X-Men: Black Fire

By Paradox

BOOK I

Seven

Although being part of the X-Men for some time, Kitty was not ready for the horror that lay in wait for her and her new supernatural friends. The group had ridden in a huge black van filled with the latest in computer technology. Kitty had gone nearly crazy trying to get Ash to allow her to play around with the systems on the drive over. Yet despite her begging, the vampire refused to let her even touch the systems. He explained that they were experimental and very touchy. Kitty finally had accepted the excuse and settled back in her chair, crossing her legs and reveling in the feel of wearing normal jeans again.

During the trip she noticed that Cole kept casting furtive glances towards her. Every time he realized she noticed him, he quickly turned away and looked out the window. She smiled and looked out her own window, her thoughts momentarily shifting away from the mission at hand that the lives of her fellow X-Men depended on the success of. Instead, she thought about Cole. Ever since he had come into their lives, she felt sort of a kinship with the young mage. Yet, it seemed to be much more than that, and she knew it. Kitty felt an attraction to him that she had rarely felt towards anyone. The only two people that ever evoked such feelings from her were her former teammates Colossus and Pete Wisdom. Yet with both of them, the romance that had started out as a roaring blaze had sputtered and died abruptly in such a way that it left a hole in her heart. After being broken hearted so many times, she was not sure she could love again.

The van finally stopped at the entrance to a low-level club with a glowing sign above the door proclaiming it “The Haunt”. No one was on the streets, and being only midnight on a Friday, that was surprising. Kitty could already feel the uneasiness in her gut that accompanied her combat instincts. For the moment, she was glad she wore her X-Men body suit beneath the street clothes. The entire group dismounted from the van and started into the run down club.

The stench of rotting flesh and flowing ichor was the first thing that reached her. As soon as the scent filled her nostrils, she had to close her eyes and focus her mind for a moment to prevent her from vomiting. When Cole noticed Kitty’s reaction, he stopped and stood next to her. “What is it?”

She shook her head, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “It’s just the smell, I’m not used to anything this bad.”

Cole nodded in understanding and produced a black handkerchief from his coat pocket. “You want to use this? It’s specially designed for situations like this, no smell will get through it.”

For a moment, Kitty was tempted to take Cole up on his offer. She really wanted the stench to go away, and fast. Yet, “No thanks Cole,” she said with an appreciative grin, “I want full use of my senses, in case we find any clues.”

Cole nodded. “I suppose that’s a wise choice.”

“How come you don’t look like you’re about to upchuck your last three meals?”

The mage shrugged and pulled out a cigarette. “I’ve been around this kind of stuff so much that it doesn’t really bother me too much anymore.” He wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Although I gotta say, this place reeks worse than anything I’ve ever been through.”

Kitty smiled at his honesty, and suddenly started when she felt something wrap around her shoulders. Giving a little squeak of surprise, she jumped forward, spinning around and hunting for the source of the object. What she saw was Cole standing before her, red-faced and embarrassed. “Um, sorry,” he said lamely.

Kitty sighed and hung her head. “It’s okay,” she replied, “I’m just a little on edge. Supernatural stuff really isn’t my forte.”

“Understandable.”

Kitty moved back beside Cole and the two continued after the rest of the vampires. When a harsh wind blew through the entrance hallway of the club, Kitty shivered unconsciously. It was not from the cold, though, but from the eerie feelings she got from howling sound it made. This time, when Cole’s arm gently wrapped around her shoulders, she snuggled into them further. Somehow, being near him made her feel, safe.

Her dreamy feelings evaporated as soon as the group walked into the main part of the club. A visage not unlike something that might be from hell filled her vision. All around were bodies, either ripped apart, decapitated, burnt to a crisp, eviscerated, and worse. There had to be at least fifty bodies that were still in some semblance of togetherness, but there was so much more scattered about that there could well have been over one hundred people in the club when, whatever it was, struck.

Almost immediately, Kitty fell to her knees and retched violently. Cole crouched down next to her and gently supported her. When her stomach was empty and her heaving ceased, he pulled the handkerchief from his coat and carefully dabbed her mouth. “I warned you,” he said with a small smile.

