2013-05-29 - Vampires are People, Right?

Salem, Massachusetts. The dark of the night, and bad things are happening in a town square! The risk of so much history being destroyed here is at stake! Pun not intended! Vampires are attacking! And as of right now, only one man who was doing some occult research can try to stop them. Pete Wisdom!

The moon hangs high, and the pale, red-eyed figures surround the man, whose hands are burning brightly. They've even combusted, the glowing orange fingers having bits of flame lick along them, hot-knives extended far outward. One of his sunglass lenses is cracked. And he looks ready to die.

Suddenly, a localized gust of wind blows, buffetting into the vampires, but not Pete. Very unusual weather patterns! Then Kara flies in after she finishes pursing her lips to do that 'super breath' thing she does. "Hi... I was just in the neighborhood and who are these people you're setting on fire?"

Wisdom had to duck down some to keep out of the heavy gust, and when the skirt-clad heroine flew in, he lifted his head. Looking at her through one broken lens and another whole, he laughed. "Bloodsucking parasites, that's what- look out!" He pointed a glowing, bladed finger.

Just in time for a trio of vampires to take to the air - great, they can fly. Their claws and fangs are bared, and they barrel towards Supergirl in quick succession!

Kara Zor-El oofs as she's tackled by three of the vampires. She puts her hands up to prevent them from being able to bite her. "HEY! GET...." She starts, avoiding as one snaps at her, "OFFF!" she finishes, kicking one of them off of her and backwards into a wall, then flinging a second one in another direction, leaving her to wrestle with the third one. Keeping him at arm's length with her hands, she looks over at Pete. "So like mutants ..." she rolls over, getting him on the bottom and clamping her hand onto his throat to keep him down, "or aliens? Their DNA looks like human but something's different about it. Can't place just what" she says as the vampire slashes at her and she grabs his hand. "Feisty though!"

Wisdom shoved a hand, hotknives and all, into the face of one of the creatures. It gave out a cry, before the rest of its body combusted and crumbled into ash. "They're vampires, Supergirl! Undead manifestations of hunger and evil! Stop analyzing! They aren't human!" And he leapt back from a descending beastie, whose talons raked into the ground where Pete once stood.

As for the vampires against Kara, they're in pretty poor condition. The one that slammed into the wall is crawling back to its feet, its bones popping as it regenerates. The one that was flung in another direction is in the fountain, trying to get its bearings. It hisses threateningly at Kara! The one in her grasp thrashes and bites, trying to gain some form of advantage. The girl's just too strong, though!

Kara Zor-El keeps the vampire down with her hand. "Undead? So like... zombies or something?" Karen did have her watch that Land of the Dead movie, which sort of was freaky. She flies upwards with the vampire, suddenly turning in midair and flinging him downward at significant force. She's still holding back though - it's one of those things Kal stresses with her to do. She flies back down, landing near the fountain. "Oh wait those are just reanimated dead. What does that mean actually - undead. Is that different from zombies?" She then purses her lips and blows at the vampire by the zombie, this time using her freeze breath to try to freeze the vampire in the fountain.

The vampire slammed into the ground with enough force to leave a heck of an imprint. But it was still... well, not really living, but animate! "Yes!" Wisdom semi-snapped. "They're different from zombies but they're still undead. Point is, they're not alive, and they feed on the living! They need-argh!" Oh no, Wisdom's caught in a bearhug! He thrashes, hot-knives sprouting from his neck! Kind of cool, really, a nice defense measure. But he's still being squeezed by a super-strong monster!

Kara Zor-El freezes the one vampire in the fountain, then superspeeds to the vampire bear hugging Pete (totally ignoring the one who she basically power-slammed back into the ground. Maybe assuming he's not going to get up from that? She speeds behind the vampire and grabs him. "No eating the grouchy English guy!" she says firmly, grabbing the vampire's arms and forcing the bearhug open.

That vampire that's locked in ice looks very mad! But it can't get free! Wisdom lurched forward, away from the vampire, before turning around and throwing a volley of hotknives into it's chest. It's eyes went wide, it's arms flexed futilely against Supergirl's, and it crumbled to ash and dust in her hands.

"Thanks, luv," Wisdom said. "More incoming! Use that heat vision - I'll be fine. We'll see how well they cook." Just to be safe though, he ducked as a wall of vampires started pouring from a walkway on the street, red-eyed, long-fanged, and hissing out their hatred!

Kara Zor-El blinks as the vampire turns to ashes in her hands. "But I don't kill people! Er... I mean... I just don't kill. I mean I wouldnt try to intentionally! I'd never hear the end of it from my cousin, plus maybe they can be cured of whatever's making them act like-"

And that's when the vampire that Kara slammed into the ground jumps on her from behind and his teeth sink into her neck! Now this is something Kara's not used to. Especially since landing on Earth, she got used to the idea that very little can hurt her, and nothing pierces her skin! The fangs, however, they sink into her jugular like the would any other person, causing Kara to panic a bit. "AGH!"

