The rocket launched across the square, past the night-lights of the darkened English city. It struck Akathla with what seemed like the force of a thousand megaton bombs. His arms blew apart from his body in a fiery discharge. A dreary stench hung over the square.
Victor watched from below. He was stunned.
"You like that, huh Malus?" John said in a kidding manner.
"Aaahhhh!!!" Malus screamed in disgust. His eyes turned crimson red.
"Should I take that as a no?" John wondered.
"I think you should take that as a h-ll no." Jason corrected.
The slayers drew their weapons, knowing that Dracula was not completely dead; he was just in a different body.
Malus grew three feet in size, about the size of Akathla. His eyes changed to a dark red color, a tattered black and red mask appeared on his face, and his left arm was soon covered with a tight black leather sleeve. His other arm was left bare, with a thick, gauntlet type glove on his gigantic hand.
The Big Ben Tower stood looming over the city. Kristina stared up at it for a moment, but her attention was drawn over to the street where at least twenty consul vehicles rode in.
"Now all of you shall pay for what you have done!" Dracula thundered. "This town shall pay! You!" He pointed to Kristina. The entire crowd stopped and stared at the large figure. "And you!" He directed his hand in the direction of a young man, a descendant of Jonathan Harker.
Kristina ran to the car that Benson and Madden were in.
"What is that?!" Kristina yelled over the cries of screaming Londoners.
"The prophecies foretold it…" Howard said in shock. "The demon of the scorned shall grant the dark lord the powers of the guardian gates."
Dracula blasted a wave of energy into a nearby shop. A wind swept over Kristina, her hair blowing in it.
"The guardian of the gates?" Kristina asked.
"Commonly referred to as the hellion Juggernaut in legend." Madden continued.
"Is there any way to kill this thing?" William queried.
"I'm certain there is, but this form uses a lot of power. So he will have to cross in and out of forms from time to time." Benson answered.
The consul soldiers began firing on the Juggernaut, but to no avail. Their efforts were futile.
"Guys," William began, "We've got trouble." He pointed backwards towards some screaming citizens.
The Frankenstein monster was there: watching the Juggernaut destroy the once peaceful city of London.
William ran at it with his sword.
"I am not here to battle you," The monster said calmly over the anguishing cries of the people. "I see now that you have been helping to destroy my creator, and his aspirations of domination over the earth."
"Fine." William said, putting his sword away, "But if you kill so much as one person outside of Victor and Dracula, you're mine."
"I accept your offer." The monster agreed.
"Your futile assault has not even damaged me!!" Dracula screamed over the streams of bullets and screams of people. "Disclovo!"
A ball of energy was let forth from the giant's hands and came on impact with the soldiers. Many of them died, their efforts wasted.
"The monster!!!!" Victor Frankenstein yelled.
He ran across the square and at the monster. He tackled the monster, but to no avail. The monster tossed him over onto his back.
"You killed her!! You killed her!!" Victor pounded on the monster's chest.
"That was a long time ago. I have changed." The monster corrected.
"No you haven't!" The monster's creator yelled.
Fire began rocketing across the sky in streams.
"It has begun." Dracula stared up at the sky. "Doctor Frankenstein! Come!! We are ready for the next procedure!!"
The two fled the square to go back to the Abbey.
"We'd better find Dracula before he completes the rituals." Benson explained.
"No. We decided to go after Frankenstein." Kristina was the unofficial representative for the group.
"Kristine." Howard said in a worried state, "In case you have not noticed, Frankenstein does not have anything going here, no motive. Meanwhile, Dracula has every intention of swallowing earth into the torturous realm of hell!!!" Benson became furious, so half the group went after Dracula, the other half after the monster.
The Frankenstein monster seemed to follow Dracula at first, but when the slayers followed him, they discovered something different…
Lines of medical tables were lined up in a long hall. Each had a body on them, but they were different than usual bodies. They seemed to be put together of dead body parts and demon parts.
"What is this?" William looked up and down the row of bodies in the long hallway-like medical laboratory.
"These," The monster appeared from a large mechanical moving door at the end, "These are my soldiers."
"I hope you mean for stopping Dracula," William said sarcastically, "Cuz' I'm thinking you remember our agreement; you kill, you're mine."
"Yes I remember," the monster spoke, "But look at you, you are not a match for me."
