Several days ago Meld had found herself wandering alone and without her memories of most of the last three years in the streets of New York City. Having been found and returned home to Sanctuary and the loving arms of the Order, she had spent most of the those days trying to figure out what had happened during that time and how she had been living her life. Some things had started to become clear to her. For example, she knew all about her cause and the things she had done for it. She knew, for example, that she and Aura had fought and killed for that cause many times in the past year. She knew, as well, that she was a wanted mutant terrorist that the police would stop at nothing to apprehend. She knew that each flesh meld she currently possessed she had spent hours of time lovingly crafting, to become the most lethal and deadly force she was able to. She even knew the story behind how got her electric hand, a valiant effort of self defense when a poor misguided mutant had tried to stop her from killing a mutant baby killer. Well, several mutant baby kills, but that wasn't the point.

It was a difficult adjustment for Meld. She had vague memories of violence and killing, but nothing solid. Then, only a couple days before, she had, in cold blood, murdered someone simply for insulting her mutant heritage. In fact, more than simply murdered him, she had tortured him for the sheer enjoyment of it. That was not something she remembered doing, not something she could conceive of even being capable of doing and yet, it had been done. More than that even, she had a desperate urge to do it again. It was a deeply disturbing feeling to have something so dark within herself an no understanding of how it came to be or how long she had even had it. Aura, good friend that she was, had helped her to come to terms with it. She viewed humans as little more than deer and had been proud of Meld for taking the stand she did which, while something struck her as not quite right about the other woman's view of the situation, had made her feel better about it after all. He had been anti-mutant after all so even if she had overreacted, it wasn't like he was a good person. With Aura's help and her own rationalizations, she had found a way to live with the act.

When Meld had seen the news story about the anti-mutant riots in front of a church, her heart had begun to race in a sick sense of anticipation. While she couldn't say that she remembered that church, exactly, it did seem vaguely familiar and, looking up recent history of churches and mutants in the city, she soon found out why, managing to unearth an article starring her and Aura, of all people, and another mutant she vaguely remembered, Predator. Apparently they had held the church hostage and there had been a shootout. People had died. It struck her as ironic that the anti-mutant riots were occurring at this, of all churches.

Familiar or not, however, Meld knew that something had to be done. Humans could not be allowed to simply run rough shod over any mutants they pleased and, quite obviously, those in charge at the church had encouraged and planned the riots. That, combined with her anticipation at being able the feel the thrill of power and control that had gone through her the last time she killed, fueled her motivation to seek Aura out and plan a counterattack. She knew the other woman would be more than happy to assist, knew that she not only had little respect for human life, but was the one person to have as much dedication to the mutant cause as she did. As expected, Aura agreed and thus, Meld found herself pulling into a parking spot about a block away from the church and getting out of the vehicle.

The car itself had been parked not far from Sanctuary and after smashing the window to get inside, one touch of the ignition key with her electric hand had been sufficient to start it up. The battery in the car did the rest of the work. The drive there was uneventful and the advantage of a stolen car was twofold: First, there was no worry about leaving it behind when they were finished and second they would be impossible to track down. The fun would begin in a matter of minutes when she and Aura officially entered the building. The assault had been perfectly timed; it was early and Sunday church had started a very short time earlier. She grinned at Aura, looking forward to the coming slaughter.

Aura had been a bit surprised when Meld had come back to the sanctuary with her memory almost entirely gone, or so it seemed to her. Lori had made sure to advise Aura not to tell emld she ahd ever left the order, and despite aura's own misgivings about the idea of hiding something from her best friend, it was an order and so Aura would follow it as well as she could. She had did her best to answer any and all questions meld had asked her unaware that Meld had not been quite as violent as her.

When Meld had informed Aura of the anti-mutant riots in front of the church she smiled, recalling the fun they had at that very church the last time, with pred-head. They had gotten quite a bit of news coverage and many police had died, even a small girl got tortured. None of it mattered to Aura, they were just filthy animals, to be killed an mowed down until mutants held the majority on the planet and essentially ruled it. Aura did support keeping some Humans alive, after all it was not their job to make humans go extinct, what would their to be to hunt if they did that?

