Kodiak Jack: Heroine Blood

"YYYYYOOOOOUUUUUUU!!!!!!" Came a loud, goulish cry from over the northern hill. "You did this to me!!!!!"

I looked up and my mouth fell slightly open in surprise at what I saw. Lady Liberty moved next to me as she, too, regarded the sight on the top of the northern hill.

"Oh, my God!" Lady Liberty exclaimed. "That's..... that's....."

I watched as the remaining crowd of about three dozen vampires coalesced around a figure who stood at the forefront of the group as though now a designated leader. It made total sense now that Queen Leanna was toast, but I hardly expected what I saw.

Standing there on the hill, in her full super heroine uniform was Destiny Blue. She was pale white, with nasty looking fangs and her hair was all "mad scientist" wild with the worst case of bad hair day she had ever had, or so I surmised.

"That's Destiny Blue....." I said, finishing Lady Liberty's sentence.

"She..... she's a ..... vampire????" Liberty asked with alarm.

"Uhhhmmmmm...." I responded, not knowing just what I should say. "You can't believe her, Liberty.... she's dead..... right?"

She grabbed my coat with an angry fist. "What the hell did you do????? Who are you, mister???"

Destiny Blue leaped the forty yards between us with almost no effort and landed just in front of us both. I raised my pistols in response, ready for anything.

"I'llllll telllll you....what he did....." She said to Lady Liberty while pointing at me and hissing like a huge dead snake.

"He's Kodiak Jack... the heroine hunter! He fed me to the vampires!!!!! HHHHSSSSSSSS!"

"WHAT?????" Liberty spat out with more than a little unbelief. She pulled me closer. "You did what?????? You're Kodiak Jack??????"

"You can't believe her..... she's dead!" I insisted.

"Ohhhhhhhh...." Destiny hissed and moved in closer to us while still walking with swaying hips and an evil, sexy look on her dead face. "He is Kodiak Jack, alright, my sister! And I am going to see that he joins us in our death!"

"I don't think so, freak!" I spat at her.

"Hold it!" Liberty ordered us both as she raised up a hand to hold off Destiny's encroachment. "I can't let you do that, Destiny.... I need this asshole to help me find all the heroines that have been lost."

I looked over at her. "That's not gonna happen either, Lady!" I once again insisted.

"SHUT UP!" She ordered. It was obvious that she believed even a dead Destiny Blue over my own word now.

Destiny snarled and said to Liberty, "If you don't let me kill him..... I will have to take you as well, my sister!"

Liberty shook an unsure finger at her and replied, "Noooo... no! There's no need for that!"

I have all the combined powers of Desitny Blue and also the un-dead now.... if I have to go through YOU to get my vengeance, sister..... I WILL!" She hissed with an angry, distorted face and a mouth full of long, yellow fangs. The tongue was now black colored, too.

I told her, "NO WAY, Bitch! I have ten million coming to me and a retirement once I have brought in Lady Liberty to overseas buyers. I'll get YOU before you get her!"

Liberty looked at me with shock and unbelief. "Are you INSANE, mister?????"

"I get that a lot." I told her flatly.

It was a magical moment. There we all stood, in a twisted triangle of conflicting ulterior motives. I had to keep Lady Liberty from being vampire lunch, while she had to keep me from being eliminated by Destiny Blue in her blind vengeance upon me for my actions directly related to capturing Lady Liberty. Liberty, now knowing that I was Kodiak Jack, had it in mind to use my unique information on missing heroines in order to retrieve them. Destiny Blue wanted me dead and would kill my retirement payoff if Liberty got in her way. It was magical. Just magical.

With a nasty hiss Destiny leaped toward me, all fangs and death breath, her clawed hands reaching out for me. Before I could fire, Liberty moved like a shot and caught her in the rib cage in a full tackle. BUK-klack! Went their bodies as they collided and Liberty got the change of direction she wanted off to my left. My guns fired off their sides and luckily, I missed them both, for surely I would have gotten Liberty in the shot instead of Destiny. Not that it would have done Liberty and harm, if one takes her total lack of gun fear as any indication as to her invulnerability to ballistics.

