Ghost Driver

Penance was power personified. She didn't so much engage her opponents as she did crush them with brute force. As I watched she swung her long pole mace at the feet of a vamp that leaped over the head of the heavy weapon with blinding speed. What he didn't expect was that Penance's weapon wasn't just a mace. As he landed she'd continued to swing the weapon so that it's spiked butt end was in line with his chest as his feet hit the ground. Penance had only to push her arms forward, and the hardened metal tip of the blessed weapon entered his chest causing him to scream in agony.

Penance wasn't done though. She knew from experience that hurting a vamp and killing one are two different animals with different sets of rules. She continued pushing the shaft forward until the wooden part not the metal tip was in the vamp's heart. As soon as the wood touched the vamp's heart it was the same thing as if he had been staked. He crumbled to dust.

Another young vamp was pressing Praise. He leaped forward towards her, and she slashed him. He screamed she slashed again and dropped to her knees before leaping upwards again.

"What the fuck was that," asked the vamp. "Was that Ballet? I prefer Hip Hop."

"Come and get me," cooed Praise. As the vamp took a step forward, or tried to, he fell over. Praise had severed both of his legs just above the knees.

The vamp started to scream, but never had a chance for the scream to reach its full volume as Penance brought the heavy end of her Mace down onto his head crushing his skull and destroying his brain.

"That one counts as mine," she gushed. "Cutting his legs off only wounded him, it didn't kill him. So that's two for me and none for you."

"Okay, watch this," said Praise. She ran over to a younger female vampire. The woman appeared to be in her forties but had been so recently changed that her skin still appeared to have the bloom of life in it. The jet black eyes with no irises, and inch and a half long fangs, gave her away though.

She hissed at Praise who turned and ran. The vamp sensing weakness, chased her. Praise turned and flung one of her throwing stars straight into the vamp's chest. The creature screamed at the torturous piece of blessed metal embedded in its sternum. The scream was cut short as Praise's blade took her head off at the neck.

And then things started to go south, quickly. From out of nowhere, a female vamp who still had the remains of hideous scars on her face slammed into Penance. Although Penance was much larger, the vamp was strong beyond belief. Penance flew backwards at least twenty feet landing awkwardly and was slow to get up.

She reached to her side and patted her hips. At first, I thought she was checking to see if she had broken a bone.

"I'll bet you're looking for these," hissed the vamp sarcastically. "Unh, uh, you won't get me that way twice, Honey. I learn from my mistakes. I learn even more from the painful ones. And payback is a bitch."

While the vamp was distracted by yapping with Penance, both Praise and Patience were getting into position. They were in danger but something else took my focus away from them. I heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh and then a weird whooshing sound.

What had happened was obvious, and it pissed me off. I turned to see Mike on the stage with his arms raised in the air like a gospel singer who is getting the Holy Ghost. He swayed back and forth, but the music that the DJ was spinning was techno. The way that Mike was swaying had nothing to do with the rhythm of the music.

I looked beyond what I saw with my eyes. I noticed people all around the stage that were fighting and taking drugs. There was one skinny little woman who was repeatedly stabbing a man that she was handcuffed to, in his abdomen. They were both soaked with blood.

Two men in their late teens or early twenties were standing directly in front of the stage, only a few feet from Mike. They were alternating punches like they were passing a cigarette around.

I realized then that Mike wasn't Mike. Somehow Agravon was wearing Mike as his new body. That was when I noticed the flesh being struck sound. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an arm flash. When I looked directly at the source, I felt something that I hadn't felt in a long. I felt fear. I was afraid.

I could only be killed while in my human form, which I wasn't in. And I would only stay dead until it turned dark. My fear wasn't personal. I was afraid for Maggie.

Again, it was strange. The nuns were facing a pissed off master vampire with several younger ones backing her up. Maggie was only facing a chunky teenager.

But my head turned at the sound of that slap. I immediately understood the danger. The girl had come at Maggie. For what reason I didn't know. Maggie had reached out to defend herself. She had slapped the girl. She hadn't shot her or done any serious self defense. I think that Maggie had underestimated the girl.

