Kelly couldn't take another second. She had been on her feet non stop for about six hours, and she still had another six to go. Even though Kelly had worked in this rotten flower mill for the past eight years and was used to long nights. (She had the scars, as well as a few missing fingers to prove it.) This had been a particularly hard shift.
Things had become a lot more difficult for Kelly overall in the last year as her husband, Christopher had tragically been killed in an accident in this very mill. The two working together had barely scraped enough money for their three children, two girls and a boy, all under 10. Kelly and Christopher were almost like strangers to their children, they got to spend so little time with them.
Kelly hated the mill more than any of the other poor souls who were forced to work there. Every day she would come in and be forced to stare at the machine that tore the man she loved to pieces. Sadly she couldn't leave as work was scarce elsewhere. At certain points she even contemplated forcing her children to work in the mill, she was so desperate. Ultimately however she always thought better of it. Kelly had been forced to work by her own father since she was four years old. She'd never really had time to figure out who she was, or what she wanted in life. Almost all of her days had been spent in a noisy, hot, dangerous factory of some kind, with only a few hours of comfort sprinkled in between. She was determined that her children were going to have more of a chance than she ever did.
"I just hope that rotten Ferguson doesn't stiff me with some truck wages again" Kelly said bitterly as she took her five minute break to have a smoke.
She had to go outside the factory to smoke. "Heaven forbid my smoking should pollute the already poisonous air we breathe in here", she thought to herself, but still she had to obey the rules. The higher ups would take any excuse to fine her.
Kelly wasn't in the best of health, and the 18 cigarettes a day certainly hadn't helped her. Still it not only got her out of the factory for a short while, but it was the only way she could cope with the stress. If she knew she could get a fag at the end of a six hour shift, it was something to strive for.
This time would be different. For once Kelly would actually regret coming outside.
As she stood by the wall near the door, taking in the fresh air before inhaling nicotine into her lungs, she suddenly felt a drip on her shoulder. "Oh great it's going to rain" she thought. "I'll have to trundle home in the most miserable weather." She had about an hour's walk to get to work.
As she went to wipe it off her shoulder she saw that the "rain" was red. Kelly dropped her fag and screamed only to see there was more blood on the floor next to her.
"Some poor soul must have had an accident" she thought, but then as she slowly looked up, following a trail of blood up the wall, she saw a flayed, mutilated body, impaled into the building with a large pole. Kelly wasn't the squeamish type. This was a woman who had seen people, including her husband suffer fatal accidents throughout her entire life. Still this was enough to make her sick on the pavement.
After puking her lungs out, Kelly got a better look at the body. She could see that it was her former miserly employer, John Ferguson. She could tell because of how fat the corpse was more than anything else. Even then however most of his guts had been torn out, along with both of his legs.
Kelly ran back into the factory, coughing and spluttering as she did.
"Someone call the police" she shouted through coughs to her co-workers. Most of them didn't take notice sadly as the noise of the machines drowned her out.
As she frantically ran around trying to get their attention, a tall, hideous looking figure suddenly entered the factory.
The creature had white skin, long pointed features, thinning, scraggly hair, and when it smiled, it revealed a mouth full of razor sharp, blood stained teeth.
The monster's chest and hands were completely covered in blood. Kelly was so scared at the sight of the creature she was frozen, but the beast got everyone's attention soon enough when it let out a roar. All of the workers had the same reaction as Kelly. They all stood in silence at the sight of the monster as it relished in the terror it was provoking.
"Don't worry," it said. "I am here to elevate some of you at least, from this life of drudgery and pain. Others meanwhile, you will finally be getting what you deserve."
"I don't see why we have to wait here" moaned Ashlei.
"I'm sorry darling but it's for your own good. You're just children, there's no way you can face those monsters." Carlene said as she prepared to leave the children in her mansion to rejoin the Circus Folk.
Even though Ashlei knew Carlene was right deep down, she still couldn't help but feel upset at being left out of something important.
Carlene assured the children she would be back soon as she packed her anti vampire weapons into her hair and headed off to the Circus.
They still had a couple of hours of daylight left. Hopefully enough to find at least one of the new vampire breeds and find out who was creating them from it.
