In the swirling mists of fog ever growing since the passage of midnight, Nikki Collins and Rhyaad deĀAnnar find themselves once again among the dead. Monuments an tombstones, and uneven ground, surrounds them as they wander through the moonlit landscape of the cemetery. Ever wary, they have come this night to investigate the strange occurrences that have been reported to them by Simone Danvers, CEO of Mayfly Security. The question still remains, who or what is desecrating the dead?
The moonlight filters through the half-bare limbs of the trees standing in their seasonal disrobement. Leaves having fallen now stirred by the wind catch against the tombstones as Nikki Collins and Rhyaad de’Annar slowly walk up the embankment to the stone wall that surrounds an old mausoleum. It is well past midnight. “One case too many?” Rhyaad asks adjusting his bag of many tricks — which carries all his weapons.
Nikki, her blue, blue eyes scanning the tombstones begins sense now some presence – undefined by malevolent, “Perhaps.”
“Men with their chest’s drilled through?” Rhyaad said more to himself than Nikki as he too surveyed their surroundings. “What kind of a case is this?”
Nikki, having changed into a light pullover sweater and worn jeans for this graveyard adventure, looks to the stone fence and pointing to the pillared corners suggests, ” We might want to take the high ground. No telling what is out here.”
“It looks fairly normal…”. Rhyaad says as she watches Nikki leap up on the old stone wall and take up a sitting post near the pillared corner. He follows her lead and takes up a similar position near the western side gate.
The night hush fills their senses as they await — whatever.
“Well, it looks like just about every night, when I walk through here — ” Nikki says in a low voice to Rhyaad, “Oh wait — what is that . . . listen.”
Suddenly there is the sound of a little girl’s voice
There is also the sound of heavy footsteps that seem to be patrolling the graveyard.
“That was odd….”. Rhyaad whispers.
Nikki whispers back, turning to look back behind her, “Did you hear a little girl?”
“Yes…” He whispers in reply. “Those steps . . .can you tell where they came from?”
The footsteps now are accompanied by an odd sound, metallic . . . gears meshing.
“Can’t tell –” Nikki’s blue eyes having going several shades darker, peers off into the darkness toward the ruins of the old church, “I can’t see anything”
Rhyaad’s eyes brightened, seeming almost to glow. “There is a presence here.”
“Yes — something.’
A little girl’s voice calls out loudly now, “LILLYPOPPY!”
There is a scraping sound, stone on stone and suddenly a portion of the the crypt, which the old stone fence surrounds begins to open.
“Oh my….” Rhyaad says aloud.
A little girl in a Victorian dress skips out from the crypt, her dress a ruin of stains, blood and other various bodily fluids . . . Nikki takes note of her eyes and how they glow a bright lemon yellow.
“Rhyaad, over there.” Nikki whispers very low and points to the little girl.
“No . . . . not THAT again.” He glowers, thinking of another little girl, cruel, vicious, that he had been forced to kill on the USS Conrad. His eyes begin to glow with an inner blue light, and sparks now seem to surround his hands. “I see it.” He says, staring at the girl.
The little girl, almost with a gleeful, mischievous smile looks around, as if she were about to play some childish prank and wants to assured that there are no grown-up around as she reaches back inside the crypt and drags out a corpse.
“GIMME GIMME GIMME! PRETTY PRETTY JUICE!” The little girl now says with an terrible maniacal voice.
Nikki and Rhyaad watch as she takes out an absurd needle from a black bag she has also brought with her from the crypt and jabs the corpse’s abdomen.
“Disgusting!” Rhyaad sneers.
“What does she have in her hand?” Nikki is using telepathy now — the first time she ever has.
The absurd needle is attached to some type of glass and brass device that looks too much like a chalking gun. Inside the glass tube of the device body fluids can been seen to begin to fill – it’s a mixture of decay and embalming fluid.
“She seems to be extracting fluid from dead bodies. How lovely.” Rhyaad shufflers.
Nikki feels the little girl sensing something. She tries to shrink back against the pillar corner as the child looks up and around, “I think she might have seen me,” Nikki thinks aloud to Rhyaad.
Rhyaad looks over to Nikki very surprised now at her apparent ability to project thoughts, then just nods.
As she hums a old lullaby, the little girl teaches into the crypt and removes yet another corpse she has secreted away. This one is far more decayed, the stench of rotting flesh filling the night air. It is much to pungent to Nikki’s vampiric senses as she is reminded of the scent of death – a smell, not this rank, that she remembers as she died.
