12 Blackbeard

Steve was suddenly awakened when a strong gust of wind hit his face. He look around but could only see the clear night sky. Then his eyes fell at the other side of their ship, at the couple he befriended. The two were basking under the moonlight, they look serene and peaceful. John was cradling Diana, who looked peacefully sleeping like over his chest. As for John, he's not sleeping. He put a finger over his lips, indicating him to not speak else, wake up the beauty that was peacefully sleeping in his embrace. Steve sighed, he admit, he's never felt jealous with a guy before because of a woman. He already decided in his heart that he would get one for himself soon!

He tried ignoring the two again, and went back to his dream world. He didn't noticed that he was doing this a lot lately. It seems that his jealous heart or ego had affected him greatly. When he always look at his two companions, he easily gets a pang of jealousy, however, he was not jealous of John, because he got Diana. He was jealous of their interaction. Their closeness, trust and love at each other. He started longing to have one of his own and soon!

After several hours, Steve was suddenly awakened. Someone was shaking him out of his dream. With an annoyed grunt, he was going to to lash out of anyone that woke him out of a wonderful dream, but when he got his focus back, before he speak, he noticed that John and Diana was not even looking at him. He thought that they would tease him again, but the their serious face broke him out of his musing. They were looking at something far away, then he started noticing their surrounding. The sky was dark and not because it was night, since he couldn't even see a single star int he sky, he guessed that the sky was covered with dark clouds, thick enough to even cover the moon. This made their surrounding much more eerie, and then all around them were fog, and it was getting thicker by the moment. The last thing he felt was the chill in the air.. there was no wind, everything was still, but he felt chill down to his core. He can see that the sea is calm, unusually calm that shouldn't be possible because there was no wave at all!

"Guys! What's going on?" Whispered Steve.

"Something dangerous is coming.. " Diana said ominously.

"Seriously? What could possibly be coming that is so dangerous?"

"We don't know but.. " John suddenly started floating off the both, and rising higher.

"John! Where are you going?" Asked Steve, which were now starting to panic.

"Shush! Don't raise your voice, you might get targeted more!" Diana admonished Steve, she already know what John was going to do, with the time they had spent together, they built a much deeper understanding with each other, so she didn't need to ask and she didn't explain further to Steve, afraid that it may alert whatever is coming.

"(gulp) How could you stay calm at a time like this?" Steve whispered back as low as he could. He now realize how precarious their situation is.

"(smirk) Training! And a lot of confidence with your companion is all.." said Diana confidently.

"Companion? Oh! I know what you mean, but.. I still couldn't help but feel dread in this kind of situation.. (sigh)"

"Don't worry Steve, you have a valid reason to be-.. shush! It's here!"

They stared intently at a far distance. Gradually, they saw a dark silhouette from the thick fog that was surrounding them. The silhouette grew larger as it got closer to them, dwarfing their small sea vessel. After a few minutes, they heard the sound of creaking wood. This would only be heard from wooden sea vessel, and by the sound of it and the silhouette they were now looking up to, was pretty large. John above already saw what was approaching. It was indeed a ship, but to his surprise, it was a Galleon type ship, that you usually back in the days. It has three large mast, and on each mast, were tattered black sails. The ship look so old, that it was a miracle that it was still able to stay afloat above the sea. Then looking at the top most part of each sail, was another tattered black cloth, however, what gave him the chills is the symbol on it. It was skull and cross bone! Only pirates would have this, and the skull image on it looks deformed, the skull's teeth had fangs on them which gave him a premonition of what they're facing right now.

After seeing this, he telepathically spoke to Diana, warning her of what he saw. It's one of the side abilities of the Darklight ring, allowing a connection between their minds as long as they're at least a kilometre from each other. Otherwise, the signal between them will be weak. He showed this ability earlier, so Diana wasn't surprise by suddenly hearing a voice inside her mind, especially the voice she was so familiar with and brings her peace of mind, but what she was surprise about is hearing about pirates, because to her knowledge, no pirates could do this. She felt that they were now on a different plane, or it's arrival brought in all these fogs and even affected the weather. It was alarming to know of this, because only powerful beings were capable of controlling the weather.