As Carlene made her way through the streets of London, with almost everybody staring at her as usual, she thought about whether or not she wanted to go back to her home time.
There were friends waiting for her back in her own time that she still missed every day, and she also missed the anonymity that she had in the 21st century. Also she thought about the children. She couldn't possibly send them back onto the street, but she didn't want to adopt them either.
She had grown quite fond of them, and she had always wanted children but she knew it wouldn't be safe for the kids to stay around her. Carlene actually hoped that the time travellers would take her with them back to her own time and that she could then leave the mansion to the three children. Even then however she wondered if doing so would change history. As horrible as it may seem, maybe the children were destined to die on the streets? Maybe she was destined to never get home and die at some point in the 19th century. The Circus Master had to know who she was for a reason, and knowing her luck it probably wasn't a good one.
Carlene was interrupted from her anxious thoughts by the scent of blood. It was unmistakable for a vampire. She could pinpoint it almost exactly. It was down a nearby alley. The perfect place for a vampire to pick off some unsuspecting poor soul. Carlene followed the scent down the alley, being sure to pull a stake from her hair first. Little did Carlene know a young couple, named Martin and Claire had also begun to follow her. After she had been spotted with the children earlier at the circus, there was an outrage within the local community that several children were in the care of a vampire. Martin and Claire just couldn't take the police's protection of this apparent beehive topped monster any longer and were resolved to do something about it. They decided to follow Carlene to see if they could catch her out on anything.
When Carlene made her way down the alley she found a young woman lying in a heap on the floor, covered in her own blood, cuts and weeping. Carlene approached her slowly so as not to startle the poor woman.
"Don't be scared darling I'm here to help" Carlene said as she reached out to help the woman up.
The woman tried to run away but Carlene held her back. As they struggled Carlene saw Martin and Claire behind her. They had tried to hide, but the vampire was too quick for them.
"What are you two wankers doing here? I don't have time for this crap, bugger off." Carlene snapped.
"Why so you can kill her like you did those two children?" Martin said whilst shaking with fear.
"I didn't kill anyone, and if you actually thought I did, two berks like you wouldn't be following me. You're just wanting to look brave and cool to your posh little friends, well fuck off." Carlene said as she restrained the young woman.
"P-please I have to get out of here, those things, they're, they're coming." The woman said as she tried to pull free.
"It's all right love, I'm not going to hurt you, but I need to know more about these things okay."
"N-no, you'll die, just like they did"
"Who?"
"I'll' I'll show you shall I?"
Just then the woman's skin turned completely white, her fingernails grew into long black talons, her teeth grew into razor sharp fangs and her thick, dark hair turned into thinning grey strips.
She slashed Carlene across the face and punched her into the nearby wall. This vampire's strength already dwarfed that of Carlene's breed considerably.
The vampire girl then grabbed Carlene by the back of the head and started to smash her face into the wall several times over.
Martin and Claire both screamed in terror and ran in the opposite direction. Martin however in his haste tripped and fell. Claire didn't even notice he wasn't behind her until it was too late.
When Claire turned round she saw the vampire lady who after beating Carlene senseless, had turned her attention to the two humans. She held Martin above her head with both arms, and quick as a flash brought him down on her knee and not only snapped his spine, but broke him in half completely!
Claire was violently sick and began to faint at the gruesome sight, but the monster turned its attention to her. It held her by the throat and slammed Claire into a wall.
Claire kicked as hard as she could but it was hopeless. She screamed out for help. In her desperation she even called out to Carlene, who tried to stake the vampire from behind, only for the monster to shove the stake down into Carlene's stomach before striking the beehive topped vampire in the face, sending her crashing back to the ground.
When Carlene got back up just a few seconds later she saw that the vampire had already ripped a large part of Claire's spine out and was licking the blood off of it. Carlene tried to pull another weapon from her beehive, but the vampire lady rammed Claire's spine right through Carlene's stomach and pinned her to the wall. She then pulled it up through Carlene, ripping a hole in her, right from her stomach, through her shoulder. The vampire girl then started to beat Carlene to the floor with Claire's spine.
The vampire girl screamed in frustration as Carlene still didn't die and she stabbed Claire's spine into Carlene's head and pinned her to the ground with it!