A smell she has not smelt since she regenerated.
The little girl, as if going straightway to her work jabs the other corpse, and draws out more fluid.
“You are wise not to speak my dear.” Nikki hears Elizabeth Bathory’s voice in her head, “Speak with your thoughts only.”
Nikki turns quickly and sees the Countess standing below her behind the fence, “How?” she thinks.
“Instinct awakened your ability, now you have to concentrate – think, project.” The raven haired woman below tells her in her mind.
Rhyaad having had enough of nasty little girls keeps to his perch on the wall for now even as he adjusts his weapons pack, staring with his burning eyes at the girl, watching her – anticipating when he may have to move quickly.
“Elizabeth,what is she doing.” Nikki thinks. “What is she drawing out of those bodies”.
The little girl stops her horrid work and perks up head again, “Hm? Mister Bubbles, I think I hear some slippery peoples about!”
The heavy mechanized footsteps turn around and head now back in the little girl’s direction.
“Essential salts I would guess. It is very nasty whatever it is,” Elizabeth thinks.
“I’d think something worse.” Rhyaad thinks in Nikki’s head as Elizabeth, far stronger and practiced at thought projection radiates his communication to her.
The footsteps grow louder.
“Worry as to what is making those footsteps!” Elizabeth thinks listening intently.
The little girl shrugs and resumes her work, although a bit more cautiously.
“Do you see anything on your side, Rhyaad” Nikki finding it easier and easier to project her thoughts.
“I could…” he answered, feeling awkward now about speaking to a disembodied voice. He closed his eyes briefly, and when he opened them again, they shone even brighter.
The little girl screams! Not in fear. But anger.
The footsteps quicken to a run.
“Nicole be careful!” Elizabeth thinks loudly into Nikki’s mind.
Rhyaad thinks to himself, “Oh my God. Cows from Hell!
The little girl runs to hide in the crypt.
“What the hell is that that’s running this way?” Rhyaad thinks.
“I don’t know but she is getting away from it.” Nikki thinks.
A portion of the wall behind the old crypt sudden explodes and falls over bearing witness to the arrival of the girl’s guardian–a giant, copper and brass, steampunk looking mechanical man, standing a good eight feet tall with two large drills in place of his forearms.
“What the Bloody Hell is that?” Nikki thinks
The little girls apparent guardian looks around, with cold, unfeeling, but energized eyes. One of the drill forearms fires up – the loud whine of a drill echoing in the graveyard.
“Nicole you will come with me when I say so!” Elizabeth’s thoughts yell.
The metallic monstrosity charges toward Nikki.
Rhyaad stands up and pulls his sword, glaring at the charging monster, in one quick blur as leaps from his perch, yelling “Come on, Drill-boy,” to deflect its attention from Nikki. His hand throwing sparks down the silver sword, while with with his other hand, outstretched, he shoots a powerful bolt of blue lightning into the onrushing creature.
The heavy copper and brass menace ignores the energy, and keeps running. It is as if the energy seems to have enriched the creature.
In one quick, blindingly fast movement, Bathory leaps, her arm gathering Nikki about her waist, pulls her from the top of the fence and down to the ground behind as she hurries away from the mechanical threat — carrying Nikki as if she were all but weightless.
Rhyaad standing on the ground inside the fence with the copper and brass hulk glares at the creature, and waits as it changes its direction, moving toward him now. A new charge, drill whirling, and he waits until is it close, then simply leaps up about 20 feet into the air, flipping and sailing over it, the creature continuing on in it’s apparently mindless charge.
It suddenly stops quite suddenly, and spins around.
Nikki behind the wall and unable to see what it happening with Rhyaad, scrambles from the safety that Bathory has sought for her and regains the top of the fence along another pilloried corner.
“This can not be anything good, my dear. Please come down!” Elizabeth thinks.
Rhyaad lands facing it on his feet, the silver claymore in hand, and draws his gun with the other.
The mechanized creature bends, rips for the ground and hefts a huge gravestone hurling it at Rhyaad.
“It is her guardian.” Nikki thinks, as the Countess, joining Nikki on the wall, nods, her blue eyes a glow as she watches intently.
Rhyaad below dodges the flying stone easily, though not unimpressed by the creature’s strength. His words are defiant though. “Throwing rocks is the best you can do, you big stupid monster?”
The big stupid monster drops the non-whirling drill to revealed a glowing hand beneath. The hand crackles to life with sparks and fire and electricity.
