Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2002 18:36:20 -0700 (PDT) From: Author James Subject: Trials of a Real Dark Knight 4 Disclaimer: This story, though maybe not in this chapter but in subsequent chapters, will have celebrities in it. I have no knowledge of their sexuality and this is not intended to imply their sexuality. This is all from my own mind. Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters created by Joss Whedon. Copyright 20th Century Fox. Batman, and all related characters created by Bob Kane. Copyright DC Comics and Warner Bros. X-MEN, and all related characters created by Stan Lee. Copyright Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox. The Vampire Chronicles and all related characters created by Anne Rice. Copyright Anne O'Brien Rice. Star Wars and all related concepts created by or based on the universe created by George Lucas. Copyright 20th Century Fox, LucasFilms Ltd. and Lucas Books/Ballantine Books. I don't know for sure if I will use all the above elements, but just in case, I have myself covered. This story has taken on a life of its own. From its inception a year ago, I had only thought it would last ten chapters maximum. As you can see, it has grown tremendously. Mostly due to readers emailing me and telling me they've enjoyed it or have received help due to certain issues addressed. I've enjoyed writing this story but it would not have been written without men and women reading it and telling me they've enjoyed it. I do hope that you continue to enjoy each new chapter as our hero lives and grows. I have received many emails from people who have enjoyed it and some from those who do not. I would enjoy hearing from you. Any emails you send, please tell me what chapter and story you are commenting on. Please note, my email address has changed. At the end of July, my previous email address will no longer be active. Thanks. authorjames2002@yahoo.com I also have several online messenger services. If you want to chat with me in real time, email me and tell me the services you use and I will tell you my screen name. Chapter 4 Interbelt The vampire James walked into the club with a grin on his face. He was going to enjoy a night out on the town. "Batman may be in town," he thought, "but that doesn't mean I can't have fun." The first thing James did was look for the most heterosexual, masculine man he could find. Walking around the club no one found James suspicious. He blended in fairly well with his black leather pants that had zippers over key erogenous zones, a black sleeveless shirt, and a long black leather overcoat. The only strange thing is that he wore his sunglasses even in the darkened nightclub. The vampire James approached his first victim. The man was an attractive man, obviously heterosexual and very macho. He was scouting out which ladies to go after first. James, however, had other plans for this stallion. James walked over to him. The guy was busy laughing at some joke one of his buddies told. James slipped a leg over the man and sat on his lap. "What the fuck are you doing?!" the clubber declared. "Relax," James soothed. "It doesn't mean you're a homo if another guy rides you, does it? It just means you enjoy getting fucked hard, that's all." "What are you talking about?" "Just relax. Let me do all the work, stud." James reached down and unzipped the man's pants. He reached in and pulled out an enlarging cock. "I don't know if I like this," the man said hesitantly. "Oh, you'll love it!" James reached down and unzipped a zipper on his leather pants opening up the back, revealing his hole in the back. He guided the clubber's dick to the hole and inserted it. James lifted up and pushed down hard, feeling it pop into place. "What's your name?" James whispered. "So I can scream it out while I ride you. You want the ladies to know you are a stud, don't you?" "It's Chad," he answered. His insides were churning with nervousness. He didn't now what to make of a guy sitting on his cock. But he was horny and this guy was offering. And if the guy did what he said he would do, Chad could turn out to be very popular with many of the spectators, who began a small crowd to watch. James started his anal ministrations, working Chad nice and slow to make the pleasure build up. "You're so big," James said. "I like how you feel in me." This worked in making Chad harder and more stimulated. "Yeah, ride me," Chad ordered. "Ride my big guy." "Oh, yes!" James responded. He leaned down and unbuttoned Chad's shirt. His tongue played on Chad's nipples, launching Chad's pleasure into new heights. "God, yes!" James nibbled a little on the nipple, teasing Chad even more. Finally, when the nipple was nice and erect, James bit the tip off. The pain mixed with the pleasure made the scene rather erotic. Chad