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Rated M for Mature
Appropriate for readers 18 and over. May contain extreme violence, sexual themes, nudity, or profanity.
Batman: Secret Files, Chapter 6- Final Bite
22 hours ago....Wayne Manor
I was drifting away through the slient wind of darkness. There weren't anything present or even a visible light shining like the sun. It was so dark that even Bruce Wayne or Batman couldn't tell where he is going. The sleepiness didn't keep me awake as I yet to rest for sometime soon. People usually sleep eight hours a day. But the Batman wouldn't sleep. He would stay late and look out for criminals in the dark night. Alfred wasn't there besides the bed because I told him to find Zatanna for me. I just hope she's not busy performing her magic tricks in Las Vegas. Most of the time, her performances took place in the Sin City. And sometimes she works at the small theaters. The audience thought her magic tricks weren't real and yet she did tricked them in a way that no other normal magician could have done. I thought of asking her help because her magic powers would turn the curse away from my body. But I wasn't sure if it were going to work. My chances of becoming a human again are near slim if the cure has not been found.
I woke up from the bed slowly and still felt the dizziness over my head. Memories were flashing through me. There was that time when Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, and Jason Todd was working besides me, All of them, were the best Robins. Even Damian, my son whom I never knew after I came back from the depths of the timestream. Dick was always there, helping to catch dangerous criminals and yet he still catches them in Bludhaven. I wonder if I can tell them what's happening to me. But the worries would disturb their own normal and superheroic life. They have to their own life to fulfill. Sometimes, the word, trust never goes out of my mind. Ever since they started working with me, they wanted me to trust them. But they have to earn that trust by fulfilling their duties. That what it counts to be a hero. I came back from time and tested the other Justice League members to see if they were ready to fight without the Batman in their lives. Because I was the only one who can do the impossible.
I reached towards my main office. The office had a bookshelf and the files that got spead out through the front desk. I opened the face statue of Shakespeare and turned on the red button. The bookshelf slid open behind the wall. There was a secret elevator which goes down to the underground batcave. I went inside the elevator and waited to go down. It felt like the last time that I went through the hole of darkness.
The batcave had power, alright. There wasn't a power surge happening inside the cave for quite a while. Everything looked perfectly as the way it was before. I sat on the seat and turned on the TV screen. I had to make sure that the Watchtower was still active. At this time, the Justice League weren't available and I don't know if Alfred can find the female magician in time. Maybe, Zatanna can teleport herself with a bit of magic. It would be a piece of cake. But then, Alfred might be having trouble finding her.
I closed my eyes and drift my mind apart so that I could concentate. The depths of the mind is not an easy task to access. Many criminals had tried to outwit me. But the Batman always managed to bring them down in a single blow. I can still hear the dark thoughts through my mind. The good thing is that Francis still doesn't know my human identity. If he knew that I was Bruce Wayne, he would find ways exposing me. I tried not to think of it. Instead, my mind went into deep unconsciousness. There were whispers, chants, and cold words coming to my ear. Or am I just hearing things which weren't there? But a familiar voice just sprang out of the darkness.
"Bruce....Bruce....It's me."
The voice still sounded familiar as I have heard it before. There was a terrible sensation. The sound of my heartbeat kept pumping like a hard-wooden drum. Once the heart kept pumping, it finally stopped. I opened my eyes and there a woman stood in front of me. She wore the black garb of a stage magician. Her black hat was still worn on her smooth black hair. Her black wand kept clenched inside of her fingers and the fishnets showed her naked legs slightly. She started to look worried as I was coming to my senses. There was Alfred standing besides her. Was it a dream? Have they came already? But Zatanna spoke her true facts of their arrival.
"Bruce. Are you okay?",asked the female magician. She looked over me and sensing that there was still darkness taking over my body. She can feel it.
"Zatanna....I thought you were busy."
She gave a slight smile across her face. Alfred still look worried that the cure of vampirism might be too late. But we have to wait and see to find out.
"Yeah....You could say that", Zatanna finally answered my question. "I had to make a duplicate of myself so the audience thinks that I'm actually her."
"I see."
She nodded and then placed her white gloves towards the both sides of my head. The darkness must have shot through her brain as she took her hands away from me.
"I see your problem, Bruce. Especially those bite marks."
"What can you do?"
Zatanna hesitated and then began to think of a spell. Her spell could work but only time will tell.
"I can cast this spell. But this is going to take some time."
"How much time?"
"I would say the last two hours till midnight."
"You're joking."
"I'm not like the Joker, Bruce. But trust me. It will work and you need to have patience."
"I'm always patient."
Zatanna gave another slight smile as if she knew it was sarcasm. But there was a serious matter behind her face.
"But there's a catch."
"What is it?"
"Once you have been cast by this spell, the hunger will still be there. If you try to feed any human's blood within the last two hours, the spell will be broken and you won't have any chance to become human again."
It won't be an easy task. But it was a good thing that Alfred was able to find Zatanna in time. Otherwise, my hope being human again, would be lost entirely.