She then started stabbing Carlene in her chest over and over with the spine, screaming each time it failed to kill Carlene.
Carlene meanwhile reached into her beehive with her good arm and pulled out a silver knife which she stabbed into the vampire girl's shoulder.
The vampire girl's flesh began to sizzle and boil. Clearly silver was a weakness. This wasn't just a random guess on Carlene's part. This was clearly a new breed of vampire, but it looked similar to other breeds who were vulnerable to silver.
The vampire girl staggered back with the knife still in her shoulder whilst Carlene scrambled to her feet. Carlene's Vampiric healing powers allowed her to patch up her wounds in a relatively short space of time.
The vampire girl pulled the silver knife from her shoulder, with the wound having turned green, and her arm underneath having turned completely limp.
Both vampires bared their fangs as they screamed in rage at the other. Both were in tremendous pain, but that just pushed them even further.
The vampire girl swung at Carlene with her own silver knife. She was able to match Carlene's speed and slice her several times across her chest and stomach, but Carlene wasn't deterred however as silver was not a weakness for her breed, and eventually after taking a few more hits, Carlene managed to kick the blade out of the vampire girl's hand. They both went to reach it, but the vampire girl got there first. Carlene jumped on her back however and bit into her hand. Carlene bit so hard she cut through the vampire girl's bone and nearly took her hand clean off!
Though the vampire girl still managed to knock her off, Carlene reached for the knife first. She slashed her vampiric enemy several times across the face, throat and stomach. The wounds had a devastating effect on the vampire girl. They all sizzled and boiled and turned green, weakening her to the point where she collapsed backwards onto the floor.
"Please don't kill me" the vampire, now too weak to fight back, pleaded.
"I'll help you if you tell me what I want to know," Carlene said, holding the knife to the monster's throat.
"Who made you? Where did you come from?"
"Ferguson's flour mill". The vampire lady replied, struggling through the pain. "A man came in, he, he used to work there, but he had become a monster. He turned several of us. Said he was elevating us. He sent a few out into London, I was told to find you, the creepy lady and kill her. There are others coming for you."
Carlene heard all she needed to know and raised her silver knife.
"You said you'd spare me" the vampire lady begged.
"No I said I'd help you, and trust me I am" Carlene replied coldly, as she finished the monster by plunging her silver knife through its heart. The vampire instantly crumbled into nothing but a pile of green dust on the floor.
Carlene took a rest for a few minutes to heal her wounds. "That was a tough bitch" she thought as the bones and muscles in her shoulder nitted back together.
As she popped her knife back into her beehive Carlene looked around at what was left of the poor sods who'd followed her down the alley. As much as she hated herself for it, the sight of their blood was making her hungry.
As she prepared to leave, suddenly Carlene noticed someone else had followed her down the alley. It was a young urchin, ironically the one who Carlene had bought the ticket for the Circus from yesterday. He had seemingly followed Carlene solely in the hopes of making another sale.
"No darling listen to me, see that little green pile of dust there, well" Carlene tried to explain, but the boy didn't listen. He was so scared he ran back down the alley screaming for help.
"Please someone, that creepy lady's gone berserk. She's killed two people! Tore em up."
Carlene managed to catch up to the boy, but as she tried to hold him still and explain, the boy dug his finger into one of her stab wounds that hadn't closed over yet causing her to let him go.
The boy managed to make it to the end of the alley, and though Carlene caught up with him again, this time his screams alerted people outside. A crowd soon gathered around Carlene and the boy.
"Oh fuck, you know this really isn't a good time." She said somewhat nervously, but the little boy spoke up.
"She's a monster, she tore two people up back there, ripped one in half and tore another's spine out. Kill her"
Carlene tried to cover his mouth but it was no use. The crowd didn't need a reason to want to see Carlene dead so they naturally believed the young boy without any proof.
"I really don't have time for this," Carlene thought. "The police will clear it up. They need me" She let go of the boy and scaled the nearest building in a matter of seconds. The angry crowd tried to follow her on the streets below, but the vampire was too fast for them. Within a matter of minutes Carlene managed to jump across various buildings and out of sight thanks to her vampiric speed.
