Date: Sun, 8 Jul 2001 09:30:24 -0700 (PDT) From: FoxGlove Manor Subject: Dream Masters 10 Sorry for the delay..... but things have been a lil crazy. Just a reminder, our site is now 5 chaps ahead of this one. The addy is: www.geocities.com/foxglove_manor Check it out if u haven't already! Last Time . . . "We have company." "I know we have company Lance, they're all in the ballroom babe." Josh's voice rang out in Lance's head. "Not THAT kind of company. These ones have yellow eyes and fangs." Lance said almost chipper. "OH! Where?" "Oh, trust me you won't miss them . . ." "Guy who is 7 foot something, with a woman who makes your skin start crawling for some reason?" "That would be them." "Don't worry, they shouldn't try anything until everyone leaves . . . hopefully. But in the mean time tell all the guys." Josh said. Lance nodded and then looked at Nick. This Time . . . Justin was standing in front of a table slightly sipping a glass of Chardonnay. As he swished it around in his mouth he frowned a bit. He then saw Josh walk up to him. "Hey, Just, we have some company. They're . . . not the good kind either. "I know I saw them." Justin said as he looked over at the two, who were standing on the other side of the room. "Have any clue who they are?" Josh asked. "Nope. But I have a feeling we are going to find out. How about you?" "Yeah, I'm going to kick everyone out around 2. You still going to be awake?" "Yep." Josh walked off and started to do a little chitchat with everyone. Justin sat quiet for a moment and was about to go back outside, when an extremely good looking woman came up to him and asked, "I know this is unusual, but, would you like to dance?" Justin stood there for a moment and then said, "I'm not much of a dancer. But thanks anyway." "Well, then we can talk." She had a thick Russian accent, but Justin had dismissed it seeing he had a slight one from being in Russia so long ^Ö hearing it so much that it became second nature to him. He shrugged and then sat down she pulled out a chair and sat across from him. "I know who you are." She said looking dead in his eyes, and he sat back and folded his arms. Chris, was sitting next to his son who was drinking a soda, and looking around for something. "Justin, what are you looking for?" Chris asked as he saw his son stick his head under the tablecloth. "Jack, he ran away." Chris put his hands up to his head and rubbed his temples. "Why did you bring him here in the first place?" "Cause he would be lonely in that room all by himself." Chris shook his head in anger and started looking for the dog. Joey and Beryl were still arguing, only more quietly. "How was it my fault!" Joey said shocked to hear that their break up was his fault. "Well, for one, you stopped talking to me for a year!" "That was after we broke up!" "No it wasn't!" "YES it was!" "No it wasn't" Joey finally folded his arms and sat back with a frown on his face. Beryl did the same. They sat there for a long time without saying anything. Thinking about what they were arguing about. It didn't matter the both knew it was stupid, but they still argued no matter where they were. "Well," Joey said, "Wanna Dance?" Beryl looked over at him and glared. "God! It was just a suggestion!" Joey said frowning. "Well, if Aaron gets the record contract I'm sure that he would do good. You know the music scene has changed so much from when you and I were in it." Nick said talking up a storm with Lance. "Yeah, I know. Remember, I still do own part of Jive, and lets not forget Free Lance." Lance said smiling and sitting at a table. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. So . . . I thought Justin was dead." Nick said smiling at Lance. "WHAT!" Lance said shocked. "I thought Justin was dead, but he seems to be over there talking to that girl. So, what's up with that?" "Ummm . . ." Lance didn't know what to say. "Don't worry about it. I know a lot about you guys . . . Like the, swords, and the book and so forth." Now Lance was in utter confusion but tried to play it off. "What are you talking about Nick?" Nick smiled and laughed. "Okay, New York, in December, right before the Millennium. After y'all did that tree lighting thing, I was going to ask you on a date. You guys didn't see me, I remember that we had gotten a couple of days off, and I wanted to see the tree lighting, as well as, ask you out. Nobody, not even the fans, knew I was there. After the show, I followed you guys and I saw you run into an ally. I was curious as to why you would run into an alley, when there weren't any fans chasing you. I walked halfway into the alley and from there I saw lots of stuff." Lance sat there and stared at Nick. "Oh, come on Lance, I didn't tell anybody. Oh yeah, hey Kev, by the way, the guys of N Stink are some super charged psychos who go around killing things! I think not!" Josh was walking around doing the meet and greet thing. He came