“OH GOD, OH GOD IT HURTS!”

The banger-turned-vampire had been the only survivor of an attempted attack on easy prey—a young, Japanese girl walking alone in South Central. Except she wasn’t defenseless and she wasn’t alone. Her name was Mosha and her and her sister, Mikado, came to Los Angeles for one reason—to track down the mysterious Devil’s Dust. During the battle, Mikado had severed this particular vampire at the waist, before she and Mosha killed his friends.

<“Something’s wrong,”> said Mosha in Japanese. Both her and her sister stood off to the side of the small, abandoned garage they’d commandeered for their own use.

<“Yeah, he’s still alive,”> said Mikado.

<“Not what I mean. The way he’s screaming . . . vampires usually have a much higher tolerance for pain. And why did it take so long for the pain to get to this point?”>

<“Who cares? Just get what you need from him so I can put a stake in his heart.”>

Mosha gave a nod and approached the victim, whose torso was on the ground, his hands cuffed to a metal post. His eyes traveled up Mosha’s slim, leather-clad body, fear in his eyes. “Please, just lemme go! Won’t tell nobody nothin’, I swear!”

“The Devil’s Dust,” said Mosha. “We know you’re pushing it on the streets. Who’s your supplier?”

<“Mosha, we have company!”>

Mosha looked up from her prisoner, now hearing the sound of a motorcycle as well. Mosha reached for the sickle hanging from her belt while Mikado drew her katana, seconds before the door to the garage was blown open by a burst of hellfire. A man in a leather trench coat sat astride a Harley with flaming wheels, holding a shotgun that he aimed at the pair of them.

“Look what we have here,” said Dan Ketch, climbing from his bike, but keeping the shotgun trained on the two vampire hunters. He saw the vampire and narrowed his eyes. “That’s some pretty serious torture you’ve got going on.”

“He is vampire,” said Mikado.

“You sure about that?” asked Ketch. “His buddies, the ones you killed. If you stayed there a bit longer, you would’ve seen that they didn’t turn to ash.”

“What?” asked Mosha, lowering her sickle.

“Bit unusual, huh?” asked Ketch.

Mikado didn’t intend to hear any more. She leapt at Ketch and he jumped back to avoid being sliced in two with her katana. Ketch opened fire with his shotgun and a burst of hellfire shot from the barrel, powerful enough to throw Mikado back against the wall. He turned the shotgun on Mosha, causing her to halt the approach she’d begun. Dan reached beneath his jacket and drew a Magnum, pointing it at the downed Mikado.

“I didn’t come here to fight, but I’ll be happy to oblige the two of you if that’s what you want,” said Ketch.

“Those weapons . . . the bike . . . what are you?” asked Mosha. “How did you find us?”

“I’m a Spirit of Vengeance. Or at least I used to be. Now I’m sort of . . . half of one. It’s a bit complicated. As for you two, I could feel that innocent blood had been spilled. Brought me here.”

“You could sense the vampire then,” said Mosha.

“No, I could sense you.” Dan turned his head towards Mikado, accentuating his point with the Magnum. “Not another step, O-Ren! Not unless you want another face-full of hellfire.”

Mikado tightened her grip on the hilt of her katana, but Mosha issued a command: “Mika-chan, yamenasai!”

“Koroshita hou ga ii, Nee-chan!”

“Dame da yo! Atashi ni Kikinasai!”

“Don’t speak Japanese, but got a feeling you girls are having a difference of opinion,” said Ketch.

Mikado sheathed her katana and stepped towards Mosha. “Sukoshi dake matteru. Kiita koto ga kirai ni nattara, kono gaijin o korosu.”

“Naruhodo,” said Mosha, then looked at Ketch. “My sister says if she doesn’t like what you have to say, she’ll kill you.”

“She’ll try,” said Ketch.

“You said you found bodies?” asked Mosha.

“Complete with fangs, which isn’t possible with real vampires,” said Ketch. “I had my people do some blood work. Seems those guys you killed weren’t real vampires—they were humans.”

“Uso!” spat Mikado.

“Mikado is right, we’d tracked them,” said Mosha. “They were selling something called Devil’s Dust, a type of drug that a vampire gang has brought here. They were some of the buyers.”

“What’s this Devil’s Dust do?” asked Ketch.

“Basically turns a vampire into a super-vampire,” said Mosha.

“Say a human took this Devil’s Dust, what would it do to them?” asked Ketch.

Mosha and Mikado turned to look at the vampire they’d captured. His skin was pale and he seemed to have passed out from the pain. The twins exchanged a look and then looked back to Ketch.

