Supernatural: Legacy - Snowfall

Sera nodded grimly to Mati and took a seat. Jordan didn't seem at all satisfied with Mati's words and was ready to get moving, but Sera pointed at the remaining chairs in the office.

"We have to get moving," Jordan said, glaring at her. "If we don't-"

"Sit," she ordered. Jordan wavered a moment, then sat down in the chair with a huff.

"You're hot-headed and not thinking clearly, soldier. That's not going to do anyone any good," Sera said. "Now, all of you are going to take a minute to cool off and tell me what's happened. Then, we're going to calmly consider our options here."

Sera Winchester didn't become leader of the Men of Letters just for her last name. She knew just what to say to get people to listen. So Mati, Jordan, and Bram put together the pieces of what had happened thus far. When they arrived at Pip's capture, Jordan balled his hands into fists.

"We got here a few minutes before Mati and Bram did..."

--------------------

"Ava, wait!" Jordan called out in half a yell, half a whisper. But Ava was bounding furiously up the stairs to the sheriff's station. Before he could reach her, she'd wrenched the door open and run inside. Jordan was in a moment later, only to find her stock-still in the middle of the room.

Pip was already held capture. He'd managed to kill a chimera before another had gotten the drop on him. Judging by the blood running down his forehead, it had been a nasty drop too.

"Unless you want his blood staining this floor, you'll drop your weapon," one of the chimeras ordered, her long nails digging into Pip's neck.

"Ava-" Jordan tried to say, but she'd already dropped her weapon. Jordan felt his blood freeze. What should he do? Keep trying to fight? Surrender?

Before he could decide, a chimera had seized him by the bicep. Jordan's instinct kicked in. He flexed his muscle, breaking the grip of the monster. The next moment, he'd pinned it against the wall and forced his machete through its neck.

"Stop!" Ava was screaming. More hands grabbed him, and Jordan was dragged down to his knees.

"We're going to need some more insurance," the female chimera was saying to another. "Make sure they cooperate nicely."

The male, a bearded and ponytailed guy, grinned and nodded at Ava.

"Turn her. Pretty thing would make a fine addition," he said. Ava glared murderously at him, but Pip wiggled in the female's grip.

"No, wait!" he said. "Turn me."

"Pip!" Ava screamed.

"No, it's okay," Pip continued, his voice shaking. "Turn me."

The female exchanged looks with the man, then smiled.

"Well then."

She opened her mouth, revealing a foul barb on the end of her tongue. She clamped down on Pip's neck, and he screamed as the barb pierced his neck to infect him.

"Pip! Piiiiip!" Ava screamed. But her cries were cut short as the male chimera knocked her out.

"We'll take these two," the female said. "Keep Muscles here and deliver the message."

Jordan glared at them, watching as Ava was carried limply on one of their shoulders and Pip dragged along in a hideous feverish stupor.

--------------------

Jordan stared at the floor, grinding his teeth. Even if they could rescue Ava and Pip, was there any chance of curing him? Curing a vampire was one thing, but a chimera?

Sera's face was mask-like. She was hard on Pip, but everyone knew he was her favorite and protege.

"So, we still don't know where Larka is?" Sera asked, her voice measured. Bram looked off into the distance.

"The church," he said. Sera blinked in surprise.

"Nosferatu shouldn't be able to enter holy ground," she said. "Or, at least, it would weaken them. Why put herself at a disadvantage?"

"Because it would put me at a disadvantage. And with her numbers, that's all she needs."

Sera sighed and took out a vapor cigarette. After taking a deep drag and exhaling the steam, she nodded.

"All right, Bram. You two are going to get your showdown," she said. Jordan immediately moved to protest, but she shot up a warning finger.

"I don't doubt she has eyes watching us," Sera continued. "So you're going to get her attention fixed on you. We'll head out of town and circle around behind the church. If we can get the drop on Larka, we should be able to take her out."

She pulled out a small, ornate glass jar filled with black powder. The phoenix ash.

"And Ava and Pip?' Jordan asked. Sera's eyes softened.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Mati nodded, agreeing with Sera's plan.

Mati then looked at Bram, then looked at Sera again.

"We also need to get Aurora as well. I do not fully trust what Chimera had said. Aurora might still be human..."

