Burning Tears-Chapter 17
Theme Song: "Rebellion" by Linkin Park
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"I need sleep, and here I am tending to who is essentially a fugitive." said Dracula, dragging the carcass of a deer by its antlers.
It was a bright early morning, clear skies and weather that would influence someone to partake in outdoor activities. Birds sang their melodies, the wind echoed their vibes, and an airplane can be heard from far- at least with Dracula's sensitive hearing.
He walked on towards the direction of his cave, ignoring the plane because he was too tired to bother. It was until the plane's tearing of the air grew louder, catching Dracula's attention. He looked behind him and there appeared to be a white plane with a red star on it- oddly flying slow and low above the trees. The vampire halted to observe the suspicious aircraft. Something below the plane then opened up and a shiny round mass slipped out. The plane picked up its speed again as more and more spilled out of its belly, directing towards Dracula. With each bomb that fell, it ignited a fire in its area, creating a burning trail before him.
He dropped the deer and swiftly flew out of the way before the napalm tank hit him, while the rest of the forest was beginning to catch fire as well. Dracula ascended higher, fluttering off the flames on his pinions and seeked for the plane again. Before he tried following it, a silver jet soared in from the opposite way, firing a flurry of bullets at the aircraft cockpit, then boomed off to let the white plane crash and burn in its own disaster.
"What the hell?...Wha-...What is that?!" Dracula gasped.
He turned his body around as something familiar- and for once horrifying, alerted his senses. It was in the city- the entire city- and he could smell its unbelievable potency from his range. Normally, he'd feel the urge to satisfy his desire, but the suddenness and mass amount he smelled made him nearly speechless with no appetite whatsoever.
"Blood." he whispered.
He made his way to the city to find out what was going on.
In McLean, Virginia, U.S.A....
"Agent Raul, do we have any orders yet?"
All of the agents of the CIA awaited in the main room while Head Agent Raul, was listening to orders on a wired receiver. He nodded and dropped the mini-speaker on his desk, rising before his agency:
"Lord Christ has given the order: Find and exterminate Agent Nathan Blackwood and Agent Joseph Luno. They are traitors of the Heavens, and need to be punished for their actions. Nathan Blackwood's specific whereabouts are unknown, but are believed to be somewhere hiding in his home state. Joseph Luno is most likely in public, as there are reports of him being a part of the mass homicides worldwide. 'Operation: Silence The Cannons,' begins now."
Meanwhile...
Dracula arrived on the highway by the city. Thousands of vehicles were jammed together, red glass and charred metal scraps littered the ground, and bodies upon bodies upon bodies were scattered about inside the vehicles, the road, and hanging off the guard rails. Gunfire alerted Dracula and he glided off the highway and into the streets below, where people everywhere were fighting and screaming and killing each other. A blood-stained, screaming woman came running towards Dracula with a matching baseball bat. Dracula caught the bat and shoved the woman to the ground.
"Don't try me." he threatened, tossing the bat far from their reach.
The woman was persistent and rose to charge Dracula again, but Dracula caught her tackle, holding her in place by her sides.
"I'm going to release you and you will run away- AGH!" Dracula exclaimed, the woman biting his waist.
The vampire gave up on the woman and dug his fingertips into each side of the woman and in one pull, he tore out and separated the woman's entire rib cage. Her body fell limp and a velvet puddle expanded beneath her. Dracula dropped the ribs and stepped away from her corpse, slightly disgusted, but more so conflicted.
"No human blood, remember the deal," he told himself, "I need to wipe my hands somewhere."
He glanced around in hopes for some piece of cloth-like material lying around, but was met with a large and round man running into him. The man's hairy chest was soaked in sweat when he bumped Dracula's face to knock him over. Dracula wiped his face to respond with a single kick to snap the man's leg, got to his feet again, and smashed an uppercut under his chin which was powerful enough to decapitate the man, leaving a geyser of red fluid spewing out from the collapsing body.
Dracula tried covering his nose for the excessive blood around him, but forgot the blood was also on his hands when he wiped some on the rims of his nose.
"Fucking, damn it!" he hissed.
He looked ahead of him and a white van painted with blood on the frontal side was speeding down the street with a roaring engine. An arm from the passenger's side poked out with a gun and fired at Dracula. Dracula shielded his face, but otherwise took the few bullets that didn't miss. He unblocked himself as the van was now close- ramming into Dracula- but with it stopped to a complete standstill.