“It would seem it turns them into a kind of pseudo-vampire,” said Mosha.

NIGHTFALL

Part II

By Dino Pollard

“Sil, we’ve got a situation.”

Silhouette tapped her ear and whispered, hoping it was loud enough for her earbud to pick up her voice. “I’m a little busy right now, Phil.”

“There’s some vampire thing going on, Dan’s investigating.”

“I know,” said Silhouette. “I’m now in the middle of some kind of huge vamp/gang party.”

“What?”

“Going silent, I’ll keep you posted.” Silhouette deactivated her earbud. She vanished inside the shadows that had transported her into the rafters and stepped out of the shadows on the ground floor. She was a vampire now as well—at least part of one—and that would throw off any potential scents. The vampires were all dressed in the colors of both the Crips and Bloods, and as Silhouette moved amongst them, a few gave her a second glance, but after a moment or two, looked away. They could probably tell there was something different about her, but couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was.

What Silhouette was interested in was what Steppin’ Razor and Night Terror had planned. And more importantly, how it involved her ex-boyfriend, Dwayne Taylor. She continued through the crowd. Numerous smells swirled around and her transformation occurred at the same time as Dwayne’s disappearance, so she hadn’t gotten acquainted with his scent.

“Hey, girl.”

A Blood blocked her path, a wide smile on his face and his fangs on display. He held up a tiny plastic bag with red powder in it. “Whaddaya say? Know it’s not Devil’s Dust, but should help us get this party started, huh?”

Silhouette examined the powder—crack mixed with blood. She tried to give a polite smile. “Thanks, but I came here for the Dust.”

“C’mon, let’s have some fun.”

“The lady said no.”

The Blood turned and Silhouette looked past him to see a man in black armor with a crimson trim. The Blood just chuckled at the sight of the former superhero. “Well, if it ain’t Night Thrasher. Scourge of the underworld.”

Night Thrasher gave no response, just stayed still and watched the Blood through the plexiglass visor of his helmet.

“Y’know, Razor an’ Terror may’ve given you a pass, but the rest of us remember how you tore up our operations some months back. We had a line on the MGH trade ‘fore you fucked it up. Just ‘cuz we both got fangs now don’t make us brothers. An’ it don’t mean we forg—”

Night Thrasher held up his right arm and one of his battle staves fired from the gauntlet, striking the Blood in his stomach. The Blood recovered quickly and moved in to attack with a roar. Night Thrasher ducked and pushed forward, flipping the Blood over and onto the ground on his back. Night Thrasher planted his foot on the Blood’s chest and aimed his gauntlet.

“Make one move and you’ll get to experience a napalm bath.”

A crowd had gathered around. Steppin’ Razor and Night Terror pushed through the group and when they witnessed the scene before them, Steppin’ Razor began applauding.

“The man won’ let anyone besmirch his name,” said Steppin’ Razor. “You see, my friends? Night Thrasher, he now one of us!”

Night Terror moved closer to Silhouette, lowering his sunglasses to get a good look at her. “And who’s this pretty young thing?”

“An old friend,” said Night Thrasher. “If you don’t mind, it’s been a while since we saw each other. Thought we could go somewhere in private.”

Steppin’ Razor gave a snicker. “Of course. Go on, have fun. The party, it still be on when you done.”

Night Thrasher gave a nod and reached a hand towards Silhouette. “Shall we?”

She didn’t quite know what to think, and took his hand. But before they could take a few steps, the sound of a wall caving in drew everyone’s attention. A massive hole was in the side of the warehouse, with Hercules standing there, dressed in the suit from his night on the town. Flanking either side of the Prince of Power were the Goblin atop his glider and Justice, held aloft by his telekinetic abilities.

“Kill ‘em!” ordered Steppin’ Razor. The vampiric gang bangers drew pistols and uzis from their jackets or pants and opened fire. Justice threw up a TK shield to protect both him and the Goblin, while Hercules stood his ground. The bullets bounced off his skin with ease, but his suit was torn to shreds.

Once the Greek demigod looked at his shredded clothing, his eyes lit up with rage. “You . . . dare!” Hercules charged forward into the hail of bullets, reaching out for the weapon closest to him and crushing the vampire’s hand along with the uzi. Hercules then delivered a powerful blow to the vampire’s head. He continued on a rampage, taking down as many of the vampires as his hands could reach. “This is a Hugo Boss!”

Night Thrasher grabbed Silhouette’s wrist and pulled her towards him. “You have to get us out of here.”

