Blood Sisters

Suddenly in shadow, with a bullet instead of air in his chest Victor felt the burn and the skull splitting pain as his body struggled for Oxygen that was just not there. The worst part of dying is the dying part. After that, it wasn't so bad. Sometimes the waking up from being dead could be, in fact it usually was. Victor didn't dream when he slept... but he did dream when he died. At least he seemed too. There was pain, then more pain as his body vainly gasped, choking on shadowstuff. He held on tight to The Silhouette, she was trying to tell him something, and he felt her wrap shadow tendrils around him she was running, it was dark... Victor died.

There are colors, many colors. Colors without names. Color you can feel, you touch. The color is a weave, long spiraling ribbons of color. You pluck them, and the color sings, other ribbons near them vibrate in chorus, a rainbow of sound. Floating through color it caresses, whisper kisses sing as the ribbons flow around you, through you. You sing with the colors, your own color blending with others confidently, harmony at first dissonant until blending into tone. The color shifts and you move through ever changing song. The color sings and there are stars, shimmering in reply. You dance within the song, you dance with stars. The stars are colors. Color shines and makes light, all is blur then sharp. There is dark, the colors are quiet. Light moves, the color pulled, you sing, color sings as you move, stars and sky. The song is joined, colors blend, and bright, and bright, and white. All colors the white. The white is hushed. Silence builds to deafening. Then all is color again. You flow, you fall. You cannot hear the color-song. You are not color now. You are other, you are cold. You are breath between stars, you sleep. You are moment. You are wait. You are wait.

All is gray, there is no color. There is no me. There is no I. The is flows, currents of gray, the is. Lights dance in the gray, carried with the is. They blink, they collide. They burst into color that drains into the gray, a fading rainbow tail slowly diffusing. Outside the is, the nothing of wait. A pause. A before. Always a before.

There is light, you are is. Color rises, swirling. There is sense. You are I. There is breath. There is thought. The other makes the me. The me alone. Always alone in the is. You cannot be color here, the colors have names. So you are dark, in the dark of the is. The dark of before.

The Silhouette stepped out of shadow in the woods a few miles from the motel. She gently unwound The Dead Man from her shadow tendrils then released them into the shadow. Her moonlight eyes searched his face, there was no life. Her fingers felt the wound, there was blood, but it did not bleed. She could feel his body still warm, healing itself, healing the wound. The bullet being slowly pushed out from deep in the flesh, she could feel the pressure. Silhouette kissed him, breathing gently into his mouth, cradling him until his breath slowly returned. Not in a gasp, but in a whisper, like a slow sunrise, Victor returned to the living. The Silhouette watched in awe as he was reborn, there beside her in the dark. She smiled and rose. Standing over him, waited for him to come back to her.

After many long moments she could hear his breath coming normally, she knew he was back, that he could hear her. She took time to gaze at this face, handsome, showing a peace she guessed was never there otherwise. She felt an ache for him. The dead man at her feet was waking.

Crossing her arms as she looked around the dark forest. “I never did like the outdoors much. Not a nature girl, don't like bugs”. Victor groaned and clenched his face in his hands. He stayed flat on the ground, breathing in the night deeply, savoring it as if for the first time. “Of course...” Davos said between breaths “a dimension of infinite darkness is so much better” he moaned and sat up, holding his head. The Silhouette shrugged “Well, their aren't any bugs there, so yeah; better”.

Victor took a moment to examine his wounds, which were already showing signs of healing. His wounds were not bleeding, but the they still hurt like hell. The bullet that hit his shoulder went through clean, one bullet just cut a deep gash across his chest, the other one, the bad one, would take longer. He could feel the heavy lead still lodged in his muscle. But soon enough he would be able to just cut it out as it wormed its way slowly towards his skin. “I need some good scotch” he muttered.

The Midnight Mistress looked around with an air of distaste at all the wet leaves and moss. “Where's a nice clean rock when you need one” she groused. With an offhanded gesture, she crafted a think cushion of shadowstuff for herself and lounged on it, cocking her head over at Victor. “So how are we going to find Michaela oh deathless one?” Victor, still breathing deeply replied “I still have some of her blood in my system, though its fading. We most likely can't communicate any more, but with some effort either of us could probably get a sense where the other is”. He sat still for a moment, getting his breath under control. He caught himself gazing at The Silhouette, drinking in her shape and moonlight eyes. She smiled at him, and he quickly looked away. Something had changed.