didn't care about the fact his nipple was gone. All that mattered was the erotic pleasure he was getting. The crowd of watchers kept growing. "Yes! Yes! Yes!" Chad moaned over and over. "I'm almost there! I'm almost there!" James could feel Chad's orgasm mounting, closing in upon the natural high he was feeling. James had Chad right where he wanted. James leaned in and kissed Chad's neck. Chad leaned his head to one side to give James better access, exactly what a vampire wants. James opened his mouth and encased Chad's neck in his mouth. His teeth found the carotid artery and James began his feed. At first the pain was kinky for Chad. It caused him to orgasm rather hard and scream rather loudly. The club sparkled and then his sight faded into the darkness of death. James pulled off of Chad's neck and swallowed the last little bit of blood in his mouth. Then he stood up. The slurping sound of the cum-covered cock heard as it came out of James. James used his hand to close Chad's eyes. 'No need to let others know he's dead,' James thought to himself. People just looked at Chad rather concerned. Spectators were mumbling that the orgasm must have been so intense that Chad passed out. The guy riding Chad turned to the spectators. "Who is next?" Two guys raised their hands simultaneously. "Come right up, guys," James said. "You, sit here." James turned a chair close to Chad around so the back of the chair was at the table. "And you sit on the table." The two men quickly obliged him wanting to take part in such an erotic situation. Once in place, James undid the pants of the man sitting in the chair. He sat down on his lap, the man's dick easily going in as James' hole was already lubricated with Chad's cum. James leaned forward over the guy he was sitting on and undid the pants of the man on the table. He took the man's dick and placed it in his mouth, making it a threesome. James worked the guys for several minutes, feeling them get closer and closer to sexual ecstasy. "Yes, yes!" the guy whose cock was getting blown exclaimed. "Suck that cock!" James reached up and massaged the guy's balls, that way he could tell when the man was close to orgasm. They drew up and his cock began pumping. As it pumped into James' mouth, James bit down hard, severing the cock from its owner. "AHHHHHHH!" the guy screamed in pain. With having a cock so hard, a lot of blood was in it. James kept his mouth around it and sucked the blood from his body through the penile vein. The man grabbed James by the head to pull James away. But James grabbed his wrists and kept on sucking, drinking, feeding off of the man through the vein. The guy slumped back onto the table in death. James released the man and looked at the guy he was riding. James leaned in to kiss him. The man felt something pressing against his lips and thought it was James' tongue, so he opened his mouth. James pushed it in further and then pulled off, leaving whatever it was in his mouth. He reached up and pulled out a dick. "UUGGHH!!!" the guy screamed. James reached over and snapped the man's neck. But he did not get up off the guy. He kept going for several more minutes until he felt the man's body react with an ejaculation. Then he stood up. "Who is next?" he asked. The club-goers screamed in terror and began running away. "So you are going to make me work for my food, huh?" The black Suburban pulled onto East Market driving through downtown heading east. I looked out the tinted window and noticed people flooding out of a building, a building I recognized as the Interbelt, a club accepting both gay and straight clubbers. The people were screaming in terror. "What's going on?" Punisher asked. "The patrons of that club are screaming." "I wonder what's going on?" "Pull over up here and we'll check it out." "I really don't have time for this. I have to find Exeter." "I'm going to make time for this! The Friends of Humanity are a big deal! But it doesn't mean the rest of humanity is ignored, either." Punisher rolled his eyes at me and pulled over in the nearest parking lot. I jumped out of the Suburban and ran toward the club. Punisher wasn't too far behind me. He wasn't carrying any of his rifles but pistols hung at his side. He was coming prepared to defend himself, which was good. I hoped, however, that he wouldn't have to use the weapons. I didn't want anyone to die. We came up on the entrance. I grabbed someone running away. "What's going on?" I asked. "Some guy in there...just killed...three guys." I released the man and headed into the doorway. I looked around and saw a man in leather with his mouth buried in some unlucky girl's neck. A vampire. I lifted a table with my powers and threw it at the vampire. It shattered to pieces. The vampire turned and I saw his face. James. "You!" he said as he