X-Men: Black Fire
By Paradox
BOOK II
Several Hours Later
Prologue
Kitty watched the clouds sweep past the Blackbird’s canopy as the stealth plane streaked towards New York. She had tapped into the radio frequencies and had music playing softly in the background, her foot absently tapping in time to the beat. Normally, she might be singing along with the band that was playing, but her thoughts were otherwise occupied. More specifically, her thoughts were overwhelmed by memories and images of a certain young man who wielded red, crackling energies. The image of his steel gray eyes looking into hers with an intensity that could only be described as love took her breath away for a moment.
Shaking her head, she swiveled her chair around so she was facing the communications equipment. Quickly adjusting several readings, she pushed a button, opening a communications channel. “X-Men, this is Shadowcat, anyone read me?”
The radio crackled to life. “This is Logan, Kitty, good to hear from you.”
Kitty smiled. “Good to hear you too Logan, how is everyone there?”
“Doin’ good,” came the reply, “We’ve all pretty much shaken the effects of Dracula’s mesmerizing.”
Kitty nodded, even though no one could see her, and breathed a sigh of relief. “Great, I should be back in a few hours and I’ll give you all a brief about what happened.”
“Sounds good,” Wolverine said, “We’ll see you then.” The com switched off.
Kitty sighed and leaned back in her chair, thinking about everything that had happened recently. Not more than three days ago, the infamous vampire, Count Dracula, had come to them requesting assistance in retrieving some property of his that had been stolen in Chicago. At first, Kitty had denied helping him, but he had used his vampire powers to force her into helping him under the threat that he would have her fellow X-Men kill each other if she didn’t.
Of course, she agreed to go with Dracula to Chicago and help him. Normally, the vampire lord could have forced her into doing anything he wanted, but she had some magical aid of her own. In specific, a mage by the name of Cole Raven had come to the X-Men several days earlier and asked to become part of them. He had only just begun training for the team when Dracula had shown up making demands. Fortunately, Cole had dealt with Dracula before and knew how to handle him, along with the fact a powerful vampire friend of his had shown up. After using the X-Men as leverage, Dracula convinced them to help him and the three had gone to Chicago and met up with the Prince of Vampires in Chicago, Priest. The vampire had agreed to help them out and assisted in finding the lost article of Dracula’s which turned out to be just a normal piece of jewelry. The trip had ended with Cole staying behind in Chicago to help Priest run the city, but he promised to try and visit her soon.
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Kitty steadied her nerves through a ninja calming technique. When she opened them, the large form of the X-Mansion loomed in front of her. Expertly manipulating the controls, Kitty guided the craft into a secret, underground hangar, and prepared to reenter the life of an X-Man.
X-Men: Black Fire
By Paradox
BOOK II
1
About a year later.
Winchester, the X-Mansion
Kitty grunted as she shoved the last article of clothing into a black bag with the decal of a black X in a red circle on it. After she zipped the bag up, she took one last look around the room, making sure she didn’t forget anything. Several changes of clothes, shoes, socks, underwear, a couple books for lazy days, a laptop computer integrated with the latest Shi’ar technology, and definitely not her X-Men uniform. “Looks like I’ve got everything,” she said to herself, picking up the bag and slinging the shoulder strap. Using her mutant ability to make the molecules of her body unstable enough to pass through solid objects, Kitty phased through the walls of her room and literally walked through the mansion until she reached the living room, where most of the rest of the X-Men were lounging about. A blue furred devil with yellow eyes and a pointed tail looked over at her from his spot in the room, clinging upside down to the chandelier. “Hello Kitty, all ready for your little trip?”
“Yup,” Kitty said with a smile, “All I gotta do is get to the airport and catch my flight.”
“You know we can fly you Kitty,” the devil said.
Kitty shook her head. “No thanks Kurt, I’d rather not get shot down before I had my vacation.”
Nightcrawler chuckled and nodded. “Very well, but I just wanted to make the offer.”
“Kid probably wants to get away from it all and fly commercial anyway, huh Kitty?”
Kitty looked over at the short man seated in an easy chair in front of the television, a beer in one hand and a smoking cigar in the other. “Yeah, that’s about right Logan. I want to just try and do stuff like a normal person would.”
Logan nodded. “Yeah, I can see your point. Have a good trip.”
“Say hello to Lila for us,” Nightcrawler added.
“I will,” Kitty said before rushing out of the mansion. When she got outside, a hulking man with close cropped black hair stood waiting next to a sedan.
“Are you ready to go Katya?”
Kitty nodded and smiled. “Yeah, I can’t thank you enough for driving me Pitor.”
Colossus, the strong arm of the team, smiled and nodded back, opening the passenger door for her. “Thanks,” Kitty said, throwing her bag in the back seat and dropping down into the front seat. Pitor got behind the wheel and started them off to the airport.
For a long time, they were both silent, neither knowing what to say to the other. For a time, Kitty and Pitor had been seeing each other, but that time had passed. Now, they remained good friends and close teammates. Sometimes, Kitty wondered what it might have been like if they had stayed together. Would he still have gone off and joined the infamous Magneto’s Acolytes? Would he have stayed with the team? Would he even be alive?
Shaking her head of the thoughts, Kitty turned and smiled at her driving companion. “So, what are you guys going to do while I’m gone?”
Pitor shrugged. “I do not know. I am sure we will train, but beyond that...” His voice trailed off and he shrugged. “Do not worry about us Kitty, if anything comes up, we will be able to handle it. You just enjoy yourself, you’ve earned the rest.”
“Yeah,” Kitty said whimsically. Rest was just what she wanted, rest and quiet. Yet, she was an X-Man, and rest seemed to always be the last thing she got, vacation or not. “Just do me a favor.”
“What is it?”
Kitty grinned at her friend. “If the world is about to come to an end while I’m gone, lose my phone number, ‘kay?”
They both couldn’t help but laugh.
Chicago
“What’s the situation?”
The young man in the long, black leather coat looked over his shoulder, a cigarette dangling from his lips. “You’re going to have to specify Priest, there’s a lot of those out there tonight.”
Priest, Prince of the vampires in Chicago and several other states, rolled his eyes and leaned his forehead on his hands on the desk. “Please tell me that Ash isn’t tearing up Clark street and I’ll be a little happier.”
The young man in the long coat shrugged. “Last I heard, he was dealing with the new Glass Walkers that had come into the city.”
“Good,” Priest said and sighed, “That last Sabbat attack really screwed the town up. What’s the latest from the Watchtower?”
“We’ve got two sightings. I’ve already dispatched Samantha to get to work on them. If we’re lucky, we’ll get them in employment in a matter of weeks.”
Priest cocked an eyebrow. “You’ve gotten awful cold recently Cole, something bothering you?”
Cole Raven, mage and the Prince’s Shadow, shrugged and took another drag from his cigarette. “Maybe I’ve just gotten used to being who I am.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Cole waved the question away. “Forget it. Anyway, we’ve got something else to worry about.”
“What’s that?”
Cole turned away from the window he was looking out of and walked over to Priest’s desk, tossing a photo onto it. The Prince took the photograph and looked at it. The image of a smiling woman with short black hair looked back at him. “Nice looking lady.”
“Name’s Lila Chinney,” Cole explained, “She’s coming into town tomorrow for a show at Dock 5 for its grand opening.”
“Yeah, I know, Jessica spoke to me about her already, your point is?”
Cole sighed and took another drag. “The point is, she’s been affiliated with the X-Men, and you remember what happened last time we got involved with them.”
“Yeah,” Priest said with a smile, “You fell in love.”
Cole shot Priest a look that made the vampire chuckle. “Yeah, yeah,” he said, “I know, you don’t want to talk about it.”
“Try and remember that Priest,” Cole said low.
“All right, all right, I’m sorry. So, why are you so concerned with Chinney coming to town?”
“Because,” Cole said with an exasperated sigh, “When the X-Men are involved, even those who have once worked with them, things go crazy. I don’t want Chicago to go to hell and us not be ready for it.”
Priest sat back in his chair and folded his hands under his chin. “Okay, so what do you want me to do about it?”
Cole walked back over to the window and looked out at the city lights, some stationary, some moving rapidly. It was like watching a Christmas tree on a grand scale. “I want Ash and Hammer, with Flexor backing us up.”
“For what?”
“We’re going to stay with this Chinney character until she leaves. If something happens The three of us will handle it best we can while Flexor hauls ass back here for reinforcements.”
Priest shook his head and closed his eyes, massaging his temples as though he had a headache. “Do you really think that’s necessary?”
“Don’t care,” Cole replied, “It’s prudent and we’re just starting to recover from that clan war. We need to take extra precautions. Besides,” he said with a look of distaste, “I reviewed Jessie’s security list.”
Priest looked at him knowingly. “Not impressed?”
“Let’s just say I hope that Hex doesn’t show up, or we could be in trouble.”
Priest nodded, smiling at the thought of his vampire aid who was slightly out of touch with the times, considering he had gone into hibernation in 1889 and had just recently arisen. “All right, I’ll give you the three, just don’t get them killed, okay?”
Cole looked over his shoulder at the vampire and smiled for the first time that night. “Since when has anyone died on my shift?”
Priest returned the smile, a look of confidence on his face that disallowed anyone to think differently than him. “Never, that’s why you’re still with me.”
As Kitty stepped from the plane, she was greeted by the bustle and noise of the world’s busiest airport, O’Hare International Airport. Everywhere around her, people rushed to and from planes, intent on their destinations as though nothing else mattered to them. Several people jarred Kitty on her way to the baggage claim, but she said nothing. All she could do was look around, a grin on her face. It felt good to be home indeed.
After quickly getting her bag, Kitty made her way to the exit of the airport with the intentions of catching a cab to the hotel she had booked reservations for. She was just about outside when a hand clapped down on her shoulder. Instinct took over and Kitty spun, gripping the arm in a wrist lock and forcing the owner to their knees. “Okay, just who are you?” she said threateningly.
“Kitty, do you always greet people this way?”
Kitty gasped and quickly released the arm. “Oh Lila, I’m so sorry! I had no idea it was you, really.”
Lila Chinney, famous rock star and mutant friend of the X-Men for many years, stood up, brushed herself off, and beamed at the younger woman. The two embraced and Lila said, “Don’t worry about it Kitten, I know all about what you and the rest of the team have been through.” They broke apart and Lila led Kitty outside. “So, what are you doing here?”
“Actually,” Kitty admitted, “I’m here to see your concert and do some relaxing.”
“No kidding? Well, you’ll just have to stay with me and the band at our hotel.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to impose on you.”
Lila waved the statement away. “You wouldn’t be imposing, believe me. Come on, we’ve got more than enough room. We’re staying at the Waldrof.”
Kitty’s eyes widened. “Really? Wow, that place isn’t cheap.”
Lila shrugged. “Well, the place we’re playing for is spotting the bill. It’s a new alternative club and they wanted a big name there for their grand opening night.”
“Well, I’m not so sure...”
“I’m not taking no for an answer,” the rocker said with a twinkle in her eye.
Kitty sighed and smiled. “All right, you talked me into it.”
“Great!” Lila clapped her hands and pulled Kitty to a black stretch limo that sat along the curb. When the driver opened the door for them, Kitty gave the other woman a surprised look. “A limo?”
Lila shrugged. “Hey, not my idea.”
“Whose?”
“The owner of the club. I guess they really believe in that five star treatment.” They slid inside and both looked around in awe. The interior of the limo was nothing short outstanding. There was everything from a small television, to a full wet bar. Almost instantly, Lila went for the bar and poured two glasses of wine. She handed one to Kitty and lifted her own. “To being treated right.”
Kitty lightly clinked her glass against Lila’s. “To old friends.”
“Amen.” They both drank and fell into a comfortable mode of gossiping and catching up on old times. For a while, the two felt like ordinary people, not mutants with superpowers who spent most of their time trying to save the world from super powered villains. By the time they reached the Waldorf hotel, Kitty felt thoroughly relaxed and was looking forward to going to the concert that night. The two young women rushed from the limo, giddy and giggling from excitement and alcohol. After checking in, the two took an elevator up to the penthouse suite. As soon as the elevator doors opened the doors, Kitty gasped. “Wow, nice room.”
“Yeah,” the rocker agreed as they walked into the suite and began exploring.
Indeed, it was one of the nicest hotel suites the two had ever seen. It encompassed the entire top floor and was equipped with rooms for guests, a swimming pool, sauna, a bathroom that could house ten people at once comfortably, and almost anything else one would want. “This place must have cost a fortune to rent,” Kitty remarked quietly as they stopped in the living room area with its huge forty inch screen television, “I’ll bet whoever set you up here is paying a pretty penny”.
“Actually, I own it.”
The two spun around, each ready to defend themselves if necessary. While Kitty phased instinctively, Lila already had a place in mind to teleport to, should the need arise. Yet when the attractive woman in the dark blue dress did nothing but smile kindly at them, they relaxed, somewhat. “Who are you?” Lila asked before Kitty could.
“Jessica Rollins,” the woman said, walking over to them and holding out a manicured hand, “I am the owner of Dock 5 and this hotel.”
Lila took the hand and shook it, raising an eyebrow. “Why own both a club and a hotel?”
“To have a place for my singers and bands to stay when they come to Chicago, of course.” She spoke as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Oh, of course.”
Jessica smiled brightly at Lila and turned to Kitty. “And are you a member of her band?”
“Uh, no,” Kitty said hesitantly, “I’m just a friend.”
“I see,” the woman said, looking the young woman up and down with eyes so hungry it made Kitty squirm, “Do you happen to have a place to stay in Chicago?”
“Well, I was kind of planning on staying with Lila here.” She looked over at the rocker with an unspoken cry for help.
“Yes,” Lila agreed heartily, walking over and looping her arm through Kitty’s, “Kitty will be staying with me, I can see there is more than enough room.”
Jessica shrugged, an eloquent and faint motion of her shoulders. “If you wish it,” she said in a musical voice, “But I was simply going to offer you a room of your own, free of charge.” She lifted a hand when Kitty opened her mouth to speak. “I understand, it is not the penthouse, so I will understand if you refuse.”
Kitty’s mouth worked, but no sound came out. “You’re just willing to give her a room and she’s not even part of the band,” Lila asked wearily.
“Certainly,” Jessica said, a peculiar gleam in her eye, “Any close friend of my singers is more than welcome to stay in my hotel for free. I find that with their inspiration and support, it helps the singers to perform better than normal.”
The two mutants looked at each other and shrugged. “Okay with you?” Lila asked.
“Okay with me, okay with you?”
“Okay with me.”
They both turned and looked at Jessica “Okay,” they both said at the same time before bursting into giggles.
“Excellent,” Jessica said, clasping her hands before her breasts in excitement, “I can send someone up to fetch your bags right away.” She glanced down at her watch. “Oh, I would hurry, you do only have a few hours until the show begins.”
Kitty looked at her watch and her eyes widened in surprise. When she looked out the window, the time was confirmed. It was indeed six o’clock at night. Where had the last few hours gone. “I guess I should get down to my room and unpack.”
“Yeah,” Lila agreed, “I should get ready too. I’ll meet you downstairs at eight and we can head over to the club.”
“Sounds good,” Kitty said, turning to Jessica, “Okay, let’s g-” the words froze in her throat.
Jessica no longer stood in the room. Instead, a young man in a bellhop’s uniform stood in her place, looking expectant. “Can I get your bags miss?” he asked politely.
Kitty shook her head in confusion. “Where the hell did you come from and where did Ms. Rollins go?”
The bellhop shrugged. “Ms. Rollins let me in and left herself only a moment ago. I suppose your conversation had a full hold of your attention, so you did not hear me enter.”
Kitty narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She didn’t believe a word the guy had just said. After having spent most of her young adult life with the X-Men and their off-branch team, Excalibur, Kitty’s instincts had been honed to a razor’s edge. Something just was not sitting well about the whole situation. When she looked over at Lila, she could tell the rocker had the same feelings. She gave Kitty a look that said, Go with it, but stay on your toes. Kitty returned the look with a minuscule nod and looked back at the bellhop. “Okay, let’s go.” She handed him her black bag and let him lead her to the room.
The hotel room Jessica had supplied her with was one floor down, and was by no stretch small. The room itself had a king sized bed, full bathroom with whirlpool and sauna. There was even a little kitchenette and family room. When the bellhop led her into the room, he placed her bag on the bad and turned to her, holding out two card keys. Kitty raised a questioning eyebrow. “Two?”
“One for your room and one for the penthouse suite, Miss.”
“But, I’m not staying in the penthouse.”
The bellhop remained impassive, giving Kitty no clue as to what he was thinking. “I was instructed by Ms. Rollins to give you a card key to the penthouse, should you wish to go up and visit your friend.”
“Oh,” Kitty said, taking the card keys.
“Will there be anything else Miss?”
Shaking her head, Kitty dug into her pocket, pulling out a five dollar bill. “No, thanks.” She pressed the bill into his hand and the bellhop immediately turned and left the room. When the door closed and locked, Kitty sighed and sat down on the bed, looking around the room. It was definitely nicer than anything she would have been able to afford if left to her own devices. Oh well, she thought, I’ve got it now.
Looking at the clock on the wall, she saw she still had an hour and a half until she needed to meet up with Lila at the front desk. Glancing at the bathroom door, she muttered with a smile, “Well, since I do have this place...”
With a joyous cry, she rushed to the bathroom, stripping off her clothes as she did. An hour and a half was more than enough to allow her a good pampering that she hadn’t had in a long time.
X-Men: Black Fire
By Paradox
BOOK II
2
Once again, they took the limo to the club. They would meet the rest of the band and the roadies at the club. Kitty had dressed for the occasion, logging onto the net in her room and finding out what kind of place Dock 5 was going to be. According to several personal reports and interviews in the Tribune, the club was going to be a more popular alternative type dance club. Based on that information, Kitty clad herself in dark blue jeans, a black sweater, black, ankle boots, and a black leather jacket with Lila’s name embroidered on the back. It had been a gift from the band several years ago, and Kitty felt it only fitting to wear to Lila’s big opening.
