Talias Story Part 4. The Beast within us

Even Talia only saw a schema shooting through the cave. Before her superhuman body could react, she felt something hit her. The force of the blow was more than equal to Grundy's strength. But before she hit the cave wall she managed to catch herself with a somersault and so she could absorb the fall. Now she could see the monster that her father had kept hidden from her and could understand why.

In the first moment she had assumed a captured werewolf, which would have made sense. After all, her father had also used vampires. But that wasn't a werewolf. That was much worse. In front of her stood a bat-like creature almost 20feet tall. A mountain of muscles and claws. The enormous upper arms were at the same time its wings and ended in 4 claws which crushed without problems the rock underneath. It featured a steroid version of Man Bat, but it was completely impossible that this creature was Man Bat. This monster was slightly twice the size of the mutant that had frightened Gotham. Also, Man Bat hadn't been nearly as fast as this creature.

"Is that all you have father? Another experiment?" laughed Talia and straightened up and pulled both Katana from her back. Something told her that this creature would be hard to defeat. Her father just stood on the other side of the grotto and looked expressionless as always.

"I have no control over this creature. It will kill you!"

"Thank you for the warning father" grinned Talia and invoked her own power. If this was her father's last line of defense, she could use all her remaining powers. Her father may have been the leader of the League of Shadows, but he hadn't been up to her for years. She had already surpassed him as a human being and now as a vampire she was far superior to him. So only this ridiculous bat monster remained to be defeated.

The damn thing might have surprised her, but that wouldn't happen again. Talia was the chosen one of Dracula! She was the manifestation of his fighting talents. She wouldn't lose to a thing from a test tube. She ran directly towards the creature and then directly in front of it hit a hook to drop the monster into the flank. A stab in the heart and the thing would lie on the ground before she would know what hit her.

Unfortunately, the creature wasn't as stupid as it looked. Talia was about to stab as she saw a claw coming towards her out of the eyewink. The creature didn't care if she would die. However, Talia was not sure if she would survive this claw. She had come too far to take any risks now. With a hasty sideways movement she swerved to the side and came into the back of the creature. 2 fast cuts inflicted deep wounds on the monster's back, causing the monster to scream loudly. Talia hastily jumped through the cave in an acrobatic series of jumps and rolls to dodge the monster's angry claws as the creature looked directly at her and opened her mouth. For a moment, Talia couldn't understand what was going on as she couldn't hear a sound as her perception began to blur.

"Ultrasound" shot it through her head. She wouldn't be able to defend herself against that.

Helplessly swaying, she was helplessly at the mercy of the monster's attack. The ultrasound had confused her sense of balance and her muscles felt like mud. She could still see the monster's mouth approaching her head. But sometimes you just needed luck. Due to her dizzy spell she staggered helplessly around only to stumble over a stone at the last moment. The creature shot only mm past her and over her. The speed of the attack carried the monster far over her and with its mouth forward it crashed into the cave wall. Both fighters were equally dazed by this attack and so there was a pause for a few seconds.

"Luck" said her father contemptuously and Talia could understand his disgust. This one time it wasn't her talents or skills that had saved her but pure fortune. And she hated that.

"Enough, father! You have no idea what I am now" she hissed angrily and stood up but her father just smiled coldly.

"You just like that," he said and pointed to the monster.

Talia stared panically at the bat creature. "What... is that supposed to mean?"

"Where do you think I got your elite guard from? This thing used to be like them! But over the centuries it became wilder and wilder. And so you will also end!

Talia stared at the creature that had gathered again and turned to her again. An angry brainless scream sounded as the creature stood up.

"That's not what's going to happen to me! I will never become something like that! I'm not just a vampire," Talia yelled and ran towards the monster. It seemed immeasurably strong, as if there were no limits to his power, but Talia knew where this power came from. She didn't battle a vampire here. She fought the Incarnate Beast that lurked in every vampire. The vampire he had once been had lost control of the monster and was physically transformed. However, it was more than risky to constantly use all his powers without limits: It was here that Talia had learned that blood was a vampire's most valuable resource. And this beast just burned itself out.

