Disclaimer: This story, though maybe not in this chapter but in subsequent chapters, will have celebrities in it. I have no knowledge of their sexuality and this is not intended to imply their sexuality. This is all from my own mind. Scary!! People actually get a glimpse into my mind!!!
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters created by Joss Whedon. Copyright 20th Century Fox.
Batman, and all related characters created by Bob Kane. Copyright DC Comics and Warner Bros.
X-MEN, and all related characters created by Stan Lee. Copyright Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox.
The Vampire Chronicles and all related characters created by Anne Rice. Copyright Anne O'Brien Rice.
Harry Potter, Hogwarts, and all related characters created by J.K. Rowling. Copyright Scholastic Press, Inc.
I don't know for sure if I will use all the above elements, but just in case, I have myself covered.
In this story, which has been floating around in my head most of my life, you will find many universes merging, as the above copyrights reveal. I hope you all enjoy this. I appreciate any feedback that you may want to give. This story doesn't deal so much with sex, sex, sex, but more of my feelings that I struggled with and am starting to come to terms with. Part of his background is mine. I do hope that you enjoy it!!!
Any emails you send, please tell me what chapter and story you are commenting on. Thanks.
jmsotc@yahoo.com
Chapter 45 In the Midnight Hour...
Nightcrawler appeared above a vampire and swung his sword decapitating the creature. He disappeared and his smoke mingled with the dust of the vampire. He appeared behind another vampire and swung the sword cutting off the creature's legs. It fell to the ground and he decapitated this one. He turned to a third as the second turned to dust.
Psylocke grabbed the wrist of a vampire and turned flipping it over her shoulder to the ground. She pulled out a wooden stake and jabbed it into the creature's chest. Flipping over the demon, she kicked a vampire in the head and pulled the stake out. The vampire on the ground turned to dust as Psylocke stood up. She spun around and kicked the vampire in the face again causing it to spin around. As hard as she could she rammed the wooden stake into the heart of the demon and watched as it turned to dust.
The rest of the mutants, as well as the Watcher, battled with the vampire gang of Macai, doing all they could to protect the wizards Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter. After all, it was the wizards who would place the demon back in his chains. No one else had the power to do so.
Wonder Woman flew into the wall causing the stone to crack with the impact. Shetar smiled as she approached the Amazon queen. "What a work out you've given me. I thank you. Now I will be ready to face whatever armies come against Lord Macai.
"I applaud your efforts in battle. You are as valiant as the warrior princess I battle so long ago the last time Lord Macai was freed. Your appearance is even similar to hers: black hair, deep blue eyes, build worthy of a warrior. And your skill is as great as hers. Too bad you will not win this round as she did."
Wonder Woman spun her legs around and kicked Shetar. Shetar stumbled back. Once she regained her footing, however, the demon marched up to her. "How dare you..."
Wonder Woman spun her legs around again, only this time her legs knocked Shetar's away. Shetar fell backwards to her back. Wonder Woman kicked around and stood up. Looking down at Shetar, she said, "I still have a few tricks up my sleeves."
"Excellent," Shetar said as she jumped up and swung her hand out hitting Wonder Woman in the stomach.
The demon brought her arms around again for an attack on Wonder Woman's head. Wonder Woman, however, caught her wrists and snapped her foot forward kicking Shetar in the face. Then, pulling Shetar's arms over to one side, Wonder Woman pulled and tossed Shetar over her shoulder and onto the decaying stone floor.
I looked at the smoke where Macai's demon wizard stood. A victim of Macai's lust for power,' I thought. Even his own are made to suffer and die for him. At least now if we are victorious over Macai and place him back into his jail, he will have no one to bring Excalibur to full power. But we still have the obstacle of getting him back in the book. With any luck, Dumbledore and Potter are nearly finished and Macai won't be a threat.'
Macai ran at me with the sword over his head ready to split my skull in two. As he neared, I decided on attacking rather than running. I rolled forward taking him by surprise. He did not have time to stop his momentum. As I collided with his legs, he tripped and fell over me rolling away. The demon also released his grip on Excalibur and I slid toward the wall.
When I turned from looking at the sword to look at the demon, I met with Macai's fist in my face. I flew across the room and hit the stone causing large pieces to fall off. That would have killed any normal human being. Thank God for my mutation. I would not have survived without it.
As I shook off the impact and regained my equilibrium, Macai came up and grasped the top of my head with his three-fingered hand. He squeezed on my head and then punched me knocking me flat to the ground. Swinging his leg up, he kicked me hard in the stomach.
"All to easy," he muttered as he grabbed me by the neck and waist, hoisted me up and threw me back cross the room.