The rocker herself, on the other hand, had dressed considerably different. She wore a lycra black crop top and tight black spandex pants, with black, high heeled boots coming up to her knees. A short black jacket completed the look. When Kitty had first seen the woman, she had reddened with embarrassment. “Jeez,” she had commented, “Aren’t you a little bit uncomfortable in that?”
Lila just smiled and shrugged. “Hey, the look works, what more can I say.” Kitty shook her head and smiled as they went into the limo.
They were still rolling through downtown when Lila looked over at Kitty and asked, “So, why are you in town, really?”
Kitty looked over innocently. “I’m here to see your show, of course.”
“I talked to Logan, Kitty,” she said knowingly, “He said you were going to be here for at least a three weeks. He actually said he thought you might be here for a month.”
Kitty shrugged. “Well, I might be, I’m not sure. I did want to visit my parents, but they’re out of town, and with everything going on with the X-Men and all.”
“Yeah,” Lila agreed, “Seeing your folks might be a bad idea. So, that kills the parent visit, what else?”
“Well, there’s the show,” She paused and thought for a moment, “I don’t know, I figured I’d just wing it.”
Chinney laughed. “Same old Kitty.”
The two talked for a few minutes before they pulled up to the club. From the outside, it looked like a run down building in a dark part of downtown. The words: Dock 5 were in blue neon letters above the door. Two hulking bouncers stood guard at the double doors. All and all, it seemed very nondescript...
...With the exception of the huge crowd that waited impatiently outside. There was no discernible line, just a mass of people all pushing and shoving in an attempt to get a better look at the limo that was pulling up. When the chauffeur opened the door and Lila got out, screams of fans filled the air. People surged forward in an attempt to try and touch the legend, but security personnel appeared out of no where and held them back with much more ease than anyone would have expected. In fact, the security people, who were all in T-shirts with the words: Dock Crew on the back, did not even lift a hand to stop anyone. All they did was look at them and the giant cluster stopped. When Lila saw the effect, her eyes widened and she motioned for Kitty to look as well. When the younger woman joined her side, her eyes widened as well. “They look like their in a trance,” Lila whispered, for the sound had died to the point where whispering was actually possible; that in itself was amazing. “Somehow, I don’t get the feeling that it’s because of me being here either.”
“Yeah,” Kitty agreed, clenching her fists nervously, “I know what you mean. You know a safe place we can jump to if we need to?”
“I can get us to the hotel suite in the blink of an eye.”
“Great,” Kitty breathed, “We might need to.”
The two quickly rushed inside, making their way backstage to where the band was relaxing. As soon as they walked in, the group sat up and waved.
“Hey Kitty, how’s it going?”
Kitty smiled back. “Going good guys, how about you?”
They all sort of shrugged. “We’re ready to rock.”
As if on command, people started chanting from inside the club, their demands for music raising higher and higher. Lila looked over at Kitty with curious eyes. “Boy, they let them in quick.”
Kitty shrugged. “Well, they’re calling for you.”
The rocker smiled and ran her fingers through the shock of black hair. “Too true, you ready to play boys?”
The band each picked up their tools of music and nodded. “Let’s do it,” the drummer said with a smile, and the stepped from the back room. When they took the stage, the entire club erupted in cheer, and Kitty finally got a good look at the interior of the establishment.
The stage was set against the back wall and was a good twenty feet wide, more than encompassing for any band, plus extra. Kitty assumed it was in case the band members wanted to work the crowd a little. There were two good sized bars against the side walls, both of which were currently filled to bursting. Normally, Kitty could tell there would be tables and chairs scattered throughout the room, but they had been removed for Lila’s performance to allow for more population capacity. The dance floor itself was at least forty square feet big, with boxes of different sizes and configurations stacked up on each other in varying patterns. People had already stormed the mini stages and were jumping up and down, cheering loudly.
When Lila saw the crowd before her, a smile like pure energy came over her face. Kitty couldn’t help but smile either, for she knew Lila. With a crowd as big and energetic as this, she was guaranteed to put on a great performance. “Is everyone ready to party tonight?” she yelled into the microphone. An answering roar filled the air, making Kitty’s ears ring. “Then let’s do it!” She nodded at the drummer, who clacked his sticks together four times before the entire group flew into the music. Unable to help herself, Kitty started to dance, the music seeming to take control of her feet and set them in motion. She flung her head from side to side, unmindful of the way her auburn hair flew into her face. It was as though there was nothing worth living for except for Lila’s voice singing out words of promise, praise, thanks, and joy. The whole world seemed to be filled with music, and for a while, people knew happiness.
The musical spell was shattered by the sound of a shotgun blast, causing the music to come to a grinding halt and everyone to freeze in place. Kitty, her mind still whirling with song and color, stood gasping for breath, trying to figure out what the heck was going on.
“All right,” a man in a kabuki mask called out, “This is a robbery for all of you morons. All we want is the cash and no one gets hurt.” He waved the shotgun in his hands and yelled, “Now, everyone get against the back wall and be cool!”
The crowd instantly rushed to comply, some people getting trampled in the process. When Kitty saw a young girl of sixteen get crushed beneath the running feet, she leapt from the stage and rushed over, using her mutant powers to discreetly make her way through the crowd without being trampled herself. When she reached the girl, a quick look indicated a broken ankle, possibly the foot as well. “Are you okay?” Kitty asked as she knelt next to her.
“My foot,” the girl whimpered, tears rolling down her face, “I’m scared.”
“It’s okay,” Kitty reassured the girl, “Everything will be okay and I’ll make sure you get to a hospital.”
“What the hell are you doing?”
Kitty looked up and saw a kabuki mask done in red and white glaring down at her, its puffy cheeks almost comical. “This girl’s ankle is broken,” she tried explaining reasonably, “We need to get her to a hospital before she goes into shock.”
“Screw that,” the mask sneered, shoving its very big pistol into her stomach, “Get yourself and the girl against the wall before we find out what kind of damage a .357 does to intestines.”
Kitty growled deep in her throat, her fists clenched in anger. She knew at least three dozens of ways of taking this guy down, but by doing that, she would reveal herself as a mutant and a member of the X-Men, and that was unacceptable. “Come on,” she tried again, forcibly putting a plea in her voice, “She’s only a kid.”
“So are you,” the mask responded with a kind of knowledge Kitty had heard only a few times before.
“How do you know? I could be the same age as you.”
“I don’t think so,” the mask said, slamming Kitty on the back of the head with the gun faster than any normal human could move. Stars exploded behind her eyes and she slumped to the ground, moaning softly. When she tried to get up, her legs refused to obey her commands, simply laying useless instead. Gotta get up, she thought desperately, or else these guys are going to kill someone.
Looking up at the mask, she glared at it and said quietly, “So, you have to show how tough you are by beating up a girl, huh?”
The mask shook from side to side and Kitty heard a sigh. “Enough of this crap, I warned you.” He put the barrel of the gun to her forehead and tightened on the trigger. With her vision spinning the way it was, Kitty knew she would not be able to concentrate enough to phase out. The bullet would punch through her brain and kill her like any human.
Just as the mask’s finger tightened down, a figure materialized out of the shadows, tackling the kabuki mask wearer and rolling into a crouch next to Kitty. “Are you okay?” a very familiar voice asked.
Kitty shook her head and her eyes widened. “Cole, Is that you?”
Cole looked down at her and his eyes widened slightly before returning to their previous narrowed glare. “Hi Kitty, good to see you again. Give me a few and we’ll talk.” With that, he exploded from the ground, his hands diving into his coat as the five other robbers leveled their weapons.
Throwing his body to the side, Cole dodged out of the way of the bullets and shotgun blasts, yanking what Kitty saw was a pair of Glock 9mm pistols from his coat. He slid along the ground on his side, firing at the group of robbers. The bullets slammed into a few, dropping them to the ground. People screamed, thinking they were dead, but Kitty saw differently. Almost instantly, the fallen kabuki mask wearers rolled to their feet and made a break for the door, one of them yelling, “It’s Shadow, let’s get the hell out of here!”
Cole spun to the right and dumped several more bullets into a robber trying to sneak up on him, yelling, “Ash, get the front!”
“I’m already there bud.”
Kitty looked to the front door and saw the familiar image of a young man with long black hair in a black trench coat standing in the doorway of the club. He held a pair of submachine guns in his hands and a smile on his lips. The robber skidded to a halt and gaped at him. “Oh no, not him too!” one yelled, “Blow out a wall or something, we need to get out of here!” They all scattered as Ash opened fire with the MP-5’s, careful not to hit any civilians in the room. The robbers all split up and started firing at the two, trying desperately to find a way out of the club. While Ash simply took the shots as they came, Cole dodged, rolled, and flipped out of the way, returning fire with every maneuver.
When one of the robbers became confused and rushed right at Cole, the young mage spun and snapped out his foot, catching the masked man in the head with a spinning snap kick. The kabuki wearer was lifted off the ground and spun in the air three times before he hit the ground with a resounding thud. Cole looked up and yelled, “Hammer, do your thing!”
Almost instantly, the floor beneath three of the robbers exploded up, throwing them into the air and slamming them into the walls. Kitty watched as a hulking man with muscles to rival Colossus rose from the hole in the ground. Cole slapped his forehead and shook his head. “Dammit Hammer, I’ve told you before, minimum property damage!”
The big man shrugged. “Sorry, I wanted to make it look cool.”
Cole shook his head once more and fired a couple shots at the robbers, who returned fire. “Dammit, start getting these guys gathered up!” Cole snapped, leveling his guns and emptying both fresh clips into the chests of the remaining two robbers. The robbers fell to the ground and did not move.
Almost immediately, Hammer rushed over to the fallen bodies, scooping them up so fast that Kitty could barely keep up with his movements. When the big man jumped back into the hole, Cole looked over at Ash. “Time to vamoose partner.”
“See you at the shop,” Ash called, ducking out the door.
Cole spun and ran at one of the walls not occupied by hostages, When he glanced at Kitty, he threw her a wink and a small smile, seconds before he vanished into the shadows. Kitty shook her head and got to her feet, looking after where Cole had disappeared. With his magick it was possible that he had simply teleported onto the other side of the wall or walked through it. Feasibly, she could have just phased through the wall and caught up with him. Yet, Kitty knew that if Cole wanted to make a getaway, there was nothing she could do to stop him. This was his part of town and he could lose anyone in the shadows that seemed more a part of him than his skin.
She had just started to say something to Lila when the police surged into the club, yelling for people to freeze that were no longer there.
“Where are we going?” Lila asked as they walked out of the club and headed for the limo waiting for them outside.
“A club called Excalibur,” Kitty explained as she slid into the limo.
“Why?”
“I need to see someone about what happened tonight.”
Lila looked at the younger woman and shrugged. “Okay, it’s your call, my night’s pretty much shot anyway.”
Kitty nodded, her face serious, “I know, that’s exactly what I want to know about.”
Lila looked at her friend for a moment, then her eyes widened in realization. “You know something about what happened at the club.”
Kitty shrugged. “I think I do, but I’m not sure. That’s why we’re going to Excalibur.”
“What’s at Excalibur?”
Kitty slid into the limo and reached for the cell phone. “Someone who can tell me exactly what happened.” She quickly dialed a number and waited. “Yes, can I have the number for the club Excalibur in Chicago.” The information operator gave her the number. “Thank you.” After disconnecting from the information number, Kitty quickly punched in the club’s phone number. After three rings, someone picked up the phone. Kitty could hear the sounds of pounding music and voices in the background.
“Excalibur.”
“Yes, is Mr. Priest in?”
There was a pause on the other end of the line. “Uh, who is Mr. Priest?”
“The owner of the club,” Kitty said as though she were talking to a child.
“I’m afraid there is no Mr. Priest who owns this establishment.”
“Damn,” Kitty hissed, slamming down the phone.
“Problems?” Lila asked with raised eyebrows.
“I’m just getting stonewalled,” Kitty explained, leaning back in the seat and crossing her legs. “This is really starting to get me mad.”
“What were you hoping to find out?”
“I don’t know,” the younger woman sighed, “I wasn’t sure. I’ll get my answers when we get to the club.”
As soon as the limo stopped in front of the dance club, Kitty jumped out before the chauffeur could get to them. She immediately strode to the door, ignoring the way the bouncer moved to block her way. “Excuse me,” the man said overly polite, “But you have to wait in line like the others.
“Get out of my way,” Kitty growled, “I need to talk to your boss.”
The big man looked down at her and sighed, as though a young girl trying to get into the club ahead of everyone was nothing new. “Look, I don’t like to hurt women, but if you don’t go to the end of the line-” He reached down and took hold of her shoulder.
Instantly, Kitty grabbed his wrist and rotated it around, throwing off the man’s balance. She used the advantage and used a hip throw to drop him to the ground. The man hit with a loud thud and he moaned, rubbing his head. “Look,” she said, “Where the hell is Priest, I’m not in the mood for this.”
“Neither is he.”
Kitty spun, swinging her fist at the new voice out of instinct. She connected with a face so solidly it should have knocked the person out for several hours. Instead, the man’s face only snapped to the side and looked back at her. “Now that wasn’t a very nice thing to say to an old friend like me.”
Kitty sighed and slumped her shoulders. “I’m sorry Ash, I’m just not in a very good mood tonight and I’m tired of people playing games with me.”
The vampire smiled sympathetically and put a hand on her shoulder. “Come on, I’ll take you up to see him.”
“What about my friend?” Kitty asked, looking back at Lila as the woman watched the whole scene.
Ash looked at her and narrowed his eyes. “How much does she know about us?”
“She works with the X-Men all the time, you guys won’t even phase her.”
Ash smiled. “Fair enough,” he waved at her, “Come on Lila.”
The rocker hurried up, looping her arm through Kitty’s. As they walked into the club, Lila whispered, “Should I be worried?”
Kitty shrugged. “I don’t know, I need to see what kind of a mood he’s in tonight.”
“Who?”
“Priest.”
Lila shook her head in confusion. “Who’s Priest?”
Kitty allowed the barest trace of a smile to touch her lips. “You’ll see, just don’t get him mad.”
They started up a staircase. “Why not, does he go berserk like Logan does?”
That made Kitty smile. “Worse.”
Lila gulped. “Ouch.”
As soon as they reached the top of the stairs, the two came to a set of double doors, a man holding an MP-5 submachine gun standing on either side. Ash nodded at the men and the two nodded back, one reaching over and opening one of the doors. The trio walked into a luxurious office with plush chairs surrounding a large oak desk. Paintings of obviously expensive taste hung from the walls, surrounding the group with beauty. There was only one window in the room, but it was a large picture one that looked out at the city, its lights blazing in the night. The single seat behind the desk was swiveled so the back was facing the group. “Hey Priest, you got company, you decent?”
The chair spun around and a young man of about twenty-one or twenty-two faced Kitty and Lila, kicking his boots up onto the desk and taking a drag from the cigarette in his hand. “Course not, when am I ever decent?”
Kitty sighed and shook her head. “Same old Priest.”
The vampire Prince of Chicago smiled and bowed his head. “I don’t change for anyone Kit, you know that. Who’s your friend?”
Kitty drew Lila towards the desk. “Priest, meet the rock star Lila Chinney.”
“Hi,” Lila said somewhat timidly. It was Kitty’s show and she was more than willing to let her run it.
“How’s it going?” Priest returned, throwing her a wave.
“Lila,” Kitty continued, “I’d like you to meet Priest, Prince of the vampires of Chicago.”
Instantly, Priest was on his feet, his hand snapping out, grabbing Kitty by the collar of her jacket, and hoisting her into the air. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he hissed at her, “I should kill both of you right now for saying that!”
Kitty’s eyes went wide and she gulped hard. It had been nearly a year and she had forgotten what a temper Priest had. She did remember that he would make good on his promise if it suited him. “Uh, Priest, it’s okay, really.”
“How do you figure?” he spat out.
“Lila’s worked with the X-Men before, she’s dealt with weirder stuff than you guys.”
For several long moments, the vampire glared at her, obviously weighing the options of letting her live. Kitty knew she could phase out of his grip and run, but then the whole city of vampires would be hunting the two of them down. There was no way she could outrun that many undead. Finally, Priest put her down and sighed, dropping back into his chair as though he were exhausted. “Dammit Kitty, next time you plan on bringing someone here to see me, let me know first.”
“I tried,” Kitty complained, “But the idiots you have working for you said you didn’t exist.”
The vampire raised an eyebrow. “Kit, do you really think I would use my name under the ownership title?”
Kitty looked down, her cheeks reddening. Why hadn’t she thought of that? “Well, yeah.”
Again, a sigh. “Okay,” he said, “What’s up?” He indicated the chairs and the two women sat down. Ash moved to the window and leaned against it, pulling out a cigarette.
“There was an attack at the club Dock 5 tonight,” Kitty explained, “It was done by your people. I want to know why.”
“Dock 5 huh?” Priest rubbed his chin, his glassing slightly as he thought. “I got a call from my boys in the PD saying that there was a big shoot out at that place. No one was arrested.”
“Yeah,” Kitty said, sitting forward, “That’s another thing-”
Before another word could be said, the doors to the office flew open and slammed into the wall with a loud bang. Kitty and Lila spun in their seats to see a young man stalk into the room, his black trench coat flapping violently around his legs and ankles. “Priest, we need to talk, now!”
The vampire Prince stood up and smiled. “Hey Cole, you’re just in time to meet our guests.”
“Stow it!” the young man growled, slamming a fist down on the desk so hard the computer sitting upon it jumped, “Ricky and his crew pulled a job on Dock 5 tonight, I want a blood hunt on them now!”
Priest shrugged. “Hey, they’re Rabble, it’s in their nature.”
Cole shook his head, snarling in anger under his breath. “Dammit Priest, they answer to Jessica, and that’s her fraggin’ club!”
“I’ll handle it,” the vampire said quietly.
For a moment, Kitty thought that Cole might argue with Priest or even hit him, but the mage finally backed down, spitting out a curse and spinning towards the window Ash stood at. The younger vampire tossed him a cigarette and said, “I’ve already talked with our guys at the PD, no one will ever know we were there.”
“Good,” Cole said, his anger slowly starting to dissipate, “I’ve got two of Ricky’s boys on ice, maybe they’ll tell us where he is.”
“Hi Cole.”
