FicWad

Chapter 22



By the time Draco and Charlotte were up, the smell in the office told them all they needed to know, along with the missing saber. The Day Walker was loose somewhere in the building. The last anyone saw, he had gotten to the roof and vanished. Even the video cameras were at a loss. All they did detect were the rifle and the saber mysteriously lifting up and then vanishing. No reports came back that he had returned to his home, (for, because of Yuriya's actions, it would have been all over the news,) and the police would have seen him wandering the streets in that ridiculous outfit in the daytime, (though most New Yorkers would have ignored it.) That meant, as far as they were concerned, that he was still in the building. He had to be using the same trick that kept them from entering their haven. Fumio had been valuable before they unleashed her. They now knew that they were dealing with a different kind of vampire, and one that was possibly more powerful than they. They also now knew the reason why the bat had always been attached to them, and it was because of them. They performed much of their tricks with them, used them as communication, kept them as pets, and they were the perfect spy network. If that was the case, they could search the whole building and never be able to find him. There was the suggestion to use dogs, but that was dismissed. Had they, Jean-Claude would have been in trouble, because animals were immune to the wards, and they would have sniffed him out in a heartbeat. However, because of the sense of death that hung over the undead and the awkward state of the undead, dogs were scared to death to get near them. If they were outside, they could have used human familiars, and then went with dogs. However, they could not even get the dogs past the 20thfloor without them freaking out. Thus, they were at a loss, and in constant fear of something jumping out without them knowing it. Thus, because of their failure, every human familiar that were guards on duty at that time were brought up to the hallway outside of the office. Charlotte then said, "Well, it seems you couldn't even stop something like him. You are all useless! However, we need the guards, so, to take care of that..."

She snapped her fingers, and out of every corner came undead that started to drag them off to the medical rooms to turn them all, and some were feeding as they went! The screams were deafening, but there was nothing they could do. However, they would at least augment what was in there, because, if he was loose, and had some of their verminous bats with them, she could lay ten cents on the dollar that there was an attack imminent.



The Hand was gathered, as was the Devil Sisters, Ryuu, (who had recovered by this point,)and Blade's crew. That made 12 in all. Anjou reported to them that her bats detected a little over 100 undead in the three floors of concern, about 30 guards, now vamped out, and armed with AK-47s. If it ended up a shootout, they were in close quarters, and they wanted something with hitting power. The others were armed with M-4s, which didn't have as much hitting power, but they would do their jobs, especially in close quarters. Besides, with the silver and garlic rounds being their weakness, they didn't need much in the way of firepower anyway. In short, they had the edge. However, because of their actions, the National Guard was covering the area, and then there was the building itself. Because it was a part of the business of international trade, and because of what had happened, the standard security would be tight. There would be no way of just waltzing right through the front door and just marching into the fray. Chiyuki then said, "The only recourse we have then is to scale the outside of the building. We just have to sneak past the guards."

"Leave that to my bats," said Anjou, "They can cause confusion and then cover our movements. Then we can climb."

Hondo then said, "Hey, I'm not as fast as you. I can't scale like the rest of you."

Chiyuki just sighed and said, "I'll carry you!"

However, Karin was looking at Kenta, seeing him contemplate something. "Penny for your thoughts?"said Karin.

"I'll tell you later," said Kenta, "We have to get this done first."

He had been acting strange since his mother had had what happened to her happen. It was not that he was depressed, but he looked like he had been in this thought process for the past few days. Now he did not tell her. It was either something of too great a concern to worry her at this crucial moment, or he really did want to focus. In either case, she had to let it go for the moment. Blade then said, "Alright, it ends tonight. No mercy tonight, because we don't have time for that. Any humans that resist us for them are just as dead because of the need, and we just have to write it off as them making the wrong choice-being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

With that, they headed out.



The National Guardsmen who were watching the perimeter of the initial strike area were keeping a tight vigil. If all this had been vigilante action, then they indeed expected an attack on WTC 7. They had men at the perimeter, and some around the building. However, they were looking for a conventional foe, not what was coming. Suddenly, at the most northeastern point, a cloud of bats descended. All the men tried to get their rifles on them, but the bats had the men disarmed before they could react. The frantic reports were coming in to keep their eyes peeled in case this was an attempt at a distracting maneuver to cover something else. Even though it indeed was, the ward that the bats were creating allowed the 12 to go by with no difficulty. However, the inner ring around the building went into a heightened state of alert. This would do them no good as a worse version of what hit the others came in. This was followed by a cloud of bats that had their faces covered dropping an ocean of cloths covered in ether. Because of how fast the substance worked, the men were out before they could either call for help, or don their protective masks. Chiyuki took Hondo on her shoulders, and the others were then scaling the wall as if they were spiders. They had not known that they could do this because it had been centuries since anyone had ever used the ability on a regular basis. They probably would have continued to be ignorant of this had they not been making the fight they had and learned how to do it. Now, it was a matter of strategy, and they were making time. Something like this was the last thing that the foe expected. Since the undead could do this, one would have expected some kind of defense for this. However, because of where these offices were, they never would have thought vampires to be so ambitious as to climb that high. They knew the humans could not do that, so that was not a factor. Because of that, there were no cameras to watch for this kind of thing. One thing was for certain, they would get caught flat footed.