“Are you insane? Do you see what’s happening?” asked Silhouette.

“Just trust me!”

Silhouette sighed, but acquiesced to his request. She took him towards the shadows and once there, they both vanished.

The Goblin flew around the warehouse, hurling a combination of pumpkin bombs and throwing bats at the crowd of vampires. Justice focused on using his telekinetic forcefields to restrain or knock out his targets. He shouted over the roar of the battle.

“Remember, these guys aren’t real vampires! Just restrain them for now!”

“Tell that to Herc!” shouted the Goblin.

Night Thrasher and Silhouette re-emerged on the roof of the warehouse. As soon as they stepped from the shadow portal, Silhouette grabbed Night Thrasher and threw him onto his back, pinning him to the ground. Shadow tendrils appeared from the roof, wrapping around his arms and legs and pinning him to the ground.

“The hell is going on here, Dwayne? You start up this team, bring us all out here, then right before the vampire infestation, you up and abandon us without a single damn word!”

“Could you let me up first?” he asked.

Silhouette crossed her arms and just stared at him with her pitch-black eyes. Dwayne sighed. “Fine, I’ll explain everything. I was cleaning up remnants of Lady Octopus’ MGH operation when I was attacked by vampires. I got away, but my armor was damaged. When I took it off to repair it, that’s when I was attacked again—and this time, one of them bit me.”

Silhouette reached down for his helmet. Dwayne pulled his head away at first but then relented. She disengaged the locks and removed the helmet. Her former lover looked up at her with yellow eyes and fanged teeth.

“I see you’ve had some changes, too,” said Dwayne.

“I was bit, but I was cured . . . kind of,” said Silhouette. “I’m sort of a mix between the two. Fixed my legs at least. So you went to the dark side and now you’re working with a vampire gang?”

“No, that’s not it at all,” said Dwayne. “I infiltrated Steppin’ Razor’s operation to take him down.”

“Why didn’t you call us? Call me?”

“The first few months were kind of a blur,” said Dwayne. “I was like a rabid animal. By the time I came to, I saw the team had changed hands and felt I could do more good operating in the shadows. This Devil’s Dust, it’s dangerous. Turns normal humans into vampires for a brief period. But it’s a high unlike anything else, and addictive as all hell.”

“My team’s here now, we’ll stop them,” said Silhouette, dropping the shadow tendrils. Dwayne stood up and she handed him his helmet. He slipped it back on his head and sealed the locks.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

Silhouette gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “That’s just who you are. It’s why we’ve never really worked out, you like your secrets too much.”

“Guess so,” said Dwayne. “Regardless, it is good to see you.”

“And it will now be the last you see of her!”

Night Thrasher and Silhouette turned to the source of the voice just as several arrows with silver heads fired from the darkness. Night Thrasher pulled Silhouette behind him and took the arrows to the chest, his armor protecting him. The lithe forms of Mosha and Mikado jumped from the opposite building and nimbly landed on the roof. Both of them drew their weapons and Night Thrasher moved into a battle stance as well, readying his staves.

Silhouette was about to join in the fight on Night Thrasher’s side when a chain wrapped around her waist and pulled her back. She turned and followed her gaze along the chain’s links, seeing the man who held it.

“Not our fight, Sil,” said Dan.

Night Terror pounced on Hercules from beside, vampiric claws tearing through the back of his suit. Hercules spun, wrapping a meaty fist around Night Terror’s throat and slamming him against the ground. He raised his free fist and pounded it against Night Terror’s face.

Steppin’ Razor was about to come to his partner’s aid, but as he jumped towards Hercules, he hit a barrier and fell to the ground. Shaking his head in confusion, when he looked up again, he saw Justice hovering above him, eyes glowing with telekinetic energy.

“You t’ink you can just barge in here?” asked Steppin’ Razor. “What makes you t’ink we not gonna kill you?”

“Because you can’t watch your back,” said Justice.

Steppin’ Razor turned just in time to see a flurry of razor-sharp bat wings cut into his body. The Goblin rode his glider at top-speed and sprung from the surface, being caught by Justice’s mutant powers. The glider’s head snapped up, revealing a razor-sharp spike jutting from the front. When the glider struck Steppin’ Razor, it went through his heart.

“Utt—!”

Night Terror managed to escape Hercules’ grasp just in time to see his partner turn to ash. But he had no opportunity to seek revenge, for Hercules grabbed his head and pulled it from his neck and his body evaporated. Hercules dusted off his hands and looked for another target.