The young man froze, his heart stopping for a second and then kicking into overdrive. Very slowly, his head turned towards the voice and his steel gray eyes locked onto a pair of the most beautiful hazel ones he had ever seen. Eyes he not seen for nearly a year, until earlier that night. “Hi Kitty,” he said quietly.
“It’s been a while,” the young woman said, standing up.
Cole nodded, his expression growing dark. “Yeah, it has.”
For a long while, neither said a thing. It seemed as though they were trying to communicate their thoughts and feelings by expression alone. When he could no longer take the heated silence, Priest pushed up from the desk and said, “All right. Ash, I want you and Flexor to interrogate the two guys you got a hold of. Find out where Ricky is and then bring him to me.” Ash nodded and left the room. “Cole, I want you to talk to Jess, find out what the deal is and why she had her own club hit just when it was opening. I have a feeling it has to do with money.”
Cole nodded and quietly said, “I’m on it.” He started to the door.
“Hold on chief,” Priest said, “I didn’t mean right now.” Cole stopped, looking at the vampire with a curious eyebrow. “Let her relax and think she’s in the clear. Do it tomorrow.”
Cole turned towards Priest fully. “And just what am I supposed to do until then?”
“Take the night off,” he said with a smile and a wave of his hand, “God knows that you’ve been working your ass off.”
“I want Ricky and Jessica,” Cole insisted, narrowing his eyes angrily.
“You’ll have ‘em, I promise you. Now, get the hell out of here and enjoy yourself for once in your life.”
Cole glared at Priest for several tense seconds and then spun around, storming out the door. “I’ll be downstairs having a drink,” he called back before the door closed.
Kitty and Lila looked after him until the door cut of her view of him and turned back to Priest. “Well, he’s a pleasant fellow,” Lila quipped, “I can see what you like about the guy.”
Kitty threw Lila a hard look and said to Priest, “What’s wrong with him, he was never that cold.”
Priest sighed and sank into his chair. “He’s been under a lot of pressure for the last year. He wanted the job of city sheriff and I gave it to him.”
Kitty cocked her head to the side curiously. “So he’s sheriff of Chicago, he can handle it.”
The vampire nodded. “Yeah, I know, but it got more complicated once I gave him the job.”
“How?”
Priest sighed and took out a bottle of red liquid, pouring it into three glasses. “Something to drink?”
Kitty smirked. “Should I be worried about it being blood?”
The vampire looked stricken, and for a minute, Kitty thought she might have actually offended him. That sent a trickle of fear down her spine. Offending the Prince of vampires in Chicago was not a wise thing to do. Yet when he suddenly smiled, the trace of fear vanished. She should have known better than to think that Priest would take offense to a little comment like hers. “Nah, my blood binding you guys to me just wouldn’t serve any purpose. This is just a little red wine.” He extended two cups to the women.
Lila started to reach for hers and looked at Kitty for an okay. Kitty nodded and took her own cup. “It’s okay Lila, Priest’s a vamp of his word.”
The vampire smiled and put a hand over his heart. “My dear Kitty, you make my heart go pitter patter with your kind words.”
Kitty laughed and took a sip of the wine. “Anyway, you were saying about Cole...”
“Yeah,” Priest said, his expression growing serious once again, “As I was saying, just after Cole took the job of sheriff, a lot of people were giving him grief about him being a mage and not a vampire. There was a lot of teasing and trick playing.”
“And Cole flipped out,” Kitty surmised. She could already picture the young mage growing enraged and begin to kill vampires left and right. She could actually see the bloodlust in his eyes that surpassed even Wolverine’s infamous berserker rages.
“No, he actually didn’t.” Kitty’s eyebrows went up. “All Cole did was call a full blown vampire meeting here at Elysium at three in the morning when the place was closed down for the night, stand in front of everyone, and offer a general challenge to anyone there.”
“What kind of challenge?” Lila asked.
Priest looked over at her and then back at Kitty, his gaze asking her if it would be wise to reveal anything else. Kitty nodded minutely and Priest continued. “It was a challenge for the title of sheriff. If anyone wanted the job, all they needed to do was kill him.”
The rocker winced slightly. “That’s a little excessive, don't you think?”
Priest shrugged. “That’s the way we do things. It tends to keep order and dominance that way.”
“So what happened?” Kitty asked, anxious to find out more about Cole.
“Well, the Rabble next in line for Primogen status stepped up and answered the challenge.”
“And Cole won, right?”
The vampire laughed. “Won? Hell, the boy literally ripped the guy apart from the inside out without even touching him.”
Kitty gasped. She knew Cole was a powerful mage, but... “Cole’s not that strong of a mage,” she stated flatly.
“Bull,” Priest threw back, “That kid’s got so much magick inside him he’s practically bursting with power. I had a couple guys from the magi society come down and check him out and they never made it through the door of the club before they turned and ran as fast as they could.”
“Why’d they do that?”
“Well,” the Prince said, leaning back in the chair, “When I called them up the next day demanding an explanation, they said that there was so much raw magickal energy radiating from him that it was like he was a living Node.”
“A what?” the two women asked.
Priest laughed. “Yeah, that was exactly what I said. I won’t confuse you with the magickal mumbo jumbo, just suffice to say that Cole’s a walking magick battery with the strength of a nuclear bomb that’s about to go critical.”
“My God,” Kitty whispered, “How does he stay sane?”
“He’s been bleeding off magick constantly,” Priest explained, “At least that’s what he said he was doing. From what I’ve been told, he’s been using his magick to teleport from place to place, heal wounds, and generally just been feeding it into the Earth.”
“Won’t such raw magickal energy harm the Earth’s structure?” Kitty asked, the analyst in her coming out. Whenever something weird or unexplained happened, she always reverted to science to find an explanation. So far, her knowledge had served her well, but there was nothing scientific about magick.
“No, Cole says that he’s only returning the energy to where it came from. According to him, the energy he’s getting is coming from the Earth anyway.”
Lila suddenly stood up, draining her glass and setting it on the desk. “Well, I’ve had about as much weirdness as I can take for one night, so I’m going to go downstairs and get plastered.”
Priest smiled and stood up, taking her hand. “Please, have whatever you want and however much you want of it, on me. It’s the least I can do for screwing up your big gig.”
Lila smiled and nodded her thanks before walking out the door. As soon as the wooden door closed, Kitty turned back to Priest, eyeing him suspiciously. “There’s more, isn’t there?”
“Of course, I just haven’t had a chance to talk about it yet.” He refilled both of their glasses and lit a fresh cigarette. “About six months ago, the Warlocks and the Rabble teamed up with the anarchs of the city in an attempt to overthrow me. All combined, they totaled about twenty vampires.”
“That’s not a lot.”
“On the contrary,” Priest said with a wave of his finger, “That was more than half the population of vampires in the city. Well, Me, Cole, and Ash got the Outlanders, Artists, and Blue Bloods together and formed a counter offensive. In the end, we had a real bloody war. The whole thing was something we call a Clan War. It’s when the different vampire clans, basically, got to war.”
“I figured that,” Kitty stated, obviously not liking being spoken to like a child.
“Yeah,” Priest blushed, embarrassed by his oversight, “Well, when it was over, Cole proved to be the major turning point.”
“How?”
The vampire stood and looked out the window, surveying his city. “He basically vaporized ninety percent of them.”
“What!” Kitty yelled, jumping to her feet.
“Oh yeah,” Priest said with a nod of his head, not looking at Kitty, “He’s that powerful. Ever since then, the vampires from down south, the Sabbat, have been trying to infiltrate the city and Cole’s had his hands full.” He turned back to face Kitty. “Needless to say, he’s been under some stress.”
“Yeah,” Kitty agreed, “Are you sure he’s okay down at the bar drinking?”
“Yeah,” Priest said, “He’s been okay for a while. This whole Dock 5 thing just riled him up. That and the fact that you were there didn’t help any.”
Kitty raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
The vampire looked at her quizzically. “You don’t know?” She shook her head. “Kitty, the guy is in love with you.”
Kitty mouth fell open. For several moments, no words came to her mind, only confusion and disbelief. Finally, when her voice obeyed her again, she quietly asked, “How can you be so sure?”
Priest chuckled and walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Kit, I’ve been on this planet for more years than you know. Believe me, I know when someone’s in love.”
“So how do you know?”
“Well, for one, Cole would never been so pissed off about that little gunfight at Dock 5 as he was tonight. Hell, the kid loves getting into scrapes, lets him blow off steam. The only reason he was so pissed was because you were in harm’s way.”
“So maybe he’s considerate of human life?” Kitty offered hopefully.
Priest looked at her for a long time and shook his head. “Cole’s considerate of human life all right, but he’s also more distanced in situations involving them. Trust me Kitty, he’s in love with you, and you feel the same about him.”
Kitty jerked away from the vampire and faced him fully, glaring into his eyes. “What are you talking about? The guy saved my life, of course I like him as a friend.”
Priest made a disgusted sound and shook his head. “You humans, you try to hide your feelings from one another too much.” He looked her in the eye. “Kitty, the one look you gave him when he came in the room spoke volumes. You’re in love with him.”
Kitty spun around and stormed out of the room. Just before she exited the office, she looked over her shoulder and spat out, “You wouldn’t know love if it smacked you in the face.”
After the young woman had left the room, Priest sighed and smiled, dropping back into his seat and looking at the two closed doors. Yes, he knew about love. He had been in love shortly before and after his Embrace, but the feelings had died away, along with the girl he had fallen in love with. “Yeah,” he sighed, “I think I might know one or two things about love.”
X-Men: Black Fire
By Paradox
BOOK II
3
Cole slammed down the empty glass on the counter and glared at the girl behind the bar. “Get me another one Liz.”
The dark-haired bartender looked from the glass, to the ten glasses lined up next to it, to Cole. “Um, I’m not so sure Cole, that’ll be number twelve. Don’t you think you’ve had enough?”
Cole glared at the women, his eyes flashing momentarily with power. “Do I look even slightly buzzed Liz?”
The woman shook her head, undaunted by the young man. “No, in fact you look completely sober.”
“Then give me another one or I’ll get it myself, and you know I’ll do it too.”
Liz offered Cole a small smile. “Yeah, I know you will.” She reached behind the bar and pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels, filling the shot glass before him. “Here, but try to lay off the stuff for a while.”
Cole slammed down the drink and flipped the glass upside-down before setting the empty shot glass back on the bar. He glared at Liz for several moments and then relaxed. The woman was right, he was drinking far too much for ten minutes. Even for him, twelve shots of Jack was pushing the envelope. True enough, the alcohol was already burned out of his system from the amount of magick that coursed through him, but it set a bad example to the rest of the vampires. He was the sheriff of Chicago after all. “All right then, set me up a cup of coffee and keep it coming.”
Liz’s smile widened and she nodded, her black tresses flying. “You got it.” Immediately, she went off to brew up a fresh pot of coffee.
Cole looked down at the empty glass before him and slowly turned it right side up. Reaching over behind the bar, he took up the soft drink extension and pushed one of the buttons. Water flowed from the nozzle, quickly filling the tiny shot glass. With a flick of his wrist, Cole tossed the soft drink extension back behind the bar and looked down into the tiny pool of water. Chanting arcane words under his breath, he allowed the magick inside him to flow out through his fingertips and enter the water in the glass. He gasped softly when he felt the magick course through his veins from his heart to the hand that barely touched the glass. The water started to cloud with swirling, pink smoke. He watched as the smoke wove dizzying patterns in the liquid, finally settling on an orbit of just along the edge of the glass. The water that the smoke had traveled through changed from transparent liquid to something akin to a television screen. Cole watched as images flew by at alarming speed. Nothing was discernible in the chaos that flew by, and Cole gritted his teeth angrily when he could not identify any of the images. “Knock it off,” he growled, magickal energy flaring through his eyes. Almost instantly, the images froze, as though someone had pushed pause on a vcr. Instantly, Cole’s eyes went wide when he gazed upon the still picture before him. It was something of a jumble, there was a collection of four to five men in different garb. Some were in motorcycle gear, some wore business suits. Yet all were intent upon one thing before them, the victim they held pinned beneath them. Cole could not immediately determine who the person beneath the cluster was, but he caught sight of a thick lock of hair and a single eye looking out, fear widening it so the whites clearly showed. The instant he saw the eye, his heart stopped beating for three seconds. Fear and horror tore through his mind, making it whirl. In that moment, he knew who was beneath the cluster of men, and why.
With a roar of pure fury, he hurled the shot glass at the far wall, causing it to explode into thousands of glass shards. The music in the club immediately came to a grinding halt and everyone in the club looked over at the young man, their eyes either wide with surprise, curiosity, or wisely fearful. Cole glared back at them, red energy flickering in his eyes. “You have a problem?” he said low. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, the music began once more and people resumed their dancing, conversations, and drinking.
“You really need to lay off the customers Cole, they’re starting to get nervous.”
Cole glanced over his shoulder at the person who stood behind him. “They complaining?”
“No,” the man said, “I can just tell.”
Cole sighed and leaned back in his chair against the bar, his hand absently brushing against the coffee cup Liz had set down without him knowing about it. “How the hell does she do that?” he muttered under his breath as he took a sip of the steaming coffee. “Kitty still up with Priest?”
Ash pulled up a chair and shook his head. “Yeah, they finished up a few minutes ago, but she still wanted to talk to him about something. Probably just catching up and stuff. Her friend Lila’s down here drinking up a storm, though.” He paused. “I think she’s about to try for some stage action.”
Cole looked over to where Ash indicated and couldn’t help but laugh. Lila was in the process of trying to get onto the stage where bands normally performed, but two of the bouncers were trying to convince her otherwise. “Let her up there.”
Ash blinked in surprise. “What?”
“Let her up there,” Cole repeated, “We trashed her opening gig tonight, it’s only fair we give her a shot here.”
Ash shook his head with a sigh and looked back at the rocker. “Cole, she’s trashed. If she gets on stage, she’ll end up falling off and breaking her neck!”
The young mage turned to his coffee and reached into his coat, pulling out a tiny, royal blue felt pouch. He untied the drawstrings on it and withdrew a pinch of black powder. He released the powder into the coffee and stirred the liquid with his finger. Once he was sure the potion was properly mixed, he picked up the cup, held it in his palm, and muttered a few words, extended the cup to Ash. “Give her this, it’ll clean her up good.”
The vampire took the cup and let out a yelp, bobbling the cup and almost dropping it before getting a hold on the handle. “Damn Cole, you didn’t say you heated the damn thing.”
“Oh,” Cole said with an expression of innocence, “Did I forget to mention that?”
Ash grinned widely at his friend and slapped him hard on the shoulder. “Now that’s the Cole I remember.” He laughed and walked off, angling for the stage were Lila was staggering over to the microphone and deftly avoiding the bouncers, all the while giggling hysterically. Cole watched as Ash quickly jumped onto the stage and offered the cup to the giggling rock star. Lila happily took the cup and drank deeply from it. Almost immediately after she had finished its contents, the cup was hurled into a nearby wall, where it shattered.
“Okay,” Lila giggled into the microphone, while simultaneously pushing Ash away, “This song is dedicated to everyone who is about to die.” Cole’s eyes widened slightly. A curious choice of tune for such a crowd. “You’re all going to die!” she screamed, “It’s inevitable! Just let your minds whirl and twist in agony and let it all come out. Succumb to the madness that we all have and let yourself be free!”
Cole was on his feet in a heartbeat, his eyes rapidly flicking back and forth. He quickly scanned the large amount of clientele in the club, hunting for the one person he knew was there. In the meantime, Lila continued to jabber on like a crazy person, threatening to bring back the dead gods of rock and roll and other such nonsense. The young mage began to work his way through the crowd that had gathered around the stage to watch this crazy woman prattle on and on. So far, she had said nothing that was too offensive, and everyone thought she was just some kind of publicity stunt. That wouldn’t last, though.
Almost as soon as the thought went through Cole’s mind, Lila raised her arms to the ceiling and yelled, “Let mutants and vampires rule the world!”
“Son of a bitch!” Cole hissed angrily, drawing two fingers across his lips and snapping out his fingers in a tight sweeping gesture. Almost immediately, Lila’s voice was cut off, like a soundproof wall had been placed in between her and the crowd. Her lips still moved, but no sound emerged from them.
Cole winced as pain rippled through his stomach, but he pushed it away. “Ash, get her the hell out of here, now!” Ash immediately grabbed Lila by the waist and disappeared backstage. Cole looked around at the people who milled about in confusion. “Jackie!” he roared.
“What is it Shadow I mean she was speaking such beautiful words and I really think she was on to something and working together we could create such beautiful art and speaking of art who chose these paintings I mean they have no living color to them and there’s no where near enough blood and intestines to make it seem like anything but trash and -”
Cole whirled and punch out, his fist slamming directly into the face of the man that had suddenly appeared behind him. There was a startled cry as the man in the artist’s smock and rubber shoes fell to the ground. Cole immediately knelt down next to him and grabbed his collar. “Jackie, what the hell have I told you about coming in here during business hours?”
“But Shadow this is Elysium and if a vampire can’t come into safe haven anytime he wants then what’s the purpose of even having Elysium I mean this place needs to be decorated better anyway but still-”
“Shut-Up!” Cole snarled into his ear. “If you say another damn word that might breach the Masquerade, I will personally rip out your heart and feed it to your decapitated head, you got me?”
The man nodded slowly, fear widening his eyes considerably. Cole hauled him to his feet, dragging him towards the stairs. “Where are we going?” Jackie asked, using a complete sentence for the first time.
“We’re going to see Priest.”
“Uh-oh,” Jackie said quietly, “He’s going to be pissed. But, when isn’t he pissed I mean he really needs to take a vacation soon because running a business like his can really be stressful and it really does one good to try and relax occasionally and I should know because I try to relax all I can that’s why I look so young even though I am a vampire and we can’t age anyway by that’s not really the point is it-”
Cole simply drew a finger across his lips and Jackie’s voice vanished.
Kitty almost ran smack into Cole as he came charging up the stairs with a babbling idiot of a man in an artists smock and nearly white blond hair that hung passed his shoulders. Quickly moving out of the way, Kitty asked, “What’s up, a trouble maker?”