“I am closer then you think” came Michaela's sultry voice out of the darkness. Silhouette jumped in her shadow-cushion, startled. Victor looked over at her. “You missed the fun”. The vampiress just smiled derisively and walked over to them, dangerously beautiful by the light of the moon, her ruby eyes glinting. “So I see” she said coldly, glancing at the blood stains on Victor and teasing one of her fangs with her tongue. Michaela took a deep sniff of air as if drinking in the night. She said “I first went to the house of Mike Dallas, as he died beneath my fangs his blood told me of his pathetic addictions, his delightful perversions, his desperate loneliness, his bitter and so sweet despair” she savored the taste of it. “His wife had left him but the widow returned to gather her spoils”. She smiled wickedly “I can appreciate that, I let her be”. Michaela turned her scornful gaze on them “Not far from here, further into the mountains is a hunting lodge that the late Michael Dallas shared with his hunting companions, though it was not his dwelling. Few know of it”. Victor nodded “and hunting season is not for months, that might do for now”. “Not bad Michaela” he added. She answered him with nothing but scorn “I do nothing for your approval Dead Man do not forget that. You and this woman are little more then food to me. As soon as it is clear you are no further use to me, this arrangement is over”. With narrowly restrained fury The Silhouette spoke through gritted teeth “That can't happen a moment to soon, cabrón!” Michaela gave the dark lady a murderous smile of fangs “In that, we agree”.

Victor shook his head, looking at the two of them and let out a long breath. Keeping his temper in check he spoke into the tense air between them “Alright then, lets get a hold of some basic supplies, changes of clothing, that kind of thing. I for one really need some good soap and a hot shower. Not to mention some decent food, and a well stocked bar”. He cracked his neck and gave a quick sigh of relief, then continued “If you two don't mind checking out the lodge to see what we need, then getting a hold of some stuff... subtlety... I need to track down a portable computer with a satellite uplink so I can put together...” Michaela snorted at him “I will not be your errand girl, Davos!”.

Victor's whole body tensed up, his jaw snapped shut and he growled through his teeth. His fists clenched and tendons flared out of his neck like steel cables. “That's it” he spat out. Snapping to his feet he glared at the vampire “You would still be rotting in your cage having your blood milked out of you like a diseased cow if it weren't for me! For all your demon-queen posturing, you ended locked up just like the rest of us. Now get -over- yourself. If you just want to go on a damn killing spree and cull the herd of humanity, you can go ahead, you don't need me for that!” Davos took a step forward and stabbed his finger at her face like a spear “I am after -BIGGER- game, and this is -MY- crew. If you think, if you -REALLY- think that you can bring down the mightiest New Human the world has ever known all by your stuck up self then slit my throat now and get on with it. I will wake up tomorrow and laugh at you when I read that D-Day's pitiful amateurs found you fucking corpses in the morgue and threw your smelly dead cunt right back in the hole we just crawled out of!”.

Silhouette stared at Victor in amazement, her mouth open in surprise, she rose to her feet just as Michaela struck out and grabbed The Dead Man by the neck, snarling in his face as she lifted him from the ground. He smiled coldly at her “Go ahead you stupid bitch. I've been killed before by far better then you”. There was the space of several heartbeats as the two wills dueled in silence. With a final growl Michaela hurled Davos into a heap at her feet, then turned her back on him and The Silhouette, looking up at the moon which made a ghost-light around her cold flesh. She said quietly into the night “One day, I will kill you Davos Muerte. I will find a way to devour your soul then watch your body rot”. She glanced back at him over her bare blue shoulder “But for now, I relent”.

Victor exhaled, and for the first time felt the vampires seductive grip release him. Silhouette stepped over and helped Victor up, stepping closer then she needed so her body lightly brushed against his. She gave him a flirting glance and a sultry smile. Victor quirked a brow at her and flashed a shark-like grin. Then he looked over at Michaela, still framed in moonlight with her back towards them.

