Gerard: New Companions

In today's adventures, Gerard and his party recruit some new blood, and Elsa is forced to face an old fear.



“Gerard,” Zack sighed, “You’re not honestly going to bail, are you?” Gerard shook his head. “No, Zack. Alicia and I are in this for the long haul.” Zack and Mary both smiled quietly. The five walked on for some time in silence. Elsa’s equipment hummed away as it analyzed their surroundings, and if Gerard was being perfectly honest, it annoyed him considerably. With conversation halted, Gerard lost himself in thought. He wondered just how powerful he really was, and what his life would be like after this. Thoughts of failure and death never crossed his mind. To him, there were greater concerns. Just how had Alicia come back to life, for example, and what, if anything, would happen because of that? He stalled on thoughts of Alicia for a while, and felt her arm curl around his. “Don’t worry so much.”, she cooed in his ear, “We’re going to beat the demon lord and put all of this behind us. Life will be normal and happy.” Gerard grinned. “I love you, woman, but stay out of my head, okay?” She simply nodded and pulled him closer. Zack scoffed, but nobody else said a word. Mary leaned over and planted a kiss on her brother’s cheek, eliciting a small smile.

The five eventually grew tired of walking, and sought out a place to rest. Gerard scouted in bat form, while the rest split up to search every corridor. A few minutes into searching, a scream from Mary and the sound of a blast of magical fire brought the rest of the party running to her location as fast as their legs and wings would carry them. Gerard materialized at the head of the group, and they saw Mary standing before a man who was crying and holding his head. The mysterious man screamed at the top of his lungs, flailing his silky golden hair about, then angled his tall, slender frame directly at Mary. “You!”, he screeched, “How could you ruin my perfect hair?!” He took his hands off of his head and let Mary see the extent of the damage. A few strands of his bangs had been singed, but he seemed otherwise unscathed from Mary’s fireball. “Look at this! The bangs bring my whole look together, and you’ve ruined them! How can I show my face in the dining hall now?!” His angular face twisted into a contorted mask of fury as he gesticulated wildly in Mary’s direction, seemingly at a loss for words. Mary stammered an insincere apology, struck by the sheer vanity of the strange man’s display. “Sorry?!”, he cried, “Sorry?! This will take weeks to grow back to a normal point so that I can cut off the damaged portion! Weeks, I tell you!” Gerard stepped forward. “Excuse me ladyboy, but we’ve been walking for a while, and we’re all tired. Sorry about your hair.” The man stopped cold in the middle of dancing about the room. “Lady...boy…”, he growled. A wave of power emanated about the room, and even the fully mortal Elsa could feel it, like a blast of wind. “LADYBOY!”, the man screeched in a high voice, craning his neck skyward. Twisted fangs erupted from his mouth. Wrinkled black wings, dripping with fresh blood, ripped through the back his ornate shirt and unfurled mightily, blasting the room with a gust of wind.

Gerard readied his sword and shield. He stood firm, but his heart was threatening to leap from his chest with each pounding beat. The effeminate vampire lifted off the ground with a single beat of his great wings, then kicked off of a nearby wall to launch himself at Gerard, one fist forward. The earthshattering punch dented in the center of Gerard’s shield and launched him through the doorway, across the hall, and through the brick wall into another chamber. The arm that had been holding the shield had completely shattered. It didn’t listen to him, causing him to stumble as he got up from the pile of rubble he found himself in. He rose just in time to strike at the vampire’s head as he flew forth. The blow glanced off of his bejeweled ear, and Gerard’s sword cracked. Gerard threw away the useless blade and met the vampire’s mighty punch with his own. The vampire’s strength far outmatched Gerard’s, and the bones of his arm broke into splinters. Gerard opened his mouth and engulfed the effeminate vampire in flames, but he shrugged them off. He reached forward and picked Gerard up by the neck, holding him firm and crushing his life away by inches. As Gerard’s vision began to blur, he locked eyes with the vampire and saw his fury give way to horror. Powerful electricity coursed through both of their bodies, and Gerard felt his body fall to the floor as he lost consciousness.