“Oh shut up,” Kitty grumbled, slowly getting to her feet.

Priest looked over his shoulder and eyed the two of them. “Are you sure you can handle this? It isn’t too late to back out you know.”

She glared over at the vampire and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “Let’s just get this over with and get out of here.”

Priest looked over at Cole with a look of mild surprise. “She’s a tough one.”

“She’s an X-Man,” Cole replied with what Kitty thought she detected as pride.

Priest merely shrugged walked over to where Ash was examining a, more or less, whole body. Cole and Kitty followed him. When they reached the bloody mass that was once a human being, Kitty once again felt a sharp tug in her stomach. With a heroic effort, she forced the bile down her throat and managed to keep a neutral face. “What killed them?” she asked quietly.

Ash shook his head in confusion. “I’m not too sure, there’s so many variables in here it just doesn’t make sense.”

“What do you mean?” Cole asked, crouching down next to the vampire.

“Well,” Ash said, indicating the body before them, “This poor sap right here had his chest ripped open like a bag of chips. Judging by the claw and bite marks, I’d say it was a Garou.”

Cole nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I was thinking.”

“But this one over here,” Ash continued, indicating a more wholesome body laying across a now shattered glass table, “Has only one wound, two bite marks on his neck and no blood in his system.”

“Vampire,” Priest growled, “Give me a name Ash.”

“Can’t,” Ash said with a look that asked for forgiveness, “No vampire in the city has been known to work this closely with any Garou or Magi.”

Cole’s eyes widened. “What do you mean? What makes you think my boys were involved in this?”

Ash pointed at the charred husk stuck to a far wall. “Aside from the Warlocks, I don't know any clan that can do that, and they aren’t known for tag teaming with werewolves.”

“Is that what Garou are?” Kitty asked, moving up behind the two, “A nice name for werewolves?”

Ash looked up and over his shoulder at the mutant, a humoring smile on his face. Kitty thought it looked too much like a grown up’s when they were about to explain something to a child. “Yes, Garou is the name they prefer to use when referring to themselves.”

“Just asking,” Kitty grumbled, turning and walking away.

“Ease off Ash,” Cole warned, something flashing in his eye.

The vampire raised his hands in defeat and stood up, sighing deeply. “Okay, quick monster review: Kindred are vampires, Garou are werewolves, and Magi are mages like our good friend Cole here.”

“I get it,” Kitty threw over her shoulder.

“Figured you did,” Ash said, turning back to another body, “There’s only one problem.”

“What is it?” Priest asked from behind the bar where he was examining another body.

“Well,” Ash said, leaning against a wall and lighting a cigarette, “Although we have both vampires and werewolves in the city, very seldom to they work in tandem like this. The fact that they have a mage with them too is above and beyond coincidence.”

“So someone’s looking to take the city down,” Cole said matter-of-factly.

“No,” Priest said, hopping over the counter with panther-like grace, “Some one’s looking to take me down.”

“Who?” Kitty asked, raising a questioning eyebrow, “Considering all I’ve heard about you so far, there probably aren’t that many people who pose much of a threat to you.”

“Oh, I fully agree with you on that Kitty. I just want to find out who it is so I can shut them down before they do any more damage to my city. Repairing this stuff can put a real dent in my wallet.”

Kitty chuckled and looked around the room once more. “Well, I guess there’s not much else here to-” Her voice trailed off as her eyes focused on one corner of the room.

“What is it?” Cole asked, moving up behind her and gently placing his hands on her shoulders.

Without a word, Kitty hurried over to the far end of the club and started examining the walls. Cole looked at the two vampires and shrugged before moving to catch up. When all four of them were together, Cole asked, “Um, exactly what are you doing?”

“Well,” Kitty explained as she scoured the wall, “You said that all of these bodies were made by a bloodthirsty vampire, a crazy werewolf, and a mage, right?”

“Yeah,” Ash said with a nod, “What’s your point?”