across the two vampires sitting at a table. He thought for a moment then decided to play as if he didn't know. "Hello, my name is Joshua Chasez. I don't believe we have met." He said extending his hand to the man first. "Mike Manchester, it's a pleasure to meet you, and this lovely woman is my wife." "Patricia." She said standing and smiling. "Well, it is a pleasure to meet you both. You are the owners of Manchester Music right? The one that has been giving Jive a run for their money these past few years?" "That would be us. Oh please don't take offense to it, but we are just trying to make a living." Chaos said standing. "Oh, don't worry about it. Business is business. Well, I'm sorry to cut this short but, I'm afraid that there is a small fire in the kitchen." Josh said mocking them, and turned to walk away. Chaos and Cassandra looked at each other with disgust and left the house. "So, when should we attack their . . . Manor." Cassandra said as she shut the door to their Ford Excelsior. "When everyone leaves . . . NOT until then" Chaos said as he glared at her. "I will tell my troops when to attack. It's not your call." Soon a fist went across her face. He grabbed her by the hair and his eyes turned red like fire. "WE will attack when I say so . . . Bitch!" he said, and then threw her head against the window almost breaking it. She rubbed the back of her head, and then looked him over seductively. "Ma'am, I'm afraid you don't know me." Justin said angrily. "I have never seen you before in my life." He got up and started to walk away as Josh came and stood right next to him, and began to talk. "The Russians call you Chernyj Bedstivia (Chore-nee bed-stee-vee-ya. Translation "Black Death") Josh and Justin both stopped and turned around and looked at her. Justin quickly walked back to the table and said in Russian. "[Who are you?]" "[You're the top assassin in the world.]" She said and smiled. "[What does that have to do with anything?]" Josh said standing next to Justin, who gave him a shocked look, at the way he was speaking Russian. "[I'm the second best in the world, and I want the top spot.]" She said looking at Justin directly. Justin straightened up, and looked her in the eyes and said, "[You don't know what you are getting into little girl.]" "I know, Justin Timberlake," She said loudly in English "that you are supposed to be dead!" Justin quickly sat and looked at her. "This is not the time nor the place!" "Oh, I disagree. For years I have been living in your shadow. Now, it's time to get you out of my way." Josh sat next to her and folded his arms. "If you wanted him dead why isn't he dead?" Josh asked. "Well, you know who I am. Therefore you will have to die with him. So I guess I can tell you." She said sure of herself Josh cocked an eyebrow and then telepathically said to Justin, "She is pretty sure of herself." Justin looked at him and nodded in agreement. "Alright look lady. Feel free to try and kill us after the party. We don't want to start a commotion with all the . . . Generals and so forth around." Josh said with a smile and left. Justin gave the same smile and then said, "Would you like to dance?" Holding his hand out to the female assassin. "Yes, but why dance with me if I'm going to kill you." She said as she took his hand. He quickly pulled her up to his body and looked deep into her eyes. "Keep your friends close . . ." He said as he pulled her in close to his body so she could feel his dick through the soft fabric of the tux, "and your enemies . . . closer!" He began to spin her in sync with the music; they didn't take their eyes off each other the whole time. "Daddy, I found him! He was drinking out of the punch bowl!" Little Justin said as he ran across the ballroom with the puppy in his hands. Chris sighed and sat his son down and looked him dead in the eye. "After it gets to be twelve you are going to bed . . . K?" The little boy smiled, and then yawned as Chris thought to himself, "If you last that long little one." An hour later. "5 . . .4 . . .3 . . .2 . . .1 HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Everyone in the ballroom shouted as the large clock chimed 12. Then everyone started the hugging and kissing that had become a tradition on New Year's. Of course the first person Josh kissed was Lance, he then went around kissing the girls. Lance kissed Nick, like friends, and did the same. Justin kissed the unknown assassin passionately and forced his tongue down her throat, which she hesitantly accepted and then broke away from her. Chris gave his sleeping son a kiss on the forehead and the dog kissed Chris. Joey and Beryl just stared at each other for a long time, then lightly kissed and walked away from each other. Slowly after that everyone started to leave. As the last person left Josh shut the doors and undid his bow tie, he looked at his five friends who were all tired and beat. Lance looked