Getting the (vampire) Band back Together

MOTOR POOL
General Lorenzo shouted orders left and right, while decrying the chaotic and confused troops, some of whom had thought he was dead. The first man stupid enough to suggest so was shot in the face, which cowed the others into line, especially when their champion had arrived. Headlights and spotlights illuminated the area, as Lorenzo boarded his technical, the rest of the army forming up.
Diamond Head approached, saluting his commander.
“General. I killed the demon spider.”

The panicking General looked at him then turned to look at the outline of a creature emerging from the bushes. “Then tell me what that is! Everyone shoot that demon now!” And at that command, large amounts of ordinance were turned against the spider.

However, Sophia only shaped a small part of herself to create the silhouette of a spider, to take all of the attention off herself. With the spotlights taking up all their attention the men were blind to the black presence beneath their feet, spikes sprouting from her back to rip up the tires. When they realized what was happening it was too late, and Sophia managed to become a large woman with vicious claws. This time she made sure who her victim was, and ended it by digging claws into the right torso. General Lorenzo couldn’t dodge 5 blades, and lay bleeding to death in the back of his jeep.

At that point, with the army now properly decapitated, the soldiers who could took this chance to cut and run. The officers too, fled, seeing as their paycheck was no longer forthcoming. Only one stayed, shocked at his commander’s death.

“General! You’re no spider! You’re a shapeshifter!” Diamond head put together the grave mistake he committed.

“Was it so hard to figure out? You shouldn’t be serving these lesser men. Join me.” Sophia offered him. She was refused immediately.

“Die monster!” Diamond Head rushed the large woman. He felt his bladed arms cut into Sophia, only to see the experience was like trying to cut into toffee. She stuck to him all over, covering him.

“I am not inexperienced in battling
hardened targets. Let me teach you.” After which she began to envelop him.

OBSERVATORY
Junia hesitated after Lincoln taught her how to get her revenge. The offer made her think, and Junia asked herself the first time if she wanted vengeance… or satisfaction. She aimed lower and shot him in the gut.
“AAAHHH!” The soldier, likely the main perpetrator, clutched his gut. It was a fatal wound, but it would be a slow, drawn out death.
The moment was interrupted when a bolt of light pierced Junia through the chest, leaving a burning hole through her torso. She looked at Lincoln in pain and surprise, and fell to the ground, choking on her blood. Atop the large telescope, shirtless young man with white wings floated, surveying the situation. This was Michael Amin, the General’s metahuman son, and the source of his delusions of grandeur. Who wouldn’t think so, when “God himself sent me an angel” ?
After wasting the maid, the … angel… turned his open palm towards Lincoln. Any vampire would recognize the vile power of the sun itself, and this one shot it in beams.

Lincoln clicked his tongue in annoyance after seeing the maid go down. “I was planning to have fun with her after this.” He turned to face his new enemy up above on that telescope. “But it looks like I’ll need someone else to play with.” A wild grin grew on his face. Especially when he sees that the ‘Angel’ was aiming at him next. “Don’t know me well do you?” He teased him. Holding his arms a bit at his sides, his veins at his bicep started to hum with golden energy. Glowing as it made its way down his arms and in his fists. Shadows thrash against the surfaces of the observatory and the clouds above. As if they were recoiling from the radiance coming off of his form.

Once more, as he always has when he’s tapping into this strange new power, he would hear something that he seemed to be the only one to hear. He heard the familiar sound of something high and sweet in the distance, a musical note ringing out across an impossible ocean. The tolling of a distant bell, the pure sound of silver striking crystal. He doesn’t know what it was except for feeling that it was a hint for him to discern the origin of the strain given to him.

The first burst of light came from the ‘Angel’. The solar beam struck his chest with seemingly less power than what was used to blow a hole in the maid. He likely expected that he wouldn’t need as much power given sunlight was supposed to be lethal to vampires, even the littlest amount. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t a regular vampire. Beside setting his shirt on fire, which adds to his appearance, he was still standing.

