Vial Two ( Magdalena)

Brandy quietly surveyed her surroundings looking for the slightest indication that someone other then Bishop knew that she was in this deserted cemetery in Paraguay.
Stepping slowly as she continued her vigilance she deftly made her way toward the center of the property. There she would find the mausoleums that were her true target this night.

Recently while the focus of the world’s attention was shifted toward the Pope’s demise an Infernal had entered the Vatican uninvited and made off with one of the world’s foremost supernatural weapons. For centuries the citadel in which the Pope resides had been the repository for any and all supernatural objects that came into the church’s possession. Throughout all of recorded history one collection of objects has been hinted at and feared by all who have knowledge of its existence. It is written that whoever shall hold the six ‘Bottles of Nigh’ and recite the correct prayer shall release onto this plane and bind into service the Satan himself. The legends state that the six bottles each contain a fraction of his former Celestial might that was released by each of six blows he suffered during the rebellion in heaven.

Three times have the bottles been united but each time without knowledge of the appropriate prayer. The first time it is said two lesser demons were released onto our plane. The result was the introduction of the vampyre and lycanthrope races into the human lexicon. The second time of ‘unification’ resulted in a lesser demon that entered our plane and became the councilor for one of the great families of Western Europe during the later 19th and early 20th centuries. The most recent episode resulted in the releasing onto this plane of a water elemental that wreaked havoc in the eastern hemisphere of our planet killing hundreds of thousands before it was trapped in a nearby fissure caused by the subduction of a regional tectonic plate.

The Magdalena had again been sent out to retrieve one of the ‘essence’ vials that had been so recently stolen from the Vatican. The first she had caught up with in Tunisia formerly under the possession of Lilith herself. She hadn’t been much of a challenge for Brandy. Her lilin on the other hand would have been more then a mouthful. This second vial was said to be carried by the former sovereign of a small eastern European enclave. Long since dead he was a known consort to Lilith and was long in both age and tooth.

Stopping she fixed her attention on the first granite structure just on the edge of visibility in front of her. It was neither sight nor sound that drew her attention but rather her god ‘gifted’ six sense triggered in the presence of one of the Infernal or those touched by them.

Drawing from the years of training already at her disposal Brandy crouched slightly and pressed forward, now using the tombstones as cover. Reaching over her shoulder she carefully drew her sword from its scabbard slowly so as not to announce her presence to any unseen assailants. Her weapon of choice on this mission was the fabled sword Excalibur her trusted Spear of Destiny sitting this one out. Also at hand she carried twin 9mm Beretta’s equipped to fire capsules of holy water. From previous experience she knew that a single well placed head shot would decapitate an undead as easily as did the sword.
Straightening to her full six foot two inch frame she found a measure of cover behind a large centuries old tombstone. Peering around the slab of marble she saw that one of the mausoleums had been torn open the former occupant lying stiffly on the dewy ground. Nothing seemed to be moving or making any noises so Brandy cautiously moved on.

Brandy also noticed the stench. In her dealings with the undead she had come to the conclusion, accurately, that the undead had a particular odor that was similar no matter what the manner of creature, whether vampire, wraith, ghost it didn’t seem to matter. They always had this odor that was reminiscent of frankincense, rotting flesh and rose petals.

After registering the smell her eyes did start picking up, at a mausoleum farther in the fog, some movement. Stealing herself she slowly began to advance using what cover she could from the tombstones. Hoping that she could sneak close enough to finish the battle with a single well placed blow from her enchanted sword. She unfortunately found out that scenario was not to be as she finally broke cover from her granite and marble protectors.

Rising up before her were two wraiths that had been lying in wait as part of some type of infernal claymore, the pair hidden and commanded to appear only if someone set foot within a given area or within a certain distance of a set point. Either way she now had two wraiths to fight and hoped that neither would lay a claw on her, knowing that should they do so they would sap part of her life essence adding it to their own. In the process aging her and strengthening the undead pair.