dropped the drained girl to the floor. "I come up to another city to let you have Canton, but you follow me. You are unbelievable!" The Punisher pulled out a pistol and fired at James, hitting him square in the chest. James whipped backwards with the impact but didn't go down. Punisher didn't know he was a vampire. James was not the kind of vampire with the furrowed brow and yellow eyes. He was the vampire species that retained their soul, the vampire that retained its humanity, the person who changed into an immortal. James stood upright. "What the...?" Punisher said. "He's a vampire." "But his brow isn't bumpy? Why isn't he demon-like?" "Because the species he belongs to isn't demonic. They retain humanity, although it's hard to believe with this guy's reputation." "Why do you keep haunting me?!" James exclaimed. "Because what you are doing is wrong! Search your soul and see that it's wrong!" "What soul? I have no soul! I'm a vampire! A being that survives by consuming blood! You think I'm a vampire with a soul?" "Yes. No one ever explained to you the kind of vampire you are? Not all vampires are evil and demonic. I've met some that are kind. They still have their soul. From the looks of you, you have a soul." "I haven't had a soul since Junior High," James said. There was no anger or malice in his voice. It was quiet, cold, unemotional. "Get the people away from here," I whispered to Punisher. I took a step closer to James. "What do you mean?" "I told you!" James said angrily. Then he calmed himself. "I have always been the freak growing up. People did not like me. I tried to be nice. I tried to be good. But no. No one wanted me to be good. I had this position in everyone's life as being the bad guy. The troublemaker. Let's just say I'm living down to my expectations." "You don't have to live by others' expectations, James. You can live to your own expectations." "The only ones I have now are the ones handed me by those I thought loved me." "You can change them, James. You don't need to listen to those voices. They are gone. It's just your voice now. It's just you. You can stop." My desire to end his evilness had a new addition, a desire to see him turn good. Could someone so horrible actually become a being of goodness? Could someone who had performed such heinous, uncaring crimes become someone who would do good in this world? I didn't know. But I wanted to try and find out. "The only voice that should matter to you is what your heart tells you, what your soul says to you. Listen. Quiet your mind and listen to the still voice." The room became quiet. All I could hear was my own heart beating. Punisher had gotten the people out. All that remained in the room was James and I. Was this what the angel foretold? Was this a trial to determine who I was? If I helped James, perhaps I could be Eric again. I could gain back the humanity I had before the accident. Losing your memory you lose yourself. You lose who and what you were. The new me was okay. But the trials the messenger told me were coming were to see if I would reclaim the Eric McCoy that was before the explosion. The psychologist. The lover of all life. This was a trial to bring Eric back but it wasn't just about me. If anything it was about James, the poor tortured soul that stood before me. His soul, his humanity was in the balance as well. It was my test to see if it could be brought back. I determined in myself to bring him back from the darkness that surrounded him. His soul was on the line. "The still small voice, James. What does it say?" I asked in a quiet voice. It was an absurd picture. A man dressed in a Bat-suit quietly speaking to a leather-dressed vampire of matters concerning the heart and soul. "It's too quiet for me to hear," James whispered. "Could it be gone? Could I have finally done what I sought to do? Repress my soul so much that it disappeared?" "You tried to suppress...?" "I was evil, right? I was bad. I had no inclinations in me to be good. I tried to be good. I did what I should have. But I got nothing in return. "Then this happened to me. I became the embodiment of evil. I became a being who fed off living blood to survive. I didn't want to be this way. I didn't want to hurt others. But all I heard was the wrongness of being a vampire. I could not escape my destiny of being an evil creature. So I accepted it. I let it take over. "The humanity was strong at first. It cried out in guilt every time I fed off someone. I didn't want to kill the person. But I would grow so hungry the little bit would not be sufficient. I had to have more. The hunger would be so terrible that I couldn't think. I had no moral reasoning. Instinct took over and I fed. I drained the person until there was no blood left. "When I came to my senses, I looked to see who I killed, who I