At the moment after which he was struck he thrust his arms outward. Otherworldly light erupted from his palms. Shooting outward in a brilliant beam with enough power that it would vaporize the top portion of the telescope that the ‘Angel’ was standing on and dispersing nearby clouds as it pierce the sky above. If the ‘Angel’ didn’t manage to dodge the concussion beam. He would find that when washed over with the light, he would likely find it quite peaceful.

Michael displayed agility and dodged the beam, but before they'd engage in a long, drawn out shootout a voice from below called out to them.

"Angel!" His attention turned to the voice below. He saw only his friend Diamond Head, being cradled by an inky blackness. A blade materialized below Diamond Head's now human throat.

"Your General is dead. And your fellow super soldier is at my mercy. Unless you care nothing for him, you'll leave my town now. You are beholden to no one."

"Father... dead..." He muttered to himself and realized that he was now free. He glanced back at Lincoln once, the flew away to his freedom.

Sophia quietly sighed to herself in relief. A metahuman who could summon the sun was a nightmare to her, though not so for Lincoln it seemed. She stretched herself from the grounds all the way up to the observatory, materializing as a 9 foot giant woman with Diamond Head in her arms.

She stretched her arm over to Lincoln showing him some red crystals. "Crystallized blood from when he was still in his Super form. Very novel. I think I will keep him around."

Sophia looked around, first noticing the damage to her very priceless antique telescope, then towards the maid who was gasping her last moments. "Ugh! Even my telescope! It will take me forever to find a suitable replacement...Oh. the Junia creature is still breathing. She served us well didn't she? We should... do something."

"Help... me..." Junia tried to mouth, but no sound came from her as her lung was completely totalled.

Lincoln kept up the eager expression on his face for a blood-pumping brawl. Although beneath his bravado he was concerned and later relieved when Sophia jumped into the scene. It was fortunate because he could only fire off one more concussion beam. That last attack counted as two since he used both of his arms. True, he could use the pile of ammo and guns near him to keep up a long range firefight. But it’s likely that this ‘Angel’ could potentially outlast even that. And then he’ll be a sitting duck with no way to knock that bird out of the sky.

It pays to put up an act sometimes.

He glanced over to the half melted telescope that was still dripping with molten metal and glass. “It was nice of him to have stood on a high point. Otherwise I would be writing more zeroes in my check for you.” He lightly chuckled before looking over to the fallen maid. “That she did, had potential even.” Walking over to her he crouched down. His curealan eyes gaze into her own, which were dimming by the second. “Well...what do you want to do?”

He noticed that the place was becoming a tad brighter. Glancing up he noticed it was because the full moon was no longer obscured by the clouds. “Tonight is a great night.” He comments with a smile. Looking down he picked the bloodied maid up with his hand. Shifting her to make her head loll to the side in order to expose her neck more. He peels back his lips to reveal his veins before biting down on her neck. Instead of sucking her blood, he instead injects her with his own to turn her into one of their kind.

Once the battle for the estate was done, and Lincoln was busy working on turning the dutiful maid, Sophia decided it was time to take a short rest.

The moonlight filled her observatorium why its silverly glow. She always wondered, if the moon merely reflected sunlight, why did it not burn her? A mystery for another time. She looked about and saw that, at the very least, the heathens did not touch her organ. She lifted the key cover, and was pleased when the ancient instrument still played, even though dust spewed from the pipes.

She opened the chair and pulled out some yellowing musical sheets. Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Oddly fitting the mood, despite Sophia not aware of the pop culture osmosis of this particular piece as "the dracula song".

She pulled up the lounge chairs for Lincoln and their two guests, for now there was the matter of the post-battle talk. Treating Diamond Head like a bottle of vintage, as all of theirs was destroyed, she produced two wine glasses and aspirated small amounts of blood from the metahuman, as to not kill him. She mixed it with his crystalized blood and gave Lincoln a glass. "A taste unlike anything before. I can almost  'feel' the earth, the crystal. Like candy." Sophia needed not switch between drinking and playing, as a pseudopod drained the glass ever so slowly.

"So. We've won the battle. A battle. But I can't help but feel the war will only be an uphill struggle. There is only you, me, this new spawn, and this uncooperative one. Holding the estate may be too costly. What do you think?"

