From the Vault Ep3: The Blood Hunter

## Episode

Lincoln Cathedral stands proud on the hill above Lincoln City, at the top of it - up the many stairs - the spirit of a girl called Constance stands waiting for someone, she looks down to see a firey portal open and the exiled demon Lamashtu walks out wearing his traditional brown hooded outfit, he looks up at Constance and climbs the stairs to meet her "Why summon me?"

Constance replies "A matter has come up at Lincoln County Hospital which means there is a possible contract for you to take out there" - Lamashtu seems uninterested in the matter brushing it off by saying "Sounds like human stuff to me" - Constance grins at him "Well, the spirits around the city tell me that something not so human lets say is there, we believe it comes from some sort of supernatural world beyond even the multiverse" - Lamashtu's attention seems to have been caught "Continue..." to which Constance says "The contract states that this thing whatever it is must be neutralized, it seems to be the first of many" - Lamashtu nods to her "I'll get it done, but I better be rewarded" he says rather passively.

At Lincoln County Hospital, everyone goes about their daily jobs as one of the senior nurses shows around a new recruit, Nurse Egilea - she has purple hair and comes from Europe though where exactly isn't known the senior nurse then asks Egilea: "What made you join us here? you could've stayed in Europe" Egilea shrugs before replying "I like a new opportunity" she says with a thick accent, the senior nurse sighs as she wishes her good day before finishing the tour abruptly.

Nurse Egilea then finds her office and prepares for the day, preparing medical exam charts among other things while the new intern on her first day tries to figure out the filing system for the charts.

Outside, Lamashtu emerges from another firey portal and starts marching towards the hospital, he disguises himself as a security guard so he doesn't attract attention. When he finally gets close to the hospital, he enters the main entrance and heads straight for the Information desk, acting as if he's looking for something, the receptionist greets him to which he replies with a simple "Hello" the receptionist says that she's never seen him around before but Lamashtu (as a security guard) ensures her that he is new to the city and that he just arrived that day.

The receptionist asks his name, he tells her "Charles" she types it into the computer and replies "Ok, just looking you up" however as soon as she accesses the database a strange power fluctuation causes it to shutdown.

The receptionist sighs "Sorry about this Charles, the systems in this hospital are stuck in the dark ages compared to everywhere else" Charles shrugs "I wouldn't worry about it, if it's ok with you I'm going to check where that power fluctuation came from" the receptionist asks how he will do that only for Charles to make up an excuse saying "I was an electrician before I became a security guard you know."

Elsewhere, Nurse Egilea has been going through patients like there's no tomorrow and helping them with great nursing skills. When she is not doing that she uses her free time to refresh herself about the hospital's layout and where the security places are since she has not worked here before, the senior nurses and her fellow colleagues believe she has alot of potential.

Upon exploring the hospital more Lamashtu (still in his Charles security guard disguise) comes across a part of the hospital seemingly under renovation however upon closer inspection it looks like all the rooms have been ransacked and not renovated, he then hears a strange noise from one of the ransacked rooms, he debates with himself whether to enter or not he enters with caution only to find what looks like the remains of some kind of portal, he immediately feels a powerful magical aura coming from it, he tries to close the door but finds that it is locked from the outside, an invisible force holding it shut.

He sighs "Here we go again" - Lamashtu attempts to kick the door down but this also fails when it perfectly reflects his attack, he then tries to blast the door but finds that he has none of his fire powers due to him being in disguise, he gets very angry and attempts smashing his way through, again this fails and the invisible force slams him into a nearby wall.

Back in the clinic, Nurse Egilea continues to get showered with praise as her lunch break finishes, she then returns to her office and continues to treat her next batch of patients - more strange power fluctuations occur during this time and the same thing happens to the main hospital computer system, causing it to once again go offline - Egilea slams her hand on her computer keyboard to try and get it to work again, she apologizes to her patient claiming that this has been happening all day - "My gosh, I've spent the entire day trying to fix this computer" she says in a grumpy way - despite her computer's issues she continues her treatment of her current patient, the treatment requires sedating the patient with antibiotics though, she slowly injects the patient, smiling and comforting them as they start to sleep so she can start her treatment properly.