"You said you were done with the killing." Kristina interjected.
"I said that." The monster corrected, "But I know I will never stop.
"Why?" Kristina asked.
"Because of the world…I was brought into this world, and the very person who created me ran in fear the very second I awoke. The people of this very city persecuted me, and chased after me. When I looked through my creator's diaries, I discovered that I was a mistake, and that I was not wanted. I began murdering those dearest to him. I murdered a relative of his and framed one of his friends for committing the deed. The English court ruled his friend guilty and hanged him. Then I got the urge to kill someone else, so I killed his wife."
"You know, that's a nice life philosophy." Kristina sarcastically said.
"Well," The monster said while laughing, "Nice philosophy for nice people. Hehe."
"What are all these for?" Kristina queried.
"They are my army," The monster responded while overlooking his creations, "They shall help me to destroy this world in which you were meant to protect."
"Why?" William inquired with a twinge in his voice.
"Because," The monster reacted, "This world showed me no mercy, and now they all shall pay."
"But no one in this day and age had anything to do with that." Kristina replied.
"Yes, but as I was shown no mercy, they shall not be, neither shall you." The Frankenstein monster pressed a button on a small remote.
The monster-like remains ascended from their tables.
"You got a plan?" William pondered.
"Yeah. Run like h-ll!" Kristina grasped William's arm and ran for the door.
At Carfax Abbey, Jason and John met up with Bruce Chan. Victor Frankenstein first met them.
The four stared around for a while, gazing back and forth with irritated looks on there faces. Finally, Jason broke the silence.
"Where's Dracula?"
"He's near." Victor responded while looking around again.
"How near?" Jason unsheathed his sword, a signal for the other two to do so.
The hellion beast paced into the hall with fury in his eyes.
"Let the battle begin!" The beast thundered. He fell to his knees and grasped his head.
"He is weakened." Chan positioned his sword at the giant beast on the floor.
The Juggernaut shrunk down to Malus again. He too, seemed weakened.
Malus stay on his knees grasping his head.
"Sorry about this." Jason's sword sheared through Malus' throat and Chan's through his abdomen. Malus dispersed into dust and was gone.
"Thank you." A loud voice thundered.
The three slayers turned back and beheld the giant hellion beast.
"You killed that weak form, now you're left to battle with me!"
"I think we should run." John suggested.
"Yup." Bruce agreed.
"No." Jason refused, "We're gonna' slay this a-hole."
The other two agreed with him. They all shot into the air and did roundhouse kicks to the Juggernaut's chest. Then they rebounded back to the floor and carved into the beast's side with their swords.
"This is not over!!!" The Juggernaut disappeared into a cloud of mist and fled, leaving Dr. Frankenstein by himself with the slayers.
"Lord Dracula!!" Victor pursued the mist as it drifted down the dark hallway, "Save me!!"
"Don't worry, he's got a high place in the netherworld," Jason assured the doctor, "So when he comes back down, he just might be able to help you."
"Is that a threat?" The Doctor felt challenged.
"No. It's a promise." Jason thrust his sword into the fearful Doctor's heart. "Go join Akathla…in hell."
Victor Frankenstein exploded into sand. Now, the only vampire to take care of was the Dark Lord himself.
Now, back at the monster's lab, the two slayers had no luck in defeating the mass of the Frankenstein Monster's creations. Though these creatures were not as powerful as the monster itself, they harmonized with the slayers in velocity, dexterity, and might.
The brawl had commenced when Kristina thrust one of the creations in the frontal area. It backhanded her in the face and sent her flying back into the wall.
Soon, all of the creatures had awakened. William and Kristina realized that they were only two slayers, and that they could not stand up to the power of ten beings with the same power.
"Nick!" Kristina called Conselor Madden.
"What is it? Stop yelling." Conselor Madden responded calmly.
"We need some help. Frankenstein has this really powerful army of…God knows what, and we need some help if I didn't mention it yet!"
"Okay." Madden picked up the phone in Howard's office, "I'm going to send a hundred soldiers and the other slayers."
"Thanks." Kristina closed up her cell phone.
The promised one hundred soldiers arrived with John, Bruce, and Jason leading them.
"Where are they?!" Jason yelled across the large warehouse.
"I don't know." The commanding soldier moved his gun around.
The army of creatures came marching out of a pair of sliding doors.