Aura of course Loved the idea of an assault on Humans, even more so because they were protesters who hated mutants, just the kind Aura like to kill, enjoyed wa sbetter term for it. She ahd even made sure to carefully prep her sword for the job, she hoped by the time they left, the blade would drip with the humans blood and her own fury and passion. She would avenge the mutants who had fallen to humans just like this, one sword stroke after another. It would be the Blade virgin battle, it's first real battle anyway, sure she had killed with it already but this was much much different. This was not business this would be raw pleasure.

They hijacked a car, Aura smiled as she knew who the car belonged to. Doing insurance runs she had learned what many of the people drove, this particular car had belonged to someone who had not paid up and so it really was their fault. As they pulled in about a block away from their target, Aura made sure she had her pair of pipe bombs ready, she had a plan on how to maximize the humans own foolishness against them.

As they walked up to the church Aura grabbed one of the bombs and hirled it through the large glass window in front of the church, before it even hit the floor, it exploded raining shrapnel over whoever was int eh church at the time. "After you my friend" she said to meld, eaving at the door, as screams began within the doors. "Their screams shell be the music we dance in, as their blood drips from the walls into a crimson river of justice" she said her Aura flareing on fully, she formed an Axe with her left hand and extracted the long dark blade with her right, he rblade would earn it's name by bathing in blood.

Meld had been missing for three days now. He hadn’t noticed her absence on Monday due to the message that Calley had sent him. Hunter had been prepared for Calley to come and confront him over what he had done to the boy in the past. He wasn’t prepared for him to go after Ellie. Just how far had he pushed Calley that the boy would kill an innocent woman just to get back at him?

His visit to his old headquarters had been interesting to say the least. Still not knowing what to do about Calley it was only yesterday that he realised that Meld was missing. She’d not come home Monday evening and had missed their session the next day. Despite the fact that he still had issues with Calley he wanted to try and help Meld. He couldn’t just abandon her.

He had a few theories about what had happened. She might have gone back to the Order. It would be regrettable that he’d failed her but it was her choice to make. But if she had gone to the Order then why hadn’t she spoken to him or collected any of her stuff? He could understand her not wanting to talk to him about it, after all she’d know he would disapprove, but why leave her stuff.

When she didn’t come back yesterday he decided he should go and visit the Sanctuary and talk to the Order. Maybe they knew where she was. And so it was that he was walking to the Sanctuary lost in his own thoughts when he heard the explosion. Without hesitation he started running towards the source of the sound. People might be hurt and need help. There was also a good chance there would be blood. So as he ran he steeled himself to resist the inevitable temptation and hoped it wasn’t as bad as it had sounded.

As the first of the bombs exploded and the first of the screams could be heard, Meld felt the very unique thrill of anticipation run through her system. It was very much like last time, when she had tortured a man to death, cutting him with razor sharp claws, creating beautiful red art in his skin. Unfortunately she had been interrupted then and she had been forced to end his life earlier than expected, but it had been a wonderful time nevertheless. Wonderful and disturbing all at the same time but the disturbing came later, after the entire event had been concluding. Now was much the same and, perhaps as then, she would be disturbed later.

That last death Meld had caused had an unexpected consequence, enhancing all her emotions including her anger at being interrupted which had almost caused her to make a fatal mistake. She was prepared for that this time, however, steeling herself and blocking off her emotions in order to become the calculated killer she knew she needed to be. There would be no time for torture today and, with all of the people the two of them had to deal with, she would have be be extra certain that every move she took ended in someone dying. It was justice that she and Aura had come to dish out today. Today was about business not pleasure, though she would take pleasure out of what was about to transpire.

"We shall make of their bodies and their blood beautiful art," Meld agreed. There was almost a peace in it all. "And their deaths shall be a symbol and a warning for all those who would act against mutants in the future." Meld nodded to Aura and began walking towards the church doors, calm and collected. Had anyone the opportunity to look into her eyes, they would have seen no hint of emotion, only the cold promise of death. In that moment, she was completely at peace with herself.

As Meld approached the door, the first human rabbit scurried out, bleeding from half a dozen cuts on his exposed arms and legs. It wasn't unexpected that the little lemmings would try and escape their fate, but it was entirely futile. Without a second thought, Meld brought her tail up and plunged it into the man's neck, causing him to fall to the ground, bleeding and choking on his own blood. She smiled at Aura as the reached the door of the church.