Little did the crowd really know the boy had in fact deliberately set Carlene up. He too was a vampire of the same breed as the one that Carlene had just fought with. The poor boy had managed to secure a job in the mill, on the night he had managed to sell his last ticket to Carlene. He was among the first Richards turned into a vampire, as Richards felt that a child would be able to pass undetected more successfully. This breed, like many species of vampires, had the power to assume human form. Carlene should have noticed the boy was a vampire, but she was too distracted, trying to stop him from shouting, as well as weak from her wounds that she had sadly slipped up this time.
Still she didn't care. For now she had a bigger concern, to make her way to the Circus and tell them about the Mill.. When Carlene arrived at the Time vessel, some of the Circus Folk were impatient.
"Finally" The Circus Master snapped. "Now we can get down to the business of finding these vampires."
"Yeah sorry about the hold up, I had to you know, face a new breed of vampire, watch it kill two people, get stabbed in the stomach and in the head by one of its victims spine's, and then get blamed for the murders and chased across London. Other than that though I did manage to find out where one of the new Alpha Vampires is. It's turning people in Ferguson's Mill."
"Ferguson's Mill?" Florence said with a shocked expression? "I know him. I remember from my youth. He disappeared one day. God if the vampires have turned him then I shudder to think what he's like now."
"She said it was one of his employees. He's promised to elevate them from their humble little existence."
"Is that how he describes it?" Keptis said with disgust. "Well we need to get there now." Keptis was holding a most unusual weapon, clearly from the far future. It was a chainsaw that was made of fire! The Martian had picked it up on the Circus folk's previous adventure to the magical world of Kastericia. He couldn't wait to test it out on some vampires.
The others meanwhile were carrying more conventional weapons, save for the Circus Master who had nothing but a cane, the bottom of which seemed to glow red.
"I'm afraid I'm going to need to ask some of you to help me check on my mansion. I left the children there, but there's probably an angry crowd outside and the vampire said the alpha had sent others for me." Carlene said with regret.
I'll go with you." Florence replied. "The rest of you follow me to that flower mill now." The Circus Master commanded.
Carlene and Florence quickly made their way to the mansion, jumping back across the rooftops, and generally keeping out of sight, whilst the others made their way to the Mill. (Florence knew the way to the Mill from when she was a little girl and told the Circus Master.)
When they arrived at Carlene's house, there was a huge crowd descending outside, carrying torches and pitchforks, screaming for Carlene to show herself. A local police officer tried to diffuse the situation, but it was no use. From the crowd's perspective they were finally going to rid themselves of the monster that had terrorised their local community, and nothing was going to stop them. Carlene could see Ashlei peering out of the window from the rooftop she and Florence had both perched on behind the crowd. Ashlei looked scared, but she was confident that the crowd wouldn't hurt her and the boys at least.
Florence started singing and within seconds the entire crowd began to calm down. They all slowly turned to face Florence, utterly mesmerised by her voice. All except for one that is. The little street urchin.
Confused as to why everyone had suddenly stopped, he ran in front of the crowd and started screaming.
"What's the matter with you? The creepy lady lives there. Let's get her."
"Bloodthirsty little maniac aren't you?" Carlene said as she descended from the roof, getting the boy's attention. "I wonder why you're the only one not affected? Maybe you're more of a rock and roll kind of a boy. It won't be invented for another 70 years or so, but still."
Carlene could see the boy wasn't human now, and felt like kicking herself for not noticing it.
"I didn't kill those two in the alley, it was a monster just like this boy here" Carlene shouted to the crowd.
Realising his ruse was up, the boy morphed into his vampire form and killed a young woman standing at the front of the crowd. He stuck his hand right through her stomach and pulled her long intestine out. He then used it like a lasso to trip Carlene up when she ran to try and stop him.
The crowd started to scatter. The siren's hold over them was very weak.. Older and more powerful sirens could influence people to kill others, hurt themselves, or even walk over a cliff if they wanted. Florence's power in comparison however was very basic.
