Cris is one of three. I am the second. Lilith is third. Though we would rather not admit it, we three are all family. We are what is left of the Juarez family.
Sometimes, i wish that Cris had been my sister. But she isn't. She was always so brave. I was not. And Lil was so evil. Even before the war.
I have not seen Lil since before she was lost trying to spy on Cris. Before Cris sent me to find Angel. And that was twenty years ago. Twenty years of training.
But Lil has never been our concern. Just as she is not Cris' concern. Our-my-concern is to follow and help Cris and McCall. And Truva. If the dwarf was lost, our weapons maker would also be lost. And that would not be a good thing.
Oh, there is Tanaka and a few others who have been around from almost the dawn of time, but there is only one Truva. There is only one Italian genius. Without him, no one would be able to replicate the arrows or bolts he makes.
Tanaka. Ah, there lies another tale completely. The world's oldest ninja master. Of course he is also like Sister Mary. Forever locked in this battle between good and evil. His ninjas separated from the world long ago and vanished from the service of the emperor. They never attached themselves to the ancient Yakuza either, when the twentieth and twenty-first centuries emerged.
He was too busy fighting vampires behind the scenes. And killing rogue werewolves. Same with Fuginaki and the one everyone calls Mordecai. Of course there is also the giant Hindu Rhajhavati. No one knows his first name, only that he serves his deity Khali as the defender of her human worshipers. Not that it matters anymore what religion or belief each guardian holds. They all serve a single mission. Destroy the vampire nation.
Every nation has at least one guardian. Some have many. Islam has Mohammad Ibn Yata and the revived Assassinid devotees. The Chinese have Sun Yat Xi'en. The others remain nameless. All came from a different walk of life.
But we all form a network. If one is in need, we all are there to help them. Whether it is a safe place to hide for a while or replenishing each others' weapons stores. No such thing as dirty bombs or suicide bombers to blow the enemy up. those tactics don't work. Nukes won't work either. only the simple weapons we use on the underground.
But for the most part, man has remained ignorant of the truth. He thinks technology can defea the undead. Blow 'em up. iradiate them. make 'em glow. That'll destroy them.
Instead, he just creates things that are even worse than the original. You can't kill that which is already dead. You have to remove their heads and hack them to bits like a damn cockroach. Even then, they twitch as if they are still alive.
I kind of wonder what happens to the humans that live in the areas that are iradiated. Do they come out alive? Or are they incinerated? Or do they mutate?
Is it really just simple nuclear warheads man is using? Or ar they testing new biologicals along with radiation? It would not be the first time. History is filled with man's indiscretions. HIs need to humiliate his opponents. Or completely incompacitate them.
My thoughts wander back to Cris. I marvel at how well she is doing. I owe her for my life. I owe her for my mission in life. My immortality.
She is one of three. I am the second. Lilith is the third. I fear that lil is already lost. Though she lives, her soul is lost. Her evil has made her our enemy.
She is one of three evil ones. The Creeper is the second, and W.D. the third. I am sure there are more, but these three are the most powerful of the fallen guardians. There is a link between W.D. and Voodoo, just as there is a link between Lilith and I. And Cris. And a link between Creeper and Sister Mary.
But links are just that. they are a part of the past. Something in common. It doesn't mean that we are the same. We aren't.
Lilith chose her path a long time ago. She made a conscious choice to become the evil person she has become. I have heard rumors of what she has done since her disappearance. Subjugation. Destruction. Torture. Mass executions. Forcing others to worship her twisted version of The Faith.
I pity her soul, if she still has one. Dark and empty, it fills with decay. No love. No concern. Nothing but the desire to destroy and coerce. She must be stopped. At any cost.
But I am not sure I am strong enough. Sure, I have faith enough. But physically. I hear she is stronger than I. But can she really fight? Or is all she has the black magics she has been taught by her master?
As I think on my sister, I lead my team as we shadow my cousin. After all, we are charged with helping her and her teachers. Kind of a silent guard. Unknown allies. Their war is ours.
I pick up their trail and we begin following it. I only hope that we can regain sight of them before they are confronted again. They have already taken down Le Guarde. BUt he was not a strong foe. He was a lacky. A stooge. Someone who merely did as he was ordered.
But McCall wants to send a message. He wants the bampire lords to know that they are being hunted. One. By. One. Their nation is being decimated. And those doing the killing are stripping away the layers of subordinants. Soon, they will have to come out and fight their own battles.
I just hope he hasn't begun a chain reaction. I hope he knows just how dangerous his new tactic is. If not, we are all in trouble.
