Warzone: Before the dawn.

With the second wave of lycanthropes entering the battlefield, new creatures the vampire count had never seen before revealed themselves. Massive spiders scurried or propelled themselves with silk lines across the field, binding and killing his gargoyle defenders. Serpentine creatures like the naga of old slithered from their hiding places and struck with the speed and cunning of vipers or constricted their prey like pythons. But there was another threat the undead count became aware of from the horde of wolves invading his castle; they were organised, intelligent. The… ‘Super’ Werewolf fighting Vicky overhead was a unique surprise but this? He was starting to realise the true threat of this new wolf king. Despite the new additions, Dracula was not phased by the change in the battle, it was only until he spotted a red wolfess step out into the open that he took notice.

Despite her huge form and powerful frame, the wolfess walked with the grace of a runway model, casually walking through the combat as Dracula’s castle defenders fought the lycanthropes. Then the wolfess raised her hand, and an explosion of plant life erupted from the ground! Vines as thick as power lines snapped at the Gargoyles fighting on the ground while the ones in the air were forced to reach higher altitudes, fully grown trees burst from the concrete and grew at a speed rivalling bamboo to cover the battle field in lush plant life, where the canopy obscured the view of the battle from Dracula’s tower.

“Zatanna my love…”

“Yes?” She asked eagerly, knowing full well what he was going to ask of her.

“Bring me her head!”

With a devilish smile, Zatanna disappeared from his side. Turning to Talia, the Count traced a finger under her pale chin, making the vampire assassin purr with delight. “Go my love, earn yourself some trophies from these animals.”

“as you wish, my love.” Stepping off the pulpit of the tower, Talia outstretched her arms and floated down into the forest that now covered the landscape, slowly making her way down as if she were weightless, until she disappeared into the brush.

*

“Come ON! We almost got them!” Bellowed the Red Hood, the rest of the wolves behind him howling as they followed him through the trees towards the castle. The horde of Gargoyles had been driven back and already several wolves were making their way to the castle battlements. Running on all fours, Jason smiled until he saw a glint of moonlight streak past him like a ribbon. Stopping in his tracks, the wolf got up to his hind legs and looked back to see the group of werewolves following him tumble to the ground… Missing their heads. Looking back in shock, Jason kept his guard up, sniffing the air.

“Such brazen creatures, to think you could invade my Love’s castle so easily.” Melting out of the shadows with a bundle of wolf heads in her hand, Talia smirked down at the Red Hood, dropping her prizes down on the ground at his feet. Flicking her katana in her hand to clean the blood from its blade, the vampire assassin jumped from her perch to land gracefully in front of the hulking wolf, poised and ready to fight.

“You’re going to PAY for that!” Roared the wolf as he charges towards her, the woman looking unimpressed as he took a swipe at her. Ducking and making a reverse cut, Talia casually turned around to see the wolf clutching under his arm, guarding a cut that went down his entire side. Roaring out in rage he tried to back hand her with his heavy claw, only for her to summersault over his massive arm and cut his face, making him rear back and cry out clutching his eyes, then arch back and cry out in pain when he felt the silver edged blade cut down his back.

“Just another dumb animal to be cut down, just like the rest…” Raising her blade over her head to make the final blow, the woman paused when she heard what sounded like a hiss behind her. Looking over her shoulder, her eyes went wide when she found herself looking into the fanged maw of a massive werespider pounce on top of her. Tumbling over the green life and cracked stone, Talia struggled against the mandibles and sharp talons of the massive spider snapping her fangs at her. “You get away from Jassssson!” Finding leverage, Talia kicked the offending creature off of her where the spider tumbled and rolled onto its back, righting itself just in time to avoid the next strike of Talia’s blade. Then a second and third arachnid scurried out of the dark, hissing back at the assassin.

“Little mousey shouldn’t be out late.” Hissed Arachne as she and Huntress circled Talia in the small clearing. Barbara had picked up Jason and scurried back to safety, wrapping silk over his wounds to help them heal.

“So, it is true; Bruce has made abominations of the lycanthropy, slaying YOU will please my lover greatly.” Pulling free her second blade, Talia took a stance, readying herself for combat. Unlike the werewolves, the spiders were fast, and precise, much like herself. Every time she made to strike; her blade hit nothing but air before she flicked her sword back to parry a claw strike. Like a shadowy blur, the assassin darted from one tree to the next as the three spiders pursued, the air filled with hisses and metal striking claws until the fight found itself back in the clearing. Fending off attacks from three massive spiders at once, Talia’s eyes glowed red. “ENOUGH OF THIS!” Forcing them all back, Talia spun on her heel and threw darts at the undersides of the three arachnids, their bodies going stiff and lethargic as they struggled to right themselves.