As the crowd ran, the boy killed the police officer who bravely attempted to restrain him. He tore the officer's arm off and impaled him with it! He then jumped on another old woman's back, and grabbed her head by either side and pulled until he tore her head in half. He then pounced on another young, teenage girl who was fleeing in the crowd and pinned her to the ground. The girl's mother tried to pull him off, but the boy sunk his fangs into the girl's neck.
Carlene however was able to grab the boy and hoist him in the air. The boy however despite his size, was still several times stronger than either Carlene or Florence and managed to escape Carlene by head butting her. He then sank his fangs into her arm, and bit right through her bone! Carlene screamed in pain as she tried to shake him off.
Florence tried to pull the boy off Carlene's arm, but his grip was too tight. Still Florence didn't give up and the boy in response slashed her across the face, knocking the siren off her feet.
Whilst Florence was on the ground, the boy then jumped on top of her and stuck his hand in her mouth.
"Let's see how well ya sing without one of these ya bitch." He cackled as he tried to pull her tongue out. Florence bit down on the vampire's hand to try and deter it, but the boy just smiled as it dug its claws harder into Florence's tongue.
Whilst the boy was distracted with Florence, Carlene reached into her beehive for a bottle of holy water. She threw it on the boy. It didn't hurt him as much as it had the vampires in the underground, but it still produced minor burns and smoke. Enough for Florence to push the demonic child off.
The boy crawled along the floor to get away from the two women. (By this stage the entire crowd had fled the area in panic.) Carlene lifted out a silver blade from her hair, and prepared to stab the monster through the heart. Just as she raised the knife however, the boy morphed back into his human form.
Carlene hesitated for a moment. She knew it wasn't a child at all. It was a demon wearing the corpse of an innocent child. Still she couldn't help but see it as a boy, and as she tried to work up the courage, the monster seized its chance and jumped up, sticking its claws right through her stomach. It pulled Carlene's intestines and guts out, and smeared them in her face.
By the time Carlene had pulled her guts away from her face, the monster child had scaled a nearby building and made its way across several roofs.
Florence helped Carlene up.
"Man those things are vicious" Carlene said as she threw her old guts to the ground.
"I'll follow him. He can't have gone too far. You need to get to the factory." Florence said as she wiped her blood from her mouth.
"We need to stay together, that thing is one vicious little bastard, and he could have made more like him for all you know". Carlene protested.
"I can handle it. You need to help the others at the Mill. If I run into the locals again, I can always use my voice. Now go".
Carlene saw that she was right that Florence wouldn't have to worry about the crowd and headed off to the factory. She was somewhat relieved. She didn't want to have to stake the child vampire. "Poor blighter" she thought as she made her way across the rooftops. "I'll find whatever turned that boy into a monster and make the bugger wish he'd stayed dead." Carlene thought to herself.
"No offence to Florence or that cockney vampire girl, but just when you think vampires can't repulse you anymore" Denika said as she stared up at what was left of the mangled and flayed corpse of John Ferguson.
"Well I guess this is the right place at least" Keptis replied as he fired up his flaming chainsaw.
"Remember, we have to take the leader alive. He knows where these new vampires are being created." The Circus Master said as the four time travellers entered the Satanic Mill.
There were bits and pieces of people scattered all over the dank mill, and the walls were literally dripping with blood. The Circus Master used his stick to light the way ahead.
Many of the victims had clearly not even been killed for their blood. Denika could see the top half of a young man, no older than 18 stuffed into a large machine. His face was twisted into an expression of the most unbelievable agony. At the back of the room meanwhile was another victim, nailed to the wall, with long strips of skin having been ripped off, and his guts splattered about in front of him.
In one of the corners, Denika could also see the body of a young girl, no older than 13 or 14 with her jugular torn out. It was too much, even for someone like Denika who had seen her home world invaded and she had to take a minute to regain her composure. Much like Carlene, Denika had a real love for children. She was always the most rational and no nonsense member of the team, but there were times when it got too much for her.
Unfortunately however little did Denika know, the young girl was not dead. None of the Circus Folk noticed the girl slowly rise from the blood and entrail stained floor.
The Circus Master was too busy investigating another body that he suspected may rise soon, whilst both Keptis and the Strange Boy had gone on ahead.
The undead girl slowly crept towards Denika, with the witch only noticing when it was too late.