“More than you can possibly imagine,” Cole responded, heading for Priest’s office, “You may want to listen to this, it concerns your friend.”
Kitty immediately ran to catch up. “Is Lila in trouble?” she asked anxiously.
“No, but she almost just blew your guys’ cover as mutants and the Masquerade sky high. I had Ash get her out of here. He’ll take her back to the hotel until the damn thing wears off.”
“What thing?” the young woman asked, concern no forward in her voice.
“Dementia,” Cole said simply, and kicked open Priest’s doors, ignoring the protests of the guards. “Priest, we have a problem,” he called.
The Prince sighed and took a drag from his cigarette. “God Cole, don’t you ever knock?” He shifted his gaze to the man in Cole’s grasp and slapped a hand over his face and moaned. “Oh God, when did he get out and how the hell did he get in here?”
“No idea,” Cole answered, “But he nearly screwed everyone in this room and ever single vampire in the city.”
“How?” Priest asked, but Kitty could tell he did not want to know the answer.
“Lila was drunk and got on stage, apparently getting ready to sing.” Priest nodded for him to continue. “Well, it turns out she wasn’t drunk after all. Jackie here decided to use his artistic influences to elevate her thinking to a higher consciousness.”
“A sphincter says what?” The vampire said, his eyes wide with complete confusion.
“Jackie used Dementia on her,” Cole spat out.
“Ah shit!” Priest cried, leaning back in his chair and covering his face with his hands. “What did she say?”
“Mutants and vampires should rule the world.”
“Wait a minute,” Jackie intervened, “I never had her say that I mean the world would be so boring if there were no humans I mean we wouldn’t really have any food and we’d always be fighting an everything-”
“Shut up!” both Cole and Priest yelled, immediately shutting the insane vampire up.
“How did he make Lila say those things?” Kitty asked, looking at Jackie intensely.
“It’s a vampire power called Dementia. It allows them to bring out the madness inside the victim, thereby making them more like them.”
Kitty shook her head. “Scary.”
“Yeah,” Priest said, glowering at the insane artist, “But all he seems to do is piss me off. Jackie, how the hell did you get out of the psycho ward?”
“I just walked out.”
Cole cocked an eyebrow. “Didn’t know he was that good in Obfuscate.”
“Neither did I,” conceded the Prince, “Guess I’ll have to reevaluate him.” He glanced down at a few monitors on his desk. “How bad is the damage?”
Cole shrugged. “Don’t know, I shut Lila up with some magick seconds after she started babbling and Ash got her out of there a split second after. I’d say that the only thing we need to worry about is some mutant haters starting trouble.”
“Not many of those in Chicago, but I’ll have the crew keep an eye open.”
“Then I’ll leave Jackie in your capable hands,” Cole said, quickly grabbing Kitty by the arm and dragging her from the room. Just before the doors closed, Kitty heard Priest yell, “Oh hell no Cole, you get back here and take care of this crazy son of a bitch. Cole? Cole!”
Cole burst out laughing so hard he needed to use the wall for support. Kitty watched with wide-eyed amazement as the formerly cold and indifferent mage/assassin suddenly seemed so human. “I think this is the first time I’ve seen you genuinely laugh since I got here.”
Cole stifled his chuckles and wiped a few absent tears from his eyes. “I needed it, believe me.”
“So I’ve heard. Have you thought of taking a vacation?”
Cole’s eyes grew slightly serious. “Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a vacation for the sheriff of the city.”
Kitty shook her head and sighed. “Maybe you should change that. I’m sure Ash is more than able to take over the job for a while.”
“Yeah,” Cole agreed, “But I can’t leave the city yet, it’s just starting to rebuild itself. I take it Priest told you about the clan war we had.”
“Yeah. Despite that, you should really try to get away soon.”
“Soon,” he promised, “Once everything is cleaned up and toughened up.”
The two stood in silence for a long time, looking into each others eyes. Kitty felt her heart quicken when his eyes warmed and drank her in, like a man dying of thirst suddenly given all the water he ever wanted. Did she feel the same way? Realizing that she was taking him in just as strongly, Kitty realized that the answer was yes. The shock of it sent a shiver down her spine. “Um, I’d better go and see if Lila’s okay.”
“Yeah,” Cole agreed reluctantly, “I should really try and take care of Jackie before Priest-” Before he could finish, there was the sound of flesh meeting flesh and a window shattering, followed by Jackie’s fading babbling. “Oh well,” he said sheepishly, “Too late.”
The two laughed heartily and parted ways, both feeling slightly more alive than they had a half an hour ago.
X-Men: Black Fire
By Paradox
BOOK II
4
All around her, glowing red eyes looked out from the shadows, hungrily looking at her. Kitty spun around and around, trying to get a fix on any one target. A snap of a twig made her spin one way, a chuckle the other. There was no way she could get a fix on any one target, there was just too many. One of the sets of eyes leaped out at her, its shadowed talons slicing towards her arm. Kitty simply phased her molecules and let the vampire pass through her.
A searing heat of pain tore through her shoulder as the vampire’s razor sharp talons pierced and ripped through the tender flesh of her right arm, severing nerves and destroying muscle. Kitty screamed and stumbled back, clutching her wounded arm, looking around in fear. Something was wrong, she hadn’t phased when the vampire had attack. Her powers were gone! Looking around desperately, she started to run. There was no visible exit, but Kitty knew she had to get out of there, fast. There was at least ten vampires around her, all of them hungry, and she had no powers.
When they all leaped out at her and pinned her to the ground, raking into her flesh beneath the nightshirt she wore, Kitty screamed and thrashed about, trying to fight of the undead creatures that easily outmatched her strength. When she happened to look up at one of the vampires, she was able to discern the long hair of a female. A voice floated into her ears as sweet as living music.
“Your powers are gone, little girl. Now you are nothing but food for us.”
Kitty sat bolt upright in bed, a scream tearing from her throat. The instant her eyes opened, the demonic visions of vampires ripping open her flesh and gorging on her blood disappeared. She looked around, her eyes vainly trying to find any signs of undead intruders. Then, she realized she was in a posh hotel in Chicago, with no vampires around her and a recovering Lila upstairs. Sighing, she reached for a robe and drew it over the silk nightie she wore. Normally, it would not have been her normal sleeping attire, but it just seemed the right thing to wear that night. Maybe she was just feeling more feminine than normal. The robe she pulled on was white silk as well, and Kitty reveled in the coolness of the fabric as it slithered across her skin, It was the only nice set of nighttime wear she owned; being an X-Man did not make her rich. Deciding to check on Lila and see how she was recovering from her short bout of vampire powers, Kitty phased her molecules and started to walk up the air towards the ceiling.
She had walked no more than two steps before she realized that she was still on the ground. Frowning, she mentally commanded the mutant ability inside her to phase herself out and walk on the molecules of air. Yet again, her body did not phase in the slightest. “What is going on?” she whispered to herself. True, if she were tired, Kitty had a difficult time phasing, but she had just gotten a good five hours of sleep. She tried over and over again to phase, each attempt meeting with failure. “My powers,” she suddenly realized, “They’re gone!”
“Yeah,” a sinister voice hissed, “I know.”
Kitty spun just in time to see a figure appear from behind the curtains of the window, its long, sharp fingernails angling towards her throat. Knowing how to more than simply phase, Kitty parried the attack with a martial arts technique and slammed a knee into her attacker’s groin. The man grunted in pain and he staggered back, clutching the wounded area. “Oh, I think I’m going to throw up,” he moaned.
“Good,” Kitty spat out, kicking out at the man’s head. Just before her foot connected, the man’s hand snapped up with inhuman speed and caught her by the ankle, a toothy grin spreading over his face so large Kitty easily saw the enlarged canines.
“Just kidding.” With strength that identified him as a vampire, the man threw Kitty into the wall just above the bed. Once again, she tried to phase through the wall, but again, her powers failed her. Kitty slammed into the wall, the air getting blasted from her lungs. She fell onto the bed, gasping for breath. The vampire was on her in a heartbeat, his claws raking through the silky fabric of the robe and tearing into her shoulder. Kitty screamed in pain the claws ripped open veins and tore out muscle. The vampire licked the blood on his claws and smiled. “Sweet,” he hissed, “And full of adrenaline and fear.” His eyes glowed red with undead bloodlust, and Kitty suddenly knew what he was going to do. Before she could react, the vampire buried his fangs into Kitty’s throat. She felt the energy quickly start to drain out of her as her life’s blood poured down the dead man’s throat, giving him strength and life.
“No!” she cried weakly, her fists frantically beating on his head with the strength of a child. Her vision began to blur and she felt her heart start beating wildly in an attempt to re-supply her veins with the lost blood. Soon, her hands fell to her sides, too weak to continue a struggle.
The vampire pulled his head away with a sigh, a single line of blood tracing down his chin. “Yummy,” he sneered, “You taste really good girl. I think I might come back again.” He traced a finger down her cheek, causing a whimper from Kitty. “Aw, don’t worry, I won’t kill you. You’re much too good to me alive.” He flicked a finger from his forehead in salute. “See you around.” Before she could blink, Kitty saw the vampire dive out the open window and disappear.
Gasping for breath and greatly in need of blood, Kitty tired to reach for the phone next to the bed. Her hand shook as it rested on the receiver, and it took a severe effort for her fingers to close over the hard plastic and lift it from its cradle. She had just enough energy to pull the receiver to her ear and rest it on the pillow before all the strength left her limbs. For several minutes, there was only a dial tone. “Please,” Kitty whispered, “Help me.”
The dial tone changed to a beeping sound, followed by a recorded voice saying, “If you would like to make a call, please hang up and dial again.”
“Help,” Kitty croaked to the phone.
There was a click and a female voice said, “AT&T, how can I help you?”
“The Excalibur club,” Kitty whispered, “Connect me to the club.”
“The Excalibur club ma’am?”
There was a pause and then a ringing, indicating that the woman had made the connection to the club. The phone rang for several minutes with no one picking up. “Pick up,” Kitty begged the phone quietly, “Someone pick up.”
Finally, there was a click and a voice said, “Excalibur, we’re closed right now.”
“Priest,” Kitty gasped, her throat constricting with the effort, “I need Priest.”
“Um, I’m not aware of any priest here, ma’am, you should try your local church.”
“Need help,” Kitty whispered, “Get Priest or Cole, please.” The end of her words came out in a plea.
“May I ask who is calling?”
“K-ki-” her voice faded off, her vocal cords no longer containing the strength to work.
Seconds latter, a familiar voice came over the phone. “Kitty, Kitty are you okay?”
“Cole,” she said, her voice barely there.
“Kitty, what is it, where are you?” Her mouth worked, but no sound came out. “Kitty, talk to me dammit!”
Help me Cole, she mouthed, trying to force the words from her throat, but failing, I’m dying Cole, please help me.
Just before she blacked out, she heard Cole yell over the phone, “Kitty!”
“Where the hell are you going?” Cole ignored Ash as he pulled on his coat and slid his guns into their holsters. “I said where are you going?”
“Kitty’s in trouble.” the mage said simply, trying to keep from hitting the vampire in anger.
“It’s nearly sunup,” Ash pointed out.
“And I’m not Kindred, so I’m not too worried.”
Ash sighed and followed Cole as he nearly ran towards the front door. “Cole, we won’t be able to back you up if there’s trouble.”
The mage threw a leg over the motorcycle at the curb and keyed the ignition. “There’s no time to wait, Kitty sounded like she was dying. Get on the phone to Kelly and get her over here, I may need her to help Kitty.”
Ash crossed his arms over his chest and gave Cole a long look before nodding. “All right, but what the hell is going on Cole?”
Cole kicked up the kick stand and glanced once at Ash before slipping on a pair of Ray-Bans. “I don't know, but I’m pretty sure that the shit’s going to go sky high soon.” He revved the bike and kicked it into gear, sending him screaming down the street. Two seconds later, the sun peaked over the horizon, its light hitting him square in the face. The Ray-Bans kept the sunlight from blinding him as he raced towards the Waldorf. As he moved through the streets with expert precision, his thoughts raced through the possibilities of what was wrong. Had she been attacked? Was she still being attacked? Was she dying? The last thought made him yank even harder on the accelerator, making the speedometer jump from sixty to eighty. Fortunately, at six in the morning, there were few cars on the street. Even so, he pulled out his cellular phone and magickally kept it aloft by his ear while he used both hands to steer the bike. Another tweak of magick dialed the phone.
After two rings, someone picked up and a voice said, “Chicago Police Department.”
“Patch me through to Officer Jennings,” Cole said hurriedly.
There was a click and a moment later another voice said, “Jennings.”
“Pete, it’s Cole.”
“What’s up Cole.”
“I’m on Clark street right now and I’m trying to get to the Waldorf. I’m in a hurry and I can’t have any of your boys in blue stop me.”
“Well, I’m on patrol right now, so I’ll make sure you’re clear. Is there anything I can help with?”
“No,” Cole said, yanking on the bike and careening around a corner so hard the back end fishtailed and nearly flipped, “If it’s what I think it is, you’d better stay clear.”
“All right, give me a call if you need help.”
Cole had the phone hang up and slip back into his coat pocket. Seconds later, he pulled up to the Waldorf. Squealing to a halt, Cole jumped off the bike and raced into the lobby. He could have used magick to simply fly up to her room or teleport in, but there were three normal humans standing around and using magick in front of them always resulted in painful consequences. As he ran up to the main desk, he said, “What room is Kitty Pryde in?”
The woman cocked a skeptical eyebrow and asked, “And just who are you sir?”
Cole’s mind snarled angrily and his eyes flashed with magick for a second as he quickly manipulated the woman’s mind. “I’m a friend.”
“Certainly sir,” she said, typing in the computer, “Ms. Pryde is staying in the honeymoon suite.”
Without saying a word, Cole spun and raced to the elevator, magickally causing it to “happen” to be at the lobby and open just as he reached the doors. He ran into the car and punched the top floor button. The doors closed and the elevator slowly started its assent. Reaching into his coat, Cole drew out the two Glocks and checked the clips on them. When he was sure they were both full and locked and loaded, he looked up at the ceiling of the elevator car and evoked more magick, this time directing it towards the motor that controlled the elevator. Manipulating Time magick, he caused the motors to move faster, so the elevator car rose at an incredibly fast pace. Cole staggered slightly at the increase of speed, but quickly regained his balance. At the floor just below his destination, he set himself up squarely and raised both guns towards the doors, ready to blow away anything that was not human when the doors opened.
There was a soft ding and the elevator opened, revealing an empty hallway. Quickly clearing both directions, Cole raced from the car and sped down the hallway to the honeymoon suite. As soon as he reached the door, he tried the knob and found the door locked. He pounded on the wooden frame with one of the guns, yelling, “Kitty, can you hear me?” No answer greeted him, sending his heart beating rapidly. Maybe he was too late. Shaking the thought aside, Cole magickally manipulated the lock and gave it a magickal push, flinging the door open wide. He dropped to a knee in the doorway, scanning the area for any potential targets. When all he saw was Kitty laying on the bed, blood spreading through the sheets, he holstered the guns and raced to her side. “My God Kitty, talk to me!” He gently turned her head so he could see her face. His heart stopped beating for a moment when he saw how pale she was, her eyes closed and her pale lips parted slightly. She was breathing, but it was very faint and ragged. He had seen this before and knew with stark reality what was happening to her.
She was dying. Wrapping her up in his arms, he called out a single, arcane word. Instantly, red, magickal energy swirled around them like a cyclone. Seconds later, they both disappeared.
Ash hung up the phone and sighed sleepily. He had done what Cole wanted and called Kelly and told her that the mage had wanted her at the club, pronto. Although not happy about it, she had agreed and told him she was on the way. Although not a vampire herself, Ash knew she had pulled an all nighter already and was probably tired. The thought made him yawn and look at his watch. The sun was already up, but the club was well sun proofed. He would be fine for the whole day, but he was feeling exhausted. “He’d batter have a damn good reason for this,” Ash muttered, retrieving a bottle of blood from behind the bar. If he was going to be up late, he wanted a drink.
The cork had not even come off the bottle when a cyclone of crackling, magickal energy filled the dance floor. Ash immediately put the bottle down and raced over as Cole and Kitty’s body materialized and the cyclone disappeared. From past experience, Ash knew that Cole never used teleportation spells unless they were truly necessary. The amount of magick it took to initiate them was great and usually drained him. That, and the fact that it usually caused a great deal of Paradox backlash kept him from using the spell except in emergencies. Judging by the look on the mage’s face and the condition of the girl in his arms, Ash determined that it was definitely an emergency. “What the hell happened to her?” Ash demanded.
“Don’t know,” Cole said, cradling her in his arms and rushing up the stairs, “Probably attacked and drained from the looks of it.”
“One of us?” Ash exclaimed in disbelief.
“Yeah,” Cole shot back as they came to a large bedroom. He raced over to the king-sized bed, only to find Priest laying upon it in a pair of boxers, completely asleep. Ignoring the slumbering vampire, he set Kitty down on the bed and smacked Priest on the head. “Wake up sleeping beauty.”
Priest’s eyes snapped open, blazing with rage. He sat up and snarled at Cole, his fangs bared and ready to rend flesh. When he saw who it was, the snarl disappeared and he regarded the mage with an air of anger. “What the hell are you doing? I’m trying to sleep here you know.”
“I need the space,” Cole said quickly, his fingers running over Kitty, checking her pulse, how deep her wounds were, and trying to do anything else for her.
Priest looked down at the young woman and grimaced. “Is she gone?”
“No, but she will be soon with the all blood she’s lost. I’ve Kelly coming over here, but I’m not sure she’ll make it in time.”
Priest leapt from the bed and pulled on a pair of jeans, running over to the phone and snatching it from the cradle. He punched in a number and said, “Yeah, it’s Priest. Yeah, I need you over here, now! I’ve got a very sick girl here who’s probably dying. Probably a vampire attack. Great, thanks.” He hung up the phone.
No sooner had the phone settled on its cradle, a glowing white disk suddenly appeared in the middle of the room. A beautiful woman stepped from the disk, her body covered in a decorative green gown. The disk immediately collapsed on itself once she was through. “Where’s the patient?” she asked in a musical voice.