Carefully stepping back she allowed them to fully materialize, knowing that in their fully ephemeral state even Excalibur would not be able to touch them. The secret to fighting wraiths was patience. The only time they were corporeal was at the moment they were attempting to strike their target. This meant that to beat them a body must present itself as a target and at the last minute dodge an attack countering with an attack of their own. Now in their more substantial form Excalibur could do quite a bit of damage, perhaps felling the infernal creatures in a single blow. Brandy had thus far never been that lucky but she certainly hoped at this point luck was on her side and if not then God’s fortune.

Another oddity about the wraith was that they emitted a low mournful moan, but only when they were not in their ephemeral state. In previous battles with these creatures Brandy had made note that they were their most corporeal when they moaned and thus telegraphed their state. These two seemed to be a matched pair…male and female, perhaps even a husband and wife during life.

Slowly the two wraiths circled attempting to flank their quarry. Fortunately Brady recognized the logic behind their movements and rather then stepping back defensively she moved to her right directly into the path of one of the wraiths. Her blow caught the creature bemoaning its hideous fate and quickly dispatched it to the peace it had never known, forcing it back into the world from which it had been called into service.

The second wraith proved to be a bit more formidable then the first but never the less was also sent back to its plane of origin, by Brandy who then took a minute to lean forward on her sword and catch her breath. By this time she was not able to see anything nor was she able to detect their scent on the softly swirling breeze of the cemetery.

Meanwhile in his observation room secreted far beneath the Vatican Bishop is watching Brandy with extreme interest. The “Vials” are far and away the deadliest supernatural weapons currently known to the Knights of Malta organization. He has supreme confidence in the Magdalena’s ability to retrieve the items she is tasked to get, however he is aware that as long as a human being is breathing they are capable of doing anything. That includes casting off years of training and doing the unexpected.

Brandy could feel a buzzing at the edge of her consciousness, the tell tale sign that she was being monitored by Bishop. She had never been taught what the feeling was, so she had never volunteered that she felt it.

Finished with her brief respite she ventured deeper still into the ground fog saturated cemetery. With cautious steps she approached the largest mausoleums at the very center of the property. The ‘monitoring’ buzz in her head was quickly supplanted by the sixth sense alarm that she was in the proximity of one of the Infernal. The strength of the alert made it an almost palpable to her physically indicating that her true quarry was very near.
Unbeknownst to Brandy her presence had been detected also and her target had shifted into one of his more transient forms.

Approaching the structure ahead Brandy saw above the steel door, oddly enough hanging barely by one hinge, the seal the signified that this was the resting place of former members of her order. As she made for the entry she felt as if the very fog was clutching at her, whispering to her. Stopping she reached out with her senses to try and find the source of the sensations. Slowly the ground fog Brandy stood amidst twirled and twined around her legs, easily moving across her midriff until her entire body was wrapped in its ethereal embrace. Sensing the attack Brandy tried to step out of her undead lover’s embrace only to find that the fog was solidifying into something far more substantial.

With her range of motion waning Brandy dropped her sword and drew her pistols. When her attacker had finished solidifying into the form of a vampire clutching her to its chest, it was unaware that Brandy held at the ready pistol aimed at its crotch and just below the left armpit. Triggering both weapons simultaneously the holy water capsules didn’t penetrate very far before releasing their twin payloads of blessed liquid.

The vampire screamed like a thing undead, which it was, and releasing its hold on Brandy leapt atop the nearby mausoleum growling as the pain ebbed to a low agony. In the two target areas the missing tissue amounted to roughly a third of the total makeup of the creature. As he checked his wounds he found, to his dismay that they were not healing over and in fact were starting to spread to the formerly unaffected parts of his anatomy.

“The water has been infused with ultraviolet power nanites constructed out of pure silver. They’ll be done in about three and a half minutes.” She finished glancing at a chronograph in her left gauntlet. Quickly Brandy holstered her two firearms and retrieved Excalibur.

“You will not win.” The creature said well over half way eaten away by its holy viral infection.

“This game is never won, Count. That is why there have been so many Magdalena’s.” she replied gesturing to the front door of the structure atop which the Count was perched.

As the last portions of his body melted away a crystal vial containing an icor colored liquid fell down the roof rolling until it hit the edge of the roof. Tumbling through the air Brandy caught the bottle and tucked it into a pouch on the inside of her waist sash.