Kaitlin stared intently at the Most Wanted list on the wall inside the Investigation Affairs Office. Three-hundred names had been stuck upon it, some names stroked over with a red color to tell observers of the accomplishment of the department. These criminals wouldn't disturb the peace anymore, but there was still a lot to do.
At the top of the list were two names she recognized with a passion; Number five and three. She had been on both of those investigations, cleaning up the aftermath created by the Bureau's Ace mages. Several years had passed since number five had been brought down, but the memory of the insane scientist that had earned the place of number three still remained, serving as a remainder. Kaitlin regretted that number five had killed herself in a brief time of insanity; she'd wanted some time alone with her, just so she could have broken her.
She scoured further down the list and spotted the name she looked at almost every day of the week. It was written with a blue color, lacking the red stroke. That criminal, number one-hundred and forty-five, was still at large and had already taken out some of her colleagues. Feasted upon them. Violated their bodies beyond recognition.
A cold hate flowed inside her as it had many times before and her hand tightened into a fist. She was going to bring that criminal to justice one day. Not a single day passed without her thinking about the things she wanted to do with the Blood Maiden's body and mind. Her hate was so strong she had even considered to break regulations. To torture her would be a thrill beyond expectations. To make her feel the same things she had done to her fellow-
"Investigator Hovert, stop staring yourself blind on that board."
The angry voice of her superior brought her back to reality. She glared at him in return.
"What?"
The supervisor sighed and pointed at the door. "Go outside. Get some fresh air. You're useless in here when you get like that."
She looked at the window and the sun's rays blinded her from outside. It was a beautiful day with a clear sky. Perfect for clearing her thoughts, she had to admit. Without an objection she took her coat and went outside, her supervisor glaring at her all the way out. Thoughts of various methods of interrogation went through her mind as she opened the door and slammed it shut behind her with a bang.
*
She slowly walked down the main road with her head hung. She was thinking of the various clues and leads left in the investigations that she had been on prior. There had to be something she was missing. One murderer couldn't possibly run free forever, but the lack of witnesses was abysmally small. Yet, the majority of the kidnappings had taken place during the day, in busy areas to boot. Kaitlin couldn't figure out why anyone hadn't seen anything. It wasn't possible.
She arrived at an intersection and a tight alley stretched beside her into the depths of the cityscape. Thinking about taking a different route than usual, further delaying her arrival at wherever she was going, she decided to head down the alley.
She only made it a few meters into it before a voice called out to her.
"Looking for someone, Investigator?"
The young voice made Kaitlin stop and hesitate. Behind a container in front of her a girl in a white dress stepped out, with long white air flowing down her shoulders. She had a small grin on her face, amused at Kaitlin's reaction.
"Who's asking?"
The girl giggled and spun around on the spot, her dress and hair bouncing in the air. "Someone you know much better than you think. It isn't a coincidence you met me here after all."
Kaitlin remained unfazed and crossed her arms in defiance. "I don't have time for games. What do you want?"
"I'm not playing around if that's what you think. I have some information you might be interested in," the girl said and winked at her. "About a certain criminal you're chasing."
Kaitlin's heart skipped a beat when her mind connected the dots. She took large steps towards the girl who began to look uncertain and started to back away.
"What do you know? Do you know where she is? Tell me!"
"Wait, I can't tell you yet-"
Kaitlin closed the distance in a second and grabbed the girl by the collar, holding her off the ground with one arm. Magic empowered her strength automatically and her device started to fade into existence in her other hand. The shape of a sword appeared in the cloud of magic particles.
"Tell me where! Where is the Blood Maiden?!" Kaitlin yelled and held the device pointed at the girl.
Green eyes shedding tears looked back at Kaitlin in complete fear and the girl tried to get out of her grip without luck.
"I don't know! She threatened to kill me if I didn't tell you this!" the girl screamed in a desperate attempt to free herself.
"No-"
The realization came two seconds too late and a powerful blow hit her in the back. It sent her flying, with the girl still in a tight grip in front of her, into another container a few meters away. The two crashed into it, spilling a large amount of trash on top of them. Kaitlin shook her head to clear her blurry vision and tried to get up before the attacker struck again.