Dracula was still standing, gripping the into the grill of the van. With all his might, he lifted the van off the ground with every arm muscle expanding and constricting to his need, and veins protruding from the skin with the effort. He carefully held it close to his body, and without consideration, he spun around and threw the entirety of the van across the road and into the top floor of someone else's house, the vehicle exploding inside.
"This must be Wrath. Satan must have planned to save this Sin for last...As much as these humans anger me, I have to refrain from killing them, it's not their faults anyway." said Dracula.
Suddenly, something sharp pierced his neck. Whatever it was, it was repeatedly removed and stabbed into every area of his head mercilessly. He stood still to take the strikes, but when the short Latino man went to stab his face while he rotated, his wrist was caught. The grip became tighter- tight enough for him to lose the grip on the knife. Now Dracula's nails were puncturing the man's wrist, digging deeper into the bone. The man's legs went weak as he begged Dracula to stop.
"That's it." sneered the Lord Of Vampires.
With his other hand, he grabbed the attacker's forearm and wrenched the man's hand off his arm, then to permanently silence the man, Dracula leaned in and sunk his teeth into the tan neck, draining blood from the now twitching body. Dracula bit harder, then yanked himself off to rip out a chunk of the neck. He roared out in his familiar vengeance he was always known for.
It was at that moment, a separate roar that caught Dracula's attention. With amber eyes and narrowed pupils, he checked behind him to spot a hulking brown beast behind him.
"Joseph...This is not what it looks like!" Dracula broke out, wiping his face and swallowing the meat.
A gunshot resonated and lead slugs flew at Joseph. An Indian man with a shotgun reloaded the weapon to attack Joseph again, assuming he will kill him. Joseph immediately walked over to the middle-aged man and heavily swiped his claws across the aggressor's face, killing him instantly. Joseph tilted his head back to Dracula, teeth flared and his bloody claws visible a message to his nemesis.
"It's been quite a while, Drake." Joseph finally called out.
Drake was slightly shocked with Joseph's prior actions, but remembered Joseph was another sinning human.
"I don't want to fight you." replied Dracula.
"This won't be a fight, this will be a slaughter! This will be for my parents!"
"You're still going on with-"
"SHUT UP!"
Joseph pounded his arms into the road, breaking off a large slab of asphalt, then lifted it up and hurled it at Drake. Drake dived and rolled to evade it, still refusing to retaliate. Joseph got down on all fours and ran over to Drake now. He tucked, rolled, and launched himself forward in a ball, then when he was close enough, he kicked out his legs and struck Drake to break through his block. Drake staggered back, and before he could move, Joseph grabbed his arm and slung his whole body across the street through the window of a blue house. Drake landed far into the room and into a closet with dozens of high heels. Drake was dazed, and tried peeling himself off the pile of shoes:
"How do women wear these?"
He finally recovered and noticed a young woman- obviously in school, as she wore her university's shirt- was dead on her bed, her yellow sheets covered in her blood.
"The world has gone mad." Drake thought.
He walked back to the window and out of nowhere, Joseph's large hand grabbed Drake's face and tossed him back to the other side of the road like a ragdoll. Drake collided with steel public mailbox and fell on the rough sidewalk.
"Alright, now I'm pissed." he spat.
All his skin ripped and hardened to a scaly armor and recolored into a blood red with shades of blue to outline his tonnage. Horns grew out from his head and shoulders, then finally grew out more rows of pointed teeth.
"Time to teach you true wrath, boy!" growled Drake, with a deeper, animalistic- or rather, monstrous voice.
Joseph sprinted over to Dracula, but the latter was quicker to pull the nearby mailbox off the concrete and hurled it at Joe, cracking him in the snout.
"Come now, stand up and fight me! I know you can take more than that." Dracula challenged.
In The Amazon Rainforest...
"I did it!" yelled Vincent.
"Good! Finally! Now you need to try a bigger animal someday." replied Geo.
Geo was in the middle of the rainforest with Vincent, teaching him how to heal other living organisms. After several attempts, Vincent finally healed a hoatzin bird. The brown and black, spiky-headed bird flew away happily like its wing was never fractured.