As the ship's bow broke in and split the thick fog, they first saw it's bowsprit, the first that pierced the fog, followed by the figurehead attached to it's bow. The figurehead was a massive skeleton of a large creature or a demon that looked to have been chained into the ship's bow. If it wasn't a real demon's skeleton, then the the way it was carved would have been very artistic at how detailed it was made. But what's more eye catching was the person standing atop the bow. He has a large physique, and an eye-catching enormous black beard reaching his waist. The beard was braided towards it's end, similar to how the known Dwarves does with their beard. He was wearing very old style long black trench coat that you usually see during the 1500s, with a matching black seafarer's hat atop his head. He was grinning, showing his jagged teeth, similar to a sharks'. Behind him, were a group of 20 or so men, wearing different kinds of clothing or uniforms, but most were in tatters, and could've seen better days. Only the person in front wore pristine clothing, but they all have something in common. They all have pale white skin and blood red eyes. They were all grinning like idiots, some even laughing, and were all eyeing Diana and Steve which were in a small boat.

Steve heard Diana gasp after seeing those men. John also knows what those "people" are, so he did not hesitate and materialized a sword in his hand. The sword was still in it's own black sheath. It was 4 feet long, with red handle, and silver guard. He narrowed his eyes, focusing on those people. He was now holding the it on his left hand and steady himself in the air preparing to dive in, if he sees any funny movement from any of those men, especially from that bearded buy in the middle.

"Well, well.. what do we have here? Two landlubbers lost in the sea?" Said the bearded man, looking especially at Diana.

"Vampire! How dare you show your face around here!" Diana gritted her teeth. She felt disgust, at how the man had looked at her. She knew that she couldn't stop others from looking at her lecherously, as she only wanted to see that stare from her husband's eyes, but she felt repulsive, especially from the man she called a vampire.

"Hoh! You know of this great one, then this would make everything simple.. You see, me and my men we're particularly.. thirsty"

"(smirk) So does my blade!" Diana showing battle lust on her beautiful face.

"Hear that boys~ we'll have a good drink tonight! Leave the bitch to me, you can satiate yourself with the man for now, and I might leave some of her to you, gwahahah!"

Like players given steroids, all those men behind the bearded vampire's exploded into action, bearing their fangs and elongated claws, all jumping abnormally high from the wooden galleon, with lithe grace and ferocity, which does not fit with the appearance of each of the person in who was rushing to attack them. Some had jumped high in the air, latching on their small ship's single mast, others appeared to be gliding over the water towards them. While these were all happening, Diana prepared herself for the fight, while keeping an eye at the only vulnerable person that is with them, which is Steve. Steve was currently petrified at the moment, with the effect of the vampire's presence affecting his mind, he couldn't move due to the supernatural powers or "fear effect" that vampires releases, however, not the same could be said with Diana. At first contact, the first cocky vampire that approached her have his head rolling in the floor board, while his headless body plummeted down to the dark abyss of the sea. This gave a pause towards the attacking men, and Diana did not waste any of this openings, and immediately decapitated 3 more vampires within the span of a few seconds, waking up the others from stupor, taking action by making enough space away from the reach of Diana's sword.

"You bunch of scums! What are you afraid of? Surround her, and get the man behind!!" Shouting angrily towards his subordinates, he prepared to move himself. But before he could move, the other missing vampires that jumped towards the mast, all fell down without the sea, blood gushing out from their headless body.

"What! You- "

Before the bearded large vampire could finish speaking, John had swooped down for the kill. however, the bearded man's movement did not matched his size. At the last moment, he was able to avoid getting his head chopped off by John, but he did not escape unscathed, there was a large gash in his neck, but could be seen healing with the naked eye, but rather slowly. The bearded man glared ferociously at John, angered that his life had almost ended by the hands of a mortal.

"How dare you! There's no one that could cut the head of Blackbeard!!" Shouted angrily.

"Blackbeard?.... I don't know you, I think I know someone fat with the same name, but you don't look like him (smirk)"

"Are you mocking me? I'll tear your head off!!"