“Right here,” Cole said, already starting administer potions and salves from his coat to the wounds, “She was attacked, probably by a vampire. Lost a lot of blood and her shoulder’s been practically ripped open.”
The woman moved to the other side of Kitty and gently put a hand on her forehead. She closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment before opening them and saying, “I need to work fast, give me some room.” Cole immediately backed off. The woman placed both her hands on Kitty’s chest and spoke a few soft words of prayer. Her hands began to glow with green energy that spread throughout Kitty’s body.
Cole watched as color flooded back into her cheeks and her breathing became deep and regular. The wound on her shoulder knitted itself back together until the skin was pink and fresh. “You have got to teach me how to do that one of these days,” he said.
The woman smiled. “Maybe I will, but we need to focus on your friend here right now.” She turned back to the sleeping girl and gently shook her. “Wake up little one,” she said gently.
Kitty moaned softly and turned on her side, gripping at the blankets of the bed. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked around the room, staring at the people huddled around her. “Where am I?” she asked quietly.
“The club,” Cole said, sitting on the bed next to her, “You were attacked in your hotel room.”
Kitty slowly sat up, Cole quickly jumping to help her. “I remember, a vampire attacked me after I had woken up from a nightmare.” She rubbed her forehead, as though trying to force the memory forward. “When he attacked, I tried to phase out, but my powers wouldn’t work.” Realization flooded into her eyes and she shot her hand down at the bed. Her fingers pushed desperately at the mattress. “My powers are gone,” she whispered.
“What?” Cole asked in surprise, getting to his feet.
Kitty looked up at the group. “I don’t have my powers any more, I’m completely human.”
Silence filled the room, no one knew what to say. Ash was the first one to recover his voice. “How the hell did you lose powers that are a part of your DNA?”
Kitty shrugged, wincing at the wound in her shoulder. “I don’t know. When I woke up and that vampire attacked me, I couldn’t phase. I knew how to do it, but my powers just wouldn’t respond.”
Kelly looked over at Ash. “Is she a mutant?” The vampire nodded. “If I may, I might be able to determine the cause of your problem.” Kitty nodded in agreement and Kelly sat down next to the girl, gently placing her hands on Kitty’s brow. She mumbled some words and her hands began to glow. Cole felt a twitch in his stomach, indicating the magick was being used. He tried to aid Kelly’s efforts by filtering his own magickal energies into her, thereby boosting her own abilities. Kelly’s hands began to glow more intensely and Kitty winced. “I believe I have discovered the problem,” Kelly announced, removing her hands from Kitty.
“What is it?” Priest asked.
“Someone has dived into you mind and mentally cut off your body’s response to your mental command of your powers.”
“Meaning?”
Kelly sighed. “Your powers are still present, your mind simply cannot send the electrical impulses to your body to active them.”
Kitty narrowed her eyes slightly, understanding reaching them. “Someone put up a mental block around my powers?”
“Yes.”
Cole shook his head. “But, can’t we just get rid of the block?”
Kelly shook her head. “No, I am not powerful enough and I know no one who is.”
Kitty jumped out of bed. “I bet Professor Xavier could do it, he’s the most powerful telepath on the planet.”
“Good idea,” Priest said, reaching for the phone, “You call him up while I get back into bed and sleep the day away like a good little vampire.”
“Ditto,” Ash said, not bothering to suppress a yawn.
Cole couldn’t help but laugh. “You guys. We’ve got a high level telepath on the loose and all you guys can thing about is racking out.”
Priest nodded with wide eyes. “Hell yeah, I’m exhausted.” He flopped down on the bed, the phone forgotten. “If you’re worried about Kitty, take her to your place.”
Cole’s eyes widened and he suddenly spun away, hiding any further reaction from Kitty. “Yeah, good idea.”
Ash stumbled to the door and called back, “Call me if the world blows up, nothing else.”
“I will stay with you, if you wish,” Kelly offered.
Kitty looked at Cole, to see if he would give an opinion, but he still had his back to her. “Thanks, I’d appreciate it.”
Kelly nodded. “Perhaps we should adjourn to your home, Cole.”
Cole nodded and turned to face them. “Okay, but I’ll have to teleport us there, I sort of forgot my bike at the Waldrof.”
“Whenever you’re ready,” Kitty said, hugging her arms to herself.
The mage took a deep breath and extended his arms out, red magickal energy beginning to crawl down his arms to his hands. He chanted a few words and quickly drew his arms in to his chest so they crossed. A second later, a vortex of magickal energy swirled through the room, surrounding the three of them. With a silent thunderclap, they all vanished.
X-Men: Black Fire
By Paradox
BOOK II
5
“You have a nice home.”
Cole pulled off his coat and draped it over the back of a black leather chair before collapsing into it. “Thanks.”
Kitty said nothing as the two conversed quietly. She was too busy looking around at the well-furnished apartment. Although it was modestly sized, it had practically everything one would need. Along one wall of the living room, there was a metal desk with file drawers on one side. Three laptop computers decorated the top of the desk, along with a high quality laser printer and a scanner. Each laptop had a different screen saver running at the moment. The laptop on the right displayed a figure in the shadows crouched atop the Sears Tower, electronic wind blowing his coat about. The left computer a montage of eyeballs looking out at the viewer. The middle laptop only had a single shape: an upside-down triangle with a line running from each corner and meeting in the middle, where a dot had formed. The shape was outlined in black with red filled in, and the background a slate gray.
A large thirty-inch screen television sat against another wall, with a modest sofa set up for comfortable watching. Next to the television, an entire entertainment center sat in a stone case. The case held a stereo, vcr, DVD system, and equalizer. A door led to a small kitchenette that was well equipped for the bachelors of Chicago. Another door led to the bedroom and Kitty could see from her vantage point, a king sized bed filled much of the room, while there were a few small dressers and a walk-in closet.
“You don’t spend much time here, do you?” she remarked.
“No,” Cole answered, going into the kitchen and opening the refrigerator and pulling out a beer, a bottle of wine, and a plastic bottle with some thick, murky red liquid. After taking a flute from one of the cabinets, he walked back into the room and handed the glass to Kelly and filled it with wine. Kelly nodded her thanks and sipped the dark red vintage while Cole put the bottle on the kitchen table and cracked open his beer. When he walked back into the living room, he took a swig from the beer and handed the plastic bottle to Kitty. “Here, drink this.”
Kitty took the bottle and eyed the liquid inside warily. “What is this? It looks like dusty blood.”
Cole chuckled and took another pull from the beer. “Just a little potion I made up for situations like this.”
“What situations?” The X-Man asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Just drink it,” the mage said, a trace of playful annoyance in his voice, “It’ll help you get your strength back.”
Reluctantly, Kitty unscrewed the cap and sniffed the contents. When she detected no smell, she grimaced in anticipation and drank. Immediately, her eyes opened and widened with surprise. “Mmmmm,” she said, “It tastes like fruit punch.”
“That’s because it is fruit punch.”
For a moment, Kitty was silent. “You tricked me,” she stated flatly.
“Not at all,” Cole responded defensively, “It’s fruit punch with a few herbs blended in to promote healing. Why do you think the stuff is so cloudy?”
Kitty shrugged and took another long swallow. When the bottle was drained, she placed it on the table and staggered. “Whoa, I feel so dizzy.”
“You’ve had a rough night, you’re probably just tired.” He took her hand and led her to the bedroom. “You can use my bed, I’ll be out here all day anyhow.”
“You sure?” Kitty slurred, sleep rapidly closing its fingers over her consciousness.
“Yeah,” Cole said with a gentle smile, carefully laying her down and drawing the covers up to her chin, “Get some rest, I’ll protect you while you’re asleep.”
“I know you will,” Kitty said with a drunken smile, “You always do.” Her voice faded away as sleep overwhelmed her. In a matter of moments, her breathing became regular and deep.
“A sleeping potion?” Kelly asked, walking up behind the young man.
“Yeah,” Cole admitted with a nod, “Sleep’s the only thing that will help her get her strength back. As is, she’s got a very big handicap to deal with and needs to get some rest.” He turned and headed into the living room, clicking on the stereo via a magickal tweak. Haunting music seeped from the large speakers, filling the room with imaginary scents and sounds of old.
Kelly cocked her head to the side and listened for a moment. “Interesting music.”
“Interview With The Vampire,” Cole explained, sitting down before the computers, “Call it mood music.”
“What do you intend to do?”
Cole started typing on each of the computers, switching back and forth continuously. “I’m going to start running citywide checks on all vampires to see what turns up. Plus, I’m patching into the Nosferatu’s net and letting them know I want info on what happened at the club and the hotel, fast.”
“Do you require any assistance?”
Cole shook his head. “No, thanks, you’ve done a lot already. You can rack out on the couch if you want.” He turned and smiled at the woman. “Just try not to shed too much.”
Kelly chuckled and nodded. “Agreed, have a pleasant day.” She turned and started for the couch. She had taken no more than two steps when her skin began to ripple, her face elongating into a snout with her limbs twisted and grew. Dropping onto all fours, a gray wolf with a white belly opened it jaws wide with a yawn before jumping onto the couch and curling up against the cushions.
Cole shook his head and chuckled to himself. “A mutant in the bed, a werewolf on the couch, a mage at the computer...we’re just missing a vampire raiding the ice box to make this complete.” The thought made him laugh heartily into the rising sun.
The wolf on the couch lifted her head and whined a question before dropping back onto her forepaws and falling asleep.
The bright green grass of the small, circular clearing wavered slightly in a gentle wind. The leaves of the great tree to the right of the clearing fluttered, its branches bowing slightly. The sun shone down brightly, warming him as he sat cross-legged in the middle of the clearing. His eyes were closed and his head tipped back slightly and to the side. He listened as the whispers filled his ears. The grass, the tree, even the air around him spoke softly, offering words of wisdom.
“How can I help her?” he asked.
The whispers changed focus, seeming to fall in on themselves, as though in conversation with one another. Then, they shifted again, all speaking to him at once. He listened to their words and nodded. “Yes, that is true, but what can I do?” More whispered words. He smiled and nodded again. Raising his arms, he spread his hands wide and bowed his head in thanks.
“What are you doing?” a soft voice asked.
Cole slowly opened his eyes and looked up to see Kitty kneeling down in front of him, exactly three feet away. Directly in front of her, Cole knew, was the almost invisible granular circle of salt that he had sprinkled upon the floor. He knew that should she try, Kitty would not be able to cross the circle and come to him. With a sigh, he stood and stretched his limbs. “I cast a meditative circle. I thought I might try to get some insight from the divine.” He bowed his head and whispered, “Mary met, marry part, and marry meet again.”
“Why?”
The young man stepped from the circle and took up a broom and dustpan, sweeping the circle of salt into the dustpan and emptying it into a small blue pouch, pulling the drawstrings tight. “I just wanted to see if I could get a new perspective on everything. That and I needed to filter all the energy through me.”
“Oh,” Kitty said with a nod, “That’s right, Priest told me you’ve been needing to get rid of excess energy every day.”
“True,” Cole said, “But this was more of a meditative filtering. It was more of a focus of emotions then dumping raw power into the earth. You want something to eat?”
“Yeah,” Kitty said, perking up, “I’m starving. I don’t know why, but I slept the day away.”
“It’s because of the sleeping potion I gave you.”
Her eyes widened in shock. “You gave me a sleeping drug?” she nearly yelled.
“Relax,” Cole said, raising his hands in a calming gesture, “You had a rough night and I wanted you to get some rest. You needed it.”
For several seconds, Cole thought she would actually slap him. Then, her shoulders slumped and she nodded. “You’re right, I did need the rest. This whole business with me losing my powers and a vampire attacking me are just taking their toll.” Sitting down at the kitchen table, she quickly started eating the tuna sandwiches Cole placed in front of her, delighting in the taste. “I called Professor Xavier tonight,” she said around a mouthful of tuna, “He was able to look into my mind from Winchester.” Her expression darkened. “He says he has no idea what has cut off my powers and how I can get them back. He said he and a couple of the X-Men were going to come here and see if they can help, but I’m not sure what they can do.” She looked out the window at the bright lights of the city. “I’m not so sure I can go back to the X-Men now.”
Cole chomped down on a sandwich and studied Kitty with the eye of a scientist and a poet. He could see her the emotions playing over her face and knew the impulses that rushed through her body that caused such physical changes. Yet he also saw the delicate intricacies of her, the way her hair gently caressed her face and shoulders, the way her lips parted slightly when she breathed, and when she slept, the stark fear her eyes held at the possibility that she might have to give up her way of life. He saw the subtle shifts in her body language as she spoke each word of pain, the way it seemed as though she were condemning herself even if a solution might be at hand.
With a determined grunt, he pushed up from the table and said, “Okay, that settles it.”
Kitty looked up quickly, a worried crease furrowing her brow. “What? What settles it?”
“Get dressed,” Cole demanded with a smile, “I’m going to take you somewhere that will make you feel a lot better.”
Kitty paused for a moment, then smiled and nodded, standing up and moving towards the bedroom. “Thanks for bringing my clothes over, by the way,” she called.
“No problem,” Cole called back, “I needed to get my bike anyway. By the way, where’d Kelly go, she wasn’t around when I woke up.”
“Oh, she had to leave, said she needed to go back to her pack for a while.”
Cole was halfway through biting into his sandwich when he stopped, his pulse thudding with worry. “She said that to you?”
“Yeah, “Kitty said, “She also told me all about her being a werewolf and stuff.” She poked her head out of the bedroom and smiled. “Don’t worry about it, she said that if I knew about the vampires and magi, I might as well know about the werewolves.”
Cole shook his head and sighed. He supposed it was inevitable that Kitty would find out about the were population, but he only wished he was there for it. Oh well, he thought, Nothing I can do about it now. He cleaned up the plates on the table and washed them out in the sink, setting them on the drying racks just as he heard the sound of a throat being cleared behind him. Cole turned and froze, his heart stopping for a moment and then hammering against his chest.
Kitty stood in the doorway of the bedroom clothed in a gown of soft white silk. The folds of the skirt billowed around her legs and hips from the breeze coming in through the cracked window. The wind plucked at the delicate sleeves of the dress and lifted her hair, making it float around her face like a chestnut halo. The neckline, though not deep, revealed just enough cleavage to tease the mind, yet still was able to make her look dignified and innocently beautiful. Kitty smiled and her right hand held her left upper arm in a picture of a shy, young girl. “I don’t quite recall ever owning a dress like this,” she said, “Yet I found it in my suitcase.”
Cole blushed guiltily. “Well, I know that you really don't like to wear dresses, but I saw it and just bought it on impulse.”
“It’s beautiful,” she said, running her fingers over the fabric, “I love it.”
“Really?”
She nodded and stepped up to him, nearly touching. “Yes, really,” she said quietly, and acting on impulse, they both embraced.
“We’d better go, or we’ll be late.”
“Where are we going?” Kitty asked into his shoulder.
“It’s a surprise,” he said with a smile, and led her outside. A black corvette awaited them, its polished hull shining in the moonlight.
“Is that yours?” Kitty gasped.
“No,” Cole laughed, opening the door for her, “Priest let me borrow it. I can’t have you riding on my bike in a dress like that, can I?”
She looked at him with a teasing gleam in her eye. “You planned this.”
“Guilty,” he said, raising a hand in defeat before closing the door and hurrying over to the driver’s side. He slid behind the wheel and started the engine, which growled to life. Expertly shifting the gears, the car screamed away from the curb, narrowly missing a police car rolling by. The cruiser screeched to a halt and the cop leaned out his window, shaking his fist and yelling something Kitty couldn’t hear.
“You really should be careful, that guy’ll probably come after us.”
Cole chuckled. “No he won’t, I write the guy’s checks.”
“What?” Kitty cried, her eyes widening with shock, “Are you saying you own the police?”
That drew a laugh from Cole. “No, nothing like that. That guy back there,” he thumbed behind them, “That’s Jennings. He’s a ghoul, a human who’s blood is laced with vampire blood.” He looked over to see Kitty’s surprised expression. “Hey, we need people on the Force during the day too.”
“I guess so,” Kitty responded quietly, sitting back and hugging her shoulders.
Cole focused on the road in front of them, but saw the disbelieving look on the young woman’s face. “Look, none of them are dirty. We don’t work with the mob or any other underworld criminal organization. They’re regular cops, just like ordinary humans. The only reason we have ghouls and vampires working with the police is so we can keep up the Masquerade. The only stuff they do that isn’t outside of normal police work is call either myself, Ash, or Priest and let us know about a possible breach of the Masquerade. Then, they help us clean it up and make sure no one gets hurt in the process.” He turned to look at his passenger. “Okay?”
Kitty nodded slowly and a smile crept onto her lips. “Okay, I guess that’s all right then.”
“Good,” Cole said with a smile. He looked forward and jerked on the wheel, spinning the car into a one-eighty so it slipped neatly into a parking spot. “We’re here.”
Kitty looked at the old building that they were parked in front of. A few scant traces of spray paint peppered the walls, signs that local taggers had been at the place. The stone walls seemed to be crumbling, but the building still stood strong. It was only one story, with two stone pillars before the front door, holding up the overhang of the roof. “What is this place?”
“An old temple,” Cole said, opening her door and helping her front the car, “City officials tried to get it torn down, but Priest had them keep it up.”
“Why?”
“He did it as a favor to me.”
Kitty raised a curious eyebrow. “And just what goes on here, and why are we involved?”
Cole smiled and took her arm in a gentlemanly fashion, escorting her up the old steps to the front door. “Let’s just say I think it’s time you got in touch with your spiritual side.” He reached out and opened the door, letting her enter first.
As soon as Kitty walked into the building, she gasped in surprise and awe. The entire interior was one big room. The walls, which were undoubtedly crumbling, were covered with delicate white silks, effectively covering up the blemishes in the masonry. The candle holders in the walls were all set up with fresh white candles that flickered in the slight breeze, yet determined not to become extinguished. The floor itself retained its originally wooden finish, yet it was yellowed and warped from time. Directly in the center of the entire room was a large square section of plush carpet, a collection of ten women all milling about on it, talking quietly and laughing among themselves. When one looked up and saw the pair of them, she smiled and stood up. Two other women also looked up and smiled as well, standing up and brushing themselves off. Almost immediately, Kitty noticed that all three women, as well as the other women in the room, were dressed in simple white dresses, just like her. As the three started over, Kitty gripped Cole’s arm tightly, whispering fiercely, “We’d better go.”