Night Thrasher deflected the strikes from Mosha and Mikado with his staves. He dodged a sword slash from Mikado’s katana and threw a roundhouse kick at Mosha, knocking the sickle from her hand. He dropped one of his staves and with that hand, drew the garrote wire from his other gauntlet. As Mikado thrust at him with her sword, Night Thrasher side-stepped to avoid the strike, then wrapped the wire around the blade, the adamantium alloy on the wire cutting through the katana.

He did a cartwheel and kicked Mikado in the jaw as he spun around. As soon as he landed on his feet, he jumped and back-flipped to put some more distance between him and the vampire hunters. Night Thrasher reached for the utility pack on his belt and hurled several small explosives on the spot between them, a warning for the women to keep their distance.

“I may not want to kill you, but that doesn’t mean I won’t,” he said, before tossing his other stave to the ground. “Believe it or not, I’m not your enemy.”

Silhouette grabbed Ketch’s chain and yanked hard on it. His grip was tight and he was pulled along with his weapon, coming within striking range of Silhouette’s fist. Ketch groaned at the attack and his eyes burned as he channeled his hellfire energies through the chain. Silhouette collapsed to her knee, trying hard to maintain her balance. She vanished into a shadow portal and reappeared behind Ketch, her shadow tendrils wrapping around him and hoisting him into the air, one wrapping around his throat.

A blade flew past her head and she looked to the source. Night Thrasher stood, with Mosha and Mikado flanking him, his gauntlet aimed at Silhouette. “That’s enough!”

Silhouette released Ketch from the tendrils and he rubbed his throat while coughing. “Remind me never to piss you off.”

Night Thrasher looked at the gathered group. “Are we done with the obligatory hero fight?”

Champion Tower

The Champions sat around the C-shaped meeting table with Night Thrasher taking the chair usually reserved for Jubilee. Mosha and Mikado stood behind him and they all listened as Dwayne recounted his story of where he’d been recently.

“So basically yes, I am a vampire,” said Dwayne before tossing a glance at the Japanese twins. “But I have it under control. I use connections through the Taylor Foundation to maintain a fresh supply of blood and I haven’t fed once on a person.”

“Why not just come to us with this?” asked Vance. “Hank Pym’s part of the West Coast Avengers, or we could have put in a call to Reed Richards or Tony Stark, find a cure.”

“Or Doc Strange,” added Dan.

Vance groaned at the mention of the Sorcerer Supreme. “That guy creeps me out.”

“I understand where you’re coming from, but I’ve decided to turn this curse to my advantage,” said Dwayne. “I managed to infiltrate Steppin’ Razor and Night Terror’s operation and there’s no reason I can’t continue to use this to find other vampire gangs and bring them to justice.”

“Guess that means you won’t be coming back to the team,” said Silhouette.

Dwayne sighed. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, one of them was forming this team. I work better in the shadows, but the Champions need to operate in the spotlight. I suppose I just wasn’t ready for that. It’s recently been brought to my attention that I have too many secrets.” He cast a smile at Silhouette and she couldn’t help but smile back. “All that being said, I’m really glad that you’ve done some good with this team, Vance. You’ve assembled a pretty . . . unique group but your leadership has managed to make it work.”

Vance blushed at the compliment. Dwayne Taylor wasn’t one to give them freely and though he still had his doubts about this team, he wasn’t going to argue. “Thanks. You know, you’re one of the people who taught me how to lead in the first place, back with the Warriors.”

“It’s been a long time since the Crash Pad and we’ve all grown a lot since then,” said Dwayne.

“So what will you do now?” asked Phil.

“Continue with my own private shadow war,” said Dwayne. “The vampire attack on LA caused a lot of lasting damage, the Devil’s Dust is just part of it. And while we’ve managed to shut down this gang, I’ve no doubt there are others out there. Provided no one else tries to take off my head.”

<“I still say we should have killed him,”> said Mikado.

“What’d she say?” asked Silhouette.

“You don’t want to know,” said Mosha before adding, “Shizuka!” to her sister. Mikado huffed and crossed her arms, turning her back to her twin. Mosha continued with, “We’ll continue on our path. As Night Thrasher correctly stated, there are still many vampires out there and we have work to do.”

Hercules stood. “Before our new allies depart, I have a suggestion for one final endeavor.”

“Let me guess . . .” muttered Vance and then the rest of the Champions chimed in with him and they said in unison. “The bar!”

Hercules smiled and shrugged. “The night is young, my friends!”

NEXT: Bar Fight