Blackbeard charged at John with uncanny speed. John knew how strong a vampire could be, and this Blackbeard seems to be of a higher level. He tried angering the man, and he didn't thought that it would work. However, an enraged vampire was still hard to handle, as their strength seems to be higher than Diana. Blackbeard made a grabbing motion towards his neck, with his sharp clawed hand, however, John was able to block it with his sword, which he was holding in a reverse gripping manner, with his right hand, while his left hand was already swinging the sword, the Twilight Render's scabbard towards Blackbeard's exposed side. Blackbeard ignored the incoming scabbard. This made John smirk widens. Vampires were arrogant creatures, and think of a lot of other races beneath them. John had taken advantage of this, so when the scabbard connected to Blackbeard's side, his expression undergoes several changes, from sneering, changing to surprise, fear and then a painful look. The hit produced a crunching sound, as John did not held back his strength, adding the weight of the solid scabbard, was able to crush Blackbeard's side, breaking several bones in the process. Blackbeard's body flew back like a bullet and hit one of the mast of his ship, splintering, and breaking it down, crashing towards the side of his ship, producing more damage to the already rickety ship.

John knew that the surprise he gave to Blackbeard won't stop him, but will only slow him down. But it was not his intention to, he was only gauging the vampire's strength with his own. He never cowers on any fight, however, he won't jump in one that he could not win without a good plan. He also gave a side glance towards their ship, towards Diana, and he saw that she had no problem with dealing with the grunts. She had already killed half of them, and the rest were already afraid of coming closer to her. If she didn't have a handicap of protecting Steve, she would've already slaughtered the rest, and should join him soon.

After making sure that his wife's doing fine, he return his full attention to Blackbeard. Since he could command quite a number of those thralls, he should be of a higher rank. And he's still not sure, who produced the change in weather, and the fogs, but he have a hunch that it was Blackbeard's doing. After a minute, John heard a creepy laugh, coming from the whole Blackbeard created when he flew back from John's hit.

"Kuh kuh kuh! Wonderful! It's been awhile since someone had wound me.. it's rare to see someone as strong as you and the girl. I will enjoy draining your blood from your corpse!"

After saying this, John, who was already on guard, suddenly felt danger coming from his back. He quickly lowered his posture, followed by a spinning horizontal slash towards his back, however, it didn't connect, but this repelled Blackbeard from piercing him with his outstretched hand. He saw that Blackbeard was grinning dangerously. Next thing, he disappeared again, and this time, his instinct told him that danger was coming from the side. John was able to deflect the piercing strike again, but this time, Blackbeard did not stopped with one strike, he kept disappearing, and reappearing with a multitude of quick strike towards different part of his body. This got repeated several more times, with each time repelling the attack, but this did not leave him unscathed, there were now several gashes all over his body, and his clothes had also been torn in the process.

Blackbeard stopped, admiring his handy work on John's body. He tried licking the blood from his finger, but immediately made a spit.

"Your blood is disgusting! What are you? It's not the same as those mutts, but it's disgusting nonetheless. I change my mind, I won't drain you anymore, but I'll cut your limbs off, then let you watch that girl while I rape her in front of you, Guahahaah!"

Blackbeard did not notice, as he was enjoying himself from the torture he would give him, John's eyes were now glowing red. His eyes have always been like that of a cat, blood red in color. If a vampire saw him, they would mistake him for one, but his eyes were special, it was more demonic, specially when he's serious. He learned to hide his eyes, so during times when he's in a carefree or peaceful mood, his eyes would changed into neon blue, with his iris becoming normal (circle), but now, hearing vulgarities about his beloved wife, deep inside, he was enraged, but this did not show on his face, instead, he became expressionless.

Blackbeard stopped laughing, and would've gloated more, but to his surprise, the man in front of him disappeared! With the hundred of years of his experience, the danger of death that he felt became less and less, but now, those feelings had awakened. This time, it was Blackbeard's turn to received an attack. But the feeling he's getting now were overwhelming. The attack that the man was giving him was like a never ending torrent. What's more, they were all aimed directly at every critical places of a man's body. The neck, the heart, tendon's connecting his limbs, major arteries that when severed, will produced the most blood. In a matter of minute, Blackbeard were already covered in blood. John only stopped when he felt a different kind of danger from Blackbeard.

At this point, Blackbeard was kneeling down, just below his right leg were a pool of his own blood. His left arm were hanging by a skin, his neck a large gash and a simple punch would take it off his shoulder, there were several cuts in his face, his previous pristine captain's coat have been shredded. However, anger could still be seen in his malevolent eyes. He was deeply enraged. He had never been humiliated like this. As a vampire lord, usually, he wouldn't need to make a move, and just let his thralls to do all the work, but now, his kneeling down in front of a mortal he deemed as weak! He was also confused, vampire's body were impervious to most weapons, even a bullet would just bounce off their skin, but the man's blade were cutting him up like a butter with no resistance at all! What's more, his wound's were not regenerating as it should, it was slow, and the pain he was feeling were excruciating, more than it should!