Cole looked down at her and smiled gently. “It’s okay, they’re expecting us.”
Despite his assurances, Kitty felt her muscles tense with combat readiness as the three women came over. Closer in, she could see the differences in each. The one that had originally spied them was most likely in her early to mid thirties, with long brown hair and warm blue eyes. She had a smile that was both disarming and motherly in its nature. The younger of the three women looked to be not much older than Kitty. She had flaming red hair that hung passed her shoulders in thick curls, almost like a mane. Her emerald green eyes were bright, like that of a young girl who is just discovering the world. The third woman had to be at least fifty or sixty years old. Her slightly wrinkled skin and knowing eyes gave her the image of a wizened grandmother, ready to pass on the knowledge of the years to a younger generation.
“Cole, it’s so good to see you,” the middle woman said, “It’s been too long.”
Cole smiled back and embraced the woman. “Sure has Rose, I’ve missed you guys.”
“Don’t you ever know how to pick up a phone boy?”
That drew a chuckle from the young man. “Haven’t exactly had much time to make any pleasure calls.”
“I’ll bet,” the younger woman said with an impish grin, “You’ve mostly likely been out ravishing tender young things like this poor girl here.” She smiled a friendly grin to Kitty. “How badly has he been treating you dear, we’ll fix him good for you if you want.”
“Brigit,” Cole said, taken aback, “You wound me to the core.” He placed a hand over his heart and his eyes fluttered up into his eyelids. Laughing, he threw his arms around her and hugged her tightly. “Been a long time darlin’.”
“Too long.”
Kitty coughed softly and said, “Um, I don't mean to be rude, but who are you people?”
The elderly woman chuckled quietly and smiled. “You must forgive Cole, he is a very inconsiderate young man and often forgets his manners when among his elders.”
“Hey,” Cole said defensively, “I’m a perfect gentleman,” he paused, “Most of the time anyway.” They all laughed and Cole began introductions. “Kitty I’d like you to meet Brigit, Rose, and Morgan. Priestesses, I’d like you to meet Kitty Pryde.”
Brigit walked over and embraced Kitty. “Welcome,” she said.
Kitty stood motionless for a moment, not sure what to do, then returned the embrace. “Uh, thanks, I guess.”
Rose smiled and shook her head. She took Kitty’s hand and squeezed it gently. “It is good of you to be here with us poor witches.”
Kitty took a step back, her eyes widening in fear. “Witches?”
Rose cocked her head to the side. “Well, yes.” She looked over at Cole. “Didn’t Cole tell you we were?” Cole blushed sheepishly.
Morgan sighed and walked over to Kitty, taking her hands in her own wrinkled ones. “Worry not little one,” she said gently, “We are not the type of witches you think we are. We don't worship the devil, we don't make magic potions out of newt eyes, and we don’t curse people.”
Kitty nodded. “Oh, I know. It’s just, well, I’m Jewish.” She stopped, as though that were explanation enough.
Rose cocked an eyebrow. “And?”
“So you’re Jewish,” Brigit said, “So what?”
“Well, I really don't belong here.”
Cole smiled secretly and lit a cigarette. “It does not matter what religion you hold of value to yourself,” the old woman said, “We are simply a group of women who work to better ourselves and find peace with the elements. You are more than welcome here.” She paused, looking deep into Kitty’s eyes. “Yes, I would say that you definitely could use our help.”
“What do you mean,” Kitty asked nervously.
“You’ve had something terrible happen to you just recently.”
“No kidding,” Cole muttered low enough that no one heard.
“You need to find your spiritual center, and we can help you with that.”
Kitty looked over at Cole and pinned him with her gaze. “This is why you bought me the dress,” she accused.
“Hey,” the young mage said, raising his hands, “I thought it would look lovely on you, that’s it.”
Kitty was about to say something else when Morgan intervened. “It is not Cole you are to blame, nor yourself. Although he does tend do be a little unorthodox, Cole has a good heart. It is most likely the Goddess who guided you tonight.”
Kitty looked skeptical. “Are you saying that some divine entity had me put on the dress?”
Morgan shrugged and smiled. “Did Cole tell you to wear that dress?”
“No,” Kitty said slowly, “It was just such a lovely dress that I wanted to wear it, no matter where we were going.”
Rose nodded. “Yes, the Goddess has indeed brought you to use, and we will try to help in any way we can.”
“How?”
“Magic,” Cole said quietly.
Kitty shook her head. “But you said that you couldn’t do anything for me.”
Brigit laughed. “We don’t work with the same kind of magic that Cole does.”
“What do you mean?” The X-Man asked.
“Well, Cole was born with magic in him,” Rose explained, “He is able to use it in a more physical degree than any of use.” Kitty looked over at Cole and saw him do a comical impression of a body builder flexing his biceps. She giggled as Rose continued, “You see, We work more on a spiritual and mental level, rather than a physical one. We try to attain purity of the spirit and the mind through breathing, chanting, and becoming one with the Goddess.”
“But, I can’t do magic.”
“Everyone can do magic,” Cole said, walking over and taking her hand, “Everyone has the capacity within them, most people just don’t want to believe it or fear it.”
Kitty studied the young man and cocked her head to the side. “Are you saying that I can do magic?”
Cole nodded, his face totally serious. “Let Brigit, Rose, and Morgan help you, at least for tonight. I’ll be right here the whole time,” he said quickly when he saw Kitty become frightened.
“Yes,” Morgan agreed, “It has been too long since you have sat in our circle young man.” She gave his cheek a hard pinch, like a grandmother, Kitty noted.
Cole laughed and the group started over to the collection of women. They were all looking over at them now, each one with a different expression of interest. They were women of all different types: White, black, yellow, tall, short, thin, thick, a complete diversity in races and sizes. “I’m not so sure they want me here,” Kitty whispered.
“Sure they do,” Cole said, not bothering to lower his voice, making Kitty wince with embarrassment, “Curiosity is a human thing, not something of malice. Heck, when I first came here-Ow!”
Kitty saw Morgan remove her hand from Cole’s ear, which she had just grabbed and yanked on hard. “Lower your voice Cole Raven, you know better.”
“Sorry,” he said quietly, looking repentant.
Kitty giggled and followed the trio to the gathering, where all the women stood up to greet the newcomer. “Ladies,” Rose said, “This is Kitty, she is going to be joining us tonight.” She looked over at the young woman, as though expecting her to make some great remark that would stun the world.
Kitty gulped back the lump in her throat and had to force herself to keep from wiping her sweaty palms on the skirt of her dress. With all eyes on her, she was feeling a kind of stage fright that actors could never experience. This went beyond screwing up a line in a play, this was saying something that would not completely offend a group of people who held these arcane rituals and ways of life sacred. When she looked over at Cole for support, he simply looked back with a face that seemed to be made of stone. He too seemed to be expecting some great words to flow from her lips. It was understood that he took all of this extremely seriously, and one wrong word or syllable could anger him or worse.
Swallowing hard, Kitty quietly said, “Hi, it’s nice to meet you.” The tension washed out of her when she saw everyone smile kindly to her. So far, so good. “I hope that it’s not too much of an intrusion, my being here I mean.”
One of the women walked over and Kitty was startled for a moment. The woman was beautiful enough to be a model. Long, platinum blond hair flowed down her shoulders to halfway down her back. Her crystal blue eyes gleamed in the dim candlelight. The dress she wore made her appear to be like a mythical goddess from Greek legend. What was a beauty like this doing at a pagan ritual instead of out on the town frequenting the most posh of nightclubs? She embraced Kitty and said, “Welcome to the circle.”
One by one, each of the women walked over and greeted her like she had always been there, just away on a vacation for a while. When they had all taken their turn, Rose took Kitty’s hand and led her to the center of the carpet, where an small altar had been set up with white candles in silver candlestick holders. She gestured and Kitty knelt down on the carpet, feeling the silk of the dress against her legs. One by one, each of the women knelt in a circle around the altar, relaxed, yet attentive. When she looked over to see what Cole was doing, she was surprised to see him leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette. She wanted to ask what he was doing, but she was afraid she might disrupt some invocation or meditation.
Rose noticed the concern on her face and smiled. “You can speak freely Kitty, no one here will hurt you and we haven’t even started the circle.”
“Oh, I was just wondering what Cole was doing? I thought he would be part of this.”
Rose looked over at Morgan, who nodded somberly. “Cole chooses not to partake in circles with us,” the old woman explained, “He feels that his presence would disrupt our psychic energy.”
“How? He is a, a witch isn’t he?”
Rose nodded. “Indeed he is, and I’ve told him time and again that he is more than welcome to join us.”
“You know better than that,” Cole said in a dark voice, “You guys are Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. I’m Chaos, and I’d only disrupt your focus.”
“Chaos is a part of the circle Cole,” Brigit said, “It is the most core part of it.”
Cole shook his head. “No, I couldn’t do that to you guys.”
Kitty looked up, her eyes shinning with need. “Cole, I’d like you to join us.”
For a long moment, the two looked at one another, each trying to convey thoughts and feelings that no words could describe. Finally, Cole closed his fingers around the cigarette, crushing it in his hand. Kitty heard the singe of flesh and when he opened his hand, the cigarette was gone and there was no wound on his palm. “Hell with it,” he said quietly, “I’m in.”
The three women in charge of the circle all looked at each other in surprise, then all looked directly at Kitty, as though she knew something they didn’t. She blushed self-consciously and looked down.
Cole pulled off his coat and hurled it into the air. The leather jacket floated over to a dark corner and disappeared. He walked towards the circle, pulling off his shirt as he did. Kitty stifled a gasp when she saw his bare chest. The years of executing special black ops missions and his work as sheriff had toned and defined his muscles to such a degree that he looked like a statue chiseled from flesh. Her eyes caught a flash of metal and she saw a chain hanging from his neck. The chain led to a wolf’s head the lay against his chest. Two red gems gleamed where the wolf’s eyes should have been. He moved over to kneel next to Kitty, taking up sort of a martial arts meditation kneeling position. He mouthed a few silent words and looked over at Rose, giving her a minute nod.
Rose nodded back and regarded the rest of the circle. “Today, we are going to work on focusing your negative energy out of your body and drawing in positive energy. The purpose of this is to better prepare your mind and body to cast spells. If you have negative energy within you, the outcome of any magic you might work could be influenced by that negative energy.” Kitty couldn’t help but glance at Cole when she said that. Did the young mage have that problem? Was he so full of negative energy that the only kinds of magick he knew how to work were ones that harmed instead of helped? “Now, begin breathing deeply and evenly,” Rose said, “Let your mind sort of wander. Allow your eyes to dull over so there is nothing but a mist around you.”
As Rose’s words crept into her ears, Kitty saw the entire area around her disappear. The people vanished, as did the building they were in. Instead, she was kneeling in the middle of a thick, white fog. She looked all around her, but saw nothing but the fog. “Hello?” she called, and was greeted by the echo of her own voice. Getting to her feet, Kitty started to walked through the mists, stretching out her hands in an effort to try and feel something solid that would indicate she was in the building still. Her eyes strained to see through the cloudy whiteness, but could barely discern her hands in front of her face. “Cole? Are you there?” She strained to hear the young man’s voice, but only nothingness greeted her. Panic began to rise in her stomach, quickly rushing up to her chest and clenching at her throat. The fog seemed to want to swallow her up whole. “Is anyone there?” she cried, voice barely a squeak.
“Feel the negative energy flowing from you,” Roses voice floated through the fog.
“I’m scared,” Kitty whimpered, tears forming in her eyes.
“Do not be scared,” Rose’s voice said, as though hearing her, “Feel the negative flow from your heart, out into your chest, down your arms, and into your hands.”
A quick, searing heat formed into in Kitty’s breast. She closed her eyes and mentally commanded it to move up through her chest, into her shoulders, and down her arms. She felt the heat obey her commands, slowly moving as she wished it. When her eyes opened slightly, she saw the fog folding in around her, moving over her chest and around her arms, just like the heat she felt. When she looked at herself, she saw a mixture of glowing energy and cloudy whiteness encasing her wrists.
“Now, return the energy to the Goddess, return it to Mother Earth.”
Suddenly knowing what to do, Kitty dropped to her knees and placed her palms flat on the ground, which she discovered was a soft, green clearing. Utilizing her ninja breathing techniques and Rose’s gentle urging, she pushed the energy from her wrists into the ground, where they were almost immediately sucked down by the earth beneath her knees. Kitty blinked in surprise and quickly stood up. Right away, she noticed that there was no more fog. Sunshine beamed down, warming the chill that had entered her bones. Looking around, she discovered that she now stood in the middle of a beautiful landscape, filled with lush, green grass, great oak trees, and a crystal clear lake that gleamed with the effect not unlike that of thousands of tiny diamonds on the surface of the water. A few birds chirped happily as they flew across the sky, offering her greetings and welcome. Kitty smiled and waved back.
A curious growl made her spin around, a gasp rising in her throat and her reflexes reverting to combative instincts. Her gaze locked with that of a great black wolf that was nearly as big as her. It cocked its head to the side and looked at her curiously. Slowly, it walked over to her, its head down passively, its tail wagging happily, and its tongue lolling out of its jaws. Kitty took a step back, drawing her hands before her protectively, already beginning to set up a martial arts stance. The wolf stopped and whined, its head dropping lower and its eyes looking almost sad. Kitty’s eyes widened at the human-like expression and she slowly lowered her hands. “You want to be friends?” she asked. The wolf nodded, panting happily. “Okay, um, what do you want to do?”
The wolf walked over to her and brushed its flank against her legs before lowering itself to the ground. It looked up at her and uttered a short bark, pointing its snout at its exposed flank. Kitty yawned, realizing just how tired she was. Dispelling all of the negative energy inside her had made her tired. Smiling kindly at the creature, she lowered herself to the grass and curled up against the wolf, its fur soft and comforting against her skin. Soon, she fell asleep with the friendly creature rocking her gently with each breath it took.
“Now, open your eyes.”
Kitty’s eyes slowly opened, her vision needing a few moments to adjust to the dim light again. When she looked around, she discovered that she was curled up in Cole’s lap with his arms around her. His eyes were lightly closed and his breathing was deep and even, as though he were asleep. When she looked at the medallion on his chest, the red eyes gleamed brightly for a second. Sitting, she looked over at Rose, her eyes wide. “What was that?”
“What was what dear?” the woman asked. “Tell us what you saw.”
Kitty shook her head in confusion, still not sure what was real and what was not. She looked over at Cole to see his eyes open and look at her steadily. He knew what had happened, but he wanted her to say it. “Well, I’m not to sure,” she began, “When we started, everything disappeared and I was surrounded by fog. I tried to find something but nothing was there. Then, there was this, heat, in my heart that moved up into my arms. The fog then started following the heat until they were both in my wrists.” She paused and looked at Rose. “Then, I heard you tell me what to do and I send the energy back into the earth. After that, I suddenly noticed I was in the middle of a meadow with trees and a lake.” She stopped and looked over at Cole, her eyes unconsciously moving to the wolf’s head. “Then, this huge black wolf appeared and offered itself as a place to sleep.” She stopped and took a deep breath. “After that, I opened my eyes and was back here.”
Rose, Brigit, and Morgan all turned to Cole, a look of disapproval in their eyes. “You know the rules Cole,” Brigit said, challenging, “You are not to intercede on someone, especially new and inexperienced.”
Cole’s eyes went wide and he shook his head vehemently. “But I didn’t. I just returned some of my energy to Gaia like always. The next thing I knew, I was on a dreamwalk as a wolf and I ran into this girl in white who looked lost. She looked tired and I offered her a place to sleep.”
Morgan’s expression softened and a smile slowly crept onto her lips. “Of course, I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”
“What is it?” Rose asked, leaning in conspiratorially.
“They’ve been on a soul quest.”
Cole was immediately on his feet, his fists clenched. “Bull! I haven’t been on a soul quest in years, and I know what they look like.”
Morgan cackled and smiled up at the mage. “Young man, you have only been on soul searches, you have never been on a soul quest.”
“What?” Cole asked with a raised eyebrow.
“A soul search is when you go into the other world and look for the other piece to your soul. The quest is when you think you find it and try to claim it as yours.”
The young man shook his head. “I have never heard of that.”
The old woman chuckled. “When you get to be my age, you hear quite a few things.”
For several minutes, Cole just looked between Kitty and Morgan, his eyes wide with mild disbelief. When realization filled them and he looked at Morgan fully, she only nodded with a small smile.
The magical moment was broken by the sound of Cole’s cell phone ringing. “Damn!” he hissed, extending an arm out to where his coat had disappeared. Instantly, the phone flew across the room and into his hand. He suddenly growled in pain and bent over, dropping to one knee. Kitty was instantly beside him, a supportive arm around his shoulders. “Are you okay?” she asked.
Cole only looked up and glared at the three priestesses. “Why didn’t you tell me someone new was here?”
Brigit shrugged and smiled. “Sorry, I forgot.”
Cole grumbled something Kitty was glad she could not hear and flipped open the phone after it had rung for a fifth time. “What!” he growled into the device. His face changed to a look of attentiveness and he nodded. “All right, good work, we’ll be right there.” He slapped the phone shut and looked at the group of women. “I’m sorry, but we have to go, something’s come up that just can’t be ignored.”
Kitty raised an eyebrow. “We?”
Cole looked at her and nodded. “Yeah.” He walked over to the corner where he’d flung his trench coat and retrieved it, pulling on his shirt as he did so. He pulled the coat on and walked back over to the circle of women. “I’ll be around again soon, I promise.”
Rose embraced him and smiled. “We know you will.” She looked at Kitty pointedly. “He never breaks a promise.”
“I know,” Kitty said softly.
Cole took turns hugging all three of the women and headed for the door. One by one, each of the witches hugged Kitty tightly. When Morgan offered an embrace, she whispered in her ear, “When someone goes on a soul quest, it means that they’ve found their soul mate and are trying to let them know it.”
