When the Angelus looks for a new vessel She is weak. The Darkness seeks to gain the upper hand.

I wish to thank Top Cow for such great characters and give them kudos for showing the development of a lesbian relationship in mainstream comics.

New York is a city that has had it share of heartbreak. And for many, events of the past decade have had a huge impact on New Yorkers. The twin towers collapsing on 9/11 might have been, for many the single most traumatic event for that city. And yet as the saying goes, "life goes on."

So it brought fresh change for those jaded people who see miracles everyday but ignore them to see angels flying toward the Manhattan Skyline at five am on a Thursday morning in June.

* * *
The Darkness was frantic. She was supposed to be dead, but now She was in It's hosts city of residence and She seemed to be more powerful than the last time It confronted Her. It's host was a fool thinking that he had destoyed Her. She was so close that the Darkness could see and feel the Light and that was something that It's useless host was unable to take on his own.
* * *
Estacado was woken by one of the worst nightmares he'd had in his life . He was now awake but was unable to move. The Angelus was here. How could this be? He'd disposed of the one who She'd chosen as Her vessel.
The other one was a boy, he was sure of it. So how had it happened?
Did it bring her back from the dead? If that had happened surely she would have burned up the body. Could she have found a new vessel so quickly?
Then he remembered the boy. Could She have chosen a boy? Boys could be more easily swayed toward the Dark. The Darkness quickly latched on to this thought, if She was using a boy, perhaps he could be influenced by Darkness.

Estacado realised the Darkness was grasping at straws. The Angelus was subtle, She leaned from Her mistakes unlike his sentient symbiote. But then he relised something else She had felt The Darkness and had ignored it. He felt her attention drift over him, acknowledge that He was there and then focus elsewhere. The Darkness reminded him that this had happened before but It also told him that he wasn't prepared to deal with Her at this moment in time.

Estacado wondered if the Darkness was telling him this or just reminding Itself.

* * *

Sonny Darko felt something happening to the lines of probability. He drew a circle of blood and did a seeing. His eyes snapped open. Shit, he thought as he realised he'd have to put his plans on hold again. There was no way in hell that he would practice any magic while theAngelus was in the city.
Thanks to the nine circles of hell that the blood he'd used for his circle wasn't fresh enough to draw Her attention.
***

The warriors noticed the blood circle of Darko's ritual and were going to deal with that until Dani told them that that was not why they were here. They dropped back at her command but looked at Finch with questions in their eyes.
"We are here to deal with the vampire," she said. "Try not to kill it before the mistress speaks to it."

* * *
Vampirella had spent the three previous days learning about her vampire heritage she leant about the shadow wars and how the blood drinking vampires came to be. She had explained to Terak, for that was the name of her gruff teacher what had happened to her and in doing so almost condemned herself to exile as there seemed to be bad blood (no pun intended) between the nightwalkers and daywalkers.
Her only saving grace was her ability to walk in the sun and retain her full strength. It seemed that she never had any night weakness either, as she could see at night.

Apparently the gas that the darking had created, in addition to changing Gleason from him to her to vampire had created a new type of vampire. This left her feeling like an outsider and the others seemed to not shun her, but they seemed to not want to be around her.

Terak was the only one who would even talk to her but he too, seemed to be uncomfortable around her. She was unsure, but it seemed that the others were using him as a go between or middleman in their dealings with her. She didn't mind being alone, in fact she needed the solitude to try to come to terms with the mess her life had become. Terak had taught her how to control the thirst for blood and although she still needed it to sustain herself she wasn't killing every warm-blooded human she came accross.

The second day after her birth as a vampire, Terak brought her news it seemed that there was a rogue on the loose. This meant that a vampire somewhere had lost control of his or her nature. Either he wanted to get caught or he'd gone insane. Terak said one of the basic laws of being a vampire in the city was: DO NOT DRAW ATTENTION.

That is why vampires learnt to feed from many different people and then compelled them to forget that they had been a giant mosquito meal. Terak was had brought the news about the rogue and told her that when a rogue was around vampiric activity generally stopped and daywalkers and nightwalkers would put a hold on their constant feud in order to root out the one endangering them all.

One of the other lessons was to try to bleng in with humanity. Daywalkers got jobs and lived lives among hamans as much as could be tolerated. However, it was difficult to be around humans for an extended period without wanting to nibble on them and this is why they generally stayed amongst our own kind.

Vampirella didn't stay with the others and she didn't look human enough to hold down a job. She thought the others felt guilty about their very visible uncomfort of being around her because they had Terak take her to an old safehouse on a farm where vampires used to hide from vampire hunters in the 1860's.

