Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 07:21:04 -0700 (PDT) From: Author James <authorjames2002@yahoo.com> Subject: Return of a Real Dark Knight 18 Disclaimer: This story is fiction. There are two celebrities who will appear from time-to-time. The other characters are fictitious. Any similarities to persons living or dead are completely coincidental. In this story, I have continued the adventures of Batman, my Batman, which his story first began in "Tales of a Real Dark Knight" in the Boy Band section of this archive. It spanned 250 chapters. You will find many universes merging, as the below copyrights reveal. I hope you all enjoy this. 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. Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Wonder Woman created by William Moulton Marston. Copyright DC Comics. 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. I appreciate any feedback that you may want to give. I do hope that you enjoy it!!! Any emails you send, please tell me what chapter and story you are commenting on. Thanks. authorjames2002@yahoo.com I also have several online messenger services. If you want to chat with me in real time, email me and tell me the services you use and I will tell you my screen name. Chapter 18 Demands of a Goddess "I demand to know who you are and what you want of me!" Diana exclaimed. "Calm down, pretty one," Vesta said as she approached Diana and ran her hand across Diana's cheek. "Anger ruins your beauty." "You hold me against my will. How dare you? No one can imprison an Amazon! No one!" "You've got it wrong. I do not wish to imprison you. I wish to make you one of the few honored to serve me." "I do not want to serve you!" Diana stated as she pulled against the chains. The links strained and then snapped freeing the Amazon princess. She glared at the vampire and marched forward. "Come now, pretty one. You are the most beautiful one I've ever seen. Surely you want your beauty honored throughout time." "Beauty is one thing. Honor and freedom are just as important. You have no honor and those who are your servants are not free. You bind them to you as slaves. The goddesses would never do that. You are no goddess." "Tell, me, would a goddess be able to do this?" Vesta's eyes glowed and fire blasted Diana against the wall. Diana crouched in pain. "I believe that would be a yes. Do you give yourself freely to me, Diana, princess of the Amazons?" Suddenly the window exploded and glass flew everywhere. Vesta protected her eyes but was able to see who the interlopers were. Huntress swung through the broken glass and kicked the vampire, knocking her back against the wall. Huntress kicked her legs out, spinning herself and kicking Vesta in the face with both her feet. Vesta stumbled in front of the door. I swooped in behind her and crouched near Diana. "Are you okay?" I asked her. She nodded, clearly in shock. I looked up to see Huntress snap kick and knock Vesta out into the hallway. The Vampire Slayer grabbed the door and pulled it closed. She moved a nearby cabinet in front of the large wooden door and turned to face us. "Is she okay?" I nodded. Huntress turned and saw the other girl huddled in the corner scared. The Slayer went over to her and crouched down. "Come with us. You will be safe." I picked up Diana and jumped out the window. The Huntress picked up the girl, who by now had passed out, and followed me. I put Diana down and we ran to the street where the car was waiting. The four of us managed to pile in and we took off down the street. The door blew off its hinges and Vesta entered the room to find it empty. She let out a scream that echoed throughout her vast mansion. The car pulled into the cave and we climbed out. "What do you want to do with her?" Diana asked referring to the young girl from Vesta's mansion. "Is she just passed out?" I asked. Huntress nodded. "Diana can take her up to the Center from around the front. She can be looked after from there and we can get the answers we need." Diana nodded and picked up the young lady. Huntress and I watched as the Amazon princess carried the young girl out of the cave. Then I turned to Huntress and asked, "What do you know about Roman mythology?" "Not much. I've never had any direct contact with it." "We should contact the Council. Maybe they can give us information on Vesta. If not, Roman mythology will help. We can find out what Vesta's deal is." Huntress nodded. "I'll contact them." "Thanks," I replied. "I'm going to change and head up. Maybe we can get something out of her." I changed and headed up to my room. A knock came to the door and I quickly returned the dresser and carpeting over the trapdoor. "Come in," I called out. The door opened and Clark came in. "Diana just arrived. She has someone with her." "I know," I said as we exited the bedroom. "Where are they?" "Down here in one of these rooms," he answered. He stepped ahead of me and showed me which room. "Has anything happened tonight?" "Nothing else." "Good. The sun will be up soon so I doubt that anything else will happen. Come tomorrow night, though, there will be trouble. Get your rest. You're going to need it." Clark nodded and headed off to the foyer to join up with Dinah. I opened the door to the room and stepped in. Diana was sitting on the couch with the young lady. "Hello," I said as I entered. "I'm Eric." "Hi," the girl whispered. "What's going on?" "Someone made her into a slave," Diana answered. I nodded. "Thank you, Diana. Could you go check on the others?" She looked at me narrowly at first, trying to figure out why I asked her to leave. I smiled at her to let her know that it wasn't anything she did. She relaxed and stood, walking over to the door. Then she turned to the girl. "If you need any assistance, I would be happy to help you." "Thanks," the girl said looking up at Diana. Diana left. The girl became noticeably uncomfortable. She was developing some type of connection with Diana, which only made sense. She was in the same position Diana was being forced into. That type of humiliation can be spoken of a bit easier with someone who has gone through it. "You'll see her again," I reassured the young girl. "What...what do you want with me?" "I want to help you. Diana told me some of what you went through. I want to help stop this woman who held you captive. And I want to help you move past the trauma you went through. Can you tell me your