Seething in rage, Blackbeard howled. His voice was no longer the same. it became deeper and more malevolent, starting from his eyes, then his whole body, started glowing in a dark red aura. Next thing that happened, John heard reaping sound of clothing, and the man in front of him, were transforming into something grotesque. Different part of Blackbeard's body expanded info deformation, but what's most eye catching are the horns that grew on his head, and a pair of bat wings at his back, expanding into several meters. Seeing this, John knew that if he let Blackbeard finish his transformation, that he or Diana might not be able to handle it, especially since they're in the middle of the sea. He tried to charge towards Blackbeard to deliver the final strike to end his cursed life, however, against his expectation, Blackbeard seemed to have known his thought, and charged at him!

Blackbeard flapped his large wings, which created a strong gust of wind. He was also trying to bite John's head off, since Blackbeard had now transformed into a demonic creature, with elongated fang and nails. Of course, he could only use an arm, since his Blackbeard's other arm was too injured even after the transformation to use, but the remaining arm which was holding unto his torso, had his nails pierce through his shoulders, and gripping him hard, trying to crush him. Not happy with that, Blackbeard also tried biting him off, but John was able to stop him since his sword hand was still free. Blackbeard didn't stop his assault, trying to kill of John, but suddenly, Blackbeard raised it's head in pain, because from his back, Diana came to assist John. It seemed that she had already finished off all the thralls, allowing her to help. When she arrived, she immediately saw the devastated ship, and in the middle of it was a large dark creature with wings. She became afraid after seeing that the creature had her husband on a tight grip and trying to bite him off. Diana became enraged, and she rushed towards the creature to deliver her strongest strike at it's back. Diana's sword was able to cut through from the creature's shoulder straight down and finally cutting off one of it's leg. The creature whimpered in pain. Diana wanted to cut it's head off, but it immediately jumped with it's remaining leg and flew off, with John still in tow.

Diana panicked, so she made a jump and threw her shield towards the creature. She successfully hit one of it's wings, which made it plummet down the water. Seeing this, she plans to dive down and follow her husband, but before she was able to, she heard Steve's cry for help. She was having a conflict, but in the end, Steve won. It's not that Steve was more important than her husband, it's just that her trust for John was strong. Even though she was worried, she still knew that won't die from that creature. With a quick thought, she remembered that he haven't even used his ability yet, and knowing that, she immediately calmed down. She quickly returned to where Steve is, but she swore that if Steve only called him because he was lonely, she would definitely castrate him!

Going back to John, before they fell to the deep water, because of the distraction that Diana gave, he was able to lodge his sword towards Blackbeard chest, and he was pushing it down to reach his black heart. Blackbeard felt more pain, but he couldn't howl, so he gritted his teeth, and clench the muscle on his chest to stop the blade that was coming closer to his heart. Then the two plummeted down the water, and quickly sank in great speed. John saw that Blackbeard went crazy, and was once again was trying to bite him. Now that he doesn't have his sword, he only have his hand to stop Blackbeard's sharp fangs. He let go of the sword, and quickly grabbed Blackbeard's lower and upper jaw, stopping it's teeth from burying unto his flesh. As the two were struggling, they were also sinking deeper into the ocean. It seems that they were in a stalemate and John does not know if a vampire could breath underwater, but he don't want to find out. He does not have a problem, as he could still hold his breath for quite some time. He also still have his symbiote, and he was already itching to use it. He was planning to, even while they were still in the sky, but his instinct told him not to..

As he was again deliberating to use his symbiote to break the stalemate, something, like a projectile passed through between John and Blackbeard's head. It had hit one of the creature's fang, breaking it off and what followed was a barrage of several projectile, which John later observed as water missile, kept hitting Blackbeard's head. He could see that it was a bit effective, and bit by bit, the monster were being separated from him. After another salvo of water projectiles thrown towards Blackbeard, it finally separated, and from John's surprise, he finally saw where or who the water projectiles came from.

"I finally found you! Abomination!! It's time to end you once and for all!"

John was truly surprised, as he heard the voice inside his head speaking with hatred towards the creature that is Blackbeard..