"Hey you," she said and turned over the girl in her arms. "You got no part in this. Run away and-"
The words stopped in her throat when she realized the girl's head had been cracked open against an edge on the container. Dark blood and gray brainmatter seeped slowly into Kaitlin's lap while she was paralyzed by shock.
"I thought the TSAB had a policy of not killing people," a voice said and another girl emerged in the alley. She was dressed the exact same way as the girl in Kaitlin's lap, with the exact same color on her hair.
"I didn't- You killed her! Why?!"
"I think you got something wrong here. I wasn't the one trying to assault the poor child," the girl said and stopped a few meters away. "I had intended to let her go from the beginning. Childrens' blood isn't too tasty."
"Blood Maiden!" Kaitlin flew out from the trash, kicking the dead girl aside without a second thought and brought her device into a forward stab position. Wallachia responded by dodging, narrowly avoiding the sharp blade cutting through the air where she had just been.
"Investigator Hovert! I heard you were looking for me!" she yelled and jumped back a couple of steps while Kaitlin re-positioned herself, her blade held in front of her ready to strike. "I heard you're a fan of my work, but I never thought you would actually kill someone! That's wrong you know!"
"Don't talk to me about killing, you piece of shit. Steyn!"
[Ya!]
Her device began to glow a hellish red and a soft hum was heard in the alley. Wallachia could feel the magic gather into the woman and her grin grew bigger. This was going to be fun she thought.
"Scitzy. Prepare to engage."
[Yes. Blood Shield!]
Kaitlin lounged forward with a roar of rage escaping her throat and hit the red shield that erupted from Scitzavrenignas. Her blade was only grinding away at it a few inches from Wallachia's face, who stared back at Kaitlin with a ferocious pleasure.
"You can't reach! Hah!"
The taunt was enough for Kaitlin to push harder, creating a small crack in the shield protecting Wallachia. The cracks grew bigger with popping noises being emitted from the hard surface.
"You won't get away this time!" Kaitlin screamed as the shield broke into small red shards and she flew through the opening that was created. Wallachia barely managed to get out of the way when the blade swung her way, only slashing her across the arm.
Kaitlin crashed into the opposite wall with the excessive force propelling her forward without a chance to stop. Large slabs of cement fell down and hit the street with a deafening noise, whirling up a cloud of dust and creating a small blockade.
Wallachia spun around as soon as she gathered her balance again from the dodging maneuver. She checked her wound, making a satisfactory nod when she saw it had drawn a small amount of blood, and let Scitzavrenignas do his work.
[Blood Tap!]
The blood dripping out of her wound was assimilated by a gust of magic, gathering into the red glimmer of Scitzavrenignas. Wallachia blinked from the light sting, but she immediately ignored it when she felt a surge of energy stream through her. At the same time Kaitlin suddenly emerged from the rubble produced from the impact and brought her device to bear again, this time making a swing from above down towards Wallachia's head.
Scitzavrenignas took the brunt of the impact as his shell hardened around Wallachia's raised arm and stopped the swing bluntly. Kaitlin sneered at the block, with her rage only growing stronger.
"Nothing will stop me! You die here, Blood Maiden! Fuck regulations, fuck rules! You're going down!"
Several layers of protocols and security layers within Steyn were opened by a mental command from Kaitlin and the superior power now surging through the device broke through Scitzavrenignas's defences. The red carapace shattered into pieces and Steyn's blade ate straight into Wallachia's arm. It slashed through her flesh and grinded into her bone where it got stuck, while Wallachia, both from surprise and pain, cried out.
"That's how it feels! That's how it felt for my friends that you killed!" Kaitlin screamed, but the words didn't reach Wallachia's ears. She was too focused on the immense pain that had suddenly erupted as a fire from the damaged arm.
Holding the lock only for a brief moment, Steyn's blade was then drawn back, further cutting into the bone and flesh of her arm. Blood gashed out of the wound and she stared at it in horror, immobilized by shock. The pain was so unfamiliar to her that she didn't know how to react. Kaitlin made a second's hesitation before using the opportunity presenting itself to grab the Blood Maiden by her throat and giving her a straight left with magically strengthened muscles.
"Taste the own suffering you've created!"
Kaitlin threw Wallachia up against the wall, still with a strong grip around her throat, and unsheathed the combat knife strapped onto her leg. Steyn disappeared into a small cloud of magic particles and Kaitlin replaced him with the knife.