There was still a red mark on the girl's cheek. She was stunned more than hurt, which was probably Maggie's intention. She reacted in a totally instinctive way. The girl had, without even blinking summoned a portal directly in front of Maggie.

I too surrendered to instinct. I shot a blast of soul fire at the girl and ran as hard as I could. I dove and snatched Maggie out of the portal just before she disappeared to ... Who knows where.

The girl dropped to her knees overwhelmed by images of everything she had ever done wrong. All of her sins were exposed. I saw them all. And the strangest thing about it was that except for accidentally bringing Agravon to earth, she had none. She was just an extremely lonely, misunderstood child who'd turned to forces she didn't understand to combat her loneliness.

My dive and grab was an act of desperation. We ended up awkwardly rolling on the ground. We rolled and came up. I was worried about whether or not Maggie was okay. She had somehow managed to draw her gun even as we rolled.

"Drop the axe, asshole," she screamed at a guy who was about to hack into the chest of the guy next to him. Maggie snapped off two shots into his legs, dropping him instantly.

"I knew you cared," she smirked. "But you'd better get the leather girls."

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUUUUUCKKKK," screamed Agravon/Mike. "You lost my God Damned Detective. Mike's body was beginning to turn red, but I turned to check on the nuns."

It was like a movie playing out in slow motion. Patience fired two bolts from her crossbow. It was a very practiced move and a smart one; the two bolts came at a different angle and different height. If the vamp managed to dodge or deflect the first one, the second one would hit.

At the same time, Praise was stealthily advancing on the vamp from behind. It was an awesome plan. It was too bad they hadn't told the vamp that she was supposed to end up on the receiving end of it.

The vamp moved faster than I could. She snatched both bolts out of the air, one with each hand. She whirled and thrust one of the bolts at Praise's chest. The only thing that saved Praise, was the fact that directly over her heart was a double layer of Kevlar with angled edges that were designed to divert force away from her trunk. The bolt ended up on her shoulder instead.

The vamp threw the other bolt directly back at its source. Patience was as quick as a cat and she jumped sideways and twisted, but the bolt still struck home grazing her side. It wasn't a fatal wound or even a dangerous one, but the bolt had slashed her side open along her rib cage. That meant that it would be extremely painful. Every breath she took would bring pain. The second problem was that it was bleeding heavily. The smell of blood was attracting the other vamps like sharks to chum.

"Okay, I'm tired of this shit!" I screamed.

I did something I had never done before, I pumped as hard as I could and emitted a pulse of soul fire like an EMP. The blue flames covered my immediate area and everyone within a hundred yard radius.

Everything in the area was muted or stopped by the blast. Only Agravon, the nuns, the master vamp, and I were unaffected. The nuns, for some reason, probably what they called their grace, had no sins. The master vamp was too strong and demons like Agravon had no souls.

The weird thing was that the other vampires reacted to the blast. They were affected even more than the humans because of the many lives they had taken just to fuel their continued existence.

The entire area was suddenly inundated with the wailing of hundreds of tortured souls who were all forced to face their worst sins. Some were so bad that they were simply unable to face them and blacked out.

The vamp had moved over to Penance and had grabbed the woman still kicking and fighting, by her throat. She reached back with a clawed hand to strike. There was no fear at all in Penance's eyes; she continued to fight to break free. Even as the vamp's claws extended in preparation for a fatal blow, Penance fought.

The vamp tried to bring the blow down but found herself unable to move that arm. I was holding it. I looked deeply into her eyes, sometimes my Penance stare worked when the soul fire didn't.

But the vamp only smiled at me. "I hate to tell you this, Earnhardt," she smirked. "But I traded my soul away before your grandparents were born. None of your fancy powers will work on me."

I nodded at her. And then I ripped the arm I was holding off of her body. She screamed as huge gouts of blood gushed from her destroyed and vacant armpit.

"God damn it," screamed a newly freed Penance. "Do you know how hard it is to get vampire blood out of green leather?"

"You're welcome," I said sarcastically.

