Disclaimer: This story is fiction. There are two celebrities who will appear from time-to-time. The other characters are fictitious. Any similarities to persons living or dead are completely coincidental.
In this story, I have continued the adventures of Batman, my Batman, which his story first began in "Tales of a Real Dark Knight" in the Boy Band section of this archive. It spanned 250 chapters. You will find many universes merging, as the above copyrights reveal. I hope you all enjoy this.
Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel and all related characters created by Joss Whedon. Copyright 20th Century Fox.
Batman, and all related characters created by Bob Kane. Copyright DC Comics and Warner Bros.
X-MEN, and all related characters created by Stan Lee. Copyright Marvel Comics and 20th Century Fox.
The Vampire Chronicles and all related characters created by Anne Rice. Copyright Anne O'Brien Rice.
I don't know for sure if I will use all the above elements, but just in case, I have myself covered.
I appreciate any feedback that you may want to give. I do hope that you enjoy it!!!
Any emails you send, please tell me what chapter and story you are commenting on. Thanks.
authorjames2002@yahoo.com
I also have several online messenger services. If you want to chat with me in real time, email me and tell me the services you use and I will tell you my screen name.
Chapter 36 Joined
The first thing we saw was Joseph as a young boy. It was the night I discovered Christine as she lay dying in my arms; the night I found two little children cowering underneath a picnic table unsure of what the future held. Joseph was talking to them on the playground as the sun was setting in the distance. Then, suddenly, he stopped, as if he sensed something.
"Stay here," he said to Preston and Sarah. "I'll come back for you." He turned and ran.
All of us felt his footsteps, his heart pounding, and a sense of dread as he made his way down the streets until he came to a familiar alley. He watched as he saw the figure move slowly away from his mother. The figure, of course, was me as I laid Christine's head gently against the ground. She was gone.
From Joseph's perspective, it would be easy to accuse me of his mother's murder. But it could have been easily explained away. What happened next explained his vehemence against me.
The young version of Joseph approached the alley and watched a shadowy figure, me, holding Christine. From his perspective, it would appear that I was feeding off of her. Sounds came from us but were inaudible. I could have been telling her that I would take her children or I could have been reveling in her death. Joseph didn't know. No wonder he hated me so much.
Christine's body went limp in my arms and I gently laid her down on the ground. Then, I jumped to the fire escape and ascended just as I had done twelve years ago.
Joseph stepped closer, but not too close. He felt that if he touched her and she didn't move, it would be real. And he desperately didn't want it to be real.
A shadowy figure moved up beside him and placed his hand on the youth's shoulder. Joseph didn't budge.
"She's dead," he muttered.
"Yes, she is," came the voice.
Joseph looked up and saw Catman looking down at him through green lenses. Reaching up, Catman removed his mask and looked down at him through green eyes. Joseph saw a resemblance between himself and the vampire.
"I can help you avenge her death," Catman said. "Come with me. I will train you so that you can avenge yourself on the one who took her life."
We watched as Joseph and Catman walked to the playground in time to see me carrying off his brother and sister. His eyes widened in horror. We sensed the sadness that welled up in Joseph, along with the anger he felt toward me. From what Catman said, I was the reason for his loneliness. He watched as I took his mother and siblings from him, leaving him alone in a dangerous world. Catman offered to take him in and train him to kill me.
The scene faded and switched now. Everyone saw my perspective of the events of that night. They saw as I missed Catman but searched for Christine. They watched as I interacted with her, promising her that I would take her children in and raise them so they would want for nothing. Then she drifted away from this existence. Sadly, I couldn't keep my promise as I missed one child, the one taken in by Catman.
Everything changed one more time as J'onn entered Sarah's mind to see what she was telling us about, the dreams and the strange, yet familiar, man in them. Everything happened as she told us. He called to her from out of nowhere every time. He spoke to her of her abilities and where they came from. The feelings emanated from the dreams were obvious stimulation of chemicals, designed to enhance eroticism. We relived the dreams and the feelings within the dreams. They were very real, almost seductive. It was obvious what was happening, but we weren't quite sure why.
When we came out of the joining, we looked at one another. My hand reached up and lay on Joseph's shoulder giving him comfort.
"I'm so sorry," I apologized. "Had I kept the promise I made, you would be here with us and not carried the hatred all these years."
Joseph let me comfort him but for a moment, and then pulled away. "My heart is with my mother, not with you. Because of you, I will always see her face etched in my mind, especially of her dying. Can they say that?" he asked as he motioned toward Sarah and Preston. "No," he answered for them.
"We still don't know why he's doing this," Sarah pointed out. "Who is Catman? How is he connected to us? Why did he kill our mother? Why did he raise Joseph? What is his interest in me?"
"It's simple," I replied as I stood and went toward the kitchen. I stopped for a moment, turned my head toward them, and said, "He's your father." Then I went into the kitchen.
From the living room, I heard Sarah's response. "Ewwwwwww! My biological dad has been putting the moves on me in my dreams? That's just sick!"
"So what you are telling me is that our dad killed our mom?" Preston stated.
"Basically," Lance answered.
Preston came into the kitchen as I poured my coffee. He walked up to the sliding door and looked out.
"Are you okay?" I asked him.
"Not really," he said.
I walked over and stood beside him, placing my arm around him.
"Do you know what it is like to have your entire world turned upside down? And in such a short amount of time, I've gone from a regular high school student with a normal family to being a mutant with a Vampire Slayer for a sister, superhero for a father, vampire for a biological father, and a brother who wants to kill the only parents I've ever known."
"I'm sorry your life has become so chaotic. It wasn't our wish for all this to happen to you. Your dad and I wanted nothing but normalcy for you and your sister."