The beast knocked Denika to the floor, laughing at Denika's apparent helplessness. The Circus Master turned around, but as he did, the body he had been investigating did rise and restrained him.
The monster threw the Circus Master onto one of the large machines, similar to a threshing machine on a farm. and jumped on top of him. The Circus Master's strength was no match for this brute either.
As the teenager held Denika down, and prepared to strike, Denika started to chant a basic deflector spell. It was all she would have time for. She just had to hope that this particular breed of vampire was vulnerable to magic. Not all of them were.
The magic threw the vampire about four feet through the air. If it had been an ordinary human it would have not only thrown them farther, but also through any nearby solid object and rendered them helpless for a few minutes.
The vampire however instantly got up and hissed in rage at Denika, whose hands and eyes both started to glow bright blue. The vampire was curious for a few moments, before lunging at her anyway. Denika fired a blue beam from her hands, which cut a hole straight through the vampire. Sadly it did little to deter it, but Denika was able to evade the monster's subsequent attack by floating to about ten feet in the air.
Denika would then attempt to fire another energy beam at the monster, this time aiming for its neck, but the vampire was too quick. It not only dodged her attack but jumped ten feet in the air and managed to grab onto Denika.
The witch tried to knock the vampire off using the deflector spell, but the undead monster dug its claws deep into her shoulder and held on. As the vampire made its way for Denika's throat, Denika used her powers to fly head first into one of the large machines below. Once again this did little to hurt the vampire, but the collision (which she made sure the vampire took the brunt of) was enough to distract it long enough for Denika to get out of its grip.
Denika then using her magic lifted up a massive pole with her mind and impaled the vampire with it through the chest into the machine.
The vampire held onto the pole and tried to pull it out, and Denika did her best to try and stop the vampire with her mental powers, but the vampire's strength was too great and it managed to rip the pole out which it then used to beat Denika. In the process it broke her jaw, her ribs and her leg, before it stabbed the pole right through her left hand.
The vampire cackled like a hyena at Denika's pain and after it pulled the pole out of her hand it started to lick her blood off of it with a perverse ecstasy.
Denika fought the pain and made the pole fly out of the vampire's hands and go right through its foot. Whilst the vampire was distracted. Denika then hobbled to safety and quickly performed a healing spell which fixed her broken leg, ribs and jaw instantly as well as repairing her hand.
Now a good distance away from the vampire, Denika fired more magical blasts from her hands, but the vampire was quick enough to dodge them again. The vampire moved so fast her magical blasts constantly missed, but as the monster taunted Denika, it unknowingly stood in front of a broken down machine, which Denika noticed.
Denika fired her magical blast at the vampire, and it dodged her again, but this time her magic hit the machine and triggered an explosion which threw the vampire across the room.
Whilst it was vulnerable Denika fired her magical rays at the monster's legs and arms, severing them. Now unable to defend itself, Denika finished the monster off with a silver sharp through its heart.
The Circus Master meanwhile was still wrestling with his vampire. It tried to shove his head into the gears of machine below, but the Circus Master was able to use the claws on his right hand to disembowel the vampire, but it did little to deter it, with the vampire even laughing at the vandals attempts to hurt it at first, but the Circus Master thinking quickly, grabbed one of the monsters intestines and threw it into the gears of the machine which pulled the vampire into it. The vampire clogged the machine and started to tear it apart from the inside.
Whilst it made its way through the machine, it lost its arm in the process, and its face and body were badly mangled too.
The monster roared in anger at the Circus Master, who tipped his top hat in a mocking way before the vampire tried to attack him again.
The Circus Master dodged its attacks and went for his cane which he used to set fire to the vampire, whilst Denika hovered towards the Circus Master and said. "That beehived vampire was right when she said these guys were tough."
"Her name is Carlene, Denika, but you're right, let's find the others."
Keptis and the Strange Boy meanwhile had made their way to the other end of the factory. They had been following the sound of screaming. Along the way they had encountered more bits and pieces of other unfortunate workers, as well as smashed machinery.
At the far end of the room, Keptis saw four vampires bending down over a young girl, covered in blood and cuts, screaming in agony. He and the Strange Boy ran to aid her, but unfortunately they weren't fast enough.