"You're out of your fucking mind," snapped Penance. "I had everything under control." I laughed. The woman was incredibly brave. Even as the vamp rolled and thrashed on the ground in pain, Penance looked around for a weapon.

"Here," I said, "Use this!" I handed her the vampire's arm. Penance's obvious glee made me wonder how the hell she had no sins. She started beating the hell out of the dying vamp with her own arm.

"Penance, that won't kill her," I said. "The blood loss has weakened her, but you have to ..."

"Stake her, or cut off her fuckin' head," snapped Penance. "Are you trying to tell me how to do MY Damned job?" She stared at me, and I laughed. If I wasn't interested in someone else, I could easily have fallen for her.

"Stop staring at me, you pervert," she grumbled. "Go kill something."

Even as Penance spoke, Maggie was heading for the stage. Agravon had seen her and was heading for her.

"Callie, get your head out of your fat ass and summon a portal," he shouted at the girl who seemed to be in some type of shock.

"Agravon, it's time for you to go hoooooooooome!" I shouted.

"This IS my home," he shouted. "I ain't goin' nowhere!" His body was shining so brightly that it glowed. He was drunk with power, but he still wasn't stupid. He was also not a fighter.

"Tell ya what," he said. "We're both from the pit. We should be bros. You know the drill. There is no need for the two of us to fight. We should be on the same team. This place is big enough for both of us. Hell has many lords. Why can't the earth?

I'm done here anyway. I have gained enough power for now. So I'll just take my spell caster and my detective and be on my merry way ... Callie, sweetheart ... Portal ... Now!"

"Mine," I exclaimed.

"Oh ho!" he said. "You have good taste. That detective is very hot. I don't know if it's the long legs, the child bearing hips or just those big old titties. You want her; she's yours. Bros before hos, Ya know?"

I held out my hand, and a globe of soulfire appeared.

He laughed. "Come on, that won't work on me. I have no soul," he said.

"I threw the ball and it struck him and continued to lick away at him. He smiled at first and then got nervous and jumpy. "Callie ... Portal," he said, obviously agitated.

As I watched he began scratching at his skin and then screamed and dropped to his knees.

"How the hell are you doing this?" he screamed.

"You might not have a soul Agravon, but the body you inhabit still does," I said coldly. "And you're both going to Hell."

I jumped up onto the stage and grabbed him by his neck. I held out my hand, and my car drove over near me. The trunk opened, and I dropped Agravon into it. He continued to scream.

I turned to get into the car and found Maggie and the nuns watching me. "My job here is done," I said.

"So ..." said Penance. "See Ya."

"He saved your life, Sister," said Praise.

"Do you need to be drug tested," gasped Penance? "I saved him." Patience and Praise looked at each other and shook their heads.

"What about Terry's job," asked Maggie? "Terry still has things to do, here. He has a child and people who care about him."

I got into the car and headed down the highway to hell.

* * * * * *

Epilogue.

Sisters of Fate

Patience walked into the hospital ward. She sat down on the edge of the bed and tapped the girl on her shoulder. Callie sat up and looked around. The woman sitting on the edge of her bed smiled at her.

"This can't be hell, can it," asked Callie. "Am I in heaven?"

"No, Child," said Patience. "You're in Rome."

They talked. Callie bared her soul and explained everything that had happened with Agravon.

After a few weeks at the large complex, Callie had begun to feel at home there. She was learning so many things about computers and research. They also allowed her to attended classes at a nearby university.

Her parents had been flown over to visit, and Callie had explained to them that she loved it there in Rome.

"Are you sure this is the right thing to do," grumbled Penance.

"What would you do with her," asked Patience. "She's not evil. She was just lonely. And the tests indicate that the girl has a great deal of innate sorcery potential. No one on our support staff or anywhere else in our organization has that. We've run into a number of cases now where we've been forced to go against witches. Perhaps it's time we had one of our own."

"Vampires, Werewolves, Witches and even Demons; the whole Damned world is going to Hell," grumbled Penance.