Mary faced down the almighty vampire. He turned from Gerard’s crumpled form to glare at her, and before he could move again, she fired off another lightning spell. The bolt surged through the vampire, stunning it for just a second. That was long enough for Elsa to riddle him with the special holy bullets in her machine pistol, leaving gaping, smoking holes in his body. The vampire screamed and flew forward, and a mighty kick audibly cracked Elsa’s ribcage. Alicia darted forth on feathery wings and matched the enraged vampire blow for blow as Mary alternated lightning, ice, and fire spells to wear it down. Seeing his chance at last, Zack swooped his blade downward at the weakened vampire’s head, intending to bisect it. Instead, the blade clanged off mostly without doing any harm, but a trickle of blood came down the vampire’s face, and he fell. The vampire groaned and tried to get up for a few seconds, then convulsed and finally fell still.

Gerard rose from the rubble in the other room, fully healed but still quite dazed. Gerard gave the vampire a good kick in the ribs, then loosed a giant fireball at him. After that, he and the others went to Elsa’s side. She laid in a pile of rubble, staring up at the ceiling with wide eyes and barely heaving out labored breaths. Mary bent down beside her and began chanting. A golden light engulfed Elsa, so bright that everybody had to look away, and when it faded away, she was not moving. Her breathing had stopped, her heartbeat could not be heard, and her face was frozen in a mask of pain. “I stopped time around her, before anybody asks.”, Mary spat. “We need to get her to the fountain before the spell wears off.” Gerard hoisted Elsa over his shoulder by the ankles, holding her leg like the handle of a greatsword. “How long is that?”, he sighed. “Eight hours”, Mary said flatly, “And if the spell wears off, I’d guess she has an hour or so to live, at best, if she’s left alone.” “I’ll come with you.” The four turned collectively to see the effeminate vampire standing before them, unscathed. “How?! I mean, we- You- I…” Zack choked on his words, and the vampire laughed. “You think a real vampire is that easy to kill?” He shook his head. “Anyway, I feel bad for hurting your friend. Let me make it up to you by at least helping you get her to safety.” Everybody nodded silently. Nobody trusted the strange vampire, but they all knew that he could kill them with ease, if he really wanted to. Thus, the six of them turned tail and began heading back toward Philemon’s fountain.

Their walk was utterly uneventful, and nobody breathed a word. It took them seven hours and change to reach the fountain room. When Gerard threw open the door, however, he did not see Philemon standing before the fountain. Instead, there was a younger man in somewhat casual dress, with jet black hair slicked back and an earring hanging from the right ear that marked the end of his sharp cheekbone. Gerard set Elsa down gently, then stretched forth one hand and ignited it. “This fire is coming your way if you don’t move out of ours, used car salesman.” The man simply smirked. “Stand down, vampire.”, he said calmly, “It’s not you I have business with.” He pointed to Elsa, frozen in time and perched on Gerard’s shoulder “It’s her.” Gerard gently set Elsa down. “She’s severely wounded, so whatever you have to say to her can wait until she’s been healed. Now step aside.” Gerard stepped a safe distance away from Elsa, then engulfed his entire body in a pillar of flame. “Woah, that’s new.”, Zack whispered. Mary poked him in the ribs and winked at him. “Ohhhh…” She had one finger pointed Gerard’s way, and a faint tendril of red magical energy flowed from it. The well-dressed young man stepped aside and sat down, and the flames covering Gerard’s body died down. He scowled at the young man, then picked Elsa up and put her in the fountain, along with the sword and shield that the effeminate vampire had damaged. He propped Elsa up carefully so that her head would be above water when the spell wore off, then turned to the strange young man. “So, used car salesman, where are Philemon and Hannah?” The man stood and looked over Elsa, answering Gerard without looking away. “There was nobody here when I got here.” Gerard nodded. “Uh huh, and how did you know we were coming here?” The man sat down on the edge of the fountain next to Elsa and reached out to touch her hand gently. Gerard raised a fist and Alicia started toward him, but Zack and Mary signaled them not to attack. “This is a… a very dangerous place.”, the young man crooned, stroking Elsa’s face. Alicia could sense her distress. “This healing fountain, I figured, would be a natural place to wait for Elsa. She’s in over her head, so she’s bound to get hurt at some point.” Alicia stepped into the conversation. “What makes you think she’s in over her head, hot shot? Are you from the same organization, or some kind of hunter, or what?!” Alicia visibly bristled with rage as the strange young man ran his hand over increasingly personal parts of Elsa’s stiff body. “I’m her lover.”, he finally declared, “And I’m here to take her home.” The party sat in relative silence, with the tension never fading as the man ran his hands all over Elsa while waiting for the spell to wear off. The effeminate vampire stepped close to Mary and whispered to her. “Be careful. He’s not who he says he is. I don’t know who or what he is, but he’s certainly not human.”