Said Mati with uncertainty. It was definitely it was not his business, but it became his as it had involved some people he knew.

Mati sighed, "Well, let's do this." It was time to settle the score.

At sundown

Bram stood outside the doors to the church, his mind steeled. He'd been working toward this day for years. His resolve had never wavered. He had to stop Larka and fix all this.

He reached up to his neck and removed the crucifix hidden beneath his robes. It burned at his touch, but only for a moment as he tossed it aside into the snow. He'd been using it for countless years to hamper his powers - and bloodlust - but he couldn't afford that tonight.

"So it ends," he whispered to the night air. Tonight... the legacy would die here.

--------------------

Sera, Jordan, and Mati crept along the back alleys until they reached the town square. There were no chimeras in sight, but they still had to be careful.

Jordan grimaced as he inspected one of his arms. Sera had insisted they use chimera blood to mask their scent, which ended up in some rather gruesome camouflage. Jordan had been worried the blood might infect them, but Sera reasoned that they wouldn't have bothered to imbue Pip with venom if that were the case.

"All right, come on," Sera whispered, directing them forward. The back entrance to the church was an easy lock to pick, and they quietly entered the foyer.

And came face-to-face with a chimera. Before it could open its mouth to yell, Jordan lifted his hand and twisted. The chimeras head snapped 180 degrees, and it staggered on the spot in shock. A swift slash from Sera and its head parted from its body. Jordan carefully lowered the body to the ground with his telekinesis to keep anyone from hearing.

"Nicely done," she muttered. Jordan turned to Mati and shrugged at his look of surprise.

"Nothing gets by Sera," he said.

Sera motioned them forward. They took a back stairway and found themselves by the baptismal pool above the pulpit. There they crouched, surveying the rest of the room.

Aurora was bound and sitting on the front pew on their left side. Ava and Pip were sitting on the right. Ava seemed to have awakened and was fixated on Pip, angry tears running down her cheeks as his head lolled feverishly. His skin had gone deathly pale, and he was sweating and panting.

Larka was seated on the stairs up to the pulpit, looking bored. She looked over occassionally at Aurora, who refused to meet her eyes.

"Don't worry, Rory. Everything will be finished over soon," she said reassuringly. The next moment, she'd tensed up as the doors opened and Bram walked into the room. At that moment, he looked every bit the legendary Abraham Van Helsing.

Larka got to her feet slowly, fixated on Bram.

"Hello," she said, her voice as soft as the falling snow outside. "Grandfather."

Mati looked at Sera, it was up to Sera weather they strike now or later.

Then his eyes look at the fellow hunters who were captured, especially at Pip who did not look good.

But the most surprising news was that Bram was their grandfather. He was not surprised that he was related to Larka and Aurora, but he did not know he was the grandfather of the two.

Mati had guessed that Bram involved himself personally because they were related, as in some kind of far away cousin or something, but to think that they were all directly related...

Mati looked at Sera, did she knew about this? Mati wondered.

"Bram?" Aurora murmured, turning in her seat. Her eyes were wide, confused. Bram felt his throat catch with relief. Larka hadn't turned her after all. Not yet.

"Well, 'Grandfather' isn't entirely accurate," Larka went on. "I guess it's more like great great great.... How old are you anyway?"

"Nearly two centuries," Bram said, "And in all that time... I never once gave in to bloodlust. But that day... You forced it out of me. Why Larka? What do you want?"

Larka smiled and shrugged.

"Everything."

Bram narrowed his eyes as descended the stairs from the pulpit with catlike grace.

"There are so many secrets in this world, so much knowledge and pleasure no one can possibly achieve in one lifetime," Larka said softly. "But why should I limit myself? I'll gain it all, even if I have to bend the laws of nature to do it."

"Even if you have to destroy your family?" Bram whispered. Larka froze a moment, her composure slipping momentarily.

"I'll have Aurora. I'll always have Aurora," she said, looking at her sister. But Aurora turned away, tears running down her face.

"You could have joined me, Bram," Larka went on. "You have so much power, and it's all wasted. Together, the Van Helsings could have ruled this world. But now... You're just in my way."

Her eyes flashed a brilliant crimson. Bram bared his teeth, his own eyes turning red. Then they were both leaping through the air like wild beasts.

