Date: Tue, 21 May 2002 20:06:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: Author James <authorjames2002@yahoo.com>
Subject: Chronicles of a Real Dark Knight 35

Disclaimer: This story, though maybe not in this chapter but in subsequent
chapters, will have celebrities in it.  I have no knowledge of their
sexuality and this is not intended to imply their sexuality.  This is all
from my own mind.  Scary!!  People actually get a glimpse into my mind!!!

Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters created by Joss
Whedon.  Copyright 20th Century Fox.

Batman, and all related characters created by Bob Kane. Copyright DC Comics
and Warner Bros.

X-MEN, and all related characters created by Stan Lee. Copyright Marvel
Comics and 20th Century Fox.

The Vampire Chronicles and all related characters created by Anne Rice.
Copyright Anne O'Brien Rice.

I don't know for sure if I will use all the above elements, but just in
case, I have myself covered.

In this story, which has been floating around in my head most of my life,
you will find many universes merging, as the above copyrights reveal.  I
hope you all enjoy this.  I appreciate any feedback that you may want to
give.  This story doesn't deal so much with sex, sex, sex, but more of my
feelings that I struggled with and am starting to come to terms with.  Part
of his background is mine.  I do hope that you enjoy it!!!

Any emails you send, please tell me what chapter and story you are
commenting on.  Thanks.