Kitty touched the wall with her fingers, gently tracing over it. When her fingers skipped over a small hole, she utilized her mutant powers and allowed the molecules in her hand to become unstable. Her hand phased into the wall for a moment before coming back out, a small, metal object between her fingers. The two vampires and the mage leaning in close to see what she held.

It was a bullet. “Why, with these great powers at their disposal, would they use guns?”

“Could be from one of the customers,” Ash offered.

“Not a single gun around,” Cole rebuffed, “I did a thorough check.”

“Hmm,” Priest rubbed his chin. “Any ideas?”

“Someone isn’t what they seem to be,” Kitty said.

Cole looked around the room, searching for something Kitty could not identify. He moved to a hand that lay on the ground and lifted it up. “I think we can use this.”

Kitty narrowed her eyes with suspicion. “I thought you didn’t use blood magick.”

Cole looked at her with shock. “I wasn’t talking about the hand Kitty,” He pulled off the skull and crossbones ring on the hand’s middle finger. “I was talking about this.”

“What are we going to do with that?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest, “It’s not exactly my type of jewelry.”

Cole winced and looked down at the ring. “Well, some vampires can read an object and get a snapshot of what the owner last saw. That, and I can use Time magick and work in tandem, thereby getting more of a motion picture than a photo.”

“Oh,” Kitty said, letting her arms drop and turning away, her face slightly red, “Good idea.”

“Come on,” Priest said, a tone of authority in his voice that made Kitty want to jump to attention. Probably a vampire trick, she thought, “We need to get back to Excalibur and call in the Artists, they can read that thing. Cole, you need any spell components?”

“No, I just need access to your computers, mine’s still in Winchester.”

“You got it, let’s go.” Priest turned and headed for the entrance to the club.

Before he had taken one step, five shapes suddenly melted out of nothing to appear all around them. “There he is,” one yelled, pointing at their group, “Kill him!”

“What the hell?” Ash cried, spinning around, “Where did these guys come from?”

“Who cares,” Priest yelled back, “They’re probably the ones responsible, take ‘em out!”

Before any of the four could react, one of the boys in the group growled low, like a wolf. His skin rippled as his face began to elongate into a snout. Before Kitty’s eyes, his whole body sprouted fur from his pores. In less than a second’s time, what was a boy of perhaps sixteen, now stood an eight foot monster. “It’s a werewolf!” Kitty cried.

“No kidding,” Priest snapped, reaching into his long coat and drawing out a Glock 40. In the blink of an eye, he lifted it and fired, the bullet tearing into the werewolf’s chest. The creature staggered back with the force of the shot. “I knew there was a reason why I still carried silver bullets,” the Prince said, throwing Kitty a grin.

His smile vanished when the mythical beast stood straight, the bullet hole closing almost instantly. A feral smile formed on its wolf features. “Holy shit!” Priest said quietly.

One of the other boys of the group stepped forward and smiled. “You’re efforts are a waste, fool.” Smoke enveloped his body, until there was nothing left. When the smoke dissipated, a demon with green skin stood in his place. A smile curled his scaly lips. “We are stronger than you could ever hope to be,” He said in a raspy voice,  “Now the chosen one will die.” He looked at the others. “Kill them all.”

One beautiful girl smiled as she approached Kitty, her canines lengthening into fangs. “A vampire!” she cried, as the girl leapt at her. Kitty spun out of the way of the creature’s claws and slammed a spinning hook kick into her stomach. The blow did nothing to slow the vampire down as she spun and slashed at Kitty. Scrambling desperately, Kitty was only just able to move out of the way, the deadly claws raking across her arm instead of her chest. She gritted her teeth against the pain and drove a punch into the girl’s face, making her stumble back.

Her honed combat instincts warned her to phase out just seconds before a gout of flame roared through her body. Looking over at her new opponent, she saw another girl standing engulfed in fire. She pointed at Kitty and sent another gout of flame towards her. Kitty dove out of the way and rolled behind a booth. “Who are these guys?” she called out.

“Beats the hell out of me,” Ash responded, catching up the vampire girl’s wrists and hurling her into a wall.