"Will I try one today?" asked Vincent.
"No, let's celebrate by taking the rest of the day off; it's still early." answered Geo, losing eye contact with the boy.
"Hey, are you OK?"
Geo didn't respond, as he felt something in the back of his head. He went to reach for it, but the feeling intensified into a momentary headache. He groaned and dropped to a knee, his pygment also paling for the moment, then restoring.
"Geo, what's wrong?" Vincent coming closer.
"S-Something's-...the world...it feels like it's dying... so-...so many lives being taken. What is happening?"
A gunshot boomed, followed with another, and another- each one growing louder.
"Vincent, stay close to me." gestured Geo.
Vincent paced over behind Geo, shielded by the orange-sleeved arm. There was movement in between the bushes and trees, and out came a hunter with a rifle, quick to point it at Geo. Geo noticed a small burlap bag tied to the side of the man's backpack.
"O que há na bolsa? [What's in the bag?]" Geo demanded in Portuguese.
"Nada do seu negócio, palhaço! Saia, ou vou atirar em você onde você está. [None of your business, clown! Leave, or I will shoot you where you stand.]" replied the angry hunter.
Geo walked to the assailant, and as promised, the latter pulled the trigger on Geo, scaring more birds away. To his shock, the bullet bounced off Geo's face- which appeared to be made of diamond where the bullet ricocheted from before the skin started to repair itself. Geo briskly shoved the man in a bush and tugged the little bag off him.
While the man floundered to untangle himself from the branches and vines, Geo took the chance to open the bag. His visage was already one of disgust before even taking the bag, but upon laying sight on the content, it immediately became a mug of rage. He flipped the bag over an open hand, and a bloody mass slipped out onto him. It was a dead sloth with a bullet wound on its back; the animal was only as big as a measuring ruler- evidently a baby.
The man finally freed himself and tried to bash Geo with the other end of the rifle, but Geo caught it, pulled the hunter close to him and clutched his throat in a vice grip. Within seconds, all of the man's strength suddenly disappeared and his skin started to sear, almost like his skin was melting away- and this spread throughout his body. Geo released the defenseless hunter as he tried to wail, but his throat was severely damaged.
"O que você fez?! [What did you do?!]" the hunter choked.
"Você um caçador, você não deveria saber os efeitos da hemotoxina e da neurotoxina? A hemotoxina está queimando em sua carne e a neurotoxina deixa você paralisado, para que não veja um médico. Agora você sentirá a dor e o sofrimento de todas as vidas que você já tamou! [You're a hunter, shouldn't you know the effects of hemotoxins and neurotoxins? The hemotoxin I dispersed in your body is burning through your flesh and the neurotoxin leaves you paralyzed, so you won't see a doctor. Now you will feel the pain and suffering of every life you have ever taken!]" retorted Geo.
Geo turned his back to the man and Vincent followed him into the forest to return to the cabin. Vincent noticed the sloth still in Geo's arm.
"Is it a baby?" asked Vincent.
"Unfortunately." responded Geo, tight-jawed.
"I can't believe he would do that..."
"And he probably did it for money."
"How could you tell?"
"Just my guess. Money for drugs- his body smelled like cocaine."
"Co-what?"
Geo realized who he was talking to. "Never mind. He just smelled funny, maybe he needed money for soap."
Vincent giggled and stopped walking when he looked back to see Geo stop, "You OK?"
Geo looked concentrated. He held up a finger for Vincent to wait, "Hold on, someone's trying to speak to me in my mind."
"Cool!"
"Shh."
"Sorry!"
"Who's there?"
"Geo, this is Tellus Mater." Geo heard the voice in his head.
"Hello. Tellus, what is happening to Earth? Tell me what I can do."
"The final Sin of Wrath is taking place, and it is more horrific than any of us gods could've imagined. Unfortunately, I will have to ask that you leave it as so." the Roman Goddess of Earth explained.
"What? Nothing? With all due respect and more, this doesn't sound wise. Millions of people are dying worldwide as we speak, I can feel it!"
"Geo. Our last hope is without a doubt, The Black Phoenix. As of now, he is doing his own part, but we all know that isn't much. In order to preserve its power, we need to be sure to accommodate Nathaniel Blackwood's needs. As of right now, your duty is one of the most valuable to him- and that's guarding his wife and child. Do not question any further, I must go now. By morning tomorrow, you may return his family. Vale [Farewell], my creation."