jmsotc@yahoo.com

Chapter 35 Interview with the Vampire

	I was to meet Jayce in one of the sitting rooms at the Watchers'
Council Headquarters.  The furniture was lush and velvety.  I stood waiting
for him for several minutes listening to the ticking of the clock and
reading the titles of the books on the shelves.  Many were written long ago
and their titles faded to near unreadable.  Some were current titles by
current others.  I smiled to myself seeing every book in the Vampire
Chronicles.
	"Find something amusing?" Jayce asked as he walked into the room.
	"Just that you have all of the Vampire Chronicles.  I guess you
enjoy good fiction."
	"Believe it or not, Eric, it is not fiction."
	"Excuse me?"
	"It is fact."
	"I find it unbelievable that vampires exist such as are described."
	"You will have a chance to see for yourself.  The Council is
sending you to speak with one."
	"Excuse me?  Speak with one?"
	"You are to visit the vampire Marius to get information concerning
the demon Macai.  I'm sure he will surprise you.  He's not like any other
vampire you've met."
	"I'm sure he isn't," I answered with a note of sarcasm.  "I will be
sure to pack my wooden stakes, holy water and crosses."
	"You won't need them."
	"Let me be the judge of that."
	I left the room heading for my room, my equipment and my suit.  If
I were going to make any headway with a vampire who has seen most
everything on this world, I would have to appear different than anything
else he has seen.  Batman should suffice for the occasion.
	The Council gave me a car to drive to Marius' estate.  It was about
an hour's drive north of the Watchers' Council castle.  When I finally
arrived, I knocked at the door.  A young man met me with wonder in his
eyes.
	"Have you come to kill us?" he asked in surprise and fear.
	"No.  I'm here to see Marius."
	The boy prepared to slam the door on my face when a voice rang out
from the shadows.  "Let him enter.  I sense no ill will in him."
	The boy opened the door and stepped back so I could enter.  "Marius
de Romanus, I presume?" I said.
	"You presume correctly."  Marius stepped out of the shadows to
reveal a youthful face framed by platinum blonde hair.  His eyes were deep
blue and I found myself sinking into them.  "What a strange garb you wear,"
he said to me.  "Please, come in.  Let's retire to more comfortable
surroundings."
	Marius wore a red velvet smoking jacket with a white silk cravat
underneath.  I followed him down a hallway and into a lavishly decorated
sitting room.  "I must say your costume is not too strange, at least to me,
at any rate."
	"What do you mean?"
	"I will tell you momentarily.  Are you thirsty?"
	"Why are you being so nice?" I asked.  "Demons such as yourself do
not have it in them to be nice, unless they have a soul, which is rather
uncommon in the vampire world."
	"I'm afraid that you have been introduced to the world of vampires
by only a small species of vampire.  You cannot use your crosses and holy
water against the likes of me."
	I looked upon Marius narrowly.  He must have sensed what I was
thinking as he continued his conversation.  "You believe those images,
those holy objects to be harmful to me.  Take them out."
	I pulled out my wooden cross and small vial of holy water.  He held
out his hand and I carefully placed the cross in it waiting for his hand to
burst into flame.  It did not.  Marius clutched the cross tightly before
handing it back to me.
	"Pour your water upon my skin and watch."
	I twisted the cap of the vial off and poured a small amount of
water onto his hand.  I expected to see his skin burn and peel, but it did
not.
	"You see.  Your tools do not harm me."
	"Then you are not a vampire."
	Marius opened his mouth to reveal his teeth.  "I am a vampire."
	"Tell me this great mystery."
	"Vampires have been around for a long, long time.  And like the
many species of humanity, vampires have different species.  The differences
in vampires, however, are more distinct than the differences between the
species of mankind.
	"The species I belong to is a species with souls. We retain our
humanity after we are turned.  Holy images have no harmful effect on us.
We are not demonic.  We are the human breed of vampires.
	"Another race of vampires, no doubt the ones you encounter on a
regular basis, are demonic in nature.  They retain some semblance of
humanity in that they hold the memories of the being turned into the
vampire.  Those creatures, however, have no soul to them.  They are
demonic, pure and simple.  The evidence of their nature comes with no
reflection in mirrors, the harm holy icons inflicts, and when they are
about to feed, their demonic face manifests with their foreheads furling,
their eyes yellowing and their teeth becoming ragged.
	"There exists a race of vampires that are completely and utterly
animalistic in nature.  They can walk and talk among humans, even in the
sunlight.  But when they manifest their vampiric nature, their entire
bodies change into that of a bat-like body.  They sprout wings and become
pure beast.  The only way to kill them is for the beast to lose a large
amount of blood.  Wooden stakes, holy water, and crosses do not harm them."
 	I stood in silence at this creature's information.  He sounded so
sincere and so knowledgeable.  As much as I wanted to stay and learn more
about the vampires, I had other more pressing business to attend to.
	"Do you know why I come?" I asked.
	"You seek assistance.  That is usually why people come to me.
Unless it is to give me a hard time about my home and it's filling of young
boys."
	I vowed in my heart to ask him about that very thing.  Why would a
vampire need a house full of boys except to keep his self fed or for sex
slaves?  "I was sent here to ask you about the demon known as Macai."
Marius's face became rather serious at the mentioning of the demon's name.
"I see you've heard of him."
	"I've fought him, but it was a long time ago."
	"Tell me about it."
	"Several hundred years ago, England was flourishing under the rule
of Arthur.  At that time, King Arthur had a court of knights who served him
and the welfare of all Great Britain.  It was also during that time that a
close friend of mine, Merlin was his name, also served Arthur.
	"A very powerful, very arrogant wizard by the name of Calomar
sought to harness a great force to help take over the kingship.  He opened
the book of Macai and brought forth the demon.  Calomar believed he could
control the demon.  He could not.  Macai had slain Calomar and sought to be
ruler himself.
	"Many knights died defending Camelot.  Camelot was seeing losses it
had never seen before or since.  I was contacted by Merlin himself to