Aura smiled at the wonderous idea of making art but then shook her head. "I love the idea, my friend, but the truth of it all is, we will likely be bothered by the police sooner or later, so our fun might go a bit rushed" she said actually wishing that wa snot the case, but privacy was the time for art, not open combat like this. "Maybe if we make examples from a few however" she said trying to salvage meld's plan. "But yes their deaths shell serve the purpos of warning the humans that harm to our kind will not be tolerated in any way" she said.

Watching the door open, Aura smiled as the first man was killed before the animals knew what hi them. grabbing her other pipe bomb she chucked this one through the open door, and then came down with her Axe on the first persona she saw, which so happened to be an elderly man, dressed ina rather nice suit. The Axe plunged deep into his head and Aura had to disolve the weapon so he would drop. Her Sword however found it's mark in the stomach of young girl, a teenager maybe sixteen, she kicked the girl off of it, with her foot. The second bomb went off, and more loud screaming could be heard, with the people so packed together Aura could not see where it blew up, but the shower of crimson was all the evidence she needed it had done it's job.

"Oh don't worry human scum, the goddess Solarria wants you all" she said her voice almost lost by the sounds of panic, now that the humans realized their main entrance was blocked not only by two killers, but by them selfs. Aura then decided to try something, focussing on her Aura she made it crawl up the blade about six inches as far as it would go, and then let her Aura form a drill around it, she wanted to see how much damage she could cause the combination os actual metal and Aura drill proved very sucessful as aura fought deeper into the church.

Hunter heard another explosion and picked up his pace. He could smell the blood in the air now and further steeled his mind. Rounding the corner he soon saw what was happening. A church was under attack. Worse, Meld was stalking up the steps. Next to her was a woman wreathed in a pink glow. Aura. She held a real sword in one hand and materialised an axe in the other. Well now he knew where Meld had gone.

The first person to make it out of the church was impaled through the neck by Meld’s tail. No one else made it out as the two women stepped inside. Momentarily Hunter had flashes of an old church in England. There had been a wedding going on inside. He’d killed everyone inside save the groom, and he only survived because Hunter was so wrapped up in killing his bride he hadn’t noticed that the man was still alive. Snapping back to the present Hunter sprinted for the church. The closer he got the more the glorious smell of blood filled his nose. It was Meld’s choice if she wanted to go back to the Order but he would not stand idly by as she slaughtered a church full of people.

Fighting the urge to join the slaughter as he reached the doors and shoved them open. “Meld!” he roared, his anger fuelled by his desire to feed, “I’m only going to ask you once. Walk away.” There was a young girl, no older than seventeen, lying next to him trying to hold her guts in. Her breathing was coming in short gasps. She had seconds to live. The man on the other side of him was more fortunate. An axe wound to his head

"Their screams and their blood shall be our our," Meld clarified for Aura. As her tail went through her first victim, so clean and pure, energy flowed through her body, almost as if she were taking it from the dying man. As his blood drained from the gaping wound in his neck, she felt more alive than at any other time. Beside her, Aura dispatched both an old man and a young girl with beautiful chilling efficiency. She was a true master of the dance with skill and grace that anyone would admire.

Not to be outdone, Meld slit the neck of a middle aged man with a tie, almost severing his head from his body. A woman of similar age beside him shrieked and fell instantly to her knees, sobbing over top of him, probably the man's wife. Not pausing to give it a second thought, Meld brought one of her bladed feet up and down again, talons digging deeply into the woman's back. Her tail swiveled and its eye blinked, revealing a scene of absolute chaos. Men and woman ran every which way, screaming and crying, trying in vain to escape. There was only one door and even the foolish humans could see that at that door lay death in the form of Meld and Aura. It pitiful really. So many people and they coudln't even gather themselves enough to put on a good defense. There were no children to be seen, however, which was the one thing Meld was thankful about.

“Meld! I’m only going to ask you once. Walk away.”

Meld's tail eye swiveled once again, this time training itself on the face of the man that had spoken, the man who apparently knew her and, for some reason, seemed to disapprove of what she was currently doing. She turned to focus on the man, tail eye shifting between Aura and the panicked human sheep, not allowing herself to become so distracted that she would put either of them in danger. She caught a glimpse of silver eyes. "These people deserve death. You have a choice. Either leave and we'll let you go because you're a mutant, help us if you choose or try to stop us. If you try to stop us, we'll treat you no different than we treat them."