Two of the vampires grabbed her legs, whilst another two grabbed her arms. They both pulled at either end until they ripped her in two. Keptis froze for a second at the gruesome sight before him. "Denika's right just when you think these freaks can't repulse you anymore."
The Strange Boy jumped through the air, managing to land right on the nearest vampire by the woman's severed legs, and knocking it into the other. The Strange Boy was actually stronger than even this breed of vampire, with the Jiang Shi being among the strongest of all vampires. He was able to hold the monster he landed on to the ground, but the other vampire soon grabbed the Strange Boy and hoisted him into the air, but the Strange Boy flipped backwards out of the vampire's grasp and landed on the blood sucker's upper back. He then grabbed hold of its head from either side and pulled so hard, he ripped it clean off. The child vampire then threw the severed head at the other larger vampire, before pouncing on him.
This vampire however managed to swat the Strange Boy backwards through a nearby window and out onto the streets.
Keptis meanwhile attacked the other two vampires with his chainsaw. He sawed one of the vampire's arms off as it raised it to strike him, whilst the other jumped onto a nearby wall and scaled it in a matter of seconds onto the ceiling.
The martian then decapitated the vampire whose arm he had sliced off, but the vampire on the ceiling was able to jump him from behind and knock the chainsaw out of his hand. Keptis tried to struggle free from the vampire's grip but it was no use. The monster then started bashing Keptis' face off of a nearby cotton machine, breaking his nose in the process.
Through the ordeal Keptis was able to pull a knife that had a blade of lightning out of a holster in his shin and stabbed it into the vampire's kneecap. The vampire was jolted by the brief flash of pain enough for Keptis to get free from its grasp. Keptis then instantly reached for his flaming chainsaw.
As he tried to strike however the vampire managed to pull the knife from its knee and used it to deflect the chainsaw's flaming blade.
The vampire, who was considerably faster than Keptis, then slashed the Martian's arm causing him to drop the saw. Before Keptis could even make a move for the saw, the other vampire that had swatted the Strange Boy away then grabbed Keptis from behind and held him in place.
"Flay him" the vampire said to its comrade as it dug its claws into Keptis' arms. Just then however a blue light suddenly severed the vampire holding the knife's arm. Keptis looked up to see Denika hovering in the sky, her hands and eyes shinning blue, and below her the Circus Master whose bright, garish clothes pierced the darkness of the factory just as much as the flame that he fired from his cane, which burnt the vampire that had been holding the knife to a crisp.
Seizing his chance, Keptis headbutted the vampire from behind and got free. Grabbing his chainsaw from the floor, he took both of the monster's arms off before slicing its head clean off its shoulders.
Carlene and the Strange boy then came bursting in through a window a few seconds later, with Carlene brandishing a long silver blade. (Carlene had seen the Boy outside and helped him back up,)
Carlene looked around to see the last vampire's corpse slowly melt away into nothing.
"Well I guess I came in the nick of time" Carlene said jokingly to the others.
"It seems you did. I'm glad I don't have to track down all my major enemies. Now I can kill them all in one place." A voice from the distance said.
Carlene and the rest of the Circus Folk turned round to see a large figure emerge from the shadows. It was Richards, the Alpha vampire of this breed.
"You killed some of my children. It doesn't matter though. More of my children are already loose in this miserable city. They will make more and more and soon London will belong to us."
The Circus Master didn't even let him finish his rant. He fired his cane at the monster, though this time the cane didn't shoot fire, but instead a large beam of electricity that wrapped itself around the vampire. Richards simply grabbed hold of the electrical beam undeterred however and used it to pull the Circus Master about ten feet towards him, before breaking through the beam and punching the Circus Master in the face.
Denika responded by flying into the air and shooting at Richards, who much to her surprise was able to block her beams with the palm of his hands, before blasting them back at her, which sent Denika flying outside of a nearby window.
Carlene then jumped through the air to try and catch Denika before she fell outside.
Whilst Richards was distracted by Denika, Keptis rammed his chainsaw into the monster's chest, but Richards simply smiled at the Martian and said, mockingly "Is that supposed to hurt."