Tellus Mater's mental presence had diminished, with Geo to process the information. He then turned to Vincent, "Vincent, you'll have to stay with me one more night. Things are happening right now that I dare not describe to you, but in order to help your father, I need to keep you and your mother safe until things are better. Understood?"
"Yes, sir." nodded Vincent, a look of concern on his face.
Geo ruffled his hair and the two continued their stride to the cabin.
Back In The United States Of America...
"Nathan Blackwood, exit the cave with your hands in the air!"
Nathan broke from his rest and instantly his thoughts were filled with questions, "Who is that? Why do I smell fire? Where did Drake go? Where is breakfast?"
Nathan rolled to his other side to see a helicopter outside with an inferno for a forest as the background. Nathan quickly stood up and his battle attire appeared. The helicopter began firing thick bullets into the cave and Nathan dived to the side to dodge them. He ran forward as the stream of bullets pivoted in his direction. As he came closer to the exit, the gunfire did as well. Nathan hopped toward the cockpit- with only two hot bullets skimming his leg, and he punched through the glass and landed behind the pilots.
One stood up to seize Nathan while the other tried to maintain control, but a gunshot was heard and the pilot fell to the floor. The commanding pilot looked over to find a shotgun in his face, and with a subtle click, that was the last he ever saw. Nathan jumped out before the chopper spun into the hellstorm.
"Damn it, why did I kill them? It's not their fault." said Nathan, also noticing he was able to fly again and was likely at full strength.
From afar, he saw more helicopters head his way, but he had a distance advantage on them. Without further ado, Nathan changed his course towards the city.
While So...
Joseph did a backflip kick, launching Drake up in the air- but before he went too high, Joe gripped both of his legs in one hand and slammed his body behind him. While on the ground, Drake managed to pull one leg close to himself to make Joseph follow the momentum before letting go. Joseph tripped forward and was met with a kick to the eye to release the leg, and Drake cartwheeled from the ground to his feet. Joseph shook it off, banged his chest, and roared at Drake.
From behind the latter, a disheveled man wielding a katana tried to attack Drake, but on reflex, Drake roundhouse kicked him his head to knock him out and the sword out of his grasp. Drake caught the blade before it fell and admired the craftsmanship.
"They don't make swords of this quality anymore. What a waste of a wielder." said Drake to the man.
Dracula twirled the blade in one hand and challenged Joseph to come forth with his other. Joseph stomped forward to attack, but it was like Dracula's fighting style changed drastically and he was moving at breakneck speed. One moment, Drake was far from Joseph's reach, and in the next second, Drake was back-turned in front of Joe with his weapon already stabbed deep within Joseph's abdomen. Drake quickly pulled it out and followed with a backfist to the temple, and spun to throw another kick to the sword wound- dropping the eight-foot body of muscle and hair.
Drake then felt a presence behind him, so he whipped the katana around and stopped it right over a throat. His eyes met the person's, then released it to see it was just Nathan.
"I would've never pitted you as a swordsman." said Nathan.
"The sword is the most glorious weapon ever created! I've been practicing for as long as I can remember." Drake grinned with his abundance of teeth.
"Hey, you wanna make a deal?"
"Does my life depend on this one?"
"Maybe."
Nathan pointed at the sky above. Drake followed the direction to see the fleet of helicopters coming their way.
"In exchange for what?" Drake asked, cracking his neck.
"I'll take care of Joseph, because you and I both know you'll wind up finding a way to kill him. Besides, I doubt your stab wound killed him."
"Sounds like a plan. Fine, we'll trade our dirty work." Drake nodded, his body crunching and transforming back into his human form.
His wings shot out and he flew after the fleet of choppers.
"Don't think I forgot when you shot me!"
Nathan faced a recovered Joseph, more furious than ever; it was obvious Wrath has overtaken his longtime friend.
"Joseph Luno, this isn't you. I know the real you is in there somewhere."
"'The real me?!' What do you care?"
"I've always cared about you, what are you-"
"SHUT UP! I'm going to rip your fucking head off and The Black Phoenix will cease to exist! Everyone will be talking about The Moon Warrior again! Back to the way it was before!"
