Date: Wed, 14 Aug 2002 05:22:56 -0700 (PDT)
From: Author James <authorjames2002@yahoo.com>
Subject: Marvel Knights 5

Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction.  It has no intentions of
resembling any real persons dead or alive.  This is entirely from my
imagination, with a little help from already established sources.  This
story is based loosely on the comic book character "The Punisher" from
Marvel Comics.  Other characters may appear from Marvel comics as well as
DC Comics.

Punisher and all related characters copyright Marvel Comics.

Blade and all related characters copyright Marvel Comics.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel copyright Joss Whedon, United Paramount
Network and Warner Bros. Respectively.

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

I have written another story on nifty entitled "Tales of a Real Dark
Knight".  It is in the Celebrity/Boy Bands section.  Batman may appear in
this story once or twice, as the Punisher may appear in "Tales of a Real
Dark Knight".  Any comments may be sent to authorjames2002@yahoo.com

Thank you and enjoy.

Chapter 5 New Player

	Davey showed up at the apartment to find Ty and Whistler waiting
for him.  He took a seat in the central room and waited for Blade to begin
the meeting.
	"It seems there is a new player in town," Blade began.  "Tandy and
Whistler found him the other night.  His name is Ahriman and he is a
vampire."
	"Why is he here?" Davey asked.
	"Simple.  He's here to build an Empire."
	"That's crazy!  He can't pull it off!  Try to build a freakin'
empire in the middle of a country!  That's absurd!"
	"That is very absurd," Whistler said.  "But Ahriman has the power
to do it.  He is a very ancient vampire not like you have faced before.
Stakes in the heart, crosses and silver won't harm him.  The only thing
that may work is dismemberment."
	"What do you mean by vampire we've never faced before?" Ty asked.
	"Most of the ones you've met are those with no soul possessed by
demons and those created by the rare blood strain, which are very evil as
well.
	"The species of vampire Ahriman comes from is a species derived
from mystical powers.  To make a long story short, a spirit that craved
blood and was damaged by sunlight possessed them.  That is why only fire
can harm them.  Dismemberment comes because they are still human.  They
have a soul."
	"What do we do?" Davey asked.  "Do we fight him to get Tandy back?
Or try to find his sister for him?"
	"Good questions, Davey.  The ball is in Blade's court since he
seems to be the leader of the group."
	Blade became thoughtful, and then looked to Whistler. "Use your
contacts and research Ahriman's past.  Maybe we can find the location of
his sister or at the least, her last known whereabouts.
	"We are also going to need you to teach us to fight these types of
vampires, Whistler.  We've never fought them before.  If conventional
weapons don't work, we are going to need your training as a Watcher to get
us ready."
	"What about Tandy?" Ty asked.  "We can't just leave her with the
vampire."
	"True.  Let's give him some time.  I don't think he wants to turn
her into a vampire, or to kill her.  I think he is more fascinated with her
because she is a Vampire Slayer.  He probably wants to know why she can do
the things she does."
	"If you want me to teach and train you," Whistler said, "perhaps
you should come with me."

	Johnny Blaze stood at the window for a moment, watching his son
Caleb play in the sandbox.  Caleb was too young to know what was going on.
Johnny wiped away a tear and went back to his packing.  Downstairs he could
hear the sobbing of his wife and he felt the same pain she did.  But he
couldn't change things.  This was how it had to be.
	A few months ago, Johnny accepted something about himself that he
tried to repress for years: his sexual orientation.  He had grown up in a
culture that believed a man who liked another man was immoral.  And "those"
kind of men tended to be very effeminate.  Johnny knew from a young age he
was different, but he couldn't put his hand on it until, in high school, he
started to notice he was attracted to the other teenage boys.  He tried to
stop it but he couldn't.  Not wanting to disappoint his father, he got into
motorcycles and practiced stunts.  He even met a beautiful girl who fell
madly in love with him.  Johnny cared about her deeply.  She was his best
friend.
	Feeling he could control his feelings for other men, and wanting to
continue to make his father proud, Johnny married his best friend.  They
had their first and only child, Caleb, a year later, who now played in the
backyard at the tender age of seven.  Johnny loved his wife and son very
much.  But his heart was not fully in the marriage.  He was not born to be
with a wife.
	A few months ago, he realized he couldn't control or change his
feelings, so he researched the subject.  Devouring book after book,
chatting in married gay men chat rooms, and researching support groups, he
realized he could no longer keep lying to his wife in good conscience.  She
had to tell her the truth.  He had to tell her he was gay.
	That happened a month ago.  She had been greatly upset by it.
After attending marriage counseling, they realized they could not remain
married.  In each human being is a need, a need to be intimate with his or
her life partner.  For a gay man to be intimate with a woman is difficult
at best, a living hell at worst and vice versa for a gay woman.  The two
decided to divorce and slowly, Johnny moved his things to an apartment.
	Today, however, was the "big" day of completely moving out.  The
divorce was finalized and knew he had to move on.  His wife, or now
ex-wife, had to move on.  Caleb had been told that daddy had to move to a
new place and live.  Caleb didn't want Johnny to go, but Johnny was able to
convince him that daddy would visit often and they would still do things.
Caleb accepted this reluctantly.
	That brings us to today.  Johnny finished packing his last suitcase
and walked downstairs.  He looked in on his ex-wife who stood at the sink
crying her eyes out.  Johnny walked in and put his hand on her shoulder.
She jerked away from him.
	"Get away from me.  I don't want to have anything to do with you."
	Johnny nodded in understanding.  This had been a great torment to
him and his ex-wife.  Had society been accepting of homosexuality when he
was younger, he could have been more honest with himself and not had to put
on airs for his father.  Because of that lie, three hearts were being torn
up.
	Johnny grabbed his suitcase and went out the backdoor to his son,
who stopped digging in the sandbox and looked up at his approaching father.
Johnny knelt down and put his hand on his son's head.
	"It's time for daddy to go."
	Caleb grabbed onto Johnny tightly and began to cry and wail.
"Don't go, daddy!  Don't go!"
	"I know it is hard, son.  I wish I could stay here with you
forever.  But I can't.  Sometimes things happen that we can't control."
	Johnny had to do all he could to hold back the tears and choke back
the sobs.  He kissed his son on the head several times and crushed him
close to his heart.
	"I will always love you, Caleb.  And I will always be there for you
to protect you and guide you.  I promise."
	Johnny's ex-wife came out of the house and approached Caleb.  She
slowly was able to get Caleb to let go of Johnny.  As much as Johnny hated
it, he had to go.  He kissed Caleb one last time on the cheek and head and
whispered, "I love you."  Then he turned and walked away.