The vampire then held onto the chainsaw with both hands and not only pulled it out of his chest, but hit Keptis in the face with the butt of the weapon. The Circus Master then tried to fire his cane at the monster again, but Richards dodged the blast and sliced The Circus Master's cane in half using Keptis' flaming chainsaw.
Richards then tried to attack the Circus Master with the saw, but the Circus Master was able to dodge Richard's attacks, though he wasn't able to offer any counter blows of his own.
Denika (who had been prevented from falling by Carlene) returned and blasted the chainsaw out of Richard's hands, before getting a second hit on the vampire as he turned around, knocking him a few feet across the room. Carlene then threw a silver knife from her hair into Richard's leg as he tried to get up.
The silver didn't hurt Richard as much as it had his children, but Carlene could see that it had caused him pain, and the wound hadn't instantly healed, unlike those made by the chainsaw.
The Circus Master started to strike Richards repeatedly with his claws, whilst the Strange Boy sneaked up on Richards and jumped on his back. Richards struggled to throw the little vampire off, allowing the Circus Master to pull Carlene's knife from Richard's leg and slash the vampire across the chest several times, before stabbing him in the stomach with it.
In pain and desperation, Richards was able to throw the Strange Boy off his back and into the Circus Master. Carlene however was next to join the fight with another silver knife she had pulled out of her hair. She slashed at the monster and managed to hit Richards a few more times in his face, but Richards now overcome with rage, hit the weapon out of Carlene's hand, and landed another hit in her stomach. He then grabbed Carlene by the throat and lifted her into the air.
"I always hated you, you creepy bitch." Richard spat as he prepared to tear her head off. Fortunately the Circus Master jumped Richards from behind causing him to drop Carlene. The Circus Master then stabbed Richard two more times with Carlene's knife, including in his spine, before Richards shook him off. Whilst Richards was distracted by the Circus Master, the Strange Boy then grabbed Richards by the back leg and pulled him down to the ground.
Carlene and the Circus Master jumped on Richard's back, holding him down before he could get up. Keptis then used his flaming chainsaw to slice both of Richard's legs off.
Denika, who had been hovering in the air, waiting for a moment to strike then arrived in front of Richards and began to chant in a strange language. Richards became more desperate and tried to push the two time travellers off, but the Strange Boy then jumped onto the vampire's back as well, firmly holding him in place.
Eventually Denika's magic took effect on the monster and Richards passed out.
"It's a sleeping spell. It'll only work on him for a bit. but we got him" Denika said whilst panting. It had taken quite a lot out of her just to put the vampire out for that short a space of time.
"Now we can find out who is creating these monsters." The Circus Master said as he hoisted Richards unconscious body over his shoulders.
Kelly suddenly awoke in what looked like an old abandoned church. The last thing she remembered was the hideous monster attacking her. She'd tried to defend herself, but the monster had knocked her out before she could even raise her fists.
As Kelly looked around, dazed and in pain, she could see three more people beside her in chains, all beaten and covered in cuts.
"I'm sorry you've been made to feel uncomfortable. Our people are not known for their hospitality. Still I'll make sure that we look after our own." A mysterious voice said.
Kelly looked up to see that it came from a well dressed man with a relatively normal appearance compared to the creature that had brought her here. His skin was still deathly pale and his eyes were bright red however. When he smiled, Kelly could see he had fangs.
"What do you want from me?" Kelly asked.
"One of my new children selected you. You should be grateful. All of you. From what I've been told you've all lived lives of such hardship, pain and loss. Now you'll finally be able to get back at the people responsible for your pain."
He started to read aloud from a book. All of the others screamed and begged at him to stop. Kelly wasn't sure why at first, but in a matter of seconds she started to feel a tremendous pain surge through her body.
Worse than that, she could feel herself beginning to slip away. The love she had for her children that had driven her through such trying times was replaced by anger. Anger at the little bastards for making her waste her life. Soon new violent twisted urges towards her co-workers and friends that at first terrified her began to emerge. In a few more minutes however she started to embrace them. She practically didn't even remember her children's names. All she cared about was in satisfying her newfound bloodlust.
As she looked around Kelly could see the others slowly turn into hideous monsters as the strange man continued to read from the book.
To Be Continued