* * * * * *

Terry

I was sitting on a bench in the park, watching my daughter trying to get up onto her feet only to fall back onto her butt on the soft blankets. I felt an arm wrap itself around my waist, and a body pressed itself against me.

"Why are you rubbing yourself against me?" I asked.

"Oh, do not start that shit again," quipped Maggie. "What word did you use to describe me to Agravon? I think you said "MINE." If I'm yours, then algebraically you have to be mine, as well. And while we're on the subject ... I know that you delivered Agravon back to hell, but whatever happened to Michael Robbins? There's a warrant still open for him and a nice warm jail cell waiting for him.

I can't prove that he murdered you, but we do have lots of evidence linking him to all of those people who were beaten and killed out at that cemetery on Halloween. He's still going to be charged with their murders if not for yours."

"Just let it go," I said.

"But he has to go to jail," she whined.

"Maggie, he's in jail," I said.

I explained to her how I had driven back to hell. And dropped off Agravon. "The first thing they did was to separate Agravon's essence from Mike's body.

That basically left a living human being in hell. The demons there were only interested in Agravon. Mike started screaming about taking him home. I pointed the way to the gate. In over three thousand years nothing has gotten by Cerberus, but Mike is free to try. Meanwhile, there are some very nasty things in the pit. They could do things to a living human that are so bad they defy description. In my opinion, Mike deserved those things. He would also enjoy them for all of eternity. I got back into my car and drove off. I waved at Mike, but he was already screaming before I got back to the Styx.

I know you think that I let Darleen off easy, Maggie, but her life is going to be ... Hell. She's lost our daughter. She's lost her sanity, and she has only short periods of lucidity. If she ever does get her mind back she can always be prosecuted for her role in killing me. She did confess, remember. She's getting her own little slice of punishment."

"So what are you going to do with yourself?" she asked. "And who are you going to be. Terry Slade is dead."

"I'm Terry's cousin DB," I said. "DB Slade."

"Nice," she said. "So what if a certain police detective wanted to move into your big nice house with you and Kathy?"

"I'd say that I was planning on it," I said. "Can you take Terri back to the house?"

"No problem," she smiled. She leaned over and kissed me. The kiss was sweet enough that I hated to leave her.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I'm sure you hadn't noticed it," I said. "But it's getting dark, and at least one of us has a job to do."

"Okay, Honey," she smiled. "Go to work. But don't turn blue and fiery until your daughter, and I are gone. I'm not sure she's ready for that yet."

I waited until the sound of Maggie's car was gone. Then I stood up and got ready to leave. A man stood behind me.

I looked beyond his outer shell and saw the being inside. He seemed to be composed of pure white energy with huge wings unfurled behind him.

"Michael," I said caustically.

"Did I offend you in some way, Messenger?" he asked.

"Nah, I just seem to have issues with mother fuckers named Mike," I said. He looked at me with that same expression Angels always have when they run into beings they consider less than. I wasn't offended because Angels are assholes, especially archangels. They think that EVERYONE is less than.

"I have a job for you," he said. "There is a HUMAN on this world. He has recently come into a great deal of power that should be mine. Deliver this message to him." He handed me a roll of paper that seemed to be ancient.

"Be careful, Messenger, he is easily perturbed. His companion is one of the undead. She seems to have a terrible attitude, but if you piss her off or threaten her ... He will KILL you," he said.

"I can't be killed," I told him. He just started laughing.

"He may even be able to kill ME," he laughed. "The two of you have much in common. Remember my warning." And then he was gone.

I whistled, and my car drove up onto the grass of the now deserted park near me. I held out my arms, and the flames took me.

I got into the car and hit the freeway. I drove faster and faster until I noticed something out of the corner of my eye that scared the shit out of me.

There was another Mustang keeping pace with me. I was driving close to three hundred miles an hour, but there it was. The car was a bright yellow 06 Mustang GT. I noticed that there were no engine sounds coming from it. The car was as silent as the grave. I flashed my headlights, and it did the same. Then it took an exit to leave the freeway, while I continued on. I did, after all, have a job to do.

The end