"Get ready for h-ll boys." Bruce ran into combat and began shooting all that he saw. This battalion of evil was more vulnerable than the one they were originally created from. Though they were as powerful as the slayers, they were more easily hurt.
"Heads up!!" One of the soldiers chucked a grenade into the multitude of beasts. They all exploded and breathed there last.
"We have to get to the European slayers!!" Jason yelled to the horde of soldiers.
There were two platforms with large vehicles on each side of the group.
"Let's get half and half on each side." Bruce commanded.
The group of soldiers ran to each of the two platforms.
"Now," Bruce started, "We're going to go in there and help them out. I have a plan for whatever else is in there."
"Okay." Jason agreed.
The three slayers burst into the room and let William and Kristina out. They had been cornered. Suddenly the army of monsters broke for the door and chased Jason John and Bruce out. Together, the five slayers broke for the trucks.
The group of soldiers sprang up from behind the trucks and flooded out from behind them. Their flamethrowers began lighting for a battle. From above, the great clash could seem like a war. The soldiers went soaring through the air and the creatures lighting aflame.
Soon the battle ended, some of the soldiers lay dead, others injured. The conquerors were the slayers and soldiers; the conquered were the evil creations.
Bruce gazed into the hallway where the monsters had been. There was no one inside: not even the Frankenstein monster itself.
"Where is he?" Kristina wondered.
"I don't know." Bruce admitted, "But I'm not staying here to find out."
"Everyone!!" Jason yelled out among the crowd of soldiers, "We're leaving!! None of you are gonna' come back, just us!"
The entire group left, for the slayers had to find a method to slaying the practically invincible creature.
Kristina, John, William, Jason, and Bruce all entered Conselor Benson's office for some assistance.
Conselor Benson began typing on his computer, searching on dozens of websites dealing with the slayer myth, demons, and creatures of that nature.
"Aha!" Howard Benson shouted in triumph, "I have something! Mary Shelley wrote this herself, though she never published it for she feared she would be locked away in an insane asylum."
"What is it?" Kristina asked in disgust.
"Well William, remember when you threw a sword into its heart? Well, that wouldn't have killed him."
"Yeah," Jason cut in, "But I just realized that this thing can't be alive 'cuz he died in the end of the book…and since the book was actually true, then he should be dead."
"You're correct Jason." Howard complimented. "However, what I was about to say opposes that theory. Mary Shelley wrote that he could not be destroyed permanently; that he could only be put into rest for a certain amount of time, a sleep if you will. He can only truly be destroyed if his source of power were to be annihilated."
"What's his source of power?" Bruce questioned.
"His heart. Unless, of course, he has replaced it with some other power center. I seriously doubt that he hasn't, because the way you speak of his power, the power center has had to change."
"But we can barely even hurt him," William interjected, "I should know."
"There is a spell," Howard advised them of, "It gives whomever the subject is the power of past and present slayers. Typical mortals can perform it of course, but it becomes more powerful if performed by slayers."
"Exactly how powerful is it?" Kristina asked.
"It will give you the power of the slayers performing it, and the power of those in generations past."
"Huh?" Kristina couldn't understand Howard's English talk.
"It will give a slayer the power of the past five slayers before him or her." Howard explained.
"So I'll have Will's power twofold?" Kristina queried.
"Yes." Howard answered. "And you'll have the power of the four slayers before him. You will also have your own power, and that of Bruce, John and Jason."
"So I'll have the power of nine slayers?"
"Precisely."
"So is Kristina the unofficial candidate for going up there and facing Frankenstein?" Jason pondered.
"I guess so." Howard agreed. "Now you will all go back to the warehouse."
The group of reluctant slayers returned to the warehouse.
Jason sat down on the stone floor.
"I guess this is as good a place as any to be magic central."
Kristina began pass out magic cards. They seemed like tarot cards, but were not. "Okay, here we go, I'm gonna' go in there and find him." She pointed over to the steel door from before. "You guys chant, and that'll do whatever it has to do."
"Alright, good luck." Jason wished.
They watched the slayer depart for the door. They knew that if one syllable was out of place, the whole spell could fall apart, and Kristina would be killed.
Kristina met with the Frankenstein monster in the main laboratory.
"I've been expecting you." The monster greeted her with a laugh.