The people in the fountain room waited about an hour, and Elsa finally awakened, splashing into the fountain and then emerging, fully healed, with a gasp. Gerard first retrieved Elsa, placing her gently on her feet and well away from the mysterious man, then retrieved his sword and shield. Entirely betraying her usual cold demeanor, Elsa clung to Gerard for protection, putting him between herself and the man. “That man is lying. He’s not my lover. He abused me.” Gerard raised an eyebrow. “So… Maybe he knocked you around at one point, but you can take him now, right? Just kick his ass.” Gerard’s heart sank when Elsa’s fist met the back of his head, even though it didn’t hurt. “Dick!”, she yelped, “It… it doesn’t work like that.” The women in the group all scowled at Gerard. He scoffed. “Fine. I’ll protect you, then.” Before anybody could say a word, Gerard’s fist had shot cleanly through the man’s stomach. Instead of crumpling, he laughed. Instead of blood, smoke poured out. Twisted horns grew from his head, his hair fell out, and four extra arms snaked their way out from his torso. “That’s a shapeshifter!”, the effeminate vampire screamed, “Retreat!” All six arms seized Gerard with undeniable power, and he was launched aside. Unfazed, he picked up his sword and shield. The sword’s glittering blade caught aflame and crackled with electricity as it flew through the air. The shapeshifter darted out of the way of Gerard’s blade and lunged at Elsa. She raised a metallic gadget, and a circle of energy erupted from it. The attack shattered the shield with no trouble. Before the attack could bite into Elsa’s flesh, Gerard was upon the shapeshifter with a flurry of powerful kicks. The room shook with each impact, but the shapeshifter stood firm. Gerard cried out as he threw everything he had into a rolling wave of lightning. When the seconds-long flash died down, the shapeshifter still stood, laughing. Spent, Gerard dropped to the floor in a heap. Three silver bullets tore through the shapeshifter’s head, but it did not waiver. Elsa leapt backward, letting fly with more hot silver as she distanced herself from the beast. The shots all hit, but the shapeshifter ignored the gaping holes leaking blue that had formed in its flesh and pressed on toward her. Alicia put herself between Elsa and the shapeshifter, but was unable to summon her bright lights and wings like before. Her Tai Chi stood firm for mere seconds before the shapeshifter all but swatted her aside, leaving her unconscious on the ground. Just as the attack that knocked Alicia out landed, Zack’s emerald blade ripped through the monster’s shoulder, drawing a splash of shining blue blood. The wound bled freely, but the monster seemed unfazed. A quick kick flew toward Zack, and he moved just as quickly to get clear. The monster turned around to focus on Zack, and the effeminate vampire took his opportunity to send a telling punch into the beast’s head. Just as his fist met its target, Mary let loose with a blast of ice, freezing it into place. The ice was already beginning to crack in the few milliseconds before the vampire’s fist met its mark, but the beast couldn’t quite break free fast enough. Most of its body shattered, while the head and a small part of the neck flew into an adjacent wall. Elsa picked up the severed head. “Why on Earth do you want me dead so badly?!”, she screamed at it. The head laughed. Elsa could already see the neck beginning to reform. “Answer me, damn you!”, she yelped, “Who are you, how did you know about Charles, and why did you want to kill me?!” The head stayed silent. Elsa punched it hard below the neck, and some of the regenerated flesh disintegrated to powder. After a few more seconds of rapid regeneration and no answer, Elsa decided to end the conversation. She threw the head into the air, then riddled it with bullets. It laughed again, the laughter echoing as it seemingly faded away. A slow clap rang out, and everybody looked up to see Philemon standing at the fountain next to Hannah, applauding the victory.