They rolled and spun in the grass. Destiny with an angry hiss, and the vamps on the hills howling like banshees. Liberty stood right up and Destiny rose with her. Two deftly swing fists caught Destiny right in the jaw, first left and then right, and the vampire heroine took them easily. She then smiled with creepy teeth and grabbed hold of Liberty with long nailed claws. Liberty seemed worried and confused as to how to handle this battle, and it was no wonder, this was a comrade, she couldn't just bust her head open.

As they stood toe to toe wrestling back and forth, I picked up on the struggle Liberty was going though and decided to take a little protection into my own hands. I took the butt of my shotgun and cracked it across the back of Destiny Blue's head. KAK-rak!

This made her let go of Liberty as her head shoved forward and then she turned to pursue me. Liberty grabbed her from behind as Destiny turned, halting her progress as nasty, boned fingers reached for me just inches from my face, and Liberty tossed the vampire toward the mausoleum across from us.

I expected that she would crash into the marble structure and give us a few moments of re-group, but little did I know that Destiny Blue had always had the ability - to FLY. And fly she did as she re-directed her path in a swoop and sailed back around toward us both.

I know what you're thinking, and when I get the chance, - if get the chance, I'll ask her why she drives a van around when she can fly anywhere - but it'll have to wait.

She hissed and snarled like a mad dragon all full of mucus spit and dagger teeth in her mouth. Liberty met her in the air and they crashed with a loud thud. Fists and feet flew in a mad barrage of punches and kicks which made them dart and fall and rise and swirl in the air while meeting each other's abilities full force.

This wasn't a good thing by any means, as Liberty, despite her ability to match the now super vampire blow for blow, had a bottom on her energy reserves, and would no doubt begin to run low at some point against an enemy who was without the need for energy reserves of any kind. She would weaken and Destiny would gain an advantage.

Without Lady Liberty, I had no retirement and I might have no good defense against a crowd of vampires led by a super vampire. Would I be able to blow Destiny's head off like a regular vamp? Was she now beyond the regular vamp abilities with her added Destiny Blue powers? Finding out the wrong answers could be messy and not a nice thing for myself. I had to think quick about how to end this thing to my best advantage.

The two heroines moved quickly from ground to air and then back again. They often crashed full force into above ground tombs and surrounding trees, destroying whatever got in their way as though a twister had just touched down. It was an amazing thing to see, and nothing like I had ever expected from spandex wearing super types. Thinking back on my past with them all, I had the sinking feeling that I had been very, very lucky to have not run into them while hunting their junior partners.

I held my guns high, waiting for the perfect moment to fire on Destiny Blue as the two women tore into each other like wild cats fighting over fresh kill. But, I never did get the chance I wanted. They moved too fast and hard, often in just a blur of motion. They created dust and de-bree wherever they fought.

What to do? What to do? I asked myself.

And then it came to me.

"Liberty!" I called out. "Liberty!"

"AAgghh?" She called out, as though to answer but was too concerned with the animal teeth just inches from her throat.

"Get her in a full nelson!"

"UGGH???" She noised at me while blocking and parrying with the long nailed animal that swiped and clawed at her.

"Full nelson!" I replied again.

I reached into my coat for a hidden pocket and found the vile of Destiny's blood in the hard case that I had placed there when I had had her trussed up. I had forgotten about it all this time while trying to protect Layla and capture Liberty, but I had a hunch that maybe my subconscious had put together an equation all on its own that I had barely realized.

Liberty never took her eyes off of the deranged Destiny Blue while punching, blocking and matching her blow for blow and I wondered for a long moment if maybe she had not understood my advice. Suddenly though, she ducked a deftly swung claw and slipped underneath Destiny's arms. Quickly she performed the full nelson move of wrapping her arms under Destiny's from behind and then grabbing hold behind Destiny's neck, forcing her arms high above them both, rendering those nasty clawed hands all but useless.

I rushed forward with the tube of blood in my hand as Destiny hissed and spat and struggled to free herself. Liberty's face turned red with the effort of holding the wildly powerful super vampire, and if this didn't work like I though it might, I feared for my retirement payment. Surely, with such a mighty effort, she'd be left at less than peak performance and then at the mercy of the vamp.

