Oh, how many times in all my lives have I been the victim of thugs, how many times have I played the role of one myself? Countless! The anxiety in such situations has long since left me, and only the still-unfamiliar body of mine now rebelled slightly, showing typical signs of fear. My heart pounded fiercely, sweat beaded on my forehead, and my legs wobbled.
Nevertheless, after rationally weighing everything, I realized that I could easily deal with the miscreants, as long as I let them get closer and made them make the fatal mistake themselves. What do they think they're doing! They wanted the body of a commissar, did they? Well, tough luck! Come closer, and I'll show you the full extent of my abilities. Ha, I don't even need to do anything!
Unfortunately, things didn't resolve so easily. At first, we heard the unmistakable sound of gravel being crushed under heavy boots. Someone was approaching us, coming from the direction we had just come from.
"I'll handle this," shouted the woman blocking the path. "You take care of those pigeons. Forget the little whore, don't let the guy escape!"
"You can trust me, I won't let him get away," the second woman laughed and moved in our direction while the first disappeared down a narrow passage.
What happened next was a surprise to all of us. The woman who had gone to deal with the passerby was suddenly thrown backward and slammed onto the basketball court. Following her out of the alley came another figure. A woman of medium height with gray hair tied into a tight bun and a pale face, as if she suffered from anemia.
Despite the fact that the sun had almost set and only a few rays occasionally broke through the gaps between skyscrapers, the woman wore large sunglasses that covered half her face, and a wide-brimmed dark hat. She wore a long leather cloak over her shoulders. Considering the heat that didn't drop even in the evening, I could confidently say that no normal person could wear such clothing without cooking alive!
Conclusion? Well, it's pretty obvious! She was clearly not a normal person, if she was even a person at all!
"How amusing," the strange figure said suddenly in a pleasant, almost enchanting voice. "The prey thinks of itself as the hunter. Human ignorance always amuses me. How can you call yourselves the most terrifying predators on this planet when there are beings like me?"
As if to show off and confirm her words, the pale woman was suddenly next to the girl she had just tossed aside with monstrous force. She grabbed her by the neck and slowly, for show, lifted her off the ground, high enough that the poor drug addict from some yellow gang wasn't even touching the ground with her feet!
"You insignificant creatures! You'll pay for your audacity!" she proclaimed grandly.
With a more comfortable grip on her victim, the pale woman pulled her closer and, with her mouth wide open, bit into the neck of the quietly moaning woman. I noticed unnaturally long, white fangs flash in her mouth.
A vampire?
"Let's go," I said, and yanked the stunned Jubilee behind me.
We passed right by the bandit's partner, who stood frozen like a pillar of salt, and darted into the dark alley. The situation went from the mundane to slightly exotic in an instant.
Believe it or not, in all five or even six of my past lives, I had never encountered a vampire. Somehow, I had always been lucky, and bloodsuckers never crossed my path, though I knew for sure that they were quite at home in the DC universe, where I had been fortunate enough to visit.
Perhaps I shouldn't have joked about my current name and surname? But I only thought about it, I didn't say a word aloud! Or is even thinking now criminal?
"You can't hide from me, ha-ha!" the vampire yelled from behind us.
I suspected as much. Sure, we mutants, Jubilee and I, had our abilities, but none of them were designed for super-fast movement— in that department, we were no better than normal humans. And the vampire had already shown immense strength, so if the stories were true, she probably had speed far beyond human limits!
Escaping her was impossible. But who said we couldn't try? After all, if we just stood there, once the initial shock passed, she might suspect something.
The vampire didn't disappoint my expectations. She first dealt with the bandits, then began her "fun" hunt after us. She kept throwing out pompous, threatening lines just behind us, which drove me crazy. Finally, when I grew tired of running, I figured the training had been successful. I would be exhausted soon, and then how would I defeat this vampire? I don't know, heh.
