampire's head.
The Raptor was past Mick with his hand on the creature in seconds, a look of rage in his eyes as he pulled the vampire to its feet and crushed its body on the wall. "Tell me." Ed's words rang through the vampire's skull. "And it will be painless when I kill you."
"The... Everchanging... is the key. Kline... wants him dead."
Mick turned toward Edulcore. "Wulf? And who the hell is Kline?"
"It doesn't matter. Y-your friends are already dead. The few remaining purebloods, have been released."
"How many?"
The vampire was silent. With a swift move, the vampire's right arm was taken off. The creature yelled in pain before the Raptor covered its mouth with his hand.
"Tell me what I want to know."
The pale shook, his bloodshot eyes showing fear at its purest form. "Six."
With that, Edulcore took off the vampire's head. He turned toward Mick, who showed his own signs of fear. "The others need us."
In the other room, Daniela, formerly of the PSI-Unit, was frozen with guilt as she stared at Otto and the horror that she had brought upon the gentle bear.
Edulcore Cicciotto, Mick Harrison, Otto, and Daniela were inside the UFO, heading for the cave entrance on the beach, when the storm finally hit hard.
And the UFO, which had probably been somehow hurt by the vampires' attack, was unable to sustain the fury of the wind, and went down, crashing over the beach. It was dark as night, sand and water coming down like waterfalls, and the occupants were trapped inside the saucer, which was refusing to let them out.
They were near the end of the air supply, when an axe ripped through the alien metal, and a familiar and welcomed skull appeared. Grimm brought them to the entrance cave and then headed back toward the noise of the battle fought in the dark by the leg-lame demonic Beast and the godly Fenris, who was their teammate.
The cave was spacious, filled with people. There was a sense of peace, that through Ladnikia Edulcore could sense coming from the one called Tayden. Ladnikia didn't like him. Who was he?
Danny was severely wounded. Priest, too, was out of commission. Mick couldn't change into M'xy, because the otherdimensional being was unconscious, whatever that could mean for a demigod like him. M'xy's host was now near his Shirley, trying to help her and Dr. Henry Quantos cure her Uncle Otto.
"Mick, come here!" the Raptor yelled. The young man looked at Ed, surprised. He then looked at Shirley; she nodded, and he came there, where the other MBL Consulting members were gathered.
"There are six purebloods looking for us, to prevent us to help Wulf in bringing down the Beast out there," the Raptor said.
"Who the hell told you that?" shouted Dirk Bell.
"A little bird. From what I heard, they are nearly unstoppable."
"You betcha. Me 'n' Grimm ran into one. There's no way we can..."
"Sun kills them."
"Ah-ha, if you haven't noticed, turkey-head, it's like night out there. That's why they're attacking during the storm going."
Ed turned to Phil. "Call on Ameristar!"
Phil looks at him, surprised.
"You can do it. I was the one that got your call when you were drowning. Ameristar's Gaia unit has the power to recharge Priest. Then, I want you to locate the six pureblood. Maybe Daniela can support you, too. They want to kill us, so they must be around here. When you get them, you must work to have them gather together. Grissom, Chance, and Dirk, I know, they can manage that. When they are together, Ameristar will teleport them ABOVE the clouds. I don't know if she must be with them, but even if it's the case, now is the moment where everyone has to give his life if that's needed. And one thing..."
Everybody was fixed on Edulcore Cicciotto, the Raptor.
"...act as a team!"
He turned and went to the exit. His place was at Grimm's side.
The roiling waves crashed against the surf as Fenris battled the Beast in the water just off the shore. Biting and clawing savagely, the two creatures were locked in combat that could end only one way. The Beast grabbed the wolf and slammed it down hard onto the beach. The wolf rolled and quickly rose up and and leaped back toward its attacker, attempting to ensnare its throat with his mighty jaws. The Great Devourer was hungry.
Edulcore Ciccioto walked out into the storm and was immediately beset by the winds and rain pummeling him. Pulled this way and that, he was lost. Why have I come out here? he thought to himself, then glanced down at the blood sword Ladnikia in his hand. You, he thought, you are drawing me out here... but for what purpose? Before he had time to finish the line of enquiry, he was met with a savage knee to the stomach that doubled him over in pain.