As the patient starts to sleep though, things seem to go wrong as screaming can be heard as the power fluctuates wildly in the office - Egilea tries to wake the patient saying she has been bit in the neck by something, showing her patient the blood on her glove, as the patient tries to keep consciousness, Egilea starts to flinch and simply closes her eyes as her patient falls asleep.

Lamashtu is still trying to get out of the room he is in; he can hear noises coming from the room he is in, like sounds of banging and roaring wind.

All of a sudden the locked door swings open like nothing ever happened "Something's here" he says as he takes off his security guard disguise and tries to ready himself, but finds that again he has none of his fire powers.

Elsewhere, Nurse Egilea's patient recovers from the sedative meaning a few hours has likely past, he looks ahead of me to see Nurse Egilea with a bite mark on her neck, she has a dark green substance wiped along her eyes and neck - she can't seem to speak but jolts around whilst looking at her patient with what looks like confusion on her face and begins to moan.

The man that was the patient tries to shout but can't "What's going on?" he starts to say before he coughs blood, he looks to see what looks like teeth marks in his arm and quickly inspects the rest of his body, discovering what look like puncture wounds on his body.

Egilea, using hand gestures, seems to put her hands up as if to admit it was her (or whatever bit her) that did it, "Lamia" she seems to say quietly, the patient is in too much pain to question her and passes out - Egilea proceeds to then leave the room jolting and spazzing at times.

People in the waiting room seem very disturbed by Egilea's new appearance and some even back away from her, however it would seem Egilea is more scared of them as she attempts to shoo them away, once again using hand gestures and eventually runs out of the clinic.

Egilea makes it outside however she is stopped in her tracks by Lamashtu "Hmm interesting, so your whats all the fuss is about" he says dryly, Egilea's very expressive face seems to show an expression of fear as her eyes meet Lamashtu's "Your friend isn't looking too good are you?" he continues as he strolls closer to her "and in case your wondering I'm talking to the thing that's took you as host" Egilea says nothing and just jolts and spazzes as Lamashtu just continues his witty comments "Not one for talking then."

Egilea just runs back into the hospital and Lamashtu simply laughs "Love a chase" he says as he follows her in - Lamashtu chases the transformed Egilea all over the hospital and finally catches up with her in what appears to be an empty hospital ward.

"I have a contract on you" Lamashtu announces "When are the others coming?" He sounds almost bored "I hear the delay in action is because your boyfriend is having his dinner, whatever floats your parasitic boat I guess"Egilea, still using hand gestures to communicate, seems to say something along the lines of "They're on their way now, you need to leave" - "You do know the portal you came through is broken right?" Lamashtu chuckles "Oh well" he says as he approaches her with a predatory grin,Egilea seems to use hand gestures to say "Don't come near me" however as Lamashtu advances she lets out an unearthly scream sending him flying across the ward into a corner and then proceeds to attack him, Lamashtu attempts to throw her off him by grabbing her, but she grabs his hand in hers and attempts to bite his arm off. "Looks like this isn't as easy as I thought" Lamashtu comments - "Lamia" she says once again in a quiet and airy voice before biting straight through his left arm and feeding on him, Lamashtu screams in agony as this happens.

Egilea leaves the now presumed dead Lamashtu in the empty ward, it also seems like the feeding she did on him made her look more alive, "I'm going to go hunting for a new host now, oh wait you don't care do you?" she remarks as she heads towards the exit "Oh and don't worry, this wont happen again" she even blows a kiss to him.

Throughout the night, Egilea can be seen wandering outdoors, presumably to go hunting, she once again leaves the hospital and heads into the streets where the ghouls prowl - she seems to enjoy the hunt she is on as she feeds on several people throughout the night.

The morning comes and its clear that the hospital she was in has been locked down, the local news says a new viral infection has been spread around the hospital however it has only affected one person (Nurse Egilea) and will keep everyone updated.

Elsewhere, Nurse Egilea returns to the hospital only to be met with people in full on protective equipment entering the building. A news chopper lands outside and the national guard is seen talking to people "Well she made her mess and now she's returned to see it being cleaned up" a voice says.