"This is how a knife cutting your flesh feels!" Kaitlin yelled and rammed the knife into Wallachia's thigh, creating a high-pitched scream from the girl. She pulled the knife downwards, ripping the skin and flesh open with the sharp edge. Faint images rapidly flashed by in Wallachia's mind, repeating what she had done to her victims. She felt it was so familiar, but unnatural.
Kaitlin retrieved the knife from Wallachia's thigh, a large slab of flesh still hanging from it and instead rammed the knife into her right lung. It scratched a rib bone inside her body, inflicting yet another stab of pain, but the knife still reached its intended target and punctured the lung Kaitlin was aiming for. Abruptly, Wallachia was suddenly taking large gasps for air, having a hard time to breath.
"Does it feel good? Just like you imagined?" Kaitlin whispered into Wallachia's ear, exhausted from the powerful magic burst. Wallachia could only produce a whiny noise in reply. The damaged lung refused her to speak properly and her fear grew stronger. Something touched the back of her mind, a notion of the unknown.
"Don't die just yet," Kaitlin wheezed through closed teeth. "We are just getting started."
She let Wallachia drop to the ground, the white-haired girl collapsing into a heap, and sheathed her knife. She went down on one knee and towered over Wallachia. The girl, in an attempt to stop her bleeding, put pressure to her wounds, more out of reaction than of normal thinking, and her regeneration spell began to apply its effects. However, with Scitzavrenignas so badly damaged it barely made a difference. Wallachia could feel her blood pumping out of her gashes, past her slender fingers.
"Hey, come on." Kaitlin turned her over on her back and grabbed her wrists. They stared at each other for a few seconds, Wallachia with her eyes wide-open in fear of what was coming and Kaitlin with a beastly grin on her face.
Kaitlin brought down her knee on Wallachia's chest without warning. It smashed into the already opened wound and crushed a number of ribs on the inside. Wallachia cried out in pain and was promptly silenced by a fist to her face. It barely registered in her brain; her body was already preoccupied with several other sources of pain that required its attention.
"You don't have the right to scream, bitch." She delivered another blow straight into Wallachia's jaw, which was powerful enough to break it. Teeth sprang loose and flew out of her mouth.
"Taste your own blood and see how it tastes. Maybe you'll like it so much you'll kill yourself because of it."
Kaitlin rained more blows onto Wallachia's face in a blind state of rage, crushing her nose, knocking out teeth and starting to make her mind go blank. Her hands were kept in place by magical binds which had popped up just a few seconds before and she desperately twisted around to try and get out of the lock. She was completely helpless from the relentless onslaught, and it scared her to the core of what she had created with her actions alone.
[My child...] Scitzavrenignas said in her head. His voice was weak and distorted, but she could still hear him. A plea for help formed in her mind, but it was quickly replaced by an overbearing panic.
I'm scared! It hurts so much!
[It is outside of my power to help you. I'm too damaged.]
Please! I don't want to die! I'm so scared!
[You cannot depend on me this time, my child. Only you have the strength to break the rage that hovers over you now.]
Please... it hurts. I don't want to die...
"Don't faint on me yet!" Kaitlin grabbed Wallachia by her hair and pulled her close to her face. Blood dripped from her soaked knuckles from throwing so many punches. "How does it feel?"
Wallachia coughed out blood mixed with saliva and teeth fragments. She took a series of quick, deep breaths to try and get air into her broken lungs.
"It... hurts." Her voice was a murmur mixed with gurgling. A large amount of blood had gathered in the back of her throat, blocking her airways. The tears didn't help either. "I'm... scared."
"Good. What are you afraid of?" She shook Wallachia's head around to force an answer.
"I don't want to die! It hurts!"
"Can't help it then." Kaitlin grabbed her knife again and let its tip rest against Wallachia's throat. "Time to sleep, sunshine. To hell you go."
She struck the knife down with force. Wallachia's throat pumped up blood that flowed down onto the ground and she felt her body go numb. An unfamiliar darkness that she had never experienced before began to devour her mind and she wailed in silence from fear. She didn't want to feel this way. She didn't want the pain. She wanted the darkness to go away and not bother her anymore.
No...
"Yes... Now you die." Kaitlin was in a state of delight. There was no smile on her face, but the sheer joy she felt inside radiated from her body, towering over the girl on the ground. She locked eyes with Wallachia again and stared into the dying soul within.