They achieved the lowest windows, and everyone with vampiric abilities cut a hole into the glass with their nails quickly, pushed in the glass, and jumped in. Indeed, they were caught flat footed, for the guards that were in there barely had time to react before they were mowed down. At that precise moment, Jean-Claude came out of the rafters, blazing away with his Sturmgewher. He became a one-man army, working his way around, room by room, working his way to the main target. However, they were not the only ones on the move.



In the throne room, the royalty were teaching the new members about their abilities, and it was at that point that Sophia said, "It has started."

At that, Mickey and Sheila said, "Then we shall go. They have no contingency if any of them manage to flee. They must be policed up."

Kannon then said, "Hey, they hurt grandmommy! I want a part of this!"

Sheila then said, "Are you sure you can handle it?"

"Hey, I may be nine years old, but I'm just as strong as you were at my age!" she said, "You fought the Inquisition like that, didn't you?"

"This is not mere humans, dear Kannon," said Sophia.

"Let me help," said Lucas, "I'll go with her. I'll take responsibility in case anything happens. We owe you, and I suppose this is a way we can help."

"Then go," said Sophia,"Make haste, for we cannot let the head of the snake remain on the body."

With that, the second wave was on its way. Yuriya was standing behind the coffee kiosk and saw the four heading out the door. When she asked where they were going,(knowing the danger that was out there,) and Lucas, to cover them, said, "They said they were going to teach me proper hunting techniques so I could teach the others-royal business."

Once she heard that, she let it go. It was easy for her to forget just how powerful her children were because of her mother bear instincts. They went out and got ready to pick up the scraps.



Charlotte and Draco both heard the sounds of combat both above and below. They realized that there was no escape the normal routes, and they also wondered how they managed to get past the National Guard without detection. They figured that, since they were not detected coming in, the only way they got to the top was the only way they could escape now. They decided that now was the time. They figured that it would be better to do this than to die like fools, for only fools fought in a burning house. The Samoan twins went out to make sure that the coast was clear, and ran smack into Ai. She had been the first to break free and head for the command floor. Ryuu normally would have been with her, but he was too busy with coordinating the movements against the foe with Chiyuki to see what she was attempting. Considering how powerful she was, they were not so concerned anyway. Now, there she stood, a dusting of ash on her from the vanquishing of their foes, with a mean looking silver alloy katana in her hand. She then said, "Where are you two going, boys? You don't know how to greet a pretty young lady when you see one?"

"Of course," said Tony, "We kill little pests like you!"

They started to move, but she was way too fast. However, they were just bringing their own swords up at that precise moment, and what happened next could only be written off to dumb luck. Normally, they would have been ash before they had had achance to blink. Unfortunately, she miscalculated her timing in when they were bringing their blades up, and she caught Tony's in her chest all the way up to the hilt. She was now paralyzed with a shocked look on her face. However, they showed no remorse, as the other one came up and then took off her head in a businesslike manner. They were shocked to see her bleed like a normal human, and not turn to ash. Tony snapped his wrist downward as her body hit the ground hard. This was at the precise moment that Jean-Claude came down to that floor. He showed up just in time to see her body fall, and rage filled him. He snarled through his teeth, "YOU SON OF A RUNNING DOG!"

Tony just wheeled around and said, "Well, well, well...I guess we get to finish our fight."

"At least I get to face the two of you face-to-face!" snapped Jean-Claude, but that was followed by, "No, you get the both of us."

It was Blade. He had managed to break from the fray when he saw Ai go out. He wanted to be sure she would be safe, and he was angry that he was again one second too late, and these goons were responsible for it. Tony turned to Jean-Claude as his brother turned to Blade. "Looks like we get to kill both Day Walkers now," he said, but Blade then told him that Simon said for him to go have sex with himself. At that, it was on. Again, everything was at blazing speed, so everything was over in a matter of seconds, but everything that would have happened in aprolonged fight occurred. This time, however, both men were ready for their fights, as they were both using the massive size of the men against them. All their muscle would do them no good as they were now fighting two darting targets. They were taking great pleasure in emasculating the both of them as they fought, getting them more and more flustered as they went. However, the fight was going to end badly for the two giants.