name?" "Alexis," she answered. I smiled and nodded. "Nice to meet you, Alexis." I sat back in the chair and appeared relaxed hoping it would help Alexis relax. "How did you encounter Vesta?" For the next hour or so, Alexis told me everything about Vesta: how she met Vesta, what Vesta made her do, and any and everything she could remember. I felt bad for Alexis. It seemed she wasn't allowed any contact with her family. Vesta had her for several months. "Why does she want virgins?" I had asked. "She seems to draw power from virgins. It is like she sucks the energy from our innocence and purity." Alexis became distraught and her eyes filled with tears. I reached over and placed my hand on hers. "You're safe now. Nothing can harm you here." "Isn't this where Diana was when she was abducted?" "Yes, but the sun is up. There's nothing she can do to you when the sun is up. You told me where your family lives. I will contact them myself and get you home. I promise." "Thank you," she said. I smiled and stood up. "Would you like to come get something to eat?" She nodded and I escorted her to the dining hall where the cooks were preparing to serve breakfast. "Where's Diana?" she asked. "She's getting her rest. My friend Carol will take you to a room where you can rest. Someone will come to let you know the arrangements for getting home." "Thank you very much for your kindness." I smiled and rubbed her shoulder. "It's the least I could do." Alexis went over to a nearby table and sat down. I turned and exited the dining hall and went to my office. Lance came in. "Hey," he said. "Hey." "You look exhausted." "I haven't slept since the night before last." "You really should get some. You aren't any help when you are tired." "I know, I know." "What are you doing?" "Trying to help those in need." Lance came over and ran his fingers from behind my ears up to my scalp. "What happened?" "Diana was kidnapped last night by some vampires who turned out to be working for a vampire called Vesta. She is the one behind the attack on the house." "What were they looking for?" "Virgin girls." "I feel better about that. At least we know Sarah hasn't been experimenting sexually." "That's right!" I said with realization. "Oh, thank God." Lance chuckled. "We rescued Diana last night," I continued, "along with another girl. I want to get her a ticket to go home." "I can take care of it. What's her name?" I wrote all the information down on a piece of paper. "You should really get to bed. Tonight's the dinner." "What dinner?" "For the grant you received? Remember, we got it? We need to be there to accept it." "I can't. Someone needs to watch over Diana and Sarah. Someone needs to protect them." "Bring them to the dinner," Lance suggested. "I'm sure Vesta won't attack such a large gathering." "I don't know. She had her minions attack our home. Who is to say she won't attack at the dinner?" "Maybe that's what we need to do," Jessica said as she entered the office and shut the door. "Maybe we need to set a trap." "At the dinner?" "Why not? I suggest we take Clark, Diana, Sarah and Dinah. When Vesta and her vamps appear, we attack them." "But they don't have identities or costumes yet." Jessica smiled at me. "What did you do?" I asked. "Follow me." I stood up and Lance hugged me. "I'll make those phone calls for Alexis," he said. "See what Jessica did and then get sleep, please?" "Of course." And I kissed him. The three of us exited the office and Jessica and I headed down toward the back room. Once inside, we climbed down into the cave. "Have a seat," she said. I went over and sat down in a nearby chair while she went over to the lockers. "I've been talking with them, especially Sarah and Dinah, and we came up with names for them as well as costumes." Jessica opened up the first locker to show a gray jumpsuit with black boots, black gloves and a black mask. On the front of the suit was the silhouette of a black bird. "This is for Dinah. She came up with the name Black Canary for her identity. What do you think?" "Black Canary," I said and repeated it several times. "I kind of like it." "Good." Jessica moved to the next one and opened it. "This is for Diana. The design was her idea and was based on her mother's old outfit. We just added color to it." Inside the case was a red, long-sleeved shirt with what looked like gold W's on the chest. A gold belt sat on its side with a golden lasso attached. The pants were blue with a few stars on the legs and red boots sat beside it all. "There's a gold mask in the design of the W's for Diana to wear. She's going to use the name Wonder Woman based on her mother." I smiled at the link between the generations. "I like it a lot." "Clark's is colorful, too, but it came from him. He said it's a combination of several things he saw when the alien device was activated. It's based on some Kryptonian design." Jessica opened the locker and I saw a blue jump suit with red shorts, boots, and cape. There was a blue mask that was attached to the shirt and the red S that we saw in Clark's bag was attached to the front of the shirt. "What's his name?" I asked. "Superman," Clark said as he came out from the shadows. Dinah and Sarah joined him. "What about Sarah?" I asked. Jessica went over to the last locker and opened it up to reveal a black and purple outfit that was reminiscent of Jessica's Huntress outfit. The difference is that Sarah's mask had ears on it. "And what's your codename going to be?" Sarah and Jessica looked at each other and smiled. In unison, they said, "Huntress." I was proud at that moment. I knew that Sarah taking the name was Jessica's idea. Jessica trusted her to carry on the legacy of the Huntress. It was truly a touching moment for in that moment I knew that Jessica accepted Sarah completely into her world, into our world. And she was proud of Sarah and had confidence Sarah would do the job. "Sounds like we have a nice little group ready to take over our jobs," I said. "A group that I think is more than capable," Jessica replied. "We won't let you down, dad," Sarah replied. "I know you won't, sweetie. I know you won't." "Let's say we kick some vampire ass!" Dinah exclaimed. We all started laughing and agreed that tonight we were going to give Vesta hell for coming to our city. To Be Continued... What do you think of this chapter, of Sarah, Dinah, Clark, and Diana? I'd love to hear your thoughts so far of this chapter and storyline.