"So that's what they called you?"
"DIE!"
Joseph grabbed the mailbox from earlier and hurled it at Nathan. Nathan grabbed his Blazers and cut right through it in mid-air like butter. Nathan put his swords away and the two sprinted to the other. They met with both of their hands clasped in the other's. Joseph drove a fast knee up Nathan's chin, then two more stronger ones after. When he felt himself overpower Nate, Joe slammed him into the street, jumped up and landed his feet with full force on Nathan's back, bending him awkwardly.
Nathan noticed his healing was slightly quicker, but still not as immediate as it should be. He fought through the discomfort and jumped to a stand, wobbling a bit. Joseph threw a quick jab, but Nathan caught his arm, and drove his own fist under Joseph's elbow, bending his arm the opposite way. Nate then hopped and wrapped his legs around the arm, swerved his weight to the ground to bring Joseph with him into a cross armlock. Once the two were back-flat, Joseph tried escaping Nathan's submission, but Nathan switched off his leg and booted Joe's face with his spikes, then re-tightened the lock. In one violent yank, Nathan separated his elbow bone and dislocated his shoulder. Joseph yowled at this and bit down on Nathan's leg. Nathan kicked him again in the ribs with the other leg and rolled away from Joseph to allow his leg to heal a bit. Joseph stood up afterwards with a dangling arm.
"It doesn't have to be like this Joseph. This is not you!" Nathan reminded, kneeling to ease the leg's pressure.
Joe's arm finally fixed back together and tried to charge Nathan again. Before he could even make it however, Nathan made himself a sniper rifle and shot three bullets into Joseph's head. As Joseph ran, then slowed to a walk, his body looked relaxed and lank. Right when he reached Nathan, he shrunk back to a human and fell over, his friend catching him to set him down lightly.
"Let's see how long that'll keep you out." said Nathan.
Dracula appeared within a swarm of bats beside Nathan. His body was caked with ash and blood.
"Are you sure he's unconscious?" he asked, wiping his hands on his pants.
"Yeah, I've done it before." said Nathan, holstering his pistols (just morphed).
"Nothing against guns, but I still think the sword is better. And no, not the ones that light up."
"Don't hate on my Blazers. That's because you're old-fashioned. And old."
"About six-thousand years old."
"I think it's time you start thinking about retirement. Do you even have Social Security?"
"I am not social, nor do I need security."
"...Yeah, you're old."
"...What on Earth is that?!"
Nathan just heard the whistling of a thruster from above where Dracula was looking. "In your opinion, it's the sword- and I respect that, but realistically, that right there, would be 'the most glorious weapon' of all time: a fucking, nuclear missile!"
"I do not like the sound of it being 'nuclear.'"
"Let's just say it's capable of leveling entire cities."
"I can level cities too."
"Shut up, come on before it crashes!"
Side-by-side for the first time ever, the two enemies flicked out their wings to chase the missile speeding their way.
"OK, so I think this missile travels at approximately fifteen-thousand miles per hour." Nathan noted.
"What are your thoughts?" Dracula chuckled.
"Maybe we can get under it and guide it upwards?"
"Will our wings catch enough wind to propel it upwards?"
"Good point- WATCH OUT!"
The two flapped away from each other as the missile zoomed past them with earsplitting velocity.
"Fuck it, I'm gonna shoot it!" yelled Nathan.
He created a rocket launcher and chased after the missile. He aimed down the scope, but realized Dracula was nowhere near him- he was instead holding on for his life on the bottom of the missile.
"Are you fucking insane?!" Nathan called ahead.
Dracula couldn't hear Nate, but transformed into his true form and rigorously began flapping his wings and pushing the missile upwards. Nathan changed his mind and shaped another sniper rifle, as the missile was too far and too fast for a rocket launcher. He noticed the missile was slowing a bit and was shifting upwards away from the city. Drake's monstrous bellowing can be heard from far as he put all his effort into the missile.
He finally gave up and decided to kick off the missile with enough force to not only remove himself, but to give a final push to the missile. The missile managed a change of 50°, which would have reached just enough altitude for Nathan to shoot down. Nathan steadied his sniper for a shot, but something tugged at his wings hard enough for him to lose his balance. He spun around while falling to see who was the opposer and it was a pack of demons ambushing him. One dive-bombed into Nathan, increasing the drop speed significantly. The two crashed into the road. The demon still kept a tight hold of Nathan, while it was beginning to illuminate. By the time Nathan noticed what the demon was doing, the demon exploded like a bomb to add to the damage done.