She felt alive, the rush of energy and the emotion felt like a live wire through her body. This is what she lived for, what she trained for almost every day. Vengeance for all her friends and for her kind would be delivered today. As the Man closest to her turned, her Axe came down, splitting his spine in two in an elegnt but brutal slash that would leave the man paralyzed if he ever survived, it wa sonly then Aura heard someone behind them shout Meld's name, retracting her Axe she formed a blade on her knee, and kneed the a woman who tried to sneak past her, the blade ripped open her side, blood spraying all over the steps with each dieing pulse.

"you know this guy?" Aura asked but then Melds statement made it seem like she was prepared to hurt him if they had, a very good sentiment indeed Aura thought, not turning around but she shouted back. "Mutants who defend the human filth, are traitors to their own race. Sadly my comrade is right, with this filth on our hand's we might have to aim to kill with you if you decided to betray your own people" she said regretting the fact that she might have to but their were still enough humans where they might well get over whelemd if they decided to get brave,

"Better yet, let their god, help them" Aura said even as she brought her metal sword down on abother victem this time, the cut was less clean sinking half way through the teenager's shoulder, he would likely neve ruse the arm again Aura thought to herself even as she finally pulled the blade free. "becides their just anti-mutant fools anyway, no one importent, just human animals" she said still talking to the man she only now chances a glimpse at, the silver eyes cought her own right away, though she had never met the man before. She elboed somone behind her dsiolving her drill to forma blad eon her elbow as she did.

Blood...

So much blood...

So much delicious blood...

It was so hard for Hunter to think clearly with this much blood!

Forcing the craving down he cleared his head for a moment. Meld was acting like she didn’t even know who he was. But that wasn’t the problem right now. She and Aura were tearing through these people. He had to stop them.

Blood...

There was no way he could focus on the fight with this much blood around.

Blood...

Even if he could focus on the fight could he take both of them without his powers?

Blood...

If he didn’t do something everyone here would die.

Blood...

He needed his powers.

Blood...

His powers needed blood.

Blood...

He needed blood.

Reaching down he picked up the girl who was next to him. Her heart had so few beats left. He could hear them ticking away. She was going to die no matter what else happened here. “I’m sorry,” he told her as he extended his fangs, “I’m so sorry.” Rather than die meaninglessly on the steps of the church she could die giving him the strength to save everyone else. That didn’t make what he was doing right, no matter how necessary it was.

He sank his fangs into her neck. Sweet blood flowed into his mouth for the first time in what seemed like forever. It tasted so good, so fresh, so vibrant. The girls last few heart beats pumped the wonderful blood into his mouth.

Then she died.

She died in his arms with his mouth at her throat.

Having satiated his need he dropped the corpse and released his mental restraints. His thinking was no longer blurred by red, but instead was crystal clear. Clearer than it had been in a long time. He could see every detail of the scene before him. Hear every sound. Smell every scent. Strength like he hadn’t had in so long flooded through his limbs. He was back, back in full glory.

Hunter had one clear goal in mind. He was going to stop Meld and Aura. Meld had pushed him far enough that he risked everything he had worked so hard for. But he still held on to his clarity of purpose. He would stop them. They would not kill these people. Not while there was still strength left in him and there was a lot of strength in him “Your choice Meld,” he said bitterly as he launched himself at the murderous pair. The murderous pair that might have just cost him his soul.

"I don't know him," Meld answered Aura. She kept her eyes trained on the stranger, the stranger who apparently knew her, and her tail rotating to scan the crowd. What she said was true. She had no idea who the man was, the man who clearly seemed to know her by name. The man who apparently cared enough to try to stop her from doing what she knew needed to be done. Her head pounded with the strength of her desire to remember, to bring clarity to the black hole that existed within her mind. But now was not the time, there was too much danger, to many threats and for now, she needed to dance her dance of death.