"No!" Wallachia coughed violently, suddenly pushing through the block that had formed in her throat. From pure willpower, powered by absolute fear, she summoned the energy to break the magical binds encompassing her wrists. "Blood Tap... Supreme."
The blood flowing from every wound on her broken body froze to a halt. Kaitlin's surprise made her stop the brutal insertion of the knife. She watched in horror as the blood slowly made its way back into Wallachia's body. The blood that had been drained from her and was splattered all over the alley began to move in the same direction.
"What the-!"
Kaitlin jumped back on her feet and backed away from Wallachia's body. The girl had begun to shake and an expression of extreme pain was on her face, yet she didn't make a sound. Her eyes were flaring red, almost glowing from the intense magic conversion going on in her body. Inside her mind an orchestra of colors and signals collided into each other, increasing the mental noise ringing in her head.
Kaitlin held back and observed, both scared and confused. She had controlled the fate of the Blood Maiden. She could have killed her already. The rage had gotten the better of her she realized; the mere vengeance she wanted to enact had blinded her from the obvious.
Blood Injection.
Wallachia stopped shaking after almost all of the blood had seeped back through her wounds and she staggered to stand up, while her brain tried to take control back from the powerful energy surge threatening to break her apart. The blood-to-mana conversion had now stopped its production and instead focused on energizing her muscles and increasing her regeneration.
Red eyes, first confused, searched around the the alley until they focused straight on Kaitlin. With her target right in front of her Wallachia balanced herself and moved her open palm out towards the Investigator. Small red spots began to grow visible on it. The mental ringing inside her head began to reach unfathomable levels, drenching out noises and her own thoughts.
"No, I won't let you live! Not after this!" Kaitlin came back from her temporary shock and charged forward, her device emerging as she ran. The red spots in Wallachia's palm grew darker and bigger, empowered from magic.
"This ends here!" Kaitlin screamed and thrust her device towards Wallachia's bloody throat.
Wallachia made a barely visible nod, as if replying to the cry of rage. "Bloody Hail Configured."
Projectiles made from hardened blood, razorsharp and large as hammers flew out from her palm towards Kaitlin who was in mid-air, unable to dodge. The shield she put up was broken almost as fast as it emerged, and the projectiles penetrated her head and upper body, slashing and maiming her flesh into a pulp. Her life ended before she hit the ground, with several projectiles sticking out of her brain. Brain parts hang from their tips and dripped down on the pavement where a dark pool began to grow under the still body.
At the same moment when the body had hit the ground, Wallachia felt as if something broke inside her and, unable to stand anymore, fell to her knees. A bile and disgusting taste ascended in her throat and vomit accompanied by large quantities of blood cascaded onto the pavement. The stomach acid burned on its way up and she grimaced at the disgusting smell rising up through her nostrils.
Feeling like her legs would break under the massive shaking her whole body suffered from, she managed to stand up.
"Scitzy..."
[I'm still here, my child,] Scitzavrenignas said in a digital whisper.
[You need to get off the street. The commotion has attracted nearby patrols.]
While trying to keep her body from falling down again, she made slow, careful steps towards Scitzavrenignas. His shattered remains lay in the blood of Kaitlin that had made its way across the pavement.
"You are going to be fine, Scitzy," Wallachia whispered with a weak and trembling voice, eyes darting back and forth. "I can patch you together in no time."
Scitzavrenignas remained silent, observing through some sort of virtual interface how Wallachia picked up his sharp pieces and held them close to her chest, ignoring the edges piercing her flesh. Her status of her body, as far as Scitzavrenignas could determine from his sensors and connection to her, was close to the breaking point. Her inner organs had taken major damage and the mere muscles in her body suffered from the spell she had casted by herself in the brink of time. He was surprised she could even stand up, yet alone walk.
But that was only physically. Mentally, a much harder area to reach even for Scitzavrenignas with his special connections and influence, Wallachia was in turmoil.
While the sound of sirens drew closer, bouncing off the walls of the many buildings surrounding them, but never touching her mind, Wallachia finished picking up the pieces. Without knowing really why, she ran in the opposite direction, tears streaming down her cheeks, with her mind and body utterly confused from the taste of deep pain and the death she so feared.
2009-12-09, 10:16
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