Nathan was immune to the burning, but the impact of blast rocked him a bit, leaving him stunned and double-visioned. He saw Dracula's distinctive body appear at his right, but went off again when the rest of the demons landed. The ringing in Nate's ear dwindled and the double-vision merged into a singular view, allowing him to stand without having to fall over. When his sense just recovered, he saw Drake's body flying his way. Nathan caught him by hooking his arms under Dracula's. Dracula then leaned forward to catapult Nate from his back and towards a demon. Nathan kicked out and used the demon as a landing platform, sliding on its body to a stop to subsequently run a fist through the demon's face, reducing it to ashes.
"Nathan, the missile!" exclaimed Dracula.
Nathan took a glance and saw the missile's thruster shut off. He searched around for his sniper which was too far for reaching. He combat rolled to its direction to also evade a demon pouncing on him, flowed to a stand, went to grab a hold of it- but a demon kicked it away from him. Dracula zipped over to catch it and fired at the demon in front of Nathan. The final two demons rushed restrain Dracula's arms to release the gun. Dracula punted the sniper hard enough to twirl it in the air and stir the trigger, shooting one demon off him. The other demon released Dracula and leaped for the gun- but Nathan beat the creature to it by sliding on the ground, catching it, aiming through the scope at the falling warhead while the demon dived right over him. With a pull of the trigger, the bullet boomed out and pierced through the demon's crotch and in seconds, it struck the bomb in the air with a massive explosion that quaked the city and broke the wind. The force was so immense, nearby windows shattered, Nathan and Dracula were blown away in different directions, along with any vehicles nearby.
Dracula soared through another nearby house and Nathan fell on the neighboring house's set of stairs. The sky above them turned a dark gray as the bomb's chemicals started polluting the air, blocking out the sun.
Nathan peeked over and saw Dracula looking out of a window. He slumped forward and fell flat on his armored back, evidently drained of energy. Nathan tried to move, but his back felt heavy again. He cautiously pried himself off the stairs and fell over onto the sidewalk.
"Bullshit..." he heard Dracula cough out.
"What?" Nathan answered.
It was evident Dracula had the better hearing of the two, because when he pointed over Nathan, Nathan looked over to find yet another nuclear missile.
"Shit!" yelled Nathan.
He went to try and fly to it again, but a fleet of olive green jets zipped passed it, shooting smaller rockets at the nuke. The nuke exploded again and the rest of the area's glass shattered and Dracula and Nathan were blown away again into the black street. They both tried to glide for an easier landing this time, but the wind was too strong for them to rebalance themselves- causing them to skid and roll on the rocky asphalt.
"Nathan, we can't stay here. You especially!" Drake hacked on the ground.
"Damn right. If we spend the entire day here, we'll be fighting 'til we drop!...And that's exactly what Satan would want." replied Nathan, spitting the metallic fluid built up in his mouth.
"Where will we go? The forest is no hope."
Nathan thought about it for a moment:
"My house, if it's still intact."
"If not?"
"...We'll go to Joseph's house."
"How far?"
"If we walk, it'll take a while to both houses. We have to try to fly there unnoticed."
"I'm willing to take that risk."
The two finally decided to lean up to get to their feet, already weary and it was still late morning.
Nathan's eyes scanned around and he found Joseph still unconscious. "We're taking him too."
"Is that a risk you really want to take?" said Drake, rolling his shoulder.
"We can't leave him here; he'll do more damage to others than they will do to him."
"I suppose you're right. Very well, let's go."
Dracula jogged over to Joseph and lifted his body with ease, then took to the skies with Nathan.
*Seven...
Seven Deadly Sins, and here we are at the deadliest of them all!
Has anyone ever pondered that Nathan and Dracula would ever come together in battle?
How will these two live the rest of this mailcious day without harming themselves?
Vote if you like, comment on any thoughts you might have, and stay tuned for more! We're at the beginning of the end...
And I'm sorry if the theme song startled/-es you in the beginning! I promise the song calms down after about 30 seconds. 😂
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