The blood red eyes widened as I moved toward her, and she hissed with nasty fangs and that black tongue. Fortunately, that is just what I wanted as I tossed the glass tube into the gaping maw of death. It broke and the blood of the former Destiny Blue, with all its healing factor powers, splashed down her throat.

She convulsed and screamed as Liberty hung on for all she was worth while the effects I hoped for took place.

"AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Destiny screamed.

"What the hell did you do?????" Liberty spat out while grunting and straining to hold her position.

The two of them twisted and bounced and twirled while the vampires of the hill howled and kept their distance. I stood ready with my shotgun re-loaded, aimed to take off Destiny's head if it was necessary. Then after about a minute or so, her straining body suddenly went soft. Liberty let out a cry of relief as she was able to now ease up on her nelson hold.

"OOOhhhhh, man." Liberty sighed as Destiny slid from her grasp and relaxed to the ground, seemingly now unconscious. Liberty reached down and felt her friend's neck looking for a pulse and she rubbed her own shoulder, which must have been wrenched in the effort.

"What did you do, Kodiak?" She asked wearily. "How did you get her to stop?"

I stepped forward, still holding my gun, noticing that the hillside vamps had now all disappeared.

"Wait for it." I told her, still watching Destiny's pallid white face. Liberty stood up next to me and we both waited and watched.

Slowly, yet assuredly, Destiny Blue, Rachel Hansen, returned to the land of the living. Her skin returned to her healthy peach color and the ugly fanged mouth faded away. Why her own blood could do this, once returned to her body, I didn't know. Why the other vampires whom had fed on her were not super powered with her abilities as she was, despite drinking her blood.... I didn't know. But that was the result of it all, technicals not withstanding. Lying before us on the ground was a fully healed, and now once again living, Destiny Blue. Her lovely sleeping face seemed totally oblivious to all that had happened to her.

Liberty stood next to me rubbing her arm and sighing heavily. She was really taken down to a point where I might have been able to actually overcome her and take her in, but my own position was now surprisingly changed on the whole matter. I just felt too damn good about bringing back Rachel Hansen, and seeing her alive again. I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it to any of them anymore.

"Okay, Jack...." Liberty said with a heavy breath. "You got some splainin' to do....but not today."

I looked out over the yard. "The other ones are all gone.... you'll have to find them again."

"I will....but for now, I have to take Destiny to a hospital.... she's been through a lot." She said watching the sleeping girl. Then she turned to me. "NO thanks to you."

"She's alive. Thanks to ME." I told her.

She looked at me sideways and nodded. "Don't think you're getting off, Jack. I'll be calling on you soon enough. Don't run.... you can't hide from me."

"Lady... I don't run." I told her.

She snorted and picked up Destiny from the ground. With a silent movement she took off into the night sky. I was left suddenly alone with all the dead bodies of the vampires we had both destroyed.... around forty or fifty of them. I lit up a cigar, had my shotgun at my side, and placed one foot up on a stack of bodies while I smoked.

Retirement wasn't going to happen.

******

It had been a tough month. A month of days of sweat stained collars and too many stairs to climb. Too many contacts to track down and too many covert meetings on dimly lit street corners. Too many, that is, for a man jonesing for days when late evening cool breezes were enough to reward you for the all the crap life threw at you day after day. Long shadows of a fading sun seem like brethren to a guy like me. I know 'em. They seem to know me. And its an end of a day when I feel most likely to share with them the final swallow of my best whiskey. Before I head to Layla's. Head to Layla's and disappear into the night for an unknown stretch of time, like the yellow bands of the sun that stretch across my desk.

Once there, I grab my favorite spot at the bar. It's been a good place to come to after a lot of work, and I'll miss it for however long I'll be gone. Layla brings me a shot glass full of her wonderful whiskey, this time with no ice. And I smile as I take sip.

"You 'bout ready, old man?" She asks while leaning over the bar as though we're sharing a secret.