"Oh, I know, dad. I know that you and Pop had nothing but the best intentions for us.
"Do you know what the clincher is? Despite all of this, I'm being selfish."
"What do you mean?" I said as I looked at him questioningly.
"Sarah is a Vampire Slayer. She has all these powers, so, evidently, my biological dad sees her as a threat. Or, someone he wants to get close to. Joseph gets raised by him to try to kill you. Both of my siblings have his attention. He wanted to have some form of connection to him. He saw them both as a threat and a weapon. But what am I?"
"You were the one to bring light to his lies. It wasn't Sarah who could remember your past, who could be used to find the link between you, her, and Joseph. Without your memory, none of this would have happened. Joseph may have succeeded in killing me. Or he might have been turned into a vampire and been killed by Sarah. Or he may have killed Sarah. You saved us all misery and pain. Without you, this would have been one big disaster, and Catman would have been successful in reaching his goal."
"Still...I wish I could kick his ass."
"I know. The question now remains, what do we do? We know what's been going on this past decade. We know who Catman is and why he's been connected with all of you. But what can we do?"
"Why don't we let things go as they have been?" Lance suggested as he and the others entered the kitchen. "As long as he doesn't know what we know, he won't suspect anything. We can use this knowledge to get close to him and discover why he killed Christine."
"I don't know if I want to trust you guys."
"But you've seen the truth," Sarah answered. "How could you not side with the truth?"
"Because all he's ever known is what he's lived with," I answered. "You're asking him to believe all he's ever known to be true is a lie. I don't think anyone could easily dismiss that."
Joseph looked at me and narrowed his eyes. Then he slipped on the mask. "I need time to think," he stated as he rushed out the door.
Catman made his way throughout the city, jumping from rooftop to rooftop not paying attention to where he was going; only thinking about what he has learned. 'Could everything I've just experienced been true? Or could it all be a lie, merely a trap so that I would betray my memory of my mother and take on the one Batman created?'
Catman slowed as he heard a familiar sound, one of screaming. He stopped and walked to the edge of the building. Looking over to see what was going on, he realized where he was. Using his whip, he leapt over the side of the building and swung to the alley. Both the source of the scream and the cause of the scream turned to him. The shadows shrouded his visage so that all they saw was his silhouette.
"Batman!" the vampire exclaimed. He dropped the young man and fled.
"Thank God you showed up when you did," the youth said as he got up off the ground and approached the silhouetted figure. "You've always been my hero...." His voice trailed off when he saw the silhouetted figure step into the light. "You're not Batman."
"No," Catman muttered indignantly.
"You're Catman. My parents told me about you."
"What did they tell you?"
The young man pulled a cross out and held it up. "They told me you were a vampire!"
Catman swung his arm up and knocked the cross out of the youth's hand. Then he grabbed the youth by the neck.
"Tell me more."
"You'll....you'll kill me."
"No, I promise, I won't. Tell me what your parents told you about Catman."
"You came out of nowhere and killed my aunt. Then you killed that girl in the alley."
Catman looked around. He knew what alley the youth spoke of. The youth realized it, too.
"Oh god, you're going to kill me in the same alley you killed the girl."
"Do you know the name of the girl?"
"No...it...it was in the newspapers."
Catman released the boy, who fell to his knees. Then he stepped back further into the alley.
"Are you a vampire?"
"No, I'm not. But the previous one is."
"Why didn't...why didn't you kill me?"
Catman didn't answer at first. Then he turned. "What do you know of vampires?"
"We hear about them in school constantly. About the war that happened a few year ago; about how they rose to power quicker than any minority group in the history of the world. My parents think there is a conspiracy about vampires; that they want to take over and make human beings their cattle."
"Go home," Catman stated.
"What?"
"GO HOME!"
The youth jumped up and fled the alley fearing Catman may have a change of heart and kill him.
Catman wasn't thinking about him any more. He was thinking about how is life was changing, almost as abruptly as when his mother was taken from him. He walked to the back of the alley and turned to face it like he did so many years ago.
"I miss you, mom. You were so important to me. You were the world to me. You and I were going to raise Preston and Sarah. You used to call me your little man. I was going to take care of you.
"You were once my one companion. You were all that mattered. You were once a friend and mother; then my world was shattered. Wishing you were somehow here again. Wishing you were somehow near. Sometimes it seemed if I just dreamed, somehow you would be here. Wishing I could hear your voice again, knowing that I never would. Dreaming of you won't help me to do all that you dreamed I could.
"Passing bells and sculpted angels, cold and monumental, seem, for you, the wrong companions; you were warm and gentle. Too many years fighting back tears; why can't the past just die? Wishing you were somehow here again; knowing we must say goodbye. Try to forgive, teach me to live, give me the strength to try.
"No more memories, no more silent tears. No more gazing across the wasted years. Help me say 'goodbye'. Help me say 'goodbye' to all I ever knew to be true. I don't trust Batman. But if what Sarah and Preston say are true, he didn't kill you and he was your friend. I don't think I'll ever be able to fully forgive him for abandoning me. But I can forgive him for your death since he didn't do it.
"Now, I wonder, what will happen to me?"
To Be Continued...
How does everyone like this storyline? I haven't heard from readers in a while. I know I haven't posted, either, and I apologize for that. Let me know if I should continue with future storylines or stop with this. I have several storylines in my head but I would like to hear from readers what they want.
Note: I have a Yahoo Group in which the pictures of the characters are posted. Characters which have appeared in this storyline, such as Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, and the others will be there as well. The title of the group is RDK_MK. Put that in a search and it should come up. I hope more of you join!