Chapter Two: Black as Night

[The Mighty Thor]

Already having a good idea as to what the scout team would find ahead of them, Norrin’s words of warning held little surprise for Blade. But he knew the weight of the words could not be more true, so he reiterated them for the sake of Rogue and Barry, “Ugly doesn’t even begin to explain it. I am quite sure that the horrors we will face this night will be unspeakable.” The imposing Punisher paused and watched Rogue’s eyes close in concentration as she attempted to raise an invisible barrier between her team and the monsters that lurked below. It was a more intense use of her powers than she was used to, but for a second, it looked to her teammates as if it was working. A sort of white glow began to envelop them from the feet up, but faded instantly as the young girl’s focus was broken by howls from the harsh shadows that played between the trees. Realizing they had been spotted, Blade spat, “Too late for hide and seek. They’ve seen us. Evasive action and get ready to fight!” He had no intention of waiting around in the open air to be picked off like an easy meal. Blade abandoned the invisible disc that he had been standing upon and dove into the greenery below. Rogue, Norrin and Barry watched as the intense Punisher vanished beneath the treetops, obviously taking the fight to the enemy.

Back at the brownstone of the late Dr. Strange, Sage toiled selflessly, trying her best to reverse engineer the modern Atlantean that she was familiar with into the much more ancient version that she needed to complete the Montesi Formula. By Wong’s estimation the young woman had been at it for less than fifteen minutes and had seemingly translated three or four key elements correctly. She had done in almost no time what he had been unable to do in the last year. But by Tessa’s estimation she was failing. Any other translation would have been completed within mere moments with the aid of the woman’s computer mind, but the ancient Atlantean was proving to be annoyingly slow going. With his hand on her shoulder Wong said, “You seem to be on the correct path, child. The parts that you have completed seem to fit with the tone of the existing text. Please, try to . . .” But his reassuring tone was cut short by the shattering of one of the room’s windows. The vampire gang was getting closer to the Sanctorum.

Outside, Spider-man and Ghost Rider were doing everything they could to keep the vampires at bay. But their unholy abilities combined with their other physical powers did not make it easy. Two of them possessed incredible strength, even for vampires, that allowed them to easily swat Spider-man away upon his first attempt to charge them. Ghost Rider wasn’t fairing much better as the third vampire attempted to separate the demon’s flaming skull from his shoulders. As the battle neared the brownstone and the window shattered, Sage allowing herself a moment’s hesitation from her work to examine the scene beyond the now broken glass. At first she could only see the back of a very large man who looked as though he was of Native America decent. The almost giant vampire had a large thunderbird tattooed onto his back, which was obscuring much of the window, due to being flung there by Spider-man. But as he moved away, closing in on the web slinger, Tessa could make out the other two vampires more clearly as they relentlessly and viciously attacked Ghost Rider in the middle of the street. It was usually not easy to surprise Sage, but when she saw a vampiric version of Paige grappling with the Spirit of Vengeance outside the window, with fresh blood running down her adamantium form, she couldn’t help but shudder. The other vampire was large and covered in grey, blood matted fur. Tessa watched as he halted his attack long enough to lick the rest of his last kill off his fingertips. There was something familiar about him that Sage wouldn’t allow herself to realize until he turned toward the window. He smiled broadly, snarling in the back of his throat loud enough for Tessa to hear from across the street. As the night wind swept his long stained fur out of his face, a familiar set of yellow eyes glowed brightly from beneath his heavy brow. But unlike the Hank McCoy she knew, this man was obviously pure evil through and through. And he was coming toward her.

At the side of the Watch’s own Hank McCoy, Victoria felt as though she was being immersed in a vat of ice water as the nearby vampire’s thoughts flowed easily into her mind. The evil things that consumed their beings were not guarded in the least. Not being a stranger to twisted thoughts, Victoria quickly raised her psychic shields, wanting no part in the plans that she found floating in the hell spawn’s minds. She could tell that there were vampires all around, just waiting for the perfect moment to strike. In a whisper, Victoria said simply, “They’re everywhere.”

Realizing the imminent danger of the situation, Vance flipped an extra bandolier to Paige, in which she found multiple wooden stakes, a pistol and quite a few extra clips of vampire-ready ammunition. He gave the cute blonde a quick glance and warned, “It’s about to get ugly; you better suit up.” And then with an awful wail from the shadows all around them, a dozen vampires leapt forward, barreling down upon the hunters as if they were late for dinner.