I hit the stone wall and slumped to the ground. I could feel the broken ribs and the blood in my mouth. If something didn't happen soon to turn the tide, he was going to kill me. Before being injured, I had a chance of staying alive. I just had to keep him occupied until the wizards completed the spell. I could do that by having all my strength to evade his attacks. However, now that I was wounded, I could not keep up evasion indefinitely. If anything, Macai ensured my defeat by injuring me.
"I leave you bloodied and broken, Batman. You were once a hero to these people. Now you are a lump of bruised flesh. You are alone and powerless against me. Any last words before I end your existence in this world?
A voice seemed to whisper throughout the room:
`Life is a mystery'
It penetrated my heart and mind:
`Everyone must stand alone'
It was the voice of God:
`I hear you call my name and it feels like home'
I smiled underneath my mask as God spoke to my heart. "I am with you, Eric. I have saved you for this moment. I have increased your powers for this very night."
In the midnight hour
I can feel your power
Just like a prayer
You know I'll take you there
I felt the strength of God pulsing through my body, charging me for the fight I was about to dish out to Macai. God was with me and was giving me what I need.
"My grace is sufficient for thee, for my power is made perfect in weakness," God's voice spoke to me.
I allowed the power to flow and take complete control of me. God was in the driver's seat. And I loved every minute of it.
Macai came up and put his hand on my shoulder lifting me slightly off the ground. He brought his other fist up reading to run it completely through my face out the back of my head.
"In this last moment of life, you realize now you were in way over your head."
I reached up and grasped the hand on my shoulder. With unbelievable strength I pulled his hand free. He looked down on me with surprise.
"What the..."
I threw his hand down to his side, brought my right fist up and let it fly. What would have broken my hand instead sent the demon flying across the throne room. I walked over toward him.
"You cannot win, Macai. Do you know why? What you tried to take from me can never be taken. You tried to destroy love in my life, love for life, love for those in my life, but you failed. In each and every mortal, as you call us, is placed a portion of love. Things may happen in our lives to diminish that love, even to the point where we feel we have none. But it is there. Something in our lives will come and water that seed of love. A kind word or a kind act, a friend whom we may never truly know will give us what we need to encourage growth of love."
I reached down, grabbed Macai by the skin and hair on his demonic chest and pulled his face up to mine. "No matter what you or any other being tries, you cannot destroy that. And that, Macai, is why you lost this time."
Swinging him around, I let him fly up into the air. The force was so great he burst through the stone ceiling and into the hill.
"Colossus," Captain Britain said to his mutant comrade. "Can you bust this door down?"
"No problem," Colossus answered. He brought his metallic fist up ready to let it fly and bust the door when something impacted the door and caused it to dent.
"What the..." Captain Britain muttered.
A second later, a beastly face busted through the stone with blood pouring from its nose and mouth. They watched as the head disappeared from the hole. The mutants looked from one to another. Hearing a noise of a scuffle, they all stepped back in time as the entire body of the beast came crashing through the door. It slumped on the stairs and remained motionless.
A figure came to the doorway and looked upon them. The man's blonde hair was barely messed up and his cool blue eyes shined brightly. "Hello," he replied. "Sorry if I startled you. Nothing like battling a demon hellhound."
"Marius," Captain Britain said. "It's good to see you alive and well." After thinking of his words he said, "It's good to see you well."
"Of course," Marius replied. "Come we haven't much time."
The mutants drug the beast creature back down into the corridor. After placing it alongside the corridor they made their way to the other stone door separating them from Wonder Woman.
Captain Britain turned to Colossus. "Now you may open this door."
Colossus smiled and let his fist fly. The impact cracked the door. With another punch, it shattered to pieces. The mutants climbed inside and saw Wonder Woman as she jumped into the air, spun around several times and kicked Shetar in the face. Black blood spewed forth from the demon's mouth and she slumped to the floor unconscious.
"Bravo," Marius said to Wonder Woman. "Excellent, your majesty."
The mutants went over to Wonder Woman and Marius ran toward the throne room.
I saw Marius emerge from the small corridor. He rushed over to me. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"I'm okay."
"Where is Macai?"
I pointed upward and he looked at the small hole in the ceiling. "You did that?" he asked.
I nodded.
"Excellent. I will get the others out of here. Wonder Woman just defeated Shetar and the beast is no longer a threat. I haven't seen Puz, Macai's wizard."
"He was vaporized by the energy of the sword."
Marius nodded. "I will get the others out. Since Macai went up, we may be able to ambush him."
I nodded and Marius ran off toward the direction he came.
Nightcrawler appeared before Captain Britain and the rest of the group. "We need some help upstairs. It looks like Macai's army has been called to the home front to fight this war. Everyone turned and ran back through the corridor to the stairs that would take them to the side of their friends.
Wonder Woman held back a little. "Where is Batman?" she whispered.
"He's doing quite well against Macai. You would be proud."