Before Kitty could ask the old woman what her arcane words mean, Morgan gave Kitty a gentle push to the door and returned to the circle, where the women all sat down and began talking, discussing what each had felt during the exercise.
“Come on,” Cole said quietly, gently taking her arm and leading her to the car. When they got in and sped off, he said, “The call was from Hammer. He and Ash got their hands on the vampire that attacked you. We’re headed for Elysium now to interrogate him and see if we can’t find any connection to the attack on you, the club, and your powers failing.”
“Okay,” Kitty said, her mind still on the dream she had. Had the experience really been a soul quest, like Morgan said? Was Cole truly her soul mate? Long ago, she had disbelieved in anything like that. Years of X-Men experiences had hardened her to the world, teaching her to believe her physical senses and think logically. Yet, this experience was not something that could be analyzed or reasoned about. It was a completely spiritual experience that tested her beliefs. Did she hope that Cole was her soul mate, or was she frightened by that fact?
Her thoughts were interrupted by the jerk of brakes as the car skidded to a halt outside Excalibur. Dreaming was over, it was time to go to work.
X-Men: Black Fire
By Paradox
BOOK II
6
Although only one in the morning, the club had been closed down early so the interrogation could take place freely, without any possible breaches of the Masquerade. Ash had two of the ghouls take up guard positions at the entrance with a couple more taking up positions at any other access point of the club. When Kitty and Cole reached the front door, he only nodded at the two men, who nodded back and allowed them inside.
As soon as they walked in, Kitty knew that some very bad things were going to happen that night. There were only a few scant vampires, but Kitty could feel their power, emanating from them like heat from a furnace. Priest himself seemed to dwarf the others, his visage like that of a prowling tiger in a cage, waiting to strike. Most of the others seemed to stay away from him with the exception of Ash, who stood close by and spoke in hushed tones with the Prince.
Yet the greatest force in the room, Kitty could tell, was Cole. Raw power literally poured off of him. With his emotions running so high with anticipation, she saw magickal energy crackling along his form every so often. Every vampire in the room offered proper courtesy, bowing their heads in greeting or offering words of welcome. When the two arrived next to the Prince and Archon, they both looked over. Kitty immediately felt their gaze rake across her, drawing a shiver from the young mutant. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“We’ve got the punk who came after you,” Ash explained, “Hammer’s bringing him over now. He should be here in a few minutes.”
“Who’s in charge of the interrogations?” Cole asked, his voice betraying his own desire to be placed in such a position.
“I am,” Priest said, his tone bucking any argument.
Cole’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the Prince. “You know I want in on this Priest.”
The Prince nodded. “I know, and you’ll be in on it, but I’m in charge of this.”
“Always,” Cole grumbled, spinning and heading for the bar to get a drink.
Kitty looked after him and then turned back to Ash and Priest. “So, what are you going to do to the guy when you get him, torture?”
Ash shrugged. “If we need to. I figured we could start with vampire mind techniques first.”
“Where were you two all night,” Priest interjected, “I would think that Cole would be out hunting this guy down himself.”
“Oh, we were just with some friends of his. He thought I needed to relax I guess.”
Ash cocked an eyebrow and looked her up and down. “Nice dress.”
“Thanks,” Kitty blushed, “Cole bought it for me while I was asleep today.”
Priest looked at Ash with raised eyebrows, who mirrored the look. “What?” Kitty asked.
“Nothing,” Priest said with a shake of his head, “Anyway, I want you to talk to this guy too. Recognizing him may be important too, do you remember what he looked like?”
Kitty shook her head. “Not really, it was dark in the room.”
“And he’s a vampire,” Priest finished, “Any way you can identify him as the one?”
Kitty shrugged. “I don’t know, but I think so.”
“Good enough.”
A moment later, the doors to Elysium opened and Hammer walked in, the small form bound and tossed over his shoulder looking small and insignificant. He was about thirty and good-looking, but his complexion was extremely pale. Kitty guessed he hadn’t fed for a while. “I’ve got Ricky,” he announced, tossing the figure from his shoulder to the middle of the dance floor, a good thirty feet. As soon as the man landed, he thrashed about and hissed, his fangs gnashing at the air. Kitty pressed herself against Cole, her fingers clutching his arm.
“What is it?” Cole asked as looked at her.
“It’s him,” she whispered.
“What?” he said, his eyes wide. “Are you sure?”
She nodded just as the vampire’s eyes locked onto hers. His thrashing stopped and a smile crept over his pale lips. “Oh, back for more chickie?” He whispered, yet the voice seemed as loud as if he’d been yelling directly into her ear, “You were pretty sweet last time.”
Cole’s eyes suddenly flashed with magickal energy. The vampire, Ricky, was lifted up by some unknown force and hurled into the wall. He was then spun around and slammed down on one of the chairs turned upside-down on a table. The wooden leg drove up through his back, exploding out his chest in a spray of blood. The vampire howled in pain. Kitty cried out in fear and turned her head into Cole’s coat.
“What the hell are you doing?” Priest yelled.
“That’s him,” Cole growled.
“How do you know?”
“Didn’t you hear him?”
The Prince shook his head. “No, what’d he say?”
Cole looked over at the vampire, thrashing about and screaming in pain. “Well he ain’t in torpor, ask him yourself.”
Priest narrowed his eyes and walked over to the vampire. “What’d you just say Ricky?”
“Nothing!” Ricky yelled, “I didn’t say nothing!” His gaze flickered and his eyes locked with Kitty once more. This time, his smile was knowing. It was like he knew he could get out of this situation and was promising he would be back to finish the job he’d started.
Kitty screamed. Cole held her tightly, muffling her screams against him. “It’s okay,” he soothed, “he can’t hurt you.”
“He’s the one that tried to kill me,” Kitty cried, “It’s him!”
Priest looked from Kitty to Ricky and grabbed the vampire by the front of his bloodied shirt, pulling him off the chair leg and slamming him onto the floor. “What have I warned you about Ricky?” Priest asked dangerously.
“Fuck you!” the vampire spat.
Priest looked at Kitty. “Are you sure this is the guy?”
Kitty nodded. “Yeah, it’s him.”
Ash took a drag from his cigarette and stepped up. “Hold on folks, let’s think about this for a minute.” Priest threw him a glare. “Hold on, big fella,” Ash said, “Think about it, Ricky doesn’t have the power to go into people’s minds, he’s only Rabble.”
The group all stopped and thought about that. “You’re right,” Cole said, “There’s no way he could have gone into her mind and block her powers.” He disengaged from Kitty and walked over to Ricky, kneeling down beside him. “Who are you working for Ricky?”
“Go to hell!”
Cole smiled and curled the fingers of one hand. Instantly, a ball of flame crackled to life in his palm. “We can go easy or hard, your choice.” The vampire only glared at him. “Fine, have it your way.” He flicked his fingers and the fireball enveloped Ricky’s leg. The vampire screamed in agony and desperately tried to put the flames out. After ten seconds of the leg burning, the flames disappeared and another ball of flame had appeared in Cole’s hand. “You chose where the next one goes.”
“Jessica!” Ricky howled, “It’s Jessica! She wanted me to go after the girl. She said she wouldn’t prove any problem.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, she said she was threatening her business and needed to be eliminated, that’s all I know.”
Cole smiled. “Thanks.” He slammed the ball of fire into the vampire’s open mouth and down his throat. Standing up, he turned and started back towards Kitty and Ash as the vampire exploded into a ball of flame.
Priest dove out of the way of the fire and yelled, “Dammit Cole, I wanted him alive!”
The mage looked over his shoulder at Priest. Amazingly, Kitty saw the Prince close his mouth and turn away. No one ever shut up Priest. As the mage walked back over to the group, he looked at Ash. “We go after Jessica, now.”
“Are you sure?” Ash asked, “I don’t think that’s a good idea right now.”
Cole sneered at the vampire. “You’re talking like a Blue-blood, I thought you had Outlander blood in your veins.”
Ash’s eyes narrowed and blazed red. “Give me a reason why I shouldn’t kill you right now.”
“Because Jessica’s a much better kill,” Cole said with a wicked smile.
Ash returned the smile and nodded. “All right, let’s do it.”
“I’m coming with you.”
Both Cole and Ash looked at Kitty. “Excuse me?” Ash asked in surprise.
Kitty folded her arms. “If she’s the one who’s stopped me from using my powers, I want to be in on this.”
“Jessica’s a vampire Kitty, you’d be slaughtered.”
Kitty glared at Cole and jammed and finger into his chest. “You listen to me Cole Raven, I’ve been fighting bad guys like her since I was thirteen. I think I can handle myself.”
Cole looked at Ash for advice and was only rewarded with a shrug. “All right,” Cole finally agreed, “Ash, give her a gun or two. Why don’t you go change clothes Kitty, you have your uniform?”
“Left it back in Winchester.”
“I’ve got something for her,” Priest offered, walking up, “Just look in the closet in my office.”
Kitty looked Priest up and down. “I’m not so sure...”
The Prince smiled. “Relax, their women’s clothes, and they’re all used by vampires getting ready to go into a fight. I’m sure you’ll find something.”
Kitty nodded and raced up into Priest’s office. As soon as she was out of earshot, Priest leaned in close to Cole and said, “Are you sure you want her along with you?”
“What do you mean? She’s been an X-Man for years, I think she can hand one vampire with our help.”
“Yeah, but she had her mutant powers then. Right now, she’s a normal human.”
Cole narrowed his eyes. “Priest, she’s been trained by guys almost as good as me, I think she can handle it.”
The Prince cocked an eyebrow. “Who taught her?”
“Remember the Weapon X program?”
Ash’s eyes went wide. “Of course we remember it, we were the ones that broke into the place and took out five of their best experiments.”
“You remember the files you picked up on a guy named Logan?”
Priest nodded cautiously. “Yeah.”
“Logan is Wolverine of the X-Men, and he taught Kitty himself.”
Both Priest and Ash looked at each other in shock for a moment and then back at Cole. “She goes,” they both said.
“I’m glad you feel that way,” a voice said from above them. The three turned to see Kitty in a lycra body suit that molded to her gentle curves perfectly. Cole forced down the emotions that had started tidalwaveing through him.
“Where did you get that?” he asked shakily.
Kitty shrugged. “It was the only thing I found in the closet that would work with what we have to do tonight.”
Cole looked at the Prince. Priest shrugged and smiled sheepishly. “Rebecca bought it a year ago.”
Cole sighed and shook his head. “It would belong to that sex fiend.”
Priest smiled and licked his lips. “Oh yeah.”
Kitty descended the stairs, the three men watching how the body suit formed to each supple movement. “Any of you guys got a weapon I can use?”
Both Priest and Ash started reaching for guns when Cole drew a katana sword from within his coat. “I keep this for special occasions. I can’t think of a more special one.”
“Thanks,” Kitty said, taking the sword and buckling across her back. “Well, shall we?”
“I’ll stay back here,” Priest said, “If you need me, I’ll have your phones on an open com line. Just yell and I’ll be there.”
“All right,” Cole said with a nod as he pulled out his two Glocks and chambered a round in each. “Let’s do this.” The group walked out of the club. Just before the doors closed behind them, Ash’s voice floated back to Priest’s ears.
“Let’s get dangerous.”
X-Men: Black Fire
By Paradox
BOOK II
7
Dock 5 was quiet and closed when they reached it at two A.M. Ash drove the midnight black van around to the back and parked it behind a couple of dumpsters so it would be well hidden. Sliding the doors open, the three slipped out of the vehicle and moved towards the rear entrance of the club. Cole took the point and cleared the area as Kitty and Ash came up behind him. Everyone had their weapons out and ready, Cole with his Glocks, Kitty with the katana, and Ash held a pair of MP-5s. Slung across the vampires back was a huge black bag that looked like it weighed at least two hundred pounds. Yet, Ash seemed to move as though it weren’t even there. Having undead strength had its advantages.
As they neared the door, Cole stopped and looked around. “This is way too easy.” He looked up and said, “I’m going topside and work my way down.”
Ash nodded. “We’ll meet you inside.” Cole nodded back and quickly climbed a ladder attached to the brick wall, disappearing onto the roof. When he was gone, Ash looked at Kitty. “Are you sure you don’t want a gun? I’ve got plenty.”
Kitty smiled and shook her head. “No thanks, I was never good with them.”
Ash shrugged and slipped up beside the door, pressing a small black strip to the crack in the door next to the handle. A length of wire led from the strip to a hand grip with a red button on it. “You may want to find cover.”
Kitty nodded and dropped down behind the landing of the back door. Ash backed off a little and pushed the button on the hand grip. There was a small flash and a hiss. Ash moved back to the door and pushed it open, the lock disintegrated. The vampire nodded to Kitty and the two rushed in, each clearing a side of the huge dance club.
Emptiness greeted them. The entire club was completely empty just when business should have been booming. The two slowly walked further into the club, Ash sweeping his guns left and right. “Something’s not right here,” he said quietly.
“Yeah,” Kitty agreed, “There should be people here. Vampires if nothing else.”
“Ah, welcome to my haven.”
Ash spun and aimed the MP-5 in his right hand at the speaker, the dot of a laser sight lighting on a woman’s forehead. Jessica smiled. “I see you came here to destroy me, might I ask why?”
Kitty stepped forward, her sword held ready. “You had Ricky come after me and try to kill me. I’m pretty sure that you also cut off my powers too.”
Jessica kept her smile and clapped her hands in quiet applause. “Very astute, young lady. Perhaps I did not give you enough credit.”
“Give it where it’s due, bitch,” Ash growled, “You can come with us and see Priest right now or I can drop you where you stand, your choice.”
“My choice hmm?” Jessica placed a delicate fist under her chin and cocked her head, as though in thought. “Well, it is an intriguing offer, but I think I’ll just kill you both now.”
At the hidden command, shapes appeared out of the shadows, encircling the two. Kitty looked around to see various types of vampires. They ranged from thugs with knives to the most grotesque creatures Kitty had ever seen sprouting wicked claws from their fingertips. “Well, aside from looking ugly, what else can these guys do?”
Jessica smiled. “Why don’t you find out. Randal...”
The Nosferatu vampire off to Kitty’s left side was suddenly in motion, racing at Kitty with one set of claws raking towards her chest. Deftly, Kitty sidestepped the attack and lopped off the hand at the wrist in one movement. Continuing the movement, Kitty spun and sliced through the vampire’s neck with a backhanded slash. The undead man’s head fell to the ground with a wet plop, followed by his body. Finishing the spin, Kitty spun the sword into a defensive position, ready for the attack from the vampire with a knife rushing at her.
The staccato sound of gunfire permeated the air as Kitty saw glowing red bullets rip through the vampire, throwing him back and dropping him to the ground. The vampire did not get up. Kitty looked at Ash questioningly, to which the Archon only smiled. “Tracers, great for permanent wounds against vampires.”
“Enough games,” Jessica said, “Kill them.” All of the vampires roared and charged in. Kitty desperately tried to fend them off with her sword, but the undead creatures were simply too fast. Several were able to get inside her defenses and cut her on her thigh, shoulder, and forearm. Stumbling away from the myriad of attacks, Kitty saw Ash was having the same problem. Everywhere he spun and fired, another vampire attacked from the opposite direction. Although he was able to take much more than her, Kitty saw that he would be in serious trouble soon. Dancing out of the way of a set of claws, she drove the sword through a vampire, wrenching it up through his chest and head as she pulled it out. As the body dropped, Kitty looked at the sword in amazement. There was no way she should have had the strength to do that. Obviously the sword was not ordinary.
So caught up in her surprise, Kitty never saw the vampire that came up behind her, took the sword away by grabbing her wrist with one hand and the hilt with the other. Kitty cried out in surprise and slammed a fist into his face, knocking him back. The vampire stumbled away, but he still had the sword. Disarmed, Kitty watched in horror as a group of five vampires surrounded her, their fangs bared in a cruel smile. “Feeding time boys,” one hissed.
“Feed on this!” said a growling voice as three metal claws punched through the vampire’s chest and ripped out through its side. When the creature dropped, Kitty let out a whoop of joy.
“Logan!”
Wolverine smiled and casually swiped his claws through another attacker, ripping out their intestines. “Hiya punkin’, miss me?”
Kitty’s eyes went wide as the vampire Wolverine just gutted rolled to his feet, his fangs bared in a feral hiss. “Logan, behind you!”
Wolverine spun as the vampire raked its claws across the mutant’s chest. Wolverine grunted and dropped back a step. “What the hell are these things?” he asked as he tore into the man.
“Vampires,” Ash answered as he rolled up to his feet next to Wolverine and dumped a burst from the MP-5 into the downed vampire. The undead creature screamed and laid still. “Either put a stake in their heart or cut off their heads, otherwise they’ll just keep coming at you.”
“Thanks for the advice,” Wolverine said as he dodged a set of claws.
An explosion behind Kitty made her spin around. She had just enough time to see a vampire become engulfed in flames and explode. A figure in a dark brown duster dropped lightly to the ground. “I tink dat dese here vamps ain’t so tough if you know where to hit dem.”
Kitty smiled. “Good call Gambit.” Her smile evaporated as another vampire in biker leather leapt at his back, claws extended. “Gambit, behind you!” The cajun mutant spun and reached for a card. As fast as the X-Man was, the vampire had the speed of the undead and was far faster. Gambit had no time to get out of the way of the claws that reached for his heart.
Suddenly, the vampire was blown back, bullet holes appearing in its chest. As it sank to the ground, a trench coated figure dropped down. “You’d better watch your ass instead of flirting, pretty boy,” Cole growled, “Otherwise you’ll be dinner for the next few days.”
Gambit was taken aback for a moment, but regained his wits and spun, launching a few cards at the vampires. Cole shook his head and looked around at the battle. Things were not going well. Wolverine was being hit on all sides. Despite how good he was, the undead don’t tire. Eventually, he would slip up and then be done. Gambit was able to make use of his ranged attacks, but he only had so much he could throw. Soon, he’d be out of ammo and dead in the water. Kitty had moved up beside him, her weapon lost. “We’re in a bad way here,” he shouted over the battle, putting bullets into every target he could get a shot off at, “We need to break off and regroup.” He quickly looked around. “Where’s Ash?”