She "caught" us in a small nook between a fence topped with barbed wire and some garages. The funniest part was that we were just a step away from a wider street, where cars passed by now and then. Our escape was so close, but then, suddenly, our way was blocked by the gray-haired vampire, who looked like a mix of Van Helsing and Neo from The Matrix.
"I can hear your hearts pounding!" she sneered, showing her fangs, which made me nearly puke. Too much drama is bad for my health. I'm the one who should be spewing drama, not others!
"C-Can I make a last wish?" I asked, barely holding back my gag reflex. The vampire looked at me curiously, giving me the chance to continue. "A kiss... can I have one?"
Honestly, I had always been curious about what it would be like to kiss a vampire.
"Ha! You're a romantic, aren't you?" the pale woman laughed and took a step closer. That was her fatal mistake.
Jubilee expertly seized the opportunity and, raising her hands, launched a cascade of small but painfully burning sparks into the vampire's face. A few ricocheted and hit me. My thin shirt was burned through! Jubilee could rival a powerful grinder with the number of sparks she unleashed!
Unfortunately, that didn't kill the vampire, but it certainly stunned her and gave her face a nice burn. Jubilee grabbed my hand and tried to pull me with her, but I pulled free in time and stepped toward the bloodsucker who was covering her face. I had no interest in kissing the bloody mess her face had become, so I simply took off my glove and placed my hand over hers.
I didn't feel sorry for the creature that considered humans mere food and had sent two girls—though not the best examples of humanity—to their deaths in front of my eyes. An excellent opportunity had come up to test my abilities, so I didn't back down, even as the vampire began to wither in my hands.
The vampire's energy flowed into my body and temporarily altered it, restructuring it to match her standards. As my body grew stronger with each passing second, I also began to understand why the vampire wore such strange clothing.
Now, with the sun only partially below the horizon, I could feel an unpleasant itch all over my body and a burning sensation in my eyes. And thirst. One simple word, but how important it became to me all of a sudden. I could also feel Jubilee's heart racing and the hot, tempting blood rushing through her veins! How appetizing she was!
Shaking my head, I pulled my hand away from the almost-dead vampire. In addition to the strength, the vampire abilities and weaknesses, I had acquired something else. It's hard to explain. Something similar had happened before with Mystique, but now I became unbelievably, more than usual, obsessed. I wanted to fuck anything that moved, and only by sheer luck did I not get anything worse from the blue-skinned mutant.
Here, though, things were much worse. From the vampire, I didn't just inherit a dominant emotion, but almost a complete imprint of her personality. I saw and felt her experiences, her past, and I felt those emotions as if they had always belonged to me. It was incredibly confusing, and it made me question who I really was.
Was I really Daniil Melnikov—the experienced "Arrived" and just a cool guy, or was I Melissa Joan, the 200-year-old vampire who had gone completely mad from age? Damn, if I didn't have such an immense amount of life experience, I could really start to doubt myself.
Shaking my head, I tried to push out all the unnecessary and foreign thoughts. It was only somewhat effective. But I could control myself. My vision cleared slightly, and I stared at the vampire.
She was still alive—or whatever you call that state—pseudo-life? The pale woman now resembled more of a mummy, a skeleton wrapped in dry skin. But I could see her slowly recovering.
The process was slow, but I didn't want to be responsible for the corpses she'd leave behind when she could move again. Turning my fingers into claws, I made a quick, too-quick motion for a human, and severed her head from her shoulders. The vampire's body immediately turned to ash and dust.
"Marius?" Jubilee called me hesitantly. "What's wrong with you? Y-You're all pale…"
Looking at her, I nearly lost it and had to tear my gaze away from her tempting, delicate neck!
Before I could answer, the sound of car brakes screeched in my ears. The corner we were in was lit by bright, unpleasant white light.
A girl with chocolate-colored skin and a short haircut jumped out of the minivan that had stopped in front of us.
"Stay where you are, vampire!" she said ominously, reaching for the katana handle visible over her shoulder.
The only thing left to ask was: who, the hell, invited the female version of Wesley Snipes to this party!?