Everyone exited the stairwell and ran through the warehouse to the exit. As they entered the field of battle each pulled out their weapons needed to hurt the vampire army. As far as they could see, almost a hundred vampires flocked to the scene. They wasted no time in engaging the enemy.
Macai looked at me narrowly. "I don't understand where your power comes from. It is not possible for a mortal to have such power."
"It is not my power, Macai. It is God's, the One being who tossed you out of heaven, who cursed you to eternity in darkness. It was God who defeated you. I'm merely the vessel chosen to kick your demonic ass back to hell."
I swung my leg up and kicked him squarely in the chest. He flew backward into the dirty. Hearing the crunch of metal, I knew Macai was now in the warehouse. I walked to the hole and climbed through. I was lying on a shattered crate. I walked up to him.
As I neared, Macai swung his leg up and kicked me. I flew to the side smashing into a crate as well. He stood up and came over to me. He grabbed me and threw me the length of the warehouse where I came crashing down.
"Something isn't right," Harry said to Dumbledore. "I can feel something."
Dumbledore knew this could be a learning experience for Harry. This would help him become confident in his own powers. "What is it, Harry?"
"It feels like resistance. To the spell, I mean."
"Good, good," Dumbledore replied. "Not that there is resistance, but that you can sense it. Macai is not weakened enough. He still has strength to resist the spell."
"What can we do to weaken him?" Harry asked.
"He can only be weakened by fire. Even immortal creatures are affected by the draining power of fire. Why do you think hell is a place of eternal fire?"
"Should we conjure fire or something?"
"No. We cannot divide our efforts here." Dumbledore looked over to Marius and in his mind asked Marius to come to him.
Marius, being an ancient vampire, could hear Dumbledore's call. He staked the vampire he was battling with and ran to Dumbledore's side. "Yes, great wizard?"
"Macai is still strong. He needs to be weakened. Fire is the only way."
Marius nodded and ran toward the warehouse.
Macai came up to me with a sneer on his face. "I still have fight in me," he muttered.
I flipped up to my feet, spun around and kicked Macai again in the stomach. He flew across the warehouse into another crate.
The door to the warehouse burst open and Marius came running in to me. "The wizards are meeting resistance to the spell. He must be weakened. The only way is by fire. Do you have two sticks to rub together?"
I could sense Marius's sarcastic joke. "No, but I have a better idea."
Macai stood and looked over at Marius and I.
Marius felt the air begin to warm around him. "What are you doing?" he asked me.
"Giving Dumbledore and Potter what they need, heat. You might want to get out of here, Marius. If memory serves, vampires are not partial to fire."
"Quite right," he said. With a flash, Marius exited the warehouse leaving me and Macai alone.
"He's taking care of it," Marius said to Dumbledore before he returned to battling the vampires.
"What is going on?" Macai said. He could feel the heat building in the building.
I was using all my power, concentrating every fiber of my being in heating the air, causing each and every molecule to reach its combustibility point. "I'm doing to you what you did to me, Macai. You blew me up. It's my turn to blow you up."
With every ounce of my being, I caused every molecule in the warehouse to explode and...
Everyone stopped their fighting and turned as the warehouse exploded in a ball of fire. Dumbledore and Harry paused only for a second. Dumbledore finished the incantation and watched as...
"Noooooooooooo!" Macai screamed as his body turned from solid to energy. It became a stream and flew out of the fire across the field and into the book filling it up with the very words Dumbledore spoke. It slammed shut and the lock sealed.
Everyone cheered and went on fighting the vampires, which were not many by now. Those that were not slain and were smart enough not to fight ran off into the darkness.
The team Excalibur walked up to the two wizards who were grinning from ear to ear.
"Looks like you did it, Professor," Captain Britain said to Albus. "The demon has been sealed back in his tomb, hopefully forever. Too bad we were not able to recover Excalibur. Perhaps it is best this way."
"Perhaps," Dumbledore replied. He couldn't take his mind off of the fire that was burning a little more than a hundred miles away.
"Do you require us to stay?" Captain Britain asked.
"No," Jayce answered. "You should return and rest. The sun will be up soon. Vampires will no longer be a threat."
"Very well. If you should need us, for anything, please, give us a call."
"We shall," Jayce answered.
The team Excalibur headed back to their van, climbed in and headed north to their home.
"You should be going, too," Jayce said to Marius. "The sun will be up."
"But what about..."
"There is no way he could have survived that. He was the creation of the fire. Perhaps Batman survived only to die again."
Marius smiled, shook Jayce's hand and ascended into the air returning to his abode in the north.
Jayce, Wonder Woman, Dumbledore and young Harry sat and watched the flames until they went out, which was well past sunrise. Once the flames were out, they returned to their car and drove back to the Watcher's castle.
To Be Continued...
Was this the end of our hero? Did he truly survive one explosion only to die in this one? Five more chapters to go in "Chronicles of a Real Dark Knight". Come back for the next chapter.