Beside her, Aura cut through a teenage girl's shoulder, almost severing her arm from her body. A blink of Meld's tail eye saw a woman, possibly the girl's mother, running at them. She swung her purse in threatening fashion, stupid human mother driven by the instinct to protect her daughter who was certain to die anyway. Foolish mother who's instincts of self preservation were sadly lacking as Meld grabbed the purse with her one flesh and blood hand and, pulling her close, dug her claws into the woman's chest with her other. She removed her claws, now covered completely in blood, as blood spurted from the gaping whole int he mother's chest. Of course, everything was covered in blood by now so what did a little more really matter?

Meld returned her focus to the man just in time to see him sink his fangs into a dying girl's neck. Fangs? Vampire? Blood? She felt a sliver of pain arch through her skull as some vague memory tried to push its way to the surface but there was no time, no chance to focus on it as, almost faster than she was able to follow, the vampire launched himself at her and Aura. She had barely enough time to shift herself into proper defensive posture before he was upon them.

Aura tripped a human who tried to pass, her her Aura blade cutting into the man as he fell and she met him with her knee, she was not sure if the blow had been fatal, but the man was not getting up as he laid across the steps, a moan told her he was alive. She was curious about this mutant who was confronting them though, she had no idea what he could do so they would need to be careful work out what he could do. She adjusted her Aura to a more angled surface to try and prevent bullets or grip from getting to much hold.

Aura glanced back and as she did a Human got by her guard, her metal blade only drew a thin red line across the woman back, but she would easily live through it. Turning to face this new threat Aura could only hope the humans who now were trying to slips out behind them would remain to fearful to fight, though many of them were wounded from small pieces of shrapnel anyway.

As Aura watched fascinated as Hunter sucked the blood from the girl she could only say one word. "beautiful" So fascinated was she by this she missed her next slash at an escaping human, cutting only several inches of her hair. "What do you think of this hero? You wanna fight him or should i?" she asked meld as this new man who seemed to know meld launched himself at them, he seemed confident which could be their advantage. he was fast, Aura brought her Metal blade up and swung at her incoming attacker, wella ware she wa smuch slower then him.

Hunter had both of the girls’ attention. Good. Having satiated his craving for blood he could now think clearly. The one thing that confused him was that Meld had claimed she didn’t know who he was. It worried him that after spending a week living together she couldn’t remember him. Most of her stuff was still at Spiritual Balance. What had happened to her? Whatever it was it would have to wait. Right now his priority was to stop them from killing all these people.

Without the need to restrain his powers he could focus solely on the fight. Meld had no sensation of pain so to stop her he would need to inflict serious damage. Aura on the other hand could be stalled by causing her pain. Therefore he intended to hurt Aura to slow her down so he could deal with Meld.

Having reached the pair their differing approaches to his opening attack was apparent. Aura was attacking him with her sword. A real sword as opposed to one that was made from her aura. Meld on the other hand had taken a defensive stance, willing to let him make the first move. Even with his powers back he couldn’t take this lightly. Despite the fact that he knew he was stronger, faster and more skilled than Meld and probably Aura as well he couldn’t afford to be overconfident and get sloppy.

Aura was fast, for a human. He on the other hand was far beyond human. The sword swing seemed so slow and ponderous to him. It was almost as if he had all the time in the world to clap his hands on either side of the flat of the blade. Once he had firm grip a sharp twist should wrench it from her hands. He was keeping his eyes on her as he went to disarm her. She’d shows fine control of turning her aura into weapons and might strike back. He would need to be careful and possibly abort the technique if she did something unexpected. Anything she wanted to do she would have to do it quickly as Hunter wasn’t slowing down.

As he went to disarm Aura he launched a back kick at Meld. He wasn’t aiming to hurt her but instead to hit her shield and push her back. If he connected it would take her precious seconds to close back into range. He could do a lot of damage to Aura in a few seconds. Although he couldn’t see Meld he knew exactly where she was. He could hear her heartbeat behind him and smell her scent. Their sparring session last week had left Meld with bruised ribs on her right side. A solid blow to them would take her out of the fight. For some reason she couldn’t remember him. That might mean she didn’t know she had a weak spot on her right. He hoped to use this to his advantage.