Outside in the warehouse, the three slayers began the chant.
"Spirits of the warriors, I invoke thee." John placed down his card.
"Great god Heracles, we call upon thy power to grant the power of the five to the protector." Bruce placed his card down.
"We call upon thy will Daggom, to never give up." Jason placed down the third card.
"We call upon thee Gods, demons, and warriors to aid us and give the vampire slayer Kristina Lawrence the power and strength to combat this dark evil." William placed down the final card in the center of the triangle.
A ray of light shot up from the center card and flooded against the ceiling.
In the main laboratory, Kristina's eyes altered to white.
"What is this?" The Frankenstein marveled.
"The end of you." Kristina had William, John, Jason, and Bruce's voice coming through her as well as her own.
"Very funny slayer." The monster laughed.
He pulled an Uzi off of his waist and began to barrage Kristina with gunfire. She put her hand in front of her and the bullets seemed to hit an invisible wall; splashing against the air like water.
"I'm going to kill you!!" The monster shouted at the top of his lungs. He pulled out a mini rocket launcher and fired on the juiced up slayer.
When it reached her, she closed her hand and reopened it. A dove emerged and flew upwards.
The Frankenstein monster charged at Kristina and head-dived into her. The two shoved back into the wall. Kristina was not the size of the monster, but she was definitely a match for him. She kicked him in the chest, sending him soaring into the wall. The monster then swung at her with his fist, but she blocked, twisted his arm back, and thrust her palm into his backside.
"Where did you get this strength from?!" The monster thundered.
"You could not hope to grasp the source of our power." The voices of all four slayers were channeled through Kristina. She plunged her hand deep into the monster's chest and pulled out a glowing cylinder that was covered in entrails, "Here is yours."
The Frankenstein monster fell to the floor, breathless. He had been killed by a power that previously could not stand against him.
When Kristina exited the laboratory for the warehouse, she had no power left.
"Kristina…Kristina." Bruce shook her a little.
"Yeah. I'm here." She weakly opened her eyes.
"We have to go find Dracula." Jason explained.
"Can't you guys?" She asked with a scratchy voice.
"Yeah." William came out of left field.
The group of slayers, minus Kristina, went to Carfax Abbey to locate the hellion menace. Then they returned to London plaza and found him. He had been massacring the citizens and police, who had tried to stop him.
"This world shall be mine!" Dracula triumphed. He began hovering above the ground. "All those who oppose me shall perish!"
"Don't think so!" Chan protested. He and Jason stride into the plaza.
Chan tossed one of the two swords he was holding to Jason.
The two began assault on the Juggernaut. They leaped into the air and kicked Dracula in the chest.
Swarms of police began flocking into the square with their pistols aimed. Dracula made a fist and aimed it at them. A beam of energy shot from his hand and struck the swarm of cops. A great blast shot up from the ground and sent the cops soaring into the building behind them. It collapsed in a fit of smoke, dust, and debris. Chan was caught when the building came down.
"See my power?" The Juggernaut tested, "There is no mortal that can stand against me!"
"This one's for him!!" Jason charged at the beast with his sword and plowed into his chest.
"Don't worry Jay," Chan got up from the debris with a large sharp piece of lumber, "I'm okay."
"I know what you're thinking." Dracula foresaw, "You think I am going to be ruined with that mere portion of wood. Nevertheless, I am the Juggernaut!! The keeper of the gates!"
"You may have the power of the Juggernaut, but you are still a vampire!!" Bruce charged on the vampire and forced the wood through his heart.
"No! I will have my revenge!" The beast fell to his knees.
"Shut up." Bruce pushed the monster down, "That's what you said last time."
"You shall pay!" The dark beast screamed whilst disintegrating into dust.
"D-mn. Does he always do that?" Jason asked Bruce.
"I don't think so." Bruce walked toward the Big Ben tower. "You comin?"
"Yeah." Jason answered while looking back, "Where were John and Will?"
"I held them back." A voice said.
"Howard?" Jason queried.
"Yes. I held them back for a test, a test you have not yet passed."
"What test?"
"You will learn in time." Howard replied.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jason countered.
"It was an assessment of your strength and will power. You have many more to perform. I will be seeing you very often Jason."
Jason trailed Howard to the car he drove up in. He didn't know what he meant, but knew he would soon find out…
End