"Kara!" Wisdom shouted, his friend now at the mercy of a vampire! But he had more to deal with right now - a whole bunch of them. Still ducking, he threw his hands out, a volley of hotknives flying from his hands like full-auto tracer fire, slamming into and shredding the vampires, and setting many of them alight!

The one on Supergirl slid its arms around her, talons surprisingly gentle against her svelte, Kryptonian body. Those fangs receded so it could get to the warm blood that flowed from the holes it left in her supple, once-flawless neck. It gave a sigh as it tasted her essence, and began to drink.

The rough part was, it was hard to resist. It felt... right. Well, it felt right to humans, to be prey to these creatures. That once they bit you, it was alright. To just... just let go.

Kara Zor-El's normal instinct is to fight violently, but something about the bite is sapping that need to resist. Kryptonians might be very different biologically from humans (despite looking very human) but this particular reaction is the same. She falls to her knees as the vampire drinks in her Kryptonian blood. Stuff happening around her seems to be more in slow motion or muted now.

The vampire knelt with her, holding her in it's slowly warming arms. It drank deep, vitalized, empowered. The girl's blood was amazingly vibrant with seemingly limitless lifeforce. But there was something wrong... It pulled away, and smacked its lips, trying to swallow what else it took from her. And then it coughed, smoke rising from it's mouth and nostrils. And then it started to scratch at itself, tearing at its arms, at it's belly. The blood it ingested had gone from its stomach and into its veins. And it was full of the sun. And it was horrible!

But this thing's death was a sight. It thrashed, stumbling back, letting Kara drop to the floor as it started to glow from within, shining with heat. It ran towards its companions, shrieking out a wordless warning, before it simply exploded in a burst of light that faded an instant later, letting glowing ash float gently to the ground below.

Wisdom, however, could only keep up his suppressive fire for so long! "Supergirl! Are you okay?" he asked, looking over his shoulder at her, likely very much to his detriment.

Kara Zor-El is still on her knees, holding her neck as the wound is already healing up, a bit woozy at first. Then looks up at the horde of vampires attacking Pete, and she looks... very ticked off. "Get down Pete." she says as her eyes glow red.

A wide burst of heat vision shoots out from her eyes. Not the narrow focused beams Pete might have been used to hearing about. Apparently Kryptonians don't actually have to limit their heat vision to small focused bursts. It basically fires at all the vampire with incredibly intense heat. Pete knows heat, and this is REALLY hot. Really, really hot. Bascially hot to the point where it incinerates the upper portions of every vampire in its path. The lower portions turn to ash afterwards.

Wisdom didn't duck, much to his suit's detriment. He saw that red blast and basked in it, happily watching all those vampires crumble about the two of them. When Kara was done, Wisdom was shirtless (and coatless), but at least he still had his trousers. He wiped some soot from an arm, to no avail, and laughed. "Cor, I've gotta work with you more often, Supergirl. You done good." All that was left was the vampire frozen in the fountain, which would inevitably be stuck until morning where it would die.

Kara Zor-El bites her lip as she holds her neck, getting back up to her feet again. When she removes her hand, the vampire bite is already gone. She doesnt look particularly happy with herself though. "Are... are you sure they were like zombies and not like... just infected people?" realizing if it's the latter she might have just killed a lot of people.

Pete Wisdom nodded. "Blood-crazed monsters. They may show occasional lucidity, but they're predators, through and through. Mind you, there are exceptions... but they're very rare." He sighed. "Folks like Blade, or Spitfire. They're... different. They've kept what little humanity they have. You did a good thing, Supergirl. It starts as an infection, but it's more of a magical curse. It turns people into monsters."

Kara Zor-El bites her lip as she holds her neck, getting back up to her feet again. When she removes her hand, the vampire bite is already gone. She doesnt look particularly happy with herself though. "Are... are you sure they were like zombies and not like... just infected people?" realizing if it's the latter she might have just killed a lot of people.

Pete nodded. "Blood-crazed monsters. They may show occasional lucidity, but they're predators, through and through. Mind you, there are exceptions... but they're very rare." He sighed. "Folks like Blade, or Spitfire. They're... different. They've kept what little humanity they have. You did a good thing, Supergirl. It starts as an infection, but it's more of a magical curse. It turns people into monsters."

Kara looks at the vampire encased in ice. "What about that one? I mean... are you SURE there's no way to .. you know... give them their humanity back? Maybe it's something that can be cured."