“Heads up kids!” a voice laughed, “It’s rock and roll time!”
Cole looked and saw Wolverine and Gambit hit the ground as Ash swung the Vulcan cannon from his back and open fire. Cole’s eyes went wide and he dove to the ground yelling, “Ash you crazy son of a bitch!”
The Archon only laughed and let the 30mm cannon spit fiery death at the vampires in the room, bullets cutting them almost literally in half. When the entire attacking force of vampires were laying on the ground either dead or unconscious, Ash ceased firing and hefted the Vulcan with one hand. “Any left?”
“Only me, fool.”
Ash spun just in time to see Jessica rake her claws across his chest. The Archon fell to the ground, a scream tearing from his throat. The Vulcan fell from his hands as he groped at the deep gouge marks in his chest. Blood flowed from the wounds like an opened pipe. Wolverine stepped forward and raised his claws. “Try that on me sweetheart.”
Jessica smiled and her eyes suddenly glowed red. An instant later, Wolverine fell to the ground, writhing in pain. Cole’s eyes went wide. “No way can she do that, unless...”
Jessica laughed. “Very correct Shadow, I’m not a part of your little sect of “good vampires”.”
“Sabbat,” the mage hissed.
“Bravo.” The woman flickered and Gambit fell to the ground, a huge hunting knife buried in his leg. He grasped the handle and cried out in pain, but did not tear it free. The vampire smiled and looked back at Cole and Kitty. “I’m surprised you didn’t know, Cole. Usually you’re on top of these things.”
Suddenly, a blast of white flame blew out Jessica’s chest. She froze for a moment and looked down at the hole in surprise, as though not able to believe what just happened. She turned and looked directly into blazing eyes of Priest. He pressed the twin barrels of a sawed-off shotgun to the underside of her chin. “I knew,” he said coldly, pulling the trigger and vaporizing her head with a blast of white phosphorous. The headless body slumped to the ground.
“You knew about her and didn’t tell me!” Cole yelled angrily, “What the hell is the matter with you?”
Priest shrugged. “Prince’s privilege.”
Kitty only shook her head and walked over to Gambit, examining the knife in his leg. “Gambit’s in a bad way, we need to get him medical attention.”
“Don’t bother,” Cole said, walking over. He placed a hand on the knife and it faded away to nothing. Placing his hand on the wound, he muttered a few words and his hands glowed with white energy. Slowly, the wound closed until only fresh, pink skin remained.
Gambit blinked in surprise. “Neat trick, you couldn’t do dat before.”
Cole shrugged. “I’ve had a yearlong crash course in magick.”
“Yes,” a ghostly female voice floated in the air, “A pity it will not help you in the end.”
Cole’s eyes narrowed and he looked around. “I figured you were behind this,” he growled, “What the hell do you want?”
Smoky energy filled a corner of the club and slowly took the shape of a woman. When the smoke dissipated, a woman with green hair, white skin, and a purple leotard stood smiling. “It is time Cole.”
The mage glared at the Goddess of death. “Why the hell did you use vampires to attack Kitty, she has nothing to do with this.”
Lillith only smiled. “On the contrary, she is very important to you, and by destroying her, I destroy the only goodness in you.” She waved a hand and Kitty was flung against a wall, the breath blasting from her lungs and leaving her gasping for air. Wolverine roared and charged at the woman as Gambit flung a score of energized cards. As the adamantium claws raked across the woman’s chest and the cards exploded against her head, the death goddess only laughed and flicked her wrist, sending the two mutants flying. When the hit the ground, they both fell unconscious.
“Leave them alone!” Kitty screamed.
“Silence, little girl,” Lillith sneered, “You will be next.”
“Like hell,” Ash growled, climbing to his feet, the wounds in his chest slowly knitting together. His hands closed on the Vulcan and he brought it to bear. “Suck on this for a while!” The cannon roared as a spray of bullets slammed into the green-haired woman, throwing her back into the wall and sending up a plume of dust and debris. Ash ceased firing and walked as the goddess’s form moved through the dust, completely unharmed.
“Fool,” she laughed, “Even in my ethereal form, your weapons cannot hurt me.”
“Then try this on,” Priest yelled, charging in and raking his razor sharp claws across her chest. Lillith fell back, five gash marks scarring her white flesh.
“Very interesting, I did not believe you to be so powerful, vampire.”
Priest smiled. “That’s usually everyone fatal mistake.” He slashed at her again.
Lillith sighed and lifted a hand, promptly sending Priest flying through the air to slam into a wall and crumple to the floor. “Truly, this is starting to bore me.”
“Then let me liven it up,” Ash cried, as he leapt onto her back and sank his teeth into her throat.”
Cole’s eyes went wide. “Ash, don’t!” But it was too late. As soon as the vampire’s fangs sank into the dark goddess’s white flesh, a tiny trace of black fluid seeped from the wound as Ash drank deeply. No more than five seconds after he had begun feeding, the Archon reared his head back and howled. The entire lower half of his face was covered in the thick, black blood of the dark queen.
Ash dropped down to the ground and crouched, his eyes blazing red with a bloodlust Cole had never seen in a vampire before. Hungrily, Ash licked his lips. “Yum,” he snarled, “Better than Garou blood.” He took one step towards the woman before a strangled cry escaped his lips. He grasped at his chest and fell to the floor, twitching violently.
Lillith smiled at the writhing vampire. “Foolish little vampire, my blood does nothing but destroy, even your kind.”
Cole looked around at the chaos around him. All about, his friends and comrades lay either crippled or dying. His eyes found Kitty’s and homed in on them. She returned his gaze with one of wide-eyed terror. She knew she was about to die, he could tell that. “No way,” he growled. Spinning, he faced the pale goddess, his eyes narrowed. “Lillith,” he yelled, “Let the rest go and you can have me.”
“No Cole,” Kitty cried.
Lillith smiled at the mage and walked over to him, using her demonic powers to float Kitty over beside her. “Oh, rest assured, I will have you no matter what. The rest I could care less about.” She smiled at Kitty. “Except this one.” Reaching up, Lillith caressed Kitty’s cheek, sending a chill through the young woman. “She’s very pretty, isn’t she Cole.”
“What do you want?” the mage bit out.
Lillith smiled. “Give yourself to me as my willing slave and I will let her go.”
“Don’t do it Cole!” Kitty yelled.
Cole ignored her and focused his glare on Lillith. “Do you swear that you won’t hurt her if I agree?”
The goddess waved an absent hand and sighed. “Yes, yes, I’ll let her go.”
Cole nodded and let his guns fall to the floor. “Deal.”
“Cole, no!” Kitty begged, “Please don’t do this!”
“I’m not going to let you die Kitty,” Cole said grimly.
“So noble,” Lillith mocked, snapping her fingers. Instantly, Kitty fell to the floor. Cole was immediately at her side, crouched down beside her and cradling her in his arms.
“Cole,” she begged softly, “Please don’t do this. Everything good you’ve tried to accomplish here will be for nothing if you do.”
“I can’t let you die Kitty,” Cole said quietly, “Not you.”
“Why?” she asked, her eyes wide with emotion. “Say it Cole, please say it.”
The mage clutched her tightly. “Because I love you Kitty,” he whispered.
The young mutant sobbed and tears rolled down her cheeks as she held onto the young man that had asked for her heart, and she had given it to him. “I love you too,” she whispered back.
“Very touching,” Lillith said in an annoyed voice, “But it is time for us to go Cole, we have preparations to make.”
Cole glared over his shoulder at her and gently disengaged from Kitty. She gave a soft cry of protest and reached out to him. “I’m sorry Kitty,” he said quietly, “But my mistress is calling me and I have to go.” He stood and walked over to Lillith, standing beside her and slightly back.
“No!” Kitty screamed, jumping to her feet and rushing at the goddess, punching her in the face again and again. Lillith sighed again and flung Kitty away from her in one simple gesture. “Foolish child,” the dark queen sneered.
“Lillith!”
The death goddess turned and looked at Cole with surprised eyes. His roar of pure fury echoed through the empty dance club. The rest of the mage’s companions stirred awake and slowly started rising. “What was that you said to your mistress, slave?” she mocked with a smile.
The smile evaporated as Cole’s fist, crackling with energy, slammed into Lillith’s face, sending her flying across the room to slam into a wall, cracking it from base to ceiling. “You dare!” she hissed.
Cole began walking slowly towards her, the rest of the vampires and mutants moving behind him. Kitty rushed over to him and took hold of his arm. Cole squeezed her hand, but continued to glare at Lillith. “You promised not to hurt her,” he growled, his voice having lost any trace of humanity.
“You can’t hurt me,” the dark queen said, standing wobbly before getting her balance, “I am the queen of the underworld. I am immortal.”
Cole’s entire body began to crackle and pulse with magickal energy. The intensity was so powerful that everyone had to step back several feet or be burned. The energies rippled along Cole’s form, outlining his every muscle, every vein. Kitty watched in awe as more magickal energy began pumping up from the floor into the young man, as though drawing power from the very planet itself. More and more magick dumped into the mage’s body, causing a corona of red, crackling energy to form around him. When Kitty looked back at Lillith, she saw something she could not believe.
The goddess looked afraid. “You cannot destroy me,” she announced haughtily, but her voice did not have the strength to indicate she could back up her threats.
“No,” Cole agreed, “I can’t. You’re part of the cycle of life and there’s nothing I can do about that. But there is something I can do.”
“What?” Lillith barked.
Suddenly, Cole’s eyes burst into black flames. The magickal energy that surrounded him suddenly went as black as death and filtered down into his arms, finally crackling violently in his palms. The young man drew his hands to his right side and curled his fingers, as though holding a tangible object. The black magickal energy suddenly roared to life, forming a pulsing and crackling energy in his hands. The power of it was so overwhelming everyone had to cover their eyes, including Lillith. “Go to Hell Lillith,” he roared, “And don't come back!”
Cole shot his hands forward and a wave of magickal energy blasted through Lillith and the five buildings behind her, leveling them where they stood. Dust plumed into the air, creating a mushroom cloud a mile wide. Kitty felt herself pulled to the ground by Priest as chunks of wood and concrete washed over them. She screamed as a large sliver of wood drove into her thigh. Priest instantly covered her up with his own body and held her gaze with his eyes. “Hang on,” he yelled into her ear, “I’ve got you.”
“Cole!” she screamed back, “What about Cole?”
Priest shook his head and shuddered as a chunk of concrete the size of a Volkswagen slammed into his back. The vampire only grunted and remained where he was, tossing the granite block away like a toy. Kitty looked around frantically, trying to catch some glimpse of the mage. Her eyes widened when she saw him standing in the midst of the urban typhoon, a shield of crackling energy around him, deflecting every piece of debris. Then, smoke enveloped them all and Kitty lost sight of him.
The group waited for a few minutes as the dust settled and then slowly got to their feet. Priest expertly took the wooden spear from Kitty’s thigh, but she still screamed in pain. Yet the agony faded instantly when she saw Cole laying face down amongst the carnage of the five blocks around them. Hobbling over, Kitty fell to her knees beside him, more from a lack of strength than the desire to. “Cole,” she cried, “Cole are you okay?” She heard a weak moan and wept for joy. Carefully turning him over, she looked into his half open eyes, cupping his face with her hands. “Cole, don’t you die on me,” she ordered firmly as tears rolled down her cheeks, “You can’t die now that we knew how we feel about each other.”
Cole smiled weakly and reached up to caress her cheek. “I’m not going to die Kitty,” he said, barely above a whisper, “I wouldn’t do that to...you...” His eyes closed and he fell limp in her arms.
“Cole!” she screamed. Looking over her shoulder, she begged the others, “Someone, help him!”
Priest was immediately on his feet and rushing over to the two, as was Wolverine. They crouched down next to the mage and Priest felt for a pulse. “He’s alive,” the vampire announced, “He’s just passed out. The strain was too much for him.”
“Let’s get him to a hospital,” Wolverine said, picking up the unconscious young man.
“No,” Priest said, “We’ll bring him to Elysium. Follow me.” Picking up Kitty, and then grabbing Ash by the unconscious Archon’s collar, he led the group through the remains of Dock 5 towards Elysium, the one safe haven Kitty knew existed in Chicago.
X-Men: Black Fire
By Paradox
BOOK II
Epilogue
Cole looked up as the door to the plush bedroom in Elysium opened. “Who is it?” he asked quietly.
Kitty poked her head in and smiled. “Hi,” she said brightly, “I just wanted to see how you’re doing.”
Cole smiled and pulled himself into a sitting position. “I’m all right, I guess. I feel weak as hell, though.”
Kitty smiled and walked into the room, the beautiful white gown Cole had bought her swirling with every step. “Well, you just took on a goddess from Hell, it’s to be expected.”
Cole chuckled and took a cigarette from the pack on the night stand beside the bed and lit it with the lighter next to the pack. “You shouldn’t smoke those,” Kitty warned, “They’ll kill you.”
Cole smiled. “Well, like you said, I just took on the Goddess from Hell and lived, I’m not exactly worried about dying of cancer.”
Kitty’s expression grew serious. “Sometimes, Cole, it’s the little things that kill us, not the big ones.”
The two looked into each others eyes for several quiet moments and then Cole nodded, stamping out the cigarette in an ashtray. “So, you come in here to say good-bye?”
Kitty smiled and shook her head. “No way, I’ve still got a month of vacation time left and I intend to spend every moment of it with you.”
Cole cocked an eyebrow. “Don’t you need to go see Professor X to get your powers back?”
Kitty grinned and pushed her hand to the mattress, then phased it through. “Once Jessica died, her mental blocks vanished. I’m a normal mutant again.”
Cole chuckled. “Good to hear.”
“How about you? Do you have anything left?”
Cole shrugged and lifted his hand. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then, red magickal energy crackled through his fingers and coalesced into a beautiful red rose. “I’ve still got a few tricks up my sleeve.”
Kitty took the rose and inhaled its scent. It was a real rose, created from nothing but the love in the young man’s heart. “How bad are you?”
Cole shrugged. “I’ve lost most of my power. Everything I had been building up for the last year is gone. I’m basically at about half of what I was when I first met you.”
“Will you ever get your full powers back?”
The mage shrugged again, as though unconcerned. “Who knows, maybe I will, maybe I won’t. It won’t change a thing.”
Kitty nodded and then suddenly leaned in, kissing Cole fully on the mouth. Cole’s arms wrapped around the girl and held her tightly, kissing back with fevered passion. When they broke, they were slightly out of breath. “So,” Cole gasped, “What happened to Ash?”
Kitty giggled. “Well, Priest had to slam him against the wall a few times to get Lillith’s blood out of his system, but he’s okay now. He’s pissed, but he’s okay.”
Cole chuckled. “That’s Ash for you, he nearly gets ripped apart from the inside by a demon goddess and just comes out pissed off.”
Kitty laughed again. “You feel up to going out?”
The mage nodded and smiled. “You bet, I’m tired of laying in this damn bed, but Priest kept throwing me back into it every time I tried to sneak out.” With Kitty’s help, he rose from the bed and pulled on his shirt, boots, and trench coat. They walked down the stairs, arm in arm, to the club part of Elysium. Although it was night, it was still too early of an hour for the club to be open. Priest and Ash sat at the bar drinking from beer mugs filled with blood. They both had loopy grins on their faces. “What’s up guys?” Cole called.
The two vampires turned and smiled lopsidedly. “Hi Cole,” Ash slurred, “Wanna tie one ‘ff?”
Cole looked at Kitty. “What have they been drinking?”
Kitty shrugged. “I heard them mention something about getting drunk, but I don’t know how they could do that.”
Cole chuckled and shook his head. “Okay guys, what did the bleeder drink?”
“Ta-key-la,” Priest said in a laughing, high pitched voice.
“Oh jeez,” Cole said, “We’d better get somewhere quiet, their drinking a drunk’s blood, so their going to get royally trashed.”
“Sounds good to me, where do you want to go?”
Cole thought a moment and then smiled. “I think I have an idea.” He concentrated for a few moments, sweat popping out on his forehead. In the next instant, Kitty found herself on a blanket laid out at a cliff’s edge, a breathtaking view of the city before them.
“I didn’t think you could do that.” Kitty said in surprise.
Cole smiled. “Takes a lot out of me,” he gasped, “But I can do it. Besides, I’d rather be laying in your arms with nothing to keep me up any day.”
Kitty smiled and folded him into her arms, placing a kiss on his forehead. The two sat there for a long time, holding each other as though it were the last time. “So where are Wolverine and Gambit?” Cole finally asked.
“They went back to the mansion,” Kitty said quietly, “They said they thought we needed some time without them.”
“Nice of them,” Cole murmured, snuggling his face into Kitty’s stomach. He paused for a moment and then whispered, “Kitty, don't go.”
“What?” she asked, not quite hearing him.
Cole sat up and looked into her eyes. “Kitty, I don’t want you to go back. Stay with me, here in Chicago. I love you with all my heart and I don’t want to lose you again. Just ask Priest, I was a monster while you were gone.”
“I know,” Kitty said softly, “But the X-Men are my family as well as my friends. I made a promise to help them and I can’t go back on that.”
Cole looked down and nodded. “I thought you would say that.” He looked back up and smiled. “Of course, I’m a firm believer in long distance relationships.”
Kitty smiled and nodded. “Me too. Some day Cole, we’ll be able to be together, forever.”
“And ever,” Cole whispered as he kissed her, his hands working at the clasps of her dress. Kitty only kissed back as her hands traced to the waistband of his jeans and unfastened the snap there. Quickly, they stripped each other of their garments and explored each other’s bodies, tracing the flatness of a stomach, the curve of a thigh, the swell of a breast. Kitty’s gasps came sharp and quick as Cole worked a different kind of magic on her.
When they finally lay still, bathed in sweat and held in each other’s arms, Cole gently kissed Kitty on the lips and smiled at her. “I love you Kitty.”
“I love you Cole,” she whispered back.
From the city, they heard an enraged voice echo throughout the great skyscrapers and apartment buildings. “GUN!”
Both of them laughed into each other’s mouth as they kissed, the moon bathing them in a cool, pale light that promised warm dreams and endless love.