at them all and said, "I'm going to make me a pot of black coffee." Beryl, Joey and Chris carrying Little Justin, followed Lance into the kitchen. Josh and Justin headed into the living room and turned on the TV. Lance was making the coffee and he and Chris were talking about teaching. Joey and Beryl were unusually quiet and weren't looking at each other, feeling too ashamed to. They felt guilty for that one simple kiss, which was all it was. But still, when their lips touched it didn't feel wrong, and that's why they pulled away. They felt strange, but wonderful at the same time. Beryl's hands were cold from being so nervous, and scared. Joey on the other hand was more concerned with the way he had acted about the whole thing. Just as the two were about to say something to each other Josh walked in. "Babe, did you reactivate the motion detectors, or the defense matrix?" Josh asked as he came up with a frown. Lance pulled the cup away from his mouth and said. "No . . ." Josh and Lance quickly took off running and the rest of the guys followed. Josh and Lance were running straight for a wall and Josh yelled, "OPEN!" As he said that, the wall moved away to reveal a staircase. He quickly ran down and Joey and Chris were close behind. "CIDS, activate defense matrix." Josh said as he sat down at a chair next to a large control panel. ( Cybernetic Internal Defense System) "Understood." A male voice came from the control panel. As Josh watched the monitor he saw heat blooms around the property. "CIDS, identify heat patterns in sectors Alpha, Beta and, Omega." Josh said watching with intent. "Heat patterns are consistent with Vampire body heat. I'm picking up 55 within the gates of Foxglove." "Lock down the Manor. Instate a level-1 security breach, defensives to maximum." "Complying. Lock down in 15 seconds." Josh quickly got up and ran up the stairs. "Lance, we have lock down in about 10 seconds." "Alright!" Lance said as he and Josh ran passed each other. Justin heard all the commotion and met Lance who was running up the stairs. "Come on! We have to get to the weapons locker." Lance said as he pulled Justin along with him. When they got into the room, a large metal sheet covered the window, and then the lights to the house went black. "CIDS, emergency power." Lance said as he unlocked the locker with a password. "Lance, what's going on?" Justin asked. "The Manor is under attack." Justin nodded, and then took off running. As he was running he heard the distinct cry of a boy, he ran into the room, and saw Little Justin sitting in his bed crying. Justin quickly ran over and picked up him up and carried him to the stairs. "JC, where should I put the kid?" Josh's voice echoed back. "The Library." Justin ran to the library and sat the kid at one of the tables, and looked him dead in the eyes and said, "Your daddy is a strong guy. You know that right?" Little Justin nodded and wiped his eyes. "And, I know your dad, and you mean the world to him, and he won't let anything happen. Now he needs you to stay here and don't leave this room. No matter what you hear, alright? Cause there's going to be some loud noises and stuff. Okay? This is going to show your daddy how much of a big boy you can be." Justin said. In that second after he said that the Little Justin stopped crying and sat quite. Justin quickly got up and ran out of the room and shut the door. Next to the door was a small table. He quickly placed the table in front of the door, sealed the cracks of the doors with ice, and burned a large cross in front of the door with his fingertip. He then ran to his room and grabbed his gun, and headed down to the den. There he saw everyone standing around a large screen. As he looked at the screen, he saw a group of Vampires making their way into the Manor, as they approached, metal rods stuck into their chests and they turned to dust. "Where did those come from?" Beryl asked with amazement. "The Manor has it's own defense system, when activated it will use, anything from flame throwers to ultra violate beams, to stop attacks." Josh said as he sat with his arms crossed, watching the 55 Vampires turned to dust. They all stood and watched this go on for a couple of minutes. Then it was over, so they thought. "That was easy." Justin said as he looked. Then after a short period of standing about the large screen they began to think that was the attack, but soon CIDS voice came into the room. "200 Vampires are approaching the Manor. Defensives are inadequate for this kind of assault. Awaiting orders." Josh stood for a moment and then said, "CIDS contact General Everton and inform him of our situation. Request assistance, and continue to protect the Manor as best you can. We will handle any that make it into the Manor." "Affirmative." They watched as the Vampires scaled the walls of the Manor. "How long until they are within weapons range?" Chris asked with fear