“Blowfish poison, probably not enough to kill you, but certainly enough to leave you defenseless.” Getting back up to her feet, Talia let her blades drag on the ground as she circled the three paralyzed spiders and over to the wounded Red Hood still down from his wounds. “Silver etched blades, you will not be healing from those injuries so quickly you become a threat again… Now what shall I bring to my love, hmm? Perhaps a fang? A leg? Or perhaps I shall bring you as you are, and have you stuffed over his fireplace? Yes, me thinks he’ll enjoy…”

“BATTER UP!”

Looking up from where the voice called out, Talia found herself struck across the clearing by a street sign, sending her reeling and crashing against a tree.

“WHOOOOO! Looks like we got a slugger today folks.” Smirked Harley, smiling back at the Talia Ghul as she regained her footing and reset her broken nose. “Uhp and what do we have here folks? She’s winding up for a second pitch!”

*

She was getting exhausted; she had never had to fight her cousin like this before! Flying over the city and trading blows with Superman, the Kryptonian werewolf tried everything in her power to stop the man without hurting him, but it was getting harder with each blow she had to avoid or block. Each punch sent a shockwave through the air, bursting storm clouds and sending her reeling, before a final blow sent Kara freefalling to the Earth. Crashing through a two-story building and causing it to collapse from the impact, Kara ended up being buried in the rubble, slowly stirring herself awake to see Superman dive and charge towards her, his eyes glazed and blank. She thought this was it, that this would be the end of her, and all thanks to the monster flying over head like a vulture waiting for the two cousins to kill each other. Rearing back a fist to bring the final strike, Kara closed her eyes.

“STOP!”

Looking up from her prone position, Kara found Lamia and the other two weresnakes standing between them, glaring into Superman’s eyes with Lamia’s own. To her surprise, she found her hypnotised cousin slowly lower his fist, breathing hard from all the exertion fighting her this entire time. “You don’t want to fight anymore…” She purred, her florescent eyes making Clark sway on his feet as he repeated the command. “I… I don’t want to fight anymore.”

“You want to help usss, help HER!”

“I… I want to help Kara…”

Digging herself out of the rubble, the large wolfess looked up to find her Cousin finally snap out of the trance Vicky had placed on him, looking around confused and finding a warzone. “Kara? My goodness, what happened?”

“We did Clark, We…”

A blood curdling screech above their heads alerted the three to the vargheist as Vicky swooped down with her jaws open. “LOOK OUT!” Shoving Lamia and the others out of the way, Kara was struck down by the massive draconian bat monsters, the beast screeching in rage that her toy had broken free of her spell.

“GET OFF OF HER!” Barrelling into the monster, Vicky was caught off guard and flailed and screamed as she was sent back by the strike, with Superman finally collapsing to his knees he looked up to find the vargheist roll back off her back to all fours, glaring back at the group of monsters with a drooling sneer. Stepping forward, Vicky paused. Looking down, she noticed a wooden fence post pierced into her chest, right where her heart was. Looking up at the confused monster, Vicky began to shrink. The leathery wings rapidly shrunk and changed back into human arms and hands while her long tail retracted back, her legs returned to normal and her heavy body contracted and shrank. Her size reducing faster as her monstrous face cricked and snapped back into that of a human woman. Transformed back to her human form, the pale naked woman looked up at the snakes and two Kryptonians, a strange look of relief on her face. “The thirst… It’s… It’s…” Collapsing to the ground, the blonde woman began to crumble, reduced to ash.

“You SAVED me!” Replied Lamia, looking down at the Kryptonian wolf in profound surprise.

Nodding tired, Kara passed out, as did Superman after fighting so hard against his cousin for so long. Looking to Candy and Tracy, Lamia pointed to the two. “Bring them with usss, we save THEM now!”

Nodding in agreement, the two serpents gathered the massive wolf while Lamia went to gather Superman, the trio slithering their way back to the far battle lines of the combat where they knew they could find safety.