"Hello, little red riding hood. Get lost on our way to grandma's, did we? You should be more careful. There are wolves about, and they're hungry."
Edulcore looked up and saw the pureblood vamp in the red robes standing before him, smiling, the robes flapping in the hard winds. The pureblood himself seemed to be little affected. Edulcore noticed that one of the vamp's eyes was missing.
The vamp attacked again, sending a hard right cross to the Raptor's jaw, causing him to spin around. Edulcore's mind was screaming at him from all sides now. His avian instincts tried to pull him away from the storm to an area of safety, while the sword screamed at him to fight.
"Ah, this is too good to be true. Four of your insipid little band in one day. Say hello to your friends when you meet them in Hell, little hero..." the pureblood said, lifting the former Eurostar off of the ground.
Edulcore looked up at the pureblood, the sword stoking his rage, when suddenly he saw a flash of blue and dropped to the ground. The pureblood screamed in rage and anger. Ed looked over and saw that the lower-half of the arm that had been holding him up was now lying next to him on the ground. He looked behind him and saw Grimm, axe drawn, advancing toward the pureblood.
"Time to finish what we started..." the biker said, taking another swing.
"Oh, indeed, it is," the pureblood said, using his speed to avoid the blow.
Grimm continued to advance, seemingly unmindful of the storm raging about him, his concentration completely focused on one thing, the total annihilation of the being that stood in front of him. He charged forward, and the vampire sidestepped, attempting to work his cloak with his remaining arm as if he were a bullfighter.
Edulcore saw flashes of blue light and steel as Grimm attempted to connect again with the axe. He heard howls of anger in the distance and thought of Fenris battling the Beast. He had to do something. Ladnikia spoke to him in his mind. He got up and moved forward to join in the battle. He and Grimm advanced on the vampire from two sides, like a pincer.
But the elder pureblood managed to hold them off, even with one arm. He kicked out at Grimm, nailing him in the forearm and causing him to drop his axe. At the same time, he grabbed the Raptor's sword arm and flung him toward his teammate, the force of the blow taking them both off of their feet.
Grimm reached out with his hands, attempting to sense his axe by the psychic bond shared with it. The axe glowed brightly, as if attempting to inform him of its whereabouts. A black boot heel stomped quickly on Grimm's forearm, just above the metal gauntlet, preventing him from reaching the axe. The pureblood reached down with his remaining arm and picked up the axe.
"Well, what is this? A pretty little toy?" The blue glow quickly died out, causing the vampire's smile to fade as well. "No matter, the blades are quite sharp."
As the vampire aimed a killing blow at Grimm's neck, he was suddenly struck full force by the Raptor, his wings having had sufficient time to regenerate. Edulcore struck like a battering ram, aiming his head full force at the pureblood's abdomen. The vamp was actually taken somewhat off-guard by this, and stumbled over dropping Grimm's weapon. Edulcore, for his efforts, was stunned and could not move.
Fenris continued to attack the Beast in the surf, actually biting down and pulling one of its horns off. The Beast screamed in agony, holding its hands up toward its head. The great wolf quickly munched down on the appendage and continued the attack, clawing at the Beast's stomach. The Beast knocked the wolf away with a quick strike of its arm, sending the wolf flying back onto the shore. The wolf struck hard against some of the rocks and yelped in pain.
The Beast began to stride toward the shore, confident that it would finish off its opponent.
The pureblood vampire staggered around, attempting to get his bearings. Impossible as it may have seemed, these humans were actually beginning to hold their own against him; they had even caused him injury. This was unthinkable! Oh, how they would suffer when this was over. No more quick deaths.
A steel-gauntleted hand closed around the shaft of a double-headed battle axe. Grimm silently rose from the ground and continued to advance upon his opponent.
The pureblood had retreated to a cliff's edge near the shore and was being treated to a view of the Beast looming over Fenris. He was salivating over the seeming doom of the mighty wolf. He turned and began to make his way down to the shore, when he was met with a tremendous clothesline hook from Grimm, the force of which took both so-called men over the cliffside and into the crashing waters below.