in his voice. "About three minutes." Lance said as he pulled out his swords. Outside the Manor the house went into full attack mode. From the ground rose what looked like guns that had fire lit at the tip; flames began to shoot at the Vampires. Hundreds of spikes came flying from the top of the house, and UV lights were firing at random. There were only 50 weapons combined for the defenses of the house, but they were still doing fairly well. The guys watched, as the weapons outside stopped the oncoming attacks, or slowed them down. "New heat blooms detected. Another 200 Vampires are approaching the Manor. ETA for General Everton, 14 minutes. The Manor will not with stand for that long." CIDS said as the weapons continued to fire. Over the top of the gate came two Vampires. CIDS cameras focused on them. They were the too from the Party. "CIDS begin a cross reference for those two vampires. Compare them with what we know of the Gods." Lance said. "Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the Female is Cassandra, 900 plus years old. She is smart and very evil. Her legions have destroyed two Families . . . . . . Male Vampire unknown . . . . ." Chaos put his hands out and a blue energy beam shot from them, destroying one of the flame-throwers. Cassandra did the same, and soon the front of the Manor was unprotected. They both jumped off the 30-foot wall and started to walk towards the front of the house. Upon viewing this, Josh unfolded his arms, looked at Justin and said, "Would you mind?" Justin smiled and soon all their clothes changed to all black fighting attire. Just as they were about to go out of the control room, Chris said, "Where's Justin!?" "I'm right here!" Justin said. "NO, my Justin!" "I locked him in the library!" "Josh, is there any way to get into this room?" "No, it's all voice activated. It only recognizes our voices." JC said. "Good! I'll be right back!" "But ^Å" JC said as Chris vanished. Chris teleported into the library and was just in time. The windows, although covered by, metal sheets, were being broken down. Little Justin was in a corner cuddled up in fetal position. He had his hands on his ears and he was crying. Chris ran over to his son, and picked him up. "DADDY!" Little Justin yelled as he saw his father. "Don't worry, daddy's here! I'm gonna take you somewhere where you'll be safe!" "But Justin said . . . ." "Don't worry about that." "WAIT!! Where's Jack?!" "He wasn't with you?" "No!" "OK, I'll go find him, but first let me get you somewhere safe!" "Ok." "Hold on!" He teleported back into the now empty control room and placed his son on a couch and said, "Now no matter what, you stay here! Do NOT go anywhere! No matter what you hear, or see, stay here!" "What's going on daddy? I'm scared!" "I know you are baby, but don't worry, daddy'll take care of everything!" "You promise?" "Have I ever lied to you before?" "No." "Then trust me!" "Are you gonna go find Jack now?" "He's right here!" Chris said as he put his hands behind his back, concentrated on the dog, and it appeared in his hands. "Where?" "Here!" he said bringing his hands around front. "But where'd you find him?" "Don't worry about that. Just stay here with Jack! Ok?" "Ok daddy." Little Justin said cuddling up with his dog. "Ok, this is the plan, everybody take a main entrance. There are 5 possible ways to get in through the first floor." JC said as they entered the main lobby, "Fight off as many as you can and keep them from getting in. If any of them get passed you, draw them here, and we can all take care of them." "So who takes what?" Chris said now joining them. "You take the entrance by the den. Lance, you take the entrance to the patio. Beryl, you got the entrance by the atrium. Joey, by the library, and Justin and I will take the main entrance here! Any questions?" "But they can't get in anyway!" Beryl said. "Yeah they can, they're being led by Vampire Gods! Vamp Gods don't need an invitation to get inside, and neither do the ones following them." Lance said. "Any other questions?" Josh asked. "No!" They all said. "CIDS, how much longer till General Everton gets here?" "ETA for General Everton, 10 minutes." CIDS said. "Ok, we can hold them off for that long, I hope." "Alright, everybody to your stations!" Lance said as he took off for the patio entrance. They all ran for their posts. JC and Justin ran out in front of the main entrance. They saw an army of about 100 vampires being led by Chaos, and they were all headed in their direction. "You ready?" Josh asked. "Always!" Justin replied. Josh was the first to strike. He stuck both of his hands out and concentrated on two gargoyle statues that were on top of two pillars, which stood in front of the stairs. As the vampires got closer, the two gargoyles started to move. They soon came to life and soared high in the sky. Once they came back down, they started taking out vampires. One