"Do it."
Zatanna closed her eyes as I closed mine while sitting on the chair. The butler watched in sort of an amazement. The magician's lips opened slightly and out came the chants of the spell. The spell was overwhelming my body and whatever she was trying to say, I couldn't even understand the magic of her language. The energy sapped my head and I found myself in total utter sheer of darkness.
Present....Cemetery
I took some rest right after been cast by the Zatanna's spell. The spell was also meant to recover my body for long hours. So I had some time to think how I can defeat this overwhelming darkness, including the vampire. I had to contact the vampire and let him know that I was ready to drink blood. Now here I am in the cemetery waiting to bite the captured woman's neck. And the vampire spoke through his Biblical scripture. Only one minute left.
"This will be my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for one. Will you take part?"
I hesitated and didn't move an inch. But the darkness still overhelmed me. How much time will it last? Will I able to stop this madness? The dark thoughts returned and continued running through my mind. I finally respond to the vampire's question.
"I....will....NOT!"
"WHAT?" asked the vampire surprisingly as I hold the vampire's neck and pushed him through the wall.
"YOU FOOL! YOU SUPPOSED TO DRINK HER BLOOD!"
"That's right, Francis. I was. But I'm not a vampire any more."
"What do you mean you're not a vampire? I BIT YOU!"
I explained everything what happened to me, including the the bite marks which disappeared from my neck. And how I managed to keep the cure at bay within the last two hours. I'm no longer the creature of the night. But the Dark Knight.
"I should have known. You tricked me....BATMAN!"
I clenched my teeth and flunged him down on the floor. The vampire felt the crack on his back. I stamped on his body so that his healing factor won't occur in seconds. I carried him and threw the vampire out through the window. The glass smashed as the vampire flew across the one of the grave slabs. The vampire got himself cracked in the back again. I walked through the cemetery as the rain kept falling through the dark silent night. The vampire got up slightly but my fist reached through his fangs and broke them off. Then my other fist hit his gut. I hit him hard on the face as many times as I can. Then the vampire fell down on the wet grass right in front of me. The vampire gave out a little laugh.
"Heh! Heh! Heh! Can you....kill me, Batman? Can you?"
"I figured I wouldn't kill you, Francis. But there is another way."
"Like what?"
I looked down upon him and got him up towards me. My hands were placed towards the sides of his neck. Then a few seconds later, my black gloved hands twisted his neck to the right. The vampire fell down to his deep unconsiousness even with his blue eyes opened.
I took out a cellphone from my yellow pouch and gave a call to the Stranger with his private phone number. The dial tone took several seconds until the Stranger picked it up.
"Batman....You have done well."
"Yes, I have."
"Don't bother to wait for me. There's a white van parked towards the right side of the cemetery. My agents will come to pick the vampire up."
The phone line got cut off out of the blue. I looked at the vampire's body and wonder if he was going to recover any time soon. But I don't think that's the time. I walked back inside the small house and released the woman from her tight ropes. The woman then removed her white sticker and began to shake in fear.
"Please....don't hurt me."
"Don't be alarmed. I won't hurt you."
The woman stopped shaking all of a sudden. She realized that Batman was the same heroic vigilante as before. She came and hugged me, crying over me. I told her in soft words.
"Everything will be fine."
As I helped her walked out of the small house, a series of footsteps came running through the cemetery. That feeling tells me that the Stranger's agents have arrived to pick the half-dead Francis. I wanted to look back and see who the Stranger was all about. But time will only tell as my secret identity was still kept secret from the rest of the world.
A week has passed by since the drained blood murders stopped in Gotham. The Commissioner was baffled by the last evening news and yet he was forced to close the case. He decided to give a call, which is the bat-signal and let me know that he wanted to talk with me. I came to the police department at the top of the roof. The old man was standing there besides the projector. He turned around to see me. Then he asked a question.
"Were you able to catch this so-called vampire?"
I didn't say anything first. It has been this quiet way for not saying things right away. I spoke the same way as always.
"Jim....If someone were to ask you to do something for him. Would you do it?"
There was a moment of silence. James Gordon looked confused, wondering what I was talking about.
"What do you mean, Batman? What does the vampire murders have to do anything with this?"
"It does."
"What?"
Ever since the Commissioner showed the bat-signal, I knew he was going to ask hard questions. Because the vampire case was closed recently and he had no clue of what was actually taken place. I took out a tiny object from the yellow pouch.
"Here Jim. Catch."
I threw the object upwards in the air until the old man got it in his hands. He stared at the tiny object, wondering what the Batman was trying to tell him.
"What's this?"
"It's a sound device called the....silencer."
To be continued in Batman: Secret Files, Chapter 7- Master of Disguise.
A silencer? What's it used for? (I think you know. If not, go figure. =P) Now that the vampire has been stopped. What's next for Batman? Master of Disguise? Find out in the next exciting adventure of....BATMAN!
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