Rhyaad fires quickly, directly at the thing’s hand, while backing towards the stone crypt.
The creature falls to it’s knees, but it is clearly not very damaged.
“It’s like a modern Golem?” Nikki thinks, anxious on the wall as she feels helpless to help Rhyaad, and wants to jump in and doing something to distract the creature.
Elizabeth still watching intently, reaches out and pulls Nikki to her, “If this is what you wish to do, then you and I have lessons with a sword tomorrow young lady.” She snaps a thought to Nikki.
The mechanized monster growls.
Rhyaad takes the opportunity to empty the rest of the clip at the creatures’s head.
“The creature falls further, and starts twitching.”
Nikki aware that Elizabeth is holding her back from jumping down to help, looks at her, “What can we do to help?”
“At the moment stay out of the way.” Elizabeth thinks back, “You are unarmed.”
The creature twitches violently, and regenerates slowly.
Rhyaad now circles around the crypt, moving at almost flash speed, until he peers out from the opposite corner from where the creature last saw him, hoping to confuse the metallic monster.
The copper and brass creature stands up, and looks around, and not spotting an opponent, an immediate threat, it stops the whirling drill. It stands a moment, and does not resume it’s patrol. Instead it moves closer to the little girl exiting the crypt now.
Rhyaad backs up, amazed by the creature’s ability to regenerate so quickly, and reloads his gun.
The little girl looks at the metallic hulk and yells, “HURRY MISTER B! THERE ARE BAD PEOPLE ABOUT!”
The creature stops to pick up it’s dropped drill bit and proceeds over to the litlte girl.
Nikki feels Elizabeth hold her tighter.
Below, they watch as the girl climbs up on her guardian’s shoulder.
It now marches off through the open western gate, apparently deciding to cut potential losses and leave with whatever they’ve been there to collect from the corpses.
Rhyaad very quickly moves backs to the far wall, opposite where Nikki and Elisabeth are perched, and then steps out and yells. “YEAH, MR B! BAAAAD PEOPLE RIGHT HERE!”
“Where does she come from?” Nikki thinks, “Surely not from the cyrpt, It is one that it used to use to meditate in when I first arrived in Collinsport and I have never seen her before.”
The metallic monster pays no attention to the threat from Rhyaad, as it seems to have higher priorities, and the little girl to attend to.
“It way be over for tonight,” Elizabeth thinks, “She will be more wary the next time.”
Rhyaad holds his gun ready to empty another clip into the creatutre, but it seems intent on retreating. He decides to wait, poised.
The little girl looks back at you, and gives you a defiant look.
What is it with little girls, he thinks.
“RUN AWAY, you creepy ghoul girl and take your stupid monster with you!”, he yells after them.
“Rhyaad I am sorry, I should have helped you!”. Nikki says to him leaping down and hurrying over to make sure he is alright.
“Not when all you have on you are fangs, they won’t do you much good against copper and brass.” Elizabeth tells her. She thinks to herself, “Yes, you and I are going to have to have a few lessons.”
Nikki hurrying to the gate, “Can you tell which direction they are going?”
Behind them now a mist begins to slowly roll out of the crypt, and assembles into a tall hooded figure wearing a a full face mask.
The figure begins to applaud, slowly and sarcastically.
“Rhyaad, watch your back, we have a new visitor!” Nikki thinks hard as she now turns to face this new threat.
“My, my, my. What a show.” The voice is light, musical.
Rhyaad whirls and glares at the figure. “Who in the nine hells are you?”
“Predictable, boring, and definitely not something I’d pay to see, but it WAS a spectacle.”
Rhyaad’s eyes still aglow is not prepared for lively banter at the moment,”You’re going to be the next spectacle if you don’t answer.”
“Hmph. Don’t be so tough.”. The tall, hooded figure says from behind the mask, “And with those weapons, you wouldn’t even scratch me.”
“Why not?” His eyes glimmer, as if his thoughts are changing. “Oh? Perhaps I should by a mysterious bastard like you?”.
The woman behind the mask chuckles.
Defiantly Nikki turns and matches toward the mysterious woman he eyes a blaze with anger.
“Nikki!” Elizabeth yells in her mind.
“Stay out of this mother,” Nikki says aloud.
“Ah, the immature ones are always the most entertaining.”
Nikki stands before her, “So, excuse me — but just asking who might you be?”
“Ah. Finally someone who has the good manners to ask before threatening to kill me.” The woman’s light voice says entertained, “Carmilla. Carmilla Karnstein.”
Cue Music End of Episode