gargoyle was shooting fire out of his mouth, and the other, though it didn't have any powers, was very strong and manually took out countless vampires with her strength. The vampires that managed to get away from the gargoyles, Chaos included, kept on their way up the stairs. Justin, who was armed with his gun, was shooting as many vampires that came into range. "What the hell does that shoot?" Josh asked. "It's a pulse rifle, one shot goes through their bodies and turns them to dust." Justin replied, "Fuck this!" He said as he enabled the rapid-fire mode, "I got 600 rounds left, might as well get some damage done!" Within 5 minutes, Justin was all out of ammo. The vampires had already reached the top of the stairs and Josh using his strength and Justin using his magic, along with the 2 gargoyles were fighting off all who came at them. When Chaos saw that he was losing badly, he appeared to retreat, but really transported himself to the rear entrance along with Cassandra. Josh thanked the gargoyles for their help, and they returned to their posts atop the pillars. Justin and Josh ran back into the house to go help out the others. Once they got in, Josh yelled, "CIDS, ETA for the General!" "ETA for General Everton, 4 minutes." The computer replied. "Shit, I hope they get here in time!" Justin said. "We can hold them off, he's just a precaution, for backup sakes only. Now, you go and help Chris, and I'll go and help Lance!" Josh ordered. "Already there!" As soon as Lance got to the patio entrance, he could see a team of about 25 vampires led by Cassandra, scaling the back wall and making their way towards the entrance. Lance, armed with his swords and some throwing knives, started his attack as soon as he saw any sign of fangs showing. With his throwing knives alone, he managed to kill about 5 of the vampires. He took out his trusty saber and prepared for whatever came up to him. Killing about 6 more vampires, Lance was working up a sweat. He was trying his hardest to keep any of them from entering the house. Cassandra, fearing a loss, decided to keep Lance busy long enough for some of her army to gain access into the house. She ran up to him, and when he swung his sword at her, she caught it with her hands. Lance, a little shocked at this, went to kick her in her head, but she let go of the sword and grabbed his ankle. Lance punched her in her abdomen and she let him go, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the floor. He flipped back up to his feet and tried to slice through her midsection, but she bent backwards and the blade went over her entire upper body. Lance, knowing that he missed, brought his sword around, and turned his body. He did a roundhouse sweep and tripped Cassandra. While she lay on the floor, he took out a bowie knife and threw it at a vampire that was near the door. Cassandra got up and uppercutted Lance, causing him to fly backwards. With him on the floor, slightly dazed, what was left of her small army gained access to the Manor. Just as Lance was about to get up, Chaos appeared from nowhere and stomped his foot down on Lance's chest, causing him to slam against the floor. As Chris reached the den, he could see the vampires already trying to get into through the locked door. He teleported outside, raised his hands causing them to lift up in the air, and threw them against the wall. Though hurt, they all got up and made a run for Chris. Chris had about 25 vamps in total all coming at him. He stuck to what he was good at, fooling people and out maneuvering them via teleportation. Between teleporting in different places and staking the vamps, and hand-to-hand combat, Chris managed to fight off a good half of the little army. Once he was down to about 13 vampires, he started to get confident that he could take them all out on his own. That was when 3 vampires caught him by surprise and tackled him. They had him on the floor and were beating him to a pulp, while the rest of the vampires finally managed to get the door open, and make their way into the house. By the time Beryl got to the green house, the vampires had managed to break down some of the glass and get in the house. As soon as he saw this, Beryl lifted the glass with his mind and took out about 3 vampires. He teleported outside before anymore of them could get inside. He drew his sword and began decapitating vamps left and right. He couldn't get them all, and some did manage to get inside the house. Those that didn't make it, and were still alive, started to fight with Beryl. He was surrounded by 9 of the 27 vamps that were in total. He had killed about 10, and the other 8 made it inside the house. The 9 that were still outside started to circle around him. Beryl watched carefully, waiting for the first one to make their attack. The first to attack was from behind, Beryl sensed it and threw the vamp into two of the ones in front of him, causing them