It was underneath a club that was owned by vampires catering to the needs of vampire thrillseekers. They told her she could stay as long as she wanted. They even bought her clothes in her size.
This was her position and situation in life when Dani and her warriors arrived in New York.
* * *
Dani looked at her warriors and her eyes flashed, and her meaning was conveyed in that flash of light that said: Be silent. Do not show yourself until I say.
Aloud she said, "Finchfire stay with them." A warriors name with the word fire added to it meant that aspect of the Angelus (the warrior) had been left in charge.
The host of the Angelus reverted to her human form and walked into the alley where Finch first saw the female vampire that had escaped from Estacado.
"I am the Angelus." she called out. "the last time we met was at the end of the shadow wars. Unlike then, today I just come to talk. I wish to speak to Terak Daywalker.

There was silence, as if the world were waiting on this one action to see which way future events would take place. After standing in the same spot for five minutes a voice sounded from behind her, "Speak and then leave we want no trouble."
Dani turned and looked at the man. "I seek the one you found feeding here three days ago."
"She has done nobody harm since we found her, she is newborn and has our protection" he said.
"Ah," Dani said "a very admirable stance you take, protecting your young." She paused looking at Terak, "The last time we met Terak, I thought you were beyond redemption you escaped me then only because the Darkness took you. I doubt vampires have found their lost emotions, what makes you different now? Why is this one important?"

He looked at me, with the most expression I had ever seen on a vampire's face. "I saw my brothers experimented on by the Darkness. I may have lost human emotion when I become a vampire, but I foung a type of emotion after being experimented on. My brothers lost the sunlight because of the Darkness, the only reason I still have it is because I managed to ecape. The vampirella escaped It also. If I owe her nothing I still feel a kinship with her because we both know what experiments by the Darkness are like.

The Angelus stood in front of the vampire considering his words. Maybe She wasn't the only one who had changed, it seemed that many things that She had come accross since accepting this new version of herself were very different to the how they had always been.

"I gather that you will refuse to tell me where the new one is." Dani said, more as a statement than a question. She suddenly felt weary and needed support, she needed her partner to hold her.

"Terak, I would like you to meet my consort." Dani said, hoping that what she was doing wasn't stupid. "Finch" she softly called, and her lover appeared in her glory, clothed in flame. Terak's eyes widened as he stepped back.

Vampires are difficult to kill but fire is deadly to them as well as decapitation; a stake in the heart would heal just like any other wound a vampire receives. But to finish off a vampire fire is your best bet.

Terak was indignant, "Now I see how much the Angelus's word is worth, you come to talk but when you don't get what you want you threaten. If we don't give you what you want will you kill us?" Terak's vehemence was somewhat astounding for one who had been alive for as long as he.

Dani knew that the vessel of the Angelus lived for milennia, but only as a vessel. She didn't know how it would work now that the new contract had been sealed. Although she gathered that her life would now be a long one.

She was definitely more than she had been before perhaps she was now immortal, the Angelus was not totally sure but It assumed they shared a soul and that the soul couldn't be destroyed but was unsure about the body.

Dani wondered if when she had lived as long as Terak would she still be able to be so passionate . She supposed she would be, as passion was an aspect of fire and the Angelus was the First fire.

Dani raised her hands to deny his accusations. "Terak, Terak," she affected a bored tone of voice -she didn't want to play politics, she did that enough during her daily human life. She continued, "Once I might have done that but not today. Today I want Finch to support me while I tell you a story."

That is how the daywalkers found out about the Angelus's consort and leiutenant. How she used to be human until being murdered by the Darkness. I told Terak that I only wanted to keep the new vampire away from the Darkness. After our talk he believed me. I don't know what convinced him but he told me where this vampirella was.
* * *

Estacado was having a bad day. He'd been woken up by the presence of the Angelus in Manhattan. To calm himself down he'd sent for Nesta as she liked pain and he needed to let loose, only to be told that Nesta had vanished at the same time as Gleason.

This infuriated him, furthermore the Darkness had been strangely silent about the disaspperance of Gleason, as if It knew something that It wasn't telling him. He was further incensed later that morning when Butch called him to tell him that Nesta's corpse had been found and hidden in a toolshed near the place where they had housed Gleason.

It was only when Bablliano showed Jackie how Nesta died that he realised that his only concern should not only be the Angelus. The Darkness had been becoming less reliable since he arrived back in the United States, there were things that It wasn't telling him.

He could have slapped himself for being so blind. The nature of Darkness is demonic and It wasn't pleased with his ways or refusals to do whatever It wanted. Of course he suddely realised, It was preparing to betray him. Jackie was suitably impressed as he had always assumed that the Darkness wasn't very big on planning.

But the plan that he could see forming must have been in the works for some time now. So he wondered if some other host had done something that the Darkness didn't like. Maybe the next host put a plan into effect in case the Darkness didn't like a future host.

This Darko from Europe, he had prompted Estacado's return to America. Jackie was unable to find much information on the man who was supposedly strong in magic, Jackie was positive it was black magic and that meant Darko probably had black magicians in his organisation. Perhaps this Darko was the Darknesses intended new host.

Jackie began planning what to do in case of such an event.