The vampire said “I go to gather my share of the supplies we require”. Turning back to Victor she added coldly “Get the toys you need so that I can get my vengeance. I will not abide you for long”. For a tense moment she held his gaze with narrowed eyes, then in a blur she vanished into the night.

The Silhouette let out a breath she did not know she was holding. She sat back down on her shadow-cushion, closing her pale glowing eyes and giving her head a shake. Victor stood in the silence, taking in the sudden calm. The Silhouette smiled up at him and enlarged the cushion of shadow, motioning for Victor to join her. Davos considered for a moment, then had a seat with her, thigh to thigh.

Silhouette ran a finger down his arm and asked in Spanish “Are we really going to try and kill Miss Liberty Muerte?” He turned towards her and caught her hand with both of his, replying “Something must be done, Silhouette. They grow too powerful, all of them, and it gets worse and worse with every generation” The Dark Lady leaned in closer to him “But, we are the same as them...” Davos shook his head “the same as Allison Ashton? As Goldstar? They have the power to topple a country, they could rule by fiat. Perhaps not them, for they lack the drive and the vision, but their will be more like them, and it is not just a matter of random mutations anymore, they can create offspring like themselves now. Make no mistake, there is a new, powerful race rising, and as the Aztecs or the Sioux could have told us, we must destroy them, or be destroyed”.

Victor firmly pulled The Silhouette close, grasping her slender body tight against him as he kissed her, tasting her smoky lips. His hands found her curves as he bent her back and his mouth ran over her exposed neck. She moaned and grabbed his head in her hands, forcing her tongue deep past his lips. Lithe and flexible she easily wrapped her legs around him, gripping him closer to her as the passion rose. Their lips parted, a glimpse of moonlight between them. “My name is Candelaria” she whispered into his mouth, her luminous eyes gazing up at him.

“You are a candle that shines all the brighter for the darkness” he said, then captured her mouth with his own, pressing her beneath his body. Growling like a hungry wolf his hands sculpted down her back to below her waist, digging his fingers in and grinding her pelvis into his. Groaning as her body grew hot below him The Silhouette clawed into the dark and pulled the shadows around them as she blossomed like a Yucca in the night.

***

“You are not going to believe this Paul”. Winter Ashton spoke over the USSM comm system. “They are making test-tube New Human drones for God-knows-why, and apparently some of them look just like Jenny! Including the one we are after up here that is tearing up the city. Didn't they send you a picture of this girl? Why the hell didn't you tell me?” Paul cautioned her “North Star, most of the file I got was redacted, I had no picture. Since I didn't know what you just told me, I apparently don't have the clearance to know it, which pisses me off to no end, but lets skip that for now. I know this is an encrypted channel, but even so we should not discuss this further until it can be done more securely.” Winter stewed silently.

“I have some other news. Peregrine and Broadsword tracked down The Silhouette and Victor Davos. I don't have all the details yet, but Michaela was not with them and Broadsword was apparently injured by an angry handyman with a screwdriver...” Titan furrowed his brow, he mutely mouthed “what?” as much to himself as to Winter. Paul's voice continued on in their earpieces “...even better then that, they moved against them with no back-up, no plan and no logistical support. I know this will come as a shock, but under the circumstances they got away.”

Titan started to rebut that D-Day was under anesthesia for five hours, but decided now was not the time as Winter flashed him a warning glance and put a finger to her lips. Paul kept droning on for a while about how he didn't have enough agents, how he wanted them to have more support. He started talking about how the manhunt for Cricket seemed like a shot in the dark, especially how it was being run and starting giving them suggestions about how to pick up her trail... then they got a flash message on Agent David's PDA. Winter cut in “Hold on a second D-Day, we might...” her eyes widened and she sent out a massive spray of water from her hands in front of her. Before the water hit the ground she sucked the heat out of the air so that it coated the garage ramp with ice when it fell. A split second later she was sliding down the slick ramp, propelling herself to surprising velocity by forcing pressurized water from her body like a jet-ski.

Paul’s voice came over the comm insistently “Titan, what is going on?” Todd double checked his PDA to make sure he read it right and then told Paul “Um... Cricket was just seen jumping out the window of Jenny Goldstar's room at the MSCC... with Jenny.” The line went silent for what seemed like several seconds. “Well, what are you waiting for Titan? Go get her!”