She looks good, healed up and more healthy than when this whole bizarre episode began. I tell her, "Hey darlin', don't think I won't be back. I will miss your whiskey, for sure."

She smiles at me knowingly. Well, we both know.

"Yeah.... the whiskey." She says.

Before I can say a whole lot more, the door swings open and there's a mighty wind. There's a presence that fills the doorway and seems to command the entire attention of the pool hall. It's Lady Liberty, all decked out in her super heroine costume - and looking for me.

"Kodiak!" She half-shouts over the sound of cracking balls and musical crap playing on the juke box.

I give Layla a look and a roll of my eyes and then turn slightly to look over my shoulder.

"Liberty... how's it hanging.... or should I say....how'er THEY hanging?"

"Okay, wise guy." She says sardonically while clopping with heavy boot steps on the carpeted floor. "You have my file? You ready for our great adventure?"

I push the manilla envelope full of stacked pages of the intel I've collected over the last month across the wooden bar in her direction as she approaches.

"'Course I got it." I tell her, still not bothering to remove my elbows from the bar or swivel around to her. "And now YOU got it." I tell her, referring to the file.

She moves over and opens the file, shuffles through the pages.

"Good. Good, this will do just fine." She says, obviously impressed with my collection of information on all the heroines sent over seas.

She looks over at Layla and asks, "Any more problems?"

Layla shakes her head no and smiles at the giant of a woman standing next to me.

"Good. You'll both be happy to know I managed to track down and eliminate the entire sect of monsters. Poor things. Didn't deserve their fate, but couldn't be allowed to carry on as they were either."

She put her hand on my shoulder and said, "Thanks to you, Jack. For all the good you DID do. It's not so bad a thing, is it?"

I smile slightly and look her way and say, "Well, I was getting out anyways."

She looks over at Layla again and says, "Your buddy here, just in case you didn't know, is going to be gone a while... he's gonna be my new sidekick.... find some lost heroines that need saving..... isn't that right, Kodiak Jack?"

"Oh, I knew...." Layla tells her. "And I kinda like this new side of him.... to be honest."

I swivel slightly to face Lady Liberty and I ask, "What makes you so sure I won't try to collect on my 10 million at some time and in some place..... I mean, you have to sleep sometime." I say with a smile.

She gives me a satisfied look and a closed mouth smile and says, "Backup."

Just then another hand slaps hard on my shoulder from behind, and another lady superhero leans in to speak closely into my ear.

"Hello, jack-ASS. Where the hell are my dogs????"

I know it's Destiny Blue seconds after she grips my shoulder. I had heard that she recovered quite quickly from her ordeal and was up and around within a few weeks. She was also now a close working buddy with Lady Liberty.

I looked over my shoulder at her and said, "Hello, Rachel. Nice to see you up and around."

"Listen, you!" She spat while making her way around to my side, Lady Liberty standing right next to her. "Lady Liberty is the only thing holding me back from taking you apart with my bare hands! You better look like worrying about what's gonna happen when YOU fall asleep sometime!"

I smiled at her. "Look at you! All healthy looking and back in the super heroine game? How's the patch of dawn?"

She grabbed my shirt with a closed fist and bared her bright, white teeth at me with a snarl.

"RRRraaarrrr!!!!"

Liberty interrupted, "Okay, you two. Let's remember we have a job to do together. I don't want to have to keep stepping in between your personal nastiness."

She gently pulled Destiny away from me and said, "Keep in mind, Jack. It's Lieutenant Spencer who's given me the full control of this case, the only thing that's keeping me from bringing you up on charges for all of this crap you caused. You cooperate, life goes on for everyone."

"Good ol' Spencer!" I chuckled. "He's always on top of things."

She picked up the file and nodded to the still fuming Destiny Blue. Then she said, "Let's go, Jack. We have a lot of work to do."

As I nodded, I stood to leave with the two heroines and Layla piped up, "Hey old man, you're gonna come back right? You're gonna finish my whiskey, aren't ya?"

I looked at her, in all her 40 something beauty, all lines and lived-in skin.... but now healthy and out of danger and I said, "What? Are you kidding? Not finish your whiskey?....

....Am I insane?"