Kitty crawled along the back of the booth, trying to find someone she could sneak up on. When her hand plunged into an open chest cavity, she cried out in horror and leapt back. Seconds later, the demon dropped down in front of her, yellow saliva dripping from his jaws. “Pretty thing, I hope you taste as good as you look.”

“Keep dreamin’ punk!”

Kitty barely had time to look behind her when she saw Cole slide across the ground behind her, his guns blazing. The energy blasts slammed into the demon, throwing him back. When she looked to see if it was dead, her hopes died. The wounds closed almost instantly and the demon was racing back towards them. “Any other bright ideas?” she asked cryptically.

A second later, a crackling ball of energy seared passed her ear and slammed into the demon’s chest, sending it crashing through the wall. Looking at Cole, she saw a grin on his face. “I think I might be able to come up with something.”

Kitty shook her head with a small smile and glanced around to see how the others were doing. What she saw made her cringe. The girl on fire was doing a more than adequate job of making the vampires run for cover as she shot fireball after fireball at them. “Someone take this bitch out!” Priest yelled, “She’s starting to piss me off!”

“I’m on it!” Kitty yelled, using the girl’s focus on the vampires as a distraction. Phasing through every object in her way, Kitty pounced on the girl, delivering several swift combo strikes that left the girl on her back and unconscious. “How’s that?” she asked, throwing a wink at Cole. She gasped as the werewolf crashed into the wall beside her. Spinning around, she saw Ash brushing his hands off.

“Not bad, but you need to fight more and talk less.”

Cole snapped up one of his guns and opened fire, the energy blasts barely skimming the vampire’s body. When Ash spun, he saw the vampire girl stagger back into the wall. “Take your own advice Ash,” Cole said.

No sooner were the words out of his mouth, he uttered a cry of pain as the werewolf raked its claws down his back. He fell to his knees, blood dripping from his shredded coat. Kitty’s eyes went wide for a moment and then narrowed. She leaped at the werewolf and slammed a kick into its snout. The werewolf’s head snapped to the side and then slowly turned back to regard her with what she thought was amusement. Then it merely slapped her away like it was swatting a fly. She flew into a wall, white spots exploding behind her eyes. Her vision became dizzy and she could not find the strength to get to her feet. Blinking away the spots, she saw Ash race towards the werewolf, his hands balled into fists. The werewolf met his charge and for a few moments, the two became a tangle of fur and trench coat. When the two finally broke, they both had sustained wounds, but they were rapidly healing. Although Ash moved slightly slower, the werewolf was as fast as ever. It grabbed Ash and hurled him across the room, sending him crashing through a wall.

“Enough of this crap!”

Kitty slowly forced her head to turn in the direction of the yell and saw Priest become a blur, moving across the room in the blink of an eye. His fingernails grew into claws and he tore into the werewolf. The werewolf in turn traded its own blow with the vampire. The fight reminded Kitty of the times Wolverine fought his arch nemesis, Sabertooth. Both had claws and healing factors, so it was nearly impossible to kill either one of them. The current battle seemed the same way, both combatants trading blow for blow and not getting anywhere. Both healed their wounds too rapidly for it to make a difference.

Finally, Priest faked a slash across the werewolf’s gut, which the creature moved to block. In the next moment, the werewolf’s head bounced off the ground and rolled next to Kitty. When she saw the head shift back into that of a terrified human boy, she screamed. The shock was just enough to force her body to roll away from the decapitated head. When she looked up, the rest of the group was gone.

“I think we scared them off,” Ash said, slightly out of breath.

“No,” Cole said, slipping his guns back into their holsters and limping over to Kitty, “I felt magick in the air just before they disappeared. Someone opened a magickal gate and took them, probably someone they had in the rears.”

Priest looked around, the bloodlust in his eyes apparent. “Is everyone okay?”

“I’m fine,” Ash said, pulling out a cigarette.

“Cut up but alive,” Kitty responded, “How are you doing Cole? Cole?”

She looked over and saw the young man laying on the ground, blood pooling around him.