Reign Of Cthulhu

Ben

The director was not pleased with our failure. He especially wasn't happy when he found out that Jennifer and Amelia were killed, he knew what that meant. He told us to leave Crosby alone for now as it would not be wise to mess with him in his feelings. We learned that since the last time when we did, it didn't go well. Anyways, we stood in the directors house, by the war table as the director sat in his seat, messing with his hair out of stress, "That thing took five of ours today alone?" He didn't dare look up at me and stared at the table out front of him. His hair was gradually becoming grey recently which was becoming a bit concerting as the director was supposedly immortal. He recently had been looking like he had been aging rapidly. None of us could figure out why though. That was isn't important right now, we had bigger issues at hand. I didn't know what to say as I looked to Julia who hadn't said a word since we had gotten back.
She was looking out the window, her back turned to us, "Yeah. We couldn't even damage the beast..."
Suddenly the director got out of his chair walking over to a nearby door which I'd never noticed until now, "I had feared it'd come to this one day..." He pulled a pair of keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door, there was complete darkness on the other side of the door until he walked in. The room brightly lit up with torchlight, a glass display case laid in the middle of the bare room. I followed him inside. In the glass case was a single red button. I looked to the director who had locked eyes with me, "I never thought I'd have to use this, but here goes nothing." He put the key in the little lock to the display cases door and rotated the key. He opened the door, and casually pressed the button. I expected something dramatic to happen but nothing did. The director closed the glass display case and locked it shut again, "What did you just do?"
He walked over to me and pushed me out of the room, closing the door behind him and locking it. He sighed, "I called upon our allies across the sea. You were never supposed to me them, regardless of the circumstances, but we need their help more than ever." I had no clue what he meant. Who was calling upon? Monsters? For all I know, he could've been calling upon the gods themselves for help. They would've been useful right now as their powers combined were greater than any force on Earth supposedly. The director walked over to his seat and was about to sit down before Julia finally spoke, "Is the bonfire planned for tonight?"
The director had a puzzled look on his face, "No... that's not for weeks. Why're you asking?" The director walked over to where Julia was standing by the window. I looked out the window with them and there, against the sky, was a thick plume of black smoke rising out of the forest. Campers were scrambling outside the window, getting their weapons strangely. The director saw what was going on, "Oh god... please no..." He opened the door and began running to the forest, he was fast for an old man.
I looked to Julia who had a worried look on her face. I felt a bad gut feeling seeing her worried all the sudden, "Whats wrong?" I wrapped an arm around her, trying to comfort her the best that I could.
       She looked up to me, "I know what's happening at the forest... it's Crosby. He was going there when we first arrived back here... I didn't want to stop him though." She started briskly walking towards the forest leaving me in the dust for a few seconds. I caught up to her a few minutes later when we reached the forest, the biggest crowd I'd ever seen had formed. Phones were out recording what was happening. I looked to what they were recording and Julia was right, it was Crosby. He was levitating in the air, a strong aura of darkness surrounding him. The director was at the front of the group when Julia began pushing her way up to the front through all the campers. I didn't know what she was planning but I followed her lead. People gave me dirty looks when we passed but I could care less as a circle of Greek Fire surrounded the perimeter, preventing anyone from getting close to him. The fire had spread to the trees and burned the grass to a black crisp. Suddenly a thick feeling of sadness and anger lingered in the air, I had never experienced a being that was able to manipulate emotions before, but I felt all the pain Crosby was in. I looked to my friend, two purple horns growing out of his forehead in different directions. His eyes went blue in color and his skin turned a sickly purple, a blue glow rushing through his veins. His clothes tore off, leaving him with a loincloth made of metal as it reflected the blue light coming from him. All the sudden a gauntlet had formed on his left arm. It was black and looked to be made out of a strange metallic material with a blood red jewel in the center above his hand. Strangely, a total of ten steel spikes manifested from the gauntlet up onto his arm covering up to his elbow. I had never seen anything like this in my lifetime. The director looked up at him, in horror to what he'd become. The director looked at the flames about to step forward but stopped abruptly, looking down at the ground, the worst words possible came out of his mouth, "Take him down! Now! He's too dangerous!" Julia looked at the director in horror as the bravest campers rushed forwards weapons in hand. Crosby was very high off the ground and due to it, they began to hack and slash at him, to no effect as all their strikes ricocheted off him. One camper tried to cast a fireball spell on him but it just dispersed when it hit him. The campers backed off, clearly scared as he looked down at them. Greek Fire began to form and swirl around his right hand. The director screamed, "Get back now!" It was too late, he unleashed a deadly wave of fire, ending those who stood in its way. The director covered his mouth and stood in shock looking to the beast that was once a hero of the camp. I couldn't stand around and watch anymore, I had do something. I didn't have my weapon so I had to resort to what abilities I had. The water from the nearby lake began to rise up into the air as I focused my abilities. More Greek Fire swirled in his hands, it was now or never. The giant wave moved forward before crashing down on Crosby, I expected it to knock him off his feet at the very least, but the water went everywhere except on him. The Greek Fire used the water as fuel and began to spread closer to us, "Everyone get back!" The director screamed again. The massive crowd listened backing up as Crosby began to walk closer to the crowd, the heat of the Greek Fire wall our front of us distorting the image of him. Fear for the first time in years began to manifest inside me, we might have to kill my friend to guarantee our safety. This was nuts.
      Suddenly someone came pushing through the crowd and stood by the director, it was Tommy, "A vampire needs to suck enough blood from him to make him pass out. That's the only way to keep him alive but it'll disable him." The director looked at him like he was crazy briefly but he knew this was the only way, he looked to Julia who looked absolutely horrified at the thought of doing it.
       She looked to me then the director, "There's no other way!?"
       The director shook his head, "We don't have time for this! You have to do it!"
      Julia looked to me, "You're gonna have to get me close enough to him somehow."
        The water rose again as I focused in, it lifted Julia up on top of it. I hovered her over the wall of flames and feet above Crosby, who was distracted with what stood before him. My heart started to pound in my ears as I realized how badly this could go for Julia. I didn't have time to think before Julia jumped on top of Crosby, clinging onto him for dear life. She sunk her fangs into his neck as he let out a scream of agony. He grabbed her with the gauntlet hand and tried to tear her off but she held on. He sprayed Greek Fire randomly from his hand, in a complete panic induced frenzy. Seconds later, Crosby collapsed mere feet away from the Greek Fire. Julia drew back and began to cough violently as the Greek Fire wall began to die down finally. His horns faded and his skin tone went back to normal, but the gauntlet remained. The director ran over to Crosby while I went over to Julia. She was hunched over coughing up thick black blood. I kneeled next to her, rubbing her back. She stopped after a minute or so, a pool of blood on the ground. She looked up to me, a smile on her face, her cute little fangs showing, "I'm never biting him again... his blood is the worst tasting by far..." I was glad to see she was okay though as I had feared the worst to be honest. Julia's smile faded when she looked past me to Crosby whom was laying face down on the ground, blood dripping from his neck.
       The director stood there as Tommy kneeled down next to him, checking for a pulse. He looked up to the director, "He's still alive thankfully." The crowd had dispersed now except for what remained of Alpha squad. Everybody was quiet as Thickle picked the unconscious Crosby up, bringing to the infirmary. Everybody followed Thickle, leaving me and Julia alone in the damaged forest. I turned back to her, she was looking at the charred ground, "What was that? I've never seen anything like that from him."
        I didn't know what to say as I knew just about as much as she did. She picked up some of ashes, grinding them up in her hand, "I felt what he felt. All his anger. All his sadness. It was overwhelming."