to fall. The 2 sets of three that were on each of his sides, all closed in and tackled him. He teleported out from under the pile and the other 3 vamps grabbed him by surprise. When Joey got to the entrance by the library, the vampires had already made it inside the house. He hugged up against the wall and blended in. As he moved closer to the 16 or so intruders, he thought it best to kill from behind the group so it wouldn't be as noticed. Once they all passed him, he killed the very last two vampires. After them, he got the next three, then the two in front of them, and the next four in front of them, three more gone and then there were the last two. "Ok, you take some down that hall, and I'll take the rest down this one!" the first one said. "Ok, let's go, you heard him!" The second one said turning around to see Joey standing there. He didn't get a chance to scream considering Joey staked him as soon as he turned around. "Did you say somethin?" "No!" Joey said. "What the?!" "Bye!" Joey said as he stuck the stake through the last vamps heart, "That was easy!" He ran back down the hallway and encountered a few more vampires on the way, killing about 4 of them. While taking out those four, he didn't notice the group of about 8 or so coming from behind him. Beryl still stood in the grasps of the 3 vampires. He teleported behind them, and with one swing of his sword, decapitated all three. The 6 vampires that were now starting to get up were taken care of by a giant wall of fire that Beryl shot out from the palm of his hand. After the fire cleared, Beryl ran into the house after the 8 that made it inside. The vampires were taking advantage of the hold they had on Chris. One of them stood him up while one of the others said, "I'm gonna enjoy kicking this bitch's ass!" He drew back his hand to punch Chris in the face, upon release, Chris teleported out of the way, and the vampire hit the other vamp that had been holding Chris. "Thanks!" Chris said, "And I'm not a bitch!" He took the vamp by the back of the neck and threw him into the already knocked out vampire on the floor. When the last of the three tried to come at him, Chris stuck out a stake and the vamp ran straight into it. "Dumb ass!" Chris said as took his stake and killed off the other two on the floor. Collecting himself back together, Chris ran back into the house to go see if anybody needed help. "I got him! You lead the rest of them inside the house!" Chaos said putting pressure on Lance's chest. As Cassandra got up to do as ordered, she saw that about half of the vamps that were left, had gained access into the house, and the rest were just behind them still outside. When she got to her feet, she was knocked back down by an explosion of vampires getting thrown back from the entrance of the house. "That's impossible! We made it that they could get in!" She said looking up towards the entrance. "But I just kicked them all out!" JC said calmly walking out from the doorway. Most of the vampires that were left were either severely injured or on the verge of death. The ones that were injured got up and tried to attack Josh, who handled them with ease and killed them all off. "Now, Mr. Manchester, was it? Get off of my man! And you Mrs. Manchester I believe? Go back to whoever sent you and tell him that if he EVER tries anything like this again, I'll come after him myself!" "You don't scare me!" Cassandra said walking towards him. "And you think you scare me? I've taken down, older and more powerful gods and vampires than you!" "They were all weak!" "And I suppose you're not?" Josh said as his crystal blue eyes, became a fiery dark blue. "No!" "We'll see about that!" "JOSH! Help?!" Lance moaned from under Chaos' foot. "That's right you little bitch! Scream for help!" Chaos said. "Oh, I don't NEED help, I just didn't want to have all the fun of kicking your ass to myself!" Lance said punching Chaos in the balls. Chaos grabbed his crotch and Lance grabbed Chaos' ankle and twisted it, causing him to fall. Lance got back up to his feet and ran towards the direction of Josh, who was running towards the direction of Lance. They both ran passed each other and jumped in the air. Lance came down, drop kicked Cassandra, landed, then did a summersault and picked up his sword. Josh flipped in the air, and dove down fists first, hitting Chaos in his gut. He did a tuck and roll, then flipped back up to his feet. "Let's get out of here!" Chaos groaned. "I'm with that! The armies are on their own!" Cassandra replied. They both disappeared and Josh and Lance ran back in the direction of the house. "Do will still need General Everton?" Lance asked. "No, I canceled the call before I got out here." Josh replied. "Come on, let's cut through the ballroom!" "Joey! Watch out!" Beryl and Chris said as they both saw the forming attack from behind. TBC . . . Check out the site: www.geocities.com/foxglove_manor