battle the demon.  Being immortal had its advantage.
	"This part you may find interesting.  While on my way to Camelot, I
was met by a young boy dressed in the guise of a bat.  He was a stranger in
a strange land, he said.  He came with me to Camelot and there, joined by a
warrior princess, Merlin, the Bat, and myself faced Macai."
	I was interested in finding out whom this Bat was, but again, I had
to keep Marius on track.  "How did you fight Macai?"
	"I used the sword Excalibur.  The Bat aided me in keeping the demon
distracted so Merlin could perform the incantation and return the demon to
his book.  It was a great battle but we prevailed."
	"Who was this Bat?"
	"I don't know.  He never told me his real name."
	The way Marius looked at me I knew he was holding information from
me.  Part of me sensed that it was for my own good that I did not know.  I
decided to trust him since he was so forthcoming with the information I
needed.
	"May I ask what happened to the Bat?"
	"He left," Marius answered.  "Once the battle was over, he left to
continue his journey."
	"What was his journey?"
	"He was on his way home.  That is all he shared with me."
	"I wonder if he found it."
	"I don't know, but I'm sure he did."
	"I appreciate the information.  I am also here to ask you to join
me."
	"Join you for what?"
	"Macai has been released from the book and the Council of Watchers
needs your help in putting him back."
	"I will join you tomorrow night."
	"Thank you?"
	I turned and left the room.  As I headed for the door, the same
young man who answered the door came to walk alongside of me.
	"Why are you here?" I asked him.
	"The Master has taken us in to teach and educate us."
	"Does he ever harm any of you?"
	"Never.  He loves us and only wishes the best for us."
	I nodded to him.
	"What were you doing with Master Marius?" he asked.
	"I needed some information on some beings I've been dealing with."
	"Marius is smart.  I'm sure he can help you."
	I smiled at the boy and exited the castle, climbed into the car and
headed back to the Watchers' Castle.  When I arrived, I found the castle to
be strangely quiet.  Perhaps something had gone wrong inside.  Did someone
take it over?  Maybe it was Macai again.  Caution, I decided, would be the
better part of valor.
	I floated up the side of the building and climbed into the nearby
window.  Quietly I approached the door to the room I was in and listened.
A faint sound came through the door and I quietly opened it.
	I followed the sound down the corridor and down the stairs to the
second floor.  I heard a door open and then close.  I stepped back and
beheld a woman of beauty, according to the heterosexual male and lesbian
worlds at any rate.
	The female had long black hair and blue eyes.  She wore a gown of
blue and white silk.  A small gold crown rested upon her head.  She was
definitely out of place in this time but not of the location.
	I decided she must have been an intruder and I went into action.
Jumping from my vantage point I tackled her knocking her to the ground.
She rolled with the tackle and pushed out knocking me off of her.  She
rolled to her feet, as did I, and we faced off.
	"You don't want to do this," she said.  Her voice was commanding,
yet still holding her femininity.  I was impressed.
	"On the contrary, I do.  You do not belong here.  Tell me, where
are the others?"
	"I will not give you that information."
	"Then I guess we have no choice but to resort to violence."
	"Be my guest."
	I swung my leg up at the woman.  She grabbed it and spun me around.
I felt like a rag doll in her hands, she had such strength.  She threw me
into the wall and I felt some of the rock give way to the force that threw
me.
	I slid to the ground as the woman approached.  I manipulated some
heat molecules and created a ball of fire, which I threw at her.  She held
up her hands and for the first time I noticed two metallic bracelets on her
wrists.  The fireball hit the bracelets and knocked her back but did not
kill her.
	I jumped to my feet.  I felt my mutation going into effect,
strengthening me.  The woman brought her fist at me and I dodged.  I
grabbed her by the wrist and used her own momentum to toss her forward into
the wall already weakened by me being thrown into it.
	The woman hit the wall with a crash and the wall gave.  I looked
through the hole and saw the woman stand up amongst the rubble.  Quentin
and Jayce were sitting on the sofa with teacups on the table in front of
them.
	"Quentin.  I found this woman.  I don't know who she is or what she
wants.  Her strength is great," I said.
	"Very great," the woman replied as she literally flew at me and
punched me.  I went flying across the corridor and through the wall on the
other side.  The impact hurt me greatly but my mutation was already kicking
in, repairing any of the damage done.
	Slowly I stood up to see Quentin rush over to the female and Jayce
rush over to me.
	"Are you alright?" Jayce asked.
	"Yes.  Quentin needs to get away from her.  She's dangerous."
	"That she is," Jayce agreed.  "But she's also on our side."
	"What?"
	Jayce took my hand and helped me up and through the rubble.
	"Eric McCoy, also known as Batman, meet Hippolyta, queen of the
Amazons.  Your majesty, this is Eric McCoy."
	"Ah yes," she said.  "Pleasure to meet you."
	"Likewise," I said.  "Sorry if I hurt you."
	"Don't worry.  You did not.  I hope I didn't hurt you."
	"Oh, you did," I answered.
	"Eric, please join us," Quentin invited.
	"She's unbelievable," I whispered to Jayce.
	"She is quite a wonder woman," Jayce replied.

To Be Continued...

Two characters introduced to Eric in this chapter.  The first appearance by
a character created by Anne Rice and the first hero in the DC universe not
directly connected to Batman, a hero very famous in the DC Universe.  If
you don't know who Hippolyta is, she is Diana's (a.k.a. Wonder Woman)
mother.

I heard about Marius a few months ago and became intrigued by him.  The
first book I read with him as a major character was "The Vampire Armand" by
Anne Rice.  As I read "The Vampire Armand" I found myself falling in love
with both Marius and Armand.  They both had qualities I found extremely
attractive and sensuous.  "Blood and Gold" is also an excellent book
dealing with Marius's past.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I couldn't help by
find a way for Marius to be included in the story.  And this worked out
nicely.  I also dropped in a little bit of a mystery in this chapter.  I
wonder how many of you caught it.  I know many of you believed it to be
Lestat showing up.  I hope you are not disappointed.

More good stuff to come!  Keep reading!  Also, as always, comments are
welcome.