* * *
The Darkness is to large to be contained by one man. The host is just a method of keeping it's foot in the door of this dimension (so to speak).
The Angelus has the Realm of Light and her warriors to represent what she is. The Darkness has the absence of light. It is called the Void of Fear, where demons thrive.

The Original Darkness listened to it's hosts thoughts and It considered his thought pattern. No, It didn't plan ahead. It thrived on chaos. That was one thing these little creatures on this plane of reality neglected to think about when they tried to command It. If they didn't have the strength of will to hold the demon they would drown in insanity.

It's current host, no matter his other flaws, was the strongest It had had since It's very first human holder. It recalled this Darko. It had given him power because he had amused It and It wondered if he could do this again.

* * *

Sonny Darko had decided to lay low until the Angelus had left the area. This meant he would not use blood magic for his rituals. In fact the only magic he would do was to unpack his weapons shipments. He would build up his criminal empire to the point that he could stand against Estacado in the mundane world without the use of magic.

Besides, the ritual to call the Darkness could only be done on the equinox, he still had a few months left to prepare. He left the warehouse in a chipper mood with the intent of corrupting some polititions. He smiled to himself, from all reports that he'd received he saw that in some respects people in America would be easier to corrupt.

He idly wondered if Estacado used magic or the Darkness to corrupt others. Probably the Darkness, he concluded. If everything worked out like he planned he would see how Estacado did it.

* * *

The club was owned by a prosperous daywalker clan and it catered to both races of vampire who still remembered the days when vampire hunters would hunt them. Although those days (at least for most living in the city) were over, there were thrill seekers who would come here to test their skill and speed. The rules were simple: Pay the entry fee, if you die none of your friends may seek revenge.

The club was on a farm a few kilometres outside the city, and she lived under it in the basement. Vampirella was asked to do some janitorial work to pay her way. She was told that if the nightwalkers felt comfortable around her she could tend the bar at night.

She had just started her first janitorial shift when there was a commotion outside. What few vampires were in the club looked terrified as the doors opened to let a young woman in, accompanied by none other than Terak.

She began to understand the reason for the terror in the eyes of the other's. This woman could destroy all of them, she radiated power, a power that could create or destroy. Vampirella knew who she was straight away. She decided that she wasn't going to be intimidated by this woman who she had once thought would be able to free her from the Darkness.

Well now it was to late, she had once been human but now she was a monster. With that thought in her mind she snapped. She marched straight up to the woman and started screaming at her.

"Where were you? I needed you and you didn't stop him. You're supposed to stop him ." The tears were now flowing down her face. "Look at me, I'm a monster. I was human, an agent for the law and,"here she screamed the words enunciating them very clearly "NOW. I. DRINK. BLOOD."

"I was a man and he turned me into some warped version of a woman. I'm still not fully female, just a freak with boobs and a dick! A monster and a freak." Dani just stared at the woman and her mouth dropped open because she recognised her from when she met him- Agent Patrick Gleason.

She didn't know how to begin the conversation. She had thought that it might be necessary to limit the new vampire but this new creation had told her all she needed to know.

Dani looked at this creature. No she realised, this poor confused person, not creature. She looked at her with compassion and decided to talk in a factual, businesslike manner.
"Agent Gleason" she saw the shock in the face of the person who used to be Patrick Gleason. "I
wondered if they took you off the Estacado case. It's good to know what really happened"
Vampirella just looked at her, "How do you know me?"

A smile crossed Dani's features, "You aren't the only one who's changed, you interviewed me in hospital as Daniel Baptiste."

Vampirella was astounded, "You too? How did Estacado turn you into a girl?"and then as an afterthought she said, "can we change back?"

'No agent, Estacado did nothing to me... except shoot me with a gun. I chose this when I decided to embody the Angelus and I'm happy as a woman...you know, I was born transgendered."

The woman who had once been Gleason didn't understand why people were transgendered but his views on it being a sin had changed. Although he had hated every single one of those transwomen working for Estacado, he had seen their total desire to be real women.

Some of them couldn't stand the sight of their own male parts, all of them did their best to not think about anything masculine. It was only Nesta, the cruel whorish slut that enjoyed being a man with breasts.

Vampirella said, "Well it not my wish. I liked being a man and I want to be one again."
Dani looked concerned, "I know what it's like to be in a body that does not fit your image of yourself but this was done through demonic magic and I don't know if I can help you without killing you.

* * *
Finch didn't understand what was going on, her anger toward the new Vampire was building. She tried to call to Dani, to the warriors beside her for assistance but it seemed as if some force was blocking her attempts at communication. She was losing all control of her body, all she could feel was the anger.

This man-woman was producing darkness. She screamed and moved from the Realm of Light into the earth realm with hardly a thought and dove at Vampirella. Dani screamed, "No Finch, what are you doing?!"
It was too late. Finch had latched onto Vampirella and the vampire was going to burn.