Pulp Hero Vaylin vs. Vampire Vaylin by @fleeting-sanity. Finally using it. Throw me the lightning I throw you the whip.
The woman was leaning back on a metallic cylinder, carved with, what? Runes? Circuitry? The etchings glowed softly in the darkness. It looked too advanced for this odd world, but it wasn’t the strangest thing Vaylin had seen.
The other her spoke while she stood examining the sarcophagus. “So, you’ve finally found me. I think you may not be as clever as you seem to think.”
Vaylin raised an eyebrow. “Or perhaps I was just being cautious.”
She laughed at that. “Oh, come now, I’ve been in your mind, in your dreams. We are very much alike. Caution is not our way.”
Well, she couldn’t very well deny that, could she? “All right. What should I call you? If only for your epitaph?”
She smiled, and Vaylin could now see the fangs more clearly. “Oh, you’re fun, aren’t you? Valeria, if you like.”
“Valeria. Why did you bring me here, then?”
Valeria’s finger traced the etching idly. “I have been imprisoned for some time. I thought perhaps we could bond over what we have in common?”
“Yes. Of course.”
“By which I mean, of course, that I will drain you dry.”
She had been approaching the other her, and gotten too close. Before Vaylin could move or defend herself, the monster was upon her, tearing at the flesh of her shoulder with her fangs. She was strong, much too strong to break free from, and she drank the spilled blood greedily. Vaylin felt faint for a moment.
Suddenly, Valeria pulled away, screeching. Her hand went to her mouth, her eyes were clenched shut, and Vaylin could see sparks. She raised her hand to her wound, the brief burst of lightning hurting, but stopping the bleeding. “Blood too hot for you?”
Valeria looked down at her hand, the pain clearly subsiding. The smile returned. “Oh, you’ve been holding this back, haven’t you? But, no, not too hot, just surprising.” She lifted the hand and flicked the blood off of it, which became a burst of lightning.
Vaylin tried to stop it, catch it, but something was wrong. She couldn’t control this bolt made from her blood. Something about the vampire’s powers? Valeria laughed. “Oh, this feels good. I will have to keep you alive just so I can feel this again.” Her eyes flashed, and red lightning sparked from her hand. She was using the blood she had consumed. Hopefully, it wouldn’t last long.
“Oh, another person wanting to put me in a cage for my power.” She lifted a hand and swung it down, trailing lightning, then forcing it into a semi-solid form as quickly as she could. “You know I won’t stand for it.”
“Don’t worry, I think I’ll make sure you are unconscious most of the time. Or controlled. You’re much too dangerous.”
“True.”
Vaylin lashed out with the lightning whip, attempting to disrupt her opponent’s own lightning, or perhaps her concentration, but Valeria caught the strike on her off hand and flung the gathered bolt back at her. Vaylin danced aside, and tried to yank on the whip, pull Valeria off her feet. It was like trying to pull a bantha that didn’t want to move.
Valeria was laughing at the attempt, but it wasn’t unexpected. Vaylin jumped, and yanked the line connecting them again. Letting go with one hand, she slammed her palm into the monster’s face, blasting her with lightning, tossing her back, burning her.
She landed on her feet, though, hissing at the blow, her eyes filled with red light. For a moment, Vaylin saw something else, something even more monstrous than herself, looking back at her, but it was already starting to return to her own face.
They locked eyes, which was a mistake. The vampire spoke. sounding so sad. “Vaylin, please, don’t you understand? Don’t you want to help me? I was imprisoned, too, I don’t know how long.” She approached, and Vaylin’s arms dropped to her sides. Valeria patted the sarcophagus. “In this. Before that, in a room in a castle until I was old enough to make me like him.” She was standing less than a meter away, now, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “I only woke because of you. I only escaped when you damaged my prison. And I can only be free with your help.”
It might even be true. From what she had seen, parallels like this happened. She was much like Vaylin, but could a vampire even be helped? Wasn’t she already dead?
As she saw the fangs bared once again through the haze her vision had fallen into, she realized it didn’t matter. She was determined to try, but not like that.
Her mind once again her own, she dropped to the floor, bringing her leg around to kick Valeria’s legs out from under her. It barely worked, the vampire’s strength almost canceling her surprise, but she still fell. As she did, Vaylin bound her other wrist with her whip and pulled them together, tying them securely.
Valeria growled at her, but looked confidently down at the binding, attempting to break it with brute force. While she wasted her time doing that, Vaylin attempted to also bind her legs, lengthening and thickening her rope, but she got kicked in the gut for her trouble, and she fell, black spots spinning in front of her.
She knew she had internal injuries. She tried to will herself to stay conscious. It was important that she stay conscious, she knew, but she couldn’t remember why. The enemy that she saw approaching her with a smile? No, that wasn’t it. Why was Valeria still on the ground? Was it the rope?
Oh, right. The rope. That was the problem. She hadn’t had time to make it stable.
More red lightning blasted her, and knowing didn’t keep her from losing consciousness.
She drifted in and out of consciousness. Once, she saw one of the vampire’s hands lying nearby, severed by the whip exploding, before blacking out again.
She finally woke in pain, her flesh burned and bruised in numerous places. Her shoulder burned from the wound, and the poultice that had been put over it seemed to make it hurt even more. Bucky and Tony were there, tending to her. Senya, though, was watching her and sharpening a stake.
Vaylin said drowsily, “Always willing to think the worst of me, Mother?”
The stern look didn’t change. “I’m not your mother. And am I right?”
Vaylin took stock. Her heart beat, and she no longer felt the other presence in her mind. She shrugged and answered, “Frequently. But not now.”
Bucky laid a hand on her shoulder and said, “I’m glad you’re all right, but that was unfair. About your mother.”
She shook her head and said, “Yes, I know, old man. It was just a joke.”
Tony said, “It seems it wasn’t funny.”
“No. It never is.”