Bram may have been older, but age hardly mattered to a nosferatu. He struck first, sending Larka crashing back into the pulpit. He removed a stake from his cloak, the wood bone-white, and rushed for Larka. Larka grabbed the lecturn from on top of the pulpit and smashed it into Bram, wooden fragments flying in all directions like shrapnel. It wasn't enough to stop Bram, but it gave her the opening to seize him by the arm and hurl him into the middle of the pews.

"You're no match for me, old man!" Larka growled, leaping into the middle of the shattered pews.

--------------------

Sera watched the proceedings down below, her muscles tensed to act any moment. So, Bram was a nosferatu then. She and Pip had surmised as much, but it was still shocking to hear. And to realize that he really was the original, legendary Abraham Van Helsing after all...

Then Larka and Bram sprang into action, and Sera looked to the other two.

"Get ready."

Larka had hurled Bram away, and she was now far enough away from the captives.

"Let's go," she said, leaping down from the baptismal pool. Jordan and Mati followed behind her, but the minute they'd landed, chimeras appeared from their hiding places.

"I guess she wasn't convinced we'd leave after all," Jordan muttered. Sera held her machete high and glared at the monsters.

"Mati, free Aurora. Jordan, get Pip and Ava. NOW."

The chimeras sprang into action, but Sera's machete struck like lightning, sending limbs flying in all directions. Jordan dashed over to Pip and Ava and pulled out his own blade.

"Steady," he ordered Ava. "I don't want to cut you."

He carefully sawed through the ropes around her. The moment she was free, she moved over to Pip and began touching him with shaking hands.

"We gotta do somethin," she said, biting her lip. Jordan nodded and hacked through Pip's ropes. As soon as his body was free, he slumped forward and was only caught by Ava and Jordan's combined efforts. Jordan inspected Pip's bloodshot eyes and labored breath and swallowed. It wasn't looking good. If they were to do anything - if they even could do anything - it would need to be very soon.

-------------------

Bram was on his back, momentarily dazed, before Larka was over him. One hand seized his throat, a knee pinning his chest, while the other groped for the wooden stake. Larka grinned savagely as she brough the stake down, but her smile vanished just as Bram's body did - gone like mist.

Bram's foot connected with her ribs and sent her hurtling against the back wall.

"Even on this hallowed ground, my power still outmatches yours," Bram said, retrieving his stake. Larka bared her fangs.

"That's what you think," she hissed.

Mati quickly came to Aurora's side, "Don't move too much," Said Mati, freeing her from the ropes. "For now, don't do anything rash, we have to trust Bram on this one."

Mati looked at Pip's direction, Pip was not in any condition at all; but Mati could not let his focus sway from Aurora. Siblings, from what he learned so far, would do crazy things for each other. They would even lay down their life for each other.

Mati was not going to let that happen to Aurora. "We got to move." Said Mati, he looked at Sera's direction, and he looked at Ava's side. "Maybe we need to find the thing that turned Pip." Said Mati; he still had firm grip that support Aurora, but also enough grip to make sure she stay put near him.

Aurora moved the minute she was free to go after Bram and Larka, but Mati stopped her short. She followed Mati's gaze to Pip, feeling terrible for what her family had put them all through.

"Is there anything we can do?" she asked weakly. Sera had finished off the last of the chimeras and was hurrying over to where the rest of them had all encircled Pip. Sera's attention was half on him, and half on Larka and Bram.

"Sera," Ava said, trying to screw up her face to keep tears from flowing. "There is a way to save him, right?"

Sera looked grim. After a moment, she removed the bottle of phoenix ashes from her pocket and stared at it.

"Phoenix ash might burn the poison out of his system," she said quietly. "If he's not too far gone. If he is..."

She let the words hang over all of them. Ava shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and nodded.

"Do it."

Sera's gaze flickered once more to the battling duo before coming back to Pip. She should prioritize killing Larka. If they waited too long, she might get away.

But... dammit if she wasn't a Winchester.

"All right then. Pray this works," Sera muttered.

--------------------

Bram and Larka exchanged blows without tiring. Larka hadn't had nearly as long as Bram to develop her powers or technique, but she made up for it with raw strength and tenacity he wouldn't have thought her capable.

Her hand cracked across his face, sending him