	In his apartment, Johnny sat down and cried.  He cried for hours
while leafing through some of his occult books searching for a spell to end
grief.  He had looked through several and found nothing.
	"Why can't magic help with this pain?  I'm sure everyone would be
better off not feeling this.  Why?"
	Realizing magic wasn't going to work, Johnny Blaze decided to do
the next best thing, go to a bar.

	"What are you doing?" Tandy said as the large men drug her into a
penthouse.  "You are going to wrinkle my blouse doing that!  Let me out!"
	"Shut up!  We'll release you when we are ordered to do so."
	Immediately the men untied her and let her out.  Tandy looked up at
them rather surprised.  She heard no order to release her.
	"I can communicate telepathically," Ahriman said as he came out
from the bedroom wearing a bathrobe and pajamas.  "Leave us," he said to
the men and they turned and left.
	"W-w-what do you want with me?"
	"Relax."  Ahriman walked over to the couch.  "Come have a seat.  I
have no intentions of hurting you unless you force me to.  I want to talk
with you."
	Tandy looked at Ahriman suspiciously.  He smiled at her and poured
himself a drink from the bar.  "Would you like something to drink?"
	"No."
	"Suit yourself."  Ahriman took the drink and went over to the couch
and sat down.  "Please, I sincerely am interested in you, what you are.
I've never met a Vampire Slayer before."
	Tandy slowly walked over and sat at the other end of the couch.
"You've never heard of a..."
	"Vampire Slayer.  True."
	"But you're a vampire."
	"Yes, I am.  But I am not the type of vampire you face every night.
I am a more humane breed.
	"Tell me.  Where do your powers come from?"

	Weatherby drove down the street to a nearby bar and parked his
Suburban in the bar parking lot.  The pain from the blows Reverend Exeter
had given him earlier was very pronounced.  He decided to drown his pain in
whiskey so he went to a bar off the beaten path.
	Weatherby entered the bar and sat at a nearby barstool.  After
ordering a whiskey, he figured he had time to relax before the Friends of
Humanity or local law enforcement would come for him.  He needed the
relaxation, especially after the last few days he had.
	He looked around taking notice of his surroundings.  There weren't
many to take note of: two people sitting at a table, three at a booth, and
a young red haired man sitting at the other end of the bar.  Feeling safe,
Weatherby began is "relaxation".