She then hears a someone coming up from behind her, she turns around to see a man in dark clothing standing there - he has a strange aura around here and just like with her encounter with Lamashtu, her facial expression turns to one of terror as the thing inside of her reacts to this new man arriving in her life, She falls to the floor "I knew it, I've been marked now" she thinks quietly as she sees the man remove his balaclava showing his identity to her.

He has orange eyes and has a slightly bald head "The name's Blackout and you're my next victim" it is now clear to her that this contract on the thing thats using her as a host spreads further than Lamashtu, he then grabs her by the hair and pulls her up in a somewhat aggressive way.

Egilea goes to bite him however she feels as though all the strength has been drained from her body, she can barely move. " That's what I can do" he replies in a rather cold tone, Egilea can't move, using hand gestures to plead to Blackout however he remains cold and calculated as he loads his gun only for a fireball to fling the gun out of his hand - Both Egilea and Blackout look over to see a very livid Lamashtu marching towards them with haste - "That's...not...possible" says a somewhat paralyzed Egilea quietly.

Lamashtu stands between the two of them, says nothing and just looks at the two of them with a very curious look on his face. "Well this is interesting" says Blackout also seemingly curious.

"What are you doing here?" Lamashtu shouts at Blackout - "I suppose I was too stupid to realize that a contract had been issued, thats why I'm here...the same as you I guess" Blackout responds coldly - Lamashtu scoffs "You're nothing but death, destruction, hatred and lies...you expect me to believe that?" Blackout just looks him dead in the eyes "Rich from you there, your the same - in a way we are the same" Blackout says.

The thing inside Egilea starts to jolt her in an aggressive way as if its trying to battle the paralysis brought on by Blackout "Enough! Let her go you bastard" Lamashtu yells - Egilea watches as Blackout slowly lets her go and can now stand up, she feels weak though.

"Go, I'll deal with you later" Lamashtu says to Egilea in a rather unexpected turn of events, she looks at him confused but runs away anyway - Blackout is livid "YOU ALLOWED HER TO ESCAPE?" Lamashtu shrugs "What? and leave her in your custody, if I cant get that contract then no one can" he says revealing his true agenda as to why he let her go.

Blackout shouts at Lamashtu "Is that so? You see this is why you got exiled..." Lamashtu interrupts "Does it matter anymore? my new life is stuck in the realm of the living whether I like it or not." Blackout questions him "What does it feel like? knowing you can't ever go home" Lamashtu feels a fit of rage coming on however he tries to fight it only to keep getting taunted by Blackout.

Blackout continues "You know what they say about you in the underworld now a days? that you sold your soul to the humans, whats the reason for that? the fact you committed a mortal sin and brought destruction onto people and couldn't pay for it?"

Lamashtu snaps "Don't bring up my past, don't act like your some kind of saint" "Oh but it was all in the past right?" Blackout puts his hands together as if to applause "Your still here, and your still serving the humans" - "I dont serve them" Lamashtu is very angry currently "I treat them the way they deserve to be treated" - "You're a hypocrite" Blackout laughs.

Lamashtu turns away from Blackout and heads back into the hospital to track down Egilea however Blackout stops him "Thats not what you want to do right now" Lamashtu turns "You don't know me" before walking away, all of a sudden Lamashtu feels his legs give way, he tries to move but finds himself paralyzed "What the..." he looks at Blackout angrily.

"Your actions have had consequences, now I have to deal with them, You should have killed her when you had the chance, now...there's a Blackout coming." Blackout announces.

Elsewhere, Egilea is looking for a place to hide, she runs into an old abandoned bathroom and shuts the door behind her. After taking a deep breath she opens the door again to see if there is any chance of escape.

She finally looks at herself in a mirror and is shocked to see her almost dark green skin, a sign of whatever is using her as host now. strange tentacles have appeared all over her body and her eyes have turned completely red "what the hell is wrong with me?" she says quietly she jolts as the word "Lamia" once again comes out of her mouth.

Just then the cryptic sound of Blackout calling out to her can be heard "Answer me you foolish mortal!" he says while in his true form as a humanoid with black tentacles.