Talia changed her tactics and limited herself to simple evasion and distance. This increased the creature's rage immeasurably and their attacks only became wilder and more aggressive. But it didn't take 5 minutes until the blows slowed down and the movements seemed less concentrated. That was Talia's sign. Now she went over to the attack and drove the creature in front of her, which could hardly defend itself anymore. Her father could see a Talia in top form. A proud smile could be seen on his face as he could see all the teachings fulfilled in his daughter. As the creature's head rolled over the floor, the whole body fell back into a human's body before becoming dust.

Talia stood proudly and upright over the chest of the creature and looked to her father. The 2 Katanas in her hand swirled around and in a graceful movement they disappeared on her back.

"And now to us both father" she grinned broadly as she could see Alfred and Damien coming out of the shadows. "Do you really think that will stop me father? The servant and my son" she laughed amusedly. "I'll cut you in slices first and then take care of them both."

To her astonishment, however, her father remained calm even now and walked around the grotto.

"Do you really think that you have already won my child?

"I have overcome all 5 rings and have penetrated into your shrine. You cannot defeat me and you know it! What remains for you!

"I am disappointed by you daughter. Have I taught you nothing at all? Who says that there are only 5 protective circles?

Talia was suddenly extremely insecure, but managed to control herself and keep an arrogant face. Did your father still have an ace up his sleeve? What could it be?

"Do you think Damien could stop me?" she grinned arrogantly and saw Damien clenching her fist but held back by Alfred.

"The boy has potential but he wouldn't be an opponent for you daughter at the moment." Her father said calmly as he arrived at the stairs leading into the water. "No my child. I'm sorry that I have to treat you like this. But you know. There is nothing above the mission. He said and dropped a drop of blood into the water.

"What is this..." Talia said when she could see movements in the water. It started to bubble. The grotto had never created bubbles before. It was like the water was boiling. Then an especially large bubble seemed to form and a kind of sarcophagus rose out of the water. Her father watched as a pedestal rose exactly in the center of the small green shining lake. The small island that just appeared seemed to be artificial and on it stood a golden coffin. This was clearly from Egypt and very very old.

"What is that supposed to be now? The Mummy" Talia laughed amused and even Damien had to grin broadly as he saw his mother like that.

But then everyone in the room froze their breath. Even Ras al Ghul retreated as white as chalk when behind the coffin a shadowy figure formed from greenish wafts of mist. It was a 30feet tall humanoid figure with the head of a doglike beast. The creature that was created wore Egyptian robes and in each hand it had a classic Egyptian power symbol.

"Anubis" breathed Talia. That couldn't be true. It simply could not be true. It had to be a hologram! A trap. How could her father have gained power over the Egyptian god of death?

But Anubis himself did nothing. He was just there and suddenly the lid of the coffin began to move until it slowly slipped off the side. If it had just been a joke for Talia, she could now see a mummy slowly erecting in the coffin. The golden insignia indicated that it must have been a Pharaoh once. As the pharaoh stood on his legs, Talia could see the mummy in its full size. A truly fearsome creature. In some places the bandages had rotted and exposed rotten meat.

The mummy slowly approached Talia and as her feet touched the water of the grotto they did not sink into it. He walked over the water as if it were solid ground. Slowly and sluggishly, the creature approached Talia and yet the posture clearly indicated that this creature would be a tough one.

"You really think I'm afraid of a mummy? What should this Thing do to me" Talia hissed angrily but then she realized that her body didn't want to move anymore. She was like frozen. "What is going on here? What a trick it is" asked Talia and tried to move her body like crazy.

"That is the guardian of the Lazarus Grotto. How do you think I managed to catch the vampires? He commands all life and non-life."

"I will not let that happen" Talia shouted and saw the mummy slowly approaching the motionless Talia. She could see that Damien wanted to intervene but also he got under the spell of the Pharaoh and couldn't move anymore.

Talia was in a tight spot. She found no way out. She had no idea what she could do.