*

Waving her clawed arms like a conductor commanding a symphony, Aloe Vera willed the plant life around her to protect who she could. Barbed vines snaked up the brick walls of Dracula’s castle, allowing the werewolves to climb its surface and get to the windows while a pack barrelled into the barred gates, trying to get in. She had caused a forest to sprout and bloom all around her to provide cover to the pack. Then she heard a deafening wailing, like the sounds of thousands of voices in pain flow down the castle and swirl over the roots and vines, making them go black and withered, the turbulence swirled like some massive serpent or vortex and swallowed up the pack at the gates, watching in horror as her allies withered and aged hundreds of years in seconds then collapse to the ground as dust and bones.

“NO!”

Billowing and swirling around the castle, the vortex of ghosts spotted her and gave what looked like a smile, heading towards her and killing the plant life in its wake. Waving her hands before her, Aloe Vera caused dozens of trees to grow instantly in front of her, the ghost passing them them with each and reducing the new plant life to dead wood before the first ghost revealed itself to her, causing her to rear back in shock.

“JOKER?!”

“HA, ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaa… Well look at what we have here, taking the ‘sly as a fox’ look a little too far Ivy?”

The ghost had stopped in their tracks and Aloe Vera was able to get a better look at them all as they surrounded her, hundreds of miserable souls weeping and reaching out to her as if she had the power to help them. “Like my entourage? I know its unsightly for a celebrity to drag their fanbase with them but hey, sometimes you want to have company with the people who get your jokes.”

“That’s enough spirit.” Called out another voice, making the Joker roll his eyes and sneer behind his shoulder. Teleporting in between the horde of ghosts and Aloe Vera, Zatanna appeared and smirked over her shoulder at the ghost. “My Love wishes for me to bring this one’s head back, and I can’t do that if you reduce her to dust.” Raising her open hand, Zatanna clenched her fist, the result were all the spirits clutching their chests as if in pain, before Zatanna gestured for them to leave. With a near deafening wail, the horde of ghosts flew up into the air and returned to orbiting the highest towers of the castle.

“So… Poison Ivy, look at you now, I still haven’t gotten over how you trapped me in a tree!”

Standing regally, Pamela glared back at the vampire sorceress. “My name is Aloe Vera; I am a speaker for the Umbra and the flow of all life in Gotham… I will never be poison ever again.”

Tilting her shoulder in amusement, Zatanna retained her smile. “Well now, isn’t that cute, life doesn’t last little doggy, death is the final destination, and believe ME, I’m a speaker for the dead.” Waving her hand, Aloe Vera was caught off guard when skeletal hands reached out from the earth and grabbed at her fur and legs, clawing at her. “You might like to think you’ve turned a new leaf… Hmm, but even I know you’ve got some skeletons in your closet, and they have a few words to say to you.”

“Witch!” “Murderer!” “MONSTER!” The skeletons screamed, grabbing what they could as the tall wolfess struggled and pried herself free of the legion of skeletons pulling themselves free of the ground and shambling their way towards Pamela as she stumbled and fell to all fours, her hackles raised and snarling at the skeletons and the laughing witch behind them. “What do you have to say about them ‘Aloe Vera’? Seems you have a lot to answer for!”

Swiping and biting at the bones of her former victims, Aloe Vera whimpered as she was forced to face the ghosts of her past. Amusing Zatanna as the red wolfess fought for hours against the undead. But then Zatanna felt a warmth behind her, looking over her shoulder she found the sun dawning over the city. The moment it did she looked back to find the wolfess grow lethargic and collapse, her claws and fur receding and transforming back into her human form, just as the skeletons were ready to finish her off. Then there was whirl in the air, as a bundle of batarangs flew out from the forests and stuck into the skulls of all the skeletons still standing, before a light beep signalled them all exploding. Waving the dust and bone meal out of her eyes, Zatanna spotted a tiny metal ball roll between her feet. Spraying a mist of garlic into the air and making the vampire retch.

Staggering back and clutching her throat, Zatanna looked back with blood shot eyes to find Batman holding Pamela in his arms and glaring back at her. Still reeling from the garlic mist, Zatanna was forced to blink and he disappeared.

“NO!... I almost HAD her… You’ll DIE for this Bruce, MARK MY WORDS!” Hissing in pain, the sorcerous was forced to retreat to the castle. When she did, the ghost surrounded the keep like a wall of death, rotting and withering everything in proximity. By the time she had left, day had finally broke.