Egilea hides in a cubical and begins saying something to herself "I'll never tell, not to you or anyone else." She continues "Lamia... my minutes are limited, I let you go" as if that triggered something, Egilea's eyes go rose red and her nurse's outfit is replaced with a lustrous leather outfit, with spikes running along the edges, she runs towards the source of the voice and Blackout appears in front of her "Now who might you be?" - "Lamia" she finally announces out loud, she lunges herself at Blackout but he is able to dodge and summon a blade made of ice, which slices into her arm. She falls down in pain "You'll never take over the city that way, just look at yourself" - "I don't want the city" Blackout says "I WANT YOUR HEAD" he holds up a axe made of ice and cuts into her other arm, no severe damage has been done - "What do you expect to gain from this contract?" as she is using both her own arms to prop herself up showing some strong resilience.

"Because I'm not supposed to, I was missioned with the task of taking out Lamashtu but..." he smugly continues "Take you out instead and I can get exiled like Lamashtu, then the entire world will be mine for the taking...NO ONE can stop the Blackout when its at full power" he holds his hands up and causes a severe power outage around the hospital.

Lamia responds "Well all these "party tricks" are great dear but if you wanted to kill me, then you could've already done it" Blackout scoffs "Where's the fun in that?" Lamia pauses "Good question" she says before flipping over him and landing on his back putting him in a choke hold, her sharp nails digging into his throat, Blackout begins to struggle, he manages to gasp out before finally passing out, his throat bleeding.

Lamia holds the head up of the weakened Blackout "You're not powerful at all...you are a disgrace" she then drops him face first to the ground and walks off however before she can get too far, Lamashtu re-appears at the end of the corridor "Oh look its the pathetic little mortal...and the other one, didn't think I dropped you guys any hints that I was still around before." - "Come now" Lamia begins "I knew your true agenda from the start, you weren't saving me from him - you want the contract on my head too...stop my kind from coming into this world" - "Such a bold faced lie" she says like its a compliment.

She turns to see Blackout getting back to his feet, as she turns Lamashtu takes the moment to launch a fireball at Lamia, she manages to dodge but feels the intense heat.

Lamia wiggles her finger at Lamashtu "Naughty" she says with a grin "My turn!" she says turning her attention back to Lamashtu who draws his daggers and charges at her "Yikes!" she says dodging again "These are new, I don't think you've got the power to back up that attack up" - "Don't test me" he says as he uses his fire powers to almost enchant his daggers, as soon as she dodges more attacks he swings both flaming daggers in opposite ways at her she manages to stop one from hitting her by floating backwards "Hm, I guess you do have some power after all, this isn't a task for no weakling."

Blackout comes from behind her and attempts to slam her into the wall, but she stops his arm with her hand, she then pushes her sharp nails into his throat and then violently across effectively slitting his throat. Blood spurts out and he stumbles backwards, choking on his own blood.

"Not the face!" she says sarcastically as she goes to finish him off, but he points weakly at Lamashtu " YOU!" Blackout screams with blood pouring out his mouth "KILL HER", he then staggers and falls over dead.

Lamia looks at Lamashtu "Just you left now" she says as she walks towards him, he doesn't say a word, he just rolls his eyes and makes a slashing motion across his throat.

She charges but notices Lamashtu has put his hands together, she stops and looks concerned as Lamashtu launches a stream of fire from his hands at her, she puts up a barrier but it isn't enough as the fire engulfs her body, she screams in pain and cries out for help but it's too late, she seemingly disintegrates due to the intense heat and all thats left is a nurse's outfit and Lamia's necklace which Lamashtu picks up and nods as if to say his work is done.

He returns to the spirit of Constance at Lincoln Cathedral and gives her the necklace, she congratulates him on fulfilling the contract and after a short exchange in words the two part company, no doubt to target more supernatural threats.

The following night, Lamashtu can be seen patrolling the streets in the shadows, , he wonders how he got his powers back after losing them in that room back at the hospital but he decides he should just be grateful they came back - he is then approached by a man who hands him a contract which is more like a note saying "SHE IS COMING, PREPARE" in red letters, Lamashtu looks around but the man that gave him it has gone, making him wonder what the note could mean.

## Characters

* Lamashtu
* Constance