At the precise moment fate had struck, Ai instinctively let out a psionic distress signal to Ryuu and Chiyuki that briefly stunned them. They then realized that it had been instantly cut off, and they dreaded the worst as they charged to the next floor. When they came up, their worst fears were realized as they saw the four combatting and the lifeless, headless body of Ai, and they went postal. Both of them went feral, and their roars stopped all four in their tracks. The two of them took gruesome appearances: long fangs, paler skin, long, bony fingers, long fingernails, glowing eyes, pointer ears, and they even appeared to have snouts a touch. They pounced on their prey as if they were two Bengal tigers jumping on two bloody sides of beef. They were literally ripping them apart, drinking blood, and chewing on the chunks of flesh they were ripping out with their teeth. They were not eating it, but they were chewing on it, trying to squeeze and extract the blood out of every ounce of them. Most was just spilling around them, and the deaths of these two would be agony. All the other two could do was just watch in stunned silence. It looked like something out of a B-rate slasher film, but much worse. About the moment they expended their energy, the bodies of the twins turned to ash from loss of blood. They were still enraged, though they looked a bit less animal. Ryuu and Chiyuki just looked at them and snarled, "Where are the other two?"

Jean-Claude pointed to the office, and they burst in. However, it was empty, and there was asmashed out window. In the confusion, they had managed to crawl down the side of the building. This was followed by Ryuu finally calming down and breaking into tears. He was a wreck. He had just come back, had been reunited with his lady love, and lost her that quick. He then went outside and tried to repeat the process that brought him around. However, because he was who he was, it was possible for him, but not for her. It was too late. She was gone forever, and this time, there would be no coming back this way. He just laid her down and then turned to the wall and bawled like a baby, not wanting to see her like this. Blade saw this, and very gently, and with as much dignity as he could muster, took off his leather trench coat, and covered the body. Chiyuki was crying herself as she was trying to console Ryuu, and that's when Blade came up and put a hand on Ryuu's shoulder and said, "Turn it into something else. Let's go get the two bastard children and put an end to this!"

Ryuu saw the determined look on Blade's face, and he was shocked to see the angered and determined look on his face, as if Ai's death was a personal affront to Blade. He saw him lay the jacket down, and realized that Blade wanted to do what he could to avenge his loss with him. He discovered a kindred spirit that night, and they embraced. The rest came up at that time and stood still as they saw what had happened. Karin started to get that look in her eyes when she was becoming angry, and Anjou just stared as her nostrils flared. Jean-Claude then said, "Karin, Anjou, come with us four. It's time for a Mississippi butt whopping!"



However, the fleeing of Charlotte and Draco were not unseen. While all this was happening, the twins, Kannon, and Lucas came up to the perimeter guards who were trying to regain their faculties. When they saw that, immediately they brought up their rifles, with one declaring, "Halt, who is there?"

The Golconda then reached out their hands as an eye shape spot on their foreheads began to glow, and they said, "Take a nap."

All around them passed out, and they erased their memories of the encounter. When Lucas saw that, the memory of a word started to run around in his head, but he could not put his finger on it just what that word was. He chewed on this as they advanced. The guards were barely coming around when they encountered the remainder of their foes exiting the building, with Charlotte and Draco just around the corner from them. They thought about joining them, but then they saw the approach of the four, and halted. Those exiting were going to pay them no mind, but they then recognized Lucas and stopped. "Lucas, you have real gall coming here now!" one of them snapped, "We should just kill you and the runts. What did you think; that these children were going to fight."

However, the eyes of the kids began to glow; it was then that the strange smooth spot on their foreheads were revealed for what they were. The skin split in a crescent, and the flap of skin suddenly grew lashes as a third eye was revealed. Draco and Charlotte knew now what they saw and they never though that it could be possible that this could have happened, but there it was. One of the men who recognized what this was screamed, "SELIBRI!" and went as pale as a sheet. They all then tried to get away, but the three said, "Your sins are too grievous to let any of you live."

With that, they extended their hands, and they all erupted into flames. For Charlotte and Draco, this was a bad situation. Their worst fears were being realized, and they high-tailed it out of there, but not without eyes following them. The others came out just as this was happening, and they were all shocked by the third eyes. They had closed when they approached, and Jean-Claude did not ask any questions, having learned long ago not to ask about any of what his kids could do. He knew they were powerful enough to handle themselves. Karin tried to scold Kannon, but Jean-Claude said, "No, they need to be here."

Anjou then said, "My bats are following the pair. They are heading for the subway."

"Let's go before we lose them," said Blade and Jean-Claude said, "Kannon, go with your mother, you two and Lucas, come with me. Blade, you go with Ryuu and Chiyuki. Between these three groups, we should catch them. Let's go."

With that, the others removed the body of Ai, and cleared any trace of them being there before the authorities arrived. If they had their way, Ai would be buried with proper honors. Yet, the time for mourning would come later. They had work to do.