Pete Wisdom shrugs. He looked at the blood that remained on Supergirl's neck, but the wound had healed. "I'm not the authority on that. There *are* ways before they make their first kill, or something like that. As soon as morning comes, Supergirl, that vampire's dust, too." He sighed. "Look, it's hard... and you're lucky you don't have to deal with this sort of thing on a regular basis. I do the hard stuff, Supergirl."

Kara bites her lip. "Well... I don't know.. maybe I could take it to the Fortress and run some tests or something to see if there's some way to undo it." She looks glum when Pete mentions how, after the first kill, it's pretty much a lost cause. "Yeah, I don't think I could do this sort of stuff. How in Rao's name do you handle that?"

"One day at a time, Supergirl," Wisdom said and sighed. "You go ahead. But science and magic... well... good luck. And be careful, some vampires can turn into mist, as a way to escape. I'm sure even your Fortress has ventilation."

Kara pauses. "Maybe you could let me know exactly what vampires can do first. Might help to figure out how to safeguard him." She then raises her eyebrows. "Or maybe I could bring you there and you could let me know if the safeguards would work?" Is she inviting Pete Wisdom to the North Pole and Superman's Fortress of Solitude?

Pete Wisdom furrowed his brow. "That's a lot of trust for me, Supergirl. And normally, I'd be all over that opportunity to learn more and get information. But... grab a tree branch, make sure it's sharp, and shove it into the vampire's heart. An iron stake will do, too. Paralyzes them, and prevents them from using any of their powers. Makes them perfect for study."

She tilts her head. "So... I'm taking the invite to be a no?" She then listens as Pete explains stuff about vampires. "That won't kill them, right? Just immobilize?"

Pete Wisdom nodded. "That's a no. I..." He shrugged. "You should keep some secrets. I know I'm gonna kick myself for saying this, but Superman's shared quite a bit with me. And in some ways, the less I know the better, or I'll really get paranoid." He snorted. "But be careful not to get it anywhere near the sun. And stake it first!"

Kara Zor-El fidgets. "You're not still scared of people like me, are you? I mean... after being with Karen? And talking to Kal? He's much better at making people not be all scared and stuff than I am, I guess."

Pete Wisdom smirked. "You can smooth talk people into near anything. You're still walking engines of potential world destruction. I'm not scared, just... wary."

Kara walks over to Pete. "It's not like mutants aren't also. I mean, comparatively speaking. To non-powered human beings. Just so you know, there are totally ... things in place... in case any of us ever got out of control." Yeah, namely Batman and his zillions of contingency plans for everything.

Pete Wisdom shrugged. "A bullet can take most of us down. Or a very heavy weight. Or even handcuffs. You're in an entirely separate league. Give you a little sun and you can move mountains... literally. Don't deny that if your capabilities were in the hands of someone with the right mindset, the world would be rather doomed."

Kara nods a little. "Yeah I... guess I can understand how that could make people around us a little unnerved." Pete knowing about Divine, Match and Galatea doesn't exactly give Kara much leeway to say 'that wouldnt happen.' "But some of you guys are less...er... squishy than others." She rubs her head. Okay you did not just call people squishy, did you Kara?

Kara continues. "Anyway, I just... I'd like you to not be scared or nervous around ME at least, please?"

"See, that distinction alone is enough to be worried. You're the anti-squishies. Even most Earth-born anti-squishies are very squishy compared to how anti-squishy you are." He snorted. "I told you, I'm not scared, just wary. Leave it to your boyfriend to not be nervous. I feel awkward enough talking to so many skintight clad young women."

Kara smiles happily when Pete mentions Dedrick. "Yeah. Dedrick is very enlightened and not like... threatened or anything about the whole strength thing. He's so great." Yeah any moment now she'll start swooning about him, but stops when she realizes she's with Pete. She looks at her outfit, then at Pete. "Oh come on, you were with Karen - my outfit isnt nearly as... you know." She smiles a little.

"I am *not* with Karen anymore. She dumped me for Huntress... after I forgave her for cheating on me with her in the first place." His own smile went away very fast after that. "It's... not my business anymore."

Kara thinks for a moment, figuring this is where things get awkward. "Okay well... I'm going to get going. Better fly the long way to avoid the sun so frosty here won't go poof. I'll let you know what I figure out, if anything. You know Pete, this was.... good... sorta. Hope we can do this again." She pauses. "Well. Not THIS... this.... and not the ... getting bitten in the neck or incinerating vampires ... but... you know." She motions back and forth between them. "This. The talking thing." Another pause. "Okay... gonna go now."%R%RShe heads to the large block of ice with a vampire center, ripping it out of the ground with ease, then flies off with it.