murdered for my own survival. It was a little girl. I killed her to survive. I had truly become a monster. "The newspapers in Canton, Akron and Cleveland, as well as all the news channels told of the monster who killed the little girl. Over and over it was announced how evil this being was. The being was me. I became the sinister murderer of children. "Taking the life of a child was the pivotal moment for me in my crossover to the darkness that rested at the edge of my conscience. I had no choice. The community would not accept my apologies. They would not try to understand what I had become. They didn't know how to help someone like me. I could have turned myself in to people who didn't understand and force me down the path of despair to evil or I could have gone down the path alone. Either let others walk me down or choose to go down the path myself. I was through letting others dictate my life. I went down the path alone, repressing any and every attempt of my humanity to reason with me. "I became who I am today. It was a long and treacherous path. The nights were arduous, as I would remember the faces of those I killed. I blocked them out of my mind. The voice that cried up in guilt became quieter and quieter. It was years that I ignored it and just a few moments ago that I actually took time to listen." "Is it there?" James listened for a moment. "Yes. It's still there." "What does it say?" James became quiet for several moments. Looking into his eyes, I saw he truly struggled to listen, searching for the voice, the words it spoke. I watched as tears formed in his eyes. One trickled down his cheek. "What have I done?" he whispered. His hands flew up to his face and he collapsed to his knees. I ran to him and knelt beside him, placing my arms around him. "Oh God, what have I done?" he cried. "I've let them win. I've become the monster they all said I would be. I allowed them." "It's okay, James. Don't hold back the tears." His heart was breaking, the hardness giving way to the softness of flesh. His humanity was coming back to him. How long it had been gone, but it was coming back to him. For so long it was repressed, but his humanity was taking over, his soul was being ignited. This vampire started his road to redemption with letting his heart feel remorse. Sirens outside brought my attention back to my environment. James lifted his head up and wiped the tears. "They are coming for me." "Yeah." "Should I let them take me?" "They won't know what to do with a vampire. They won't know how to feed you or to keep you out of sunlight." "Then I would end up dying." A smile formed on James's face. "I can rest in peace." "Can you? Will you be able to rest in peace? Or will you go to your grave with the knowledge of all the wrong you did not being righted?" "But do I have the right to make amends? For what I've done, perhaps I need to die and spend eternity in torment." "As much as this society would like to see that, God has higher purposes for us. Eternal torment is reserved for those who don't take the chances at redemption. You've been handed the chance to redeem yourself. Will you take something God has given you and throw it away?" James considered it. "I don't know. That's not a decision I can make." James looked up at me, looked deep into my eyes. "Be my conscience. Make the decision for me." I stood up, reached down and took his hand. "Let's get started on redemption." James stood up. We heard the voices of the police outside. "Come out with your hands up! If you do not come out, we will come in shooting!" "If they come in and I leave, they will know I'm alive. They will never stop hunting me down." "Then this moment, the evil you dies." "How?" I relaxed my body and felt the different molecules, finding ones that were volatile. I found the gas heating system. I manipulated them to extreme volatility. "Grab on," I said. James reached around me from behind and held me tightly. I lifted us up to the ceiling and caused the molecules to explode. The heat lifted us up and through the ceiling as the Interbelt was engulfed in flames. It was total destruction. I flew us over to a nearby building and we watched in silence as the flames roared destroying the building. "If there were a body, they would never find any remains in that inferno. You are free. Your old life is over." "The evil me died in there," James said. "It's time for the good you to build a new life. What do you say? Are you up for the challenge?" "I don't know if I am. But my soul is smiling. It tells me there is hope." "Then there truly is hope." To Be Continued... What a profound chapter! It opened with James committing a very horrible crime and ended with his start on the road to redemption. Was I wrong in doing this? Should Batman have killed James? I want to hear your opinions.