He smacked his lips after taking a sip of the drink. “You’re right. Quite the exotic taste!” It was a shame it wasn’t the blood of the opposite gender. Then it would have been divine. His longtime friend's question made him take on a thoughtful expression. “I wouldn’t mind leaving this estate behind. If we had a kickass mercenary group and riddled the acreage with landmines we could have made a good defensive position. But we lack that sadly. Not to mention that while we had good memories in this estate, it’s still one of our many properties around the globe.” That was partly why he hadn’t come by in so long. Beside the manor serving as a resting place for his friend, he had other matters that required his attention.

Lincoln laid back in his lounge chair. Looking around with a nostalgic gaze. “As much as it pains me to say it. It’s best we also burn the place down before we leave and take anything of value. Because I got a feeling that people will be back and take over the manor again. I’m not comfortable with the idea of strangers trashing the place that once held good memories. Best to be merciful to the past that this manor experienced.” While Lincoln wasn’t the sort to fixate on the past too much. He deeply cares about history. Especially when things or places that hold significance.

He looked back over to Sophia. “I suggest we take to the seas again. Got to find ourselves a ship first. Mine old one got wrecked to say the least. Davy Jones has her now.” It was still a bit depressing for him. His last ship was with him for many years. Have weathered many storms. Both literal and metaphorical. “After that, well, I suppose we will think of something once we get ourselves a ship.”

"Well. It is named after me, so it is my favorite. And most successful pet project. But yes, I think a mobile home base is better. This time
Sophia sighed. "...I should pack then. I probably can't even bring the Organ. Just my sheet music. Ah. To have live musicians playing in the officer's galley on Saturday night. I guess it won't be so bad." She reminisced about her favorite past time, playing. Sophia's musical tastes ended at the vinyl record.

Sophia played off key and paused when Lincoln said they didn't even have a ship anymore. "You lost... the Nostromo? That had better be a joke. Tell me you're joking, Lincoln!" Sophia sighed, rubbing her head in frustration. That's what she got for being invested. Still, materiel was only secondary to the vampires. Only the thirst mattered. She went to the book shelf and scanned the volumes for ideas, as if she'd find the answer there. Before she had went to sleep she'd compiled a fine collection of books about ships of the line of the second world war, chucking them into his lap. Sophia had slept through the invention of "googling it" naturally, and resorted to good old fashioned reading. "Are any of these still afloat then? who has the best ships of the day?" Among the tomes though was an old volume of ancient sea creatures.

Lincoln gave a soft snort. “No, I didn’t lose the Nostromo. It was one of my old 16th-Century Ships, Soaked Pearls. I took her out for a leisurely ride to enjoy the weather. Clear blue skies and calm waves. Despite the visibility I didn’t notice those flying, military ships creeping up on me until it was too late. Those things really improved the first time I saw one of them. I didn’t know it was possible for those flying boxes of metal to be so quiet. Furthermore, the crew inside were fitted with anti-psionic tech so they were invisible to me on that front as well. Long story short, my poor girl now rests at the bottom of the sea in pieces. As for Nostromo it’s...docked somewhere in the Philippines.”Thus it was a bit out of their reach.

He caught the tomes given to him then opened one of them. “I do feel like making a second Nostromo. The world is starting to outpace us in capabilities. Humanity is not the weak cattle we used to hunt.” More so for him given he had been there when they first discovered fire. And now they were mastering it very well. “We need to adapt. Get ourselves meaner tools to beat back their advancing technology.” Lincoln’s attention was drawn to a very old book. Likely written in the 1400’s. It was a retelling of a story of a legendary leviathan. One that rang familiar bells in his head. With the book open and another book beside it sporting a picture of a ship on the cover he got an idea. “What if we get ourselves a ship that is half an aircraft carrier and half an undead kraken?” They would need to find a necromancer but he felt the combination would result in a very strong ship.

Sophia's fingers danced across the keyboard. Once she had calmed down, the melody of music played once more.

"Very well. What is it they used to say? Life is a journey, not a destination. Unlife, in our case."

As Sophia entered into the chorus of the song, Junia, the newest vampire, began to stir. "Ah. The Junia creature is finally waking. We have much work to do, indeed."


((Thread end. 4803 words.))