	An hour later, somehow Weatherby made a new friend, the red haired
patron named Johnny Blaze, and was having conversation.  The subject turned
to the Friends of Humanity Weatherby got on his soapbox.
	"The bastards terrorized teenagers in Columbus simply because of
their genetic differences.  Why kind of cowardice is that?"
	"I wasn't sure what they were doing," Johnny said.  "Up here they
were more advocating keeping everyone safe.  They never showed what they
were doing to the mutants."
	"They never do."  Weatherby noticed a white ring around Johnny's
left ring finger, as if Johnny wore a wedding band before.  "Are you
married?"
	"No," Johnny answered.  "Used to be but not any more."
	"What happened?"  Weatherby noticed Johnny becoming a bit
uncomfortable.  "If you don't want to tell me, that's okay.  It's none of
my business."
	Johnny thought about what Weatherby's reaction would be.  Since
Weatherby went to all the trouble to protect the mutants in Columbus,
perhaps he would be open to other minority groups as well.
	"Do you promise not to laugh?  Or pummel me if you thing I'm
disgusting?"
	"I promise."
	"My ex-wife and I divorced because I finally realized that I'm not
attracted to women.  I'm gay."
	Johnny held his breath waiting for some type of retaliatory
reaction from Weatherby.  Once he realized there was none coming from
Weatherby, he breathed a sigh of relief.
	"Are you okay?" Weatherby asked,
	"Fine.  You?"
	"I'm fine."
	"Good.  I just didn't think you would react so kindly to a guy
sitting next to you and telling you he liked men.  I mean, you look like a
macho tough guy who hates gays."
	"You'd be surprised," Weatherby said.
	"Would I?"  Johnny's curiosity was peaked by Weatherby's reaction.
"What do you mean by that?"
	"You will probably find this hard to believe, but I'm gay, too."
	Johnny nearly fell off the barstool.  He couldn't believe his ears.
Looking at Weatherby he would have easily assumed Weatherby was straight.
"You're serious?"
	"Yes."
	"You must get hit on a lot.  I mean, most gay men would kill to
have someone like you as their...well...you know."  Johnny had to be
careful what he said.  If he got too loud, the straight patrons in the bar
might become hostile and he didn't want that.
	"Boyfriend?"
	"Yeah.  And I'll bet you have one right now waiting for you at
home."
	"After all that I told you, do you honestly think I have time for a
boyfriend?"
	Johnny considered this for a moment.  "I guess not."
	"And look who's talking about looking good.  I would be surprised
if you didn't have several men knocking on your door for dates.  Or other
escapades."
	"No, not me.  Like I said, I've been married.  The divorce was just
finalized a few days ago and I just moved out today."
	"Do you have an apartment all ready?"
	"Sort of.  I have an apartment and I have stuff.  I just don't have
everything unpacked."
	"I remember what it was like to have an apartment.  I used to have
one about two weeks ago.  But once I started got involved with fighting the
Friends of Humanity, I was evicted, so to speak.  All my stuff was
confiscated by now by the police, I'm sure."
	"The police?"
	"They were sympathetic to the F.O.H."
	"Sorry to hear that."  Johnny considered something for a moment.
"Do you have a place to stay tonight?"
	"No," Weatherby answered.
	"Would you like to stay with me tonight?  I have the space.  I
don't have anything to sleep on, but I do have the space."
	"I don't want to impose."
	"Oh, it's not imposing.  I insist.  Besides, I don't know if I'm
ready to spend my first night away from my son alone."
	Weatherby thought about the offer.  `The F.O.H. won't even think of
looking for me in his place, so he's fairly safe.  And it could give me
some down time to heal up, too.'
	"Sure," Weatherby finally answered.  "That would be great."
	"Do you want to leave now?"
	"Whenever you are ready."
	Johnny stood up, followed by Weatherby.  The two went out to their
respective vehicles and Weatherby followed Johnny back to Johnny's
apartment.

	The Marvel Knights pulled up to a large house on the outskirts of
town.  "Where are we?" Davey asked Ty.
	"I don't know.  Until we do, keep your guard up."
	The two young men climbed out of the black car.  Blade dismounted
from his motorcycle and Whistler climbed out of his red sports car.
	"Where are we?" Blade asked.
	"This is my home."
	"What?" Davey said in shock.
	"Damn," Ty whispered in awe.
	"You live here?"  Blade asked.  "Why didn't you tell us?"
	"It wasn't necessary to tell you.  Besides, how much more would you
not have trusted me if you knew I lived in such a nice home?"
	Blade thought this over.  "I don't judge people by their income."
	"Of course not.  Come on.  We have training to do."

	Blade, Ty, and Davey stood on a matted floor wearing special
loose-fitting clothes.  Whistler stood in front of them wearing the same
thing.
	"I still don't know why we have to wear this stuff.  It itches like
hell," Davey whispered as he scratched his crotch.  "Plus, I'll bet it
looks horrible on me."
	"Quiet," Blade said.
	"The vampire species that Ahriman is part of is a very dangerous
species of vampire.  They have powers beyond what you are used to seeing.
For example, the older vampire can cause other vampire's to burst into
flame with the mere thought.  They can also levitate, or fly, move at great
speeds, and are telepathic and telekinetic."
	"So I felt," Blade replied.  "Ahriman threw me across the bar room
into a table before he left."
	Whistler nodded and then continued.  "They are impervious to most
forms of weapon, the cross, stake in the heart, silver.  The only damage
that can be done as far as a stake in the heart is fear of bleeding to
death.  But it is not of bleeding to death when they can move their
attackers with their mind.
	"Dismemberment and sunlight might be the only options, although if
the body parts are close to the torso, the vampire could pull himself back
together.  And, if the vampire is old enough, the sunlight won't kill him,
only burn him badly."
	"That might be all we need.  Maybe Tandy's light daggers can have
the same affect on him."
	"It's possible.  I wish I could study her powers, but it is too
late for that now.  Come, we have much training to do."

To Be Continued...