Meld wanted to reprimand her friend for her momentary lapse in concentration but now was not the time. When they fight was over and they were both safely back behind the golden doors of Sanctuary then she she would do so. As it was, however, she barely had time to prepare for the vampire's attack. He was fast, faster than she was and she was faster than any mere human. Whoever this mutant was, he was going to be a formidable opponent and the prospect of such a battle sent waves of anticipation through her. These humans were nothing, the were pathetic terrified indents compared to her. They had to die and their death brought her closer to that state of euphoria she so dearly desired, but they were nothing compared to what this misguided hero could offer her.

"We work together to end his life," Meld yelled at Aura. It was all she had time for before the silver eyed mutant's foot collided with her metal shield. She barely had time to block the attack let alone move her shield in such a way that she might be able to turn defense into offense. Her tail, however, was almost faster than her conscious thought and the moment her shield was impacted, it lashed out aiming its deadly barbs at her enemy's very much flesh and blood leg.

Even the force of the kick to her shield took Meld by surprise, sending her backwards a couple of feet. It seemed that whoever this would be hero was, he was both stronger and faster than she was and she wasn't used to either being the case. Even so, her blades would still cause him to bleed and his flesh was still far more vulnerable than her metal limbs. She had yet to meet anyone who withstand a tail to the neck and survive and while he might be both faster and stronger than she was, it wasn't by as much as he was probably used to and she had Aura by her side to back her up.

Despite the vampire's physical advantages, Meld was confident that she and Aura could dispatch him. They had yet to fail when working together as a team, after all. She only hoped the foolish sheep humans would stay out of their way because they would need every bit of concentration and skill to kill the mutant threat.

"Agreed!" she called back in a free breath she had found somewhere. She had wanted to say they might have anothe roption on this one. Her mind raced for how to attack this one. He was fast, so very fast, he grabbed her blade in a way she had not planned on he then twisted to try and take her Blade from her, as He did she started spinning her drill aura, she let her blade slip from her hand, she knew she was not strong enough to hold it. However as She let go of her blade, she sent a punch aimed for the man's arm.

Even as she Did she kept a watch on meld's attack from the corner of her eye. She had been trained that in a fight like this to always watch your friend. Still in the back of her mind, she knew this was going to be fun, she had always enjoyed fighting mutants more then humans, they were better at it and their powers presented a challenge to overcome. This guy was unreal however, he was fast and strong and Aura was enjoying every moment of it.

Aura smiled, she had a back up plan for this guy, they would win this fight she knew, Meld was powerful and she and Meld had taken out countless foes before. She took a few steps back to circle a bit, to try make the silver eyes mutant fight on two front's, no matter how fast one was, a drill to the back usually put people down cold. "I Like you" she said to the silver eyes mutant honestly, sure as far as she knew he was trying to kill her but that was no reason not to be honest.

Aura had relinquished her sword rather than risk having her wrist broken. A sensible move. He wasn’t going to let Hunter go without a counter attack however, forming a drill from her aura and stabbing it at his arm. He’d also felt his foot connect solidly with Meld’s shield and knock her back. There was a faint swish behind him which was almost certainly Meld’s tail going for his leg.

A sharp turn to his left would reduce Aura’s attack to a graze on his right arm. He could already see from her body language that she intended to back up after her jab. That meant he could afford to take his eyes off her for a moment and let his other senses keep track of her. Snapping his head round faster than his body was turning he saw the angle of attack that Meld’s tail was coming in at. The turn to avoid Aura’s attack was bringing his leg into the path of the tail. Snapping it down as he finished the turn he only received a mild gash to his left thigh. As he had been turning he flipped the sword in his hands so that by the time he’d finished his turn he was holding the sword by the hilt in his right hand.

It was a good sword. A well balanced katana that was a practical rather than ornamental weapon. While he was a master of all weapons Hunter always preferred the European long sword to a katana. However this weapon would do just fine. The girls were now roughly five feet away from him in opposite direction. Both cuts had already clotted. With his powers active the pain from anything that wasn’t wood was dulled. Neither wound would hamper him and both would be healed in minutes.

Raising the katana above his head Hunter took two steps towards Meld and started to bring it down aimed for her head. The moment she went to block Hunter would reverse direction and attack Aura. He kept listening to her footsteps behind him so he’d know where she was. The attack would be aimed for her head and fully committed using all his strength and speed. Should he bypass her defences he’d turn the katana at the last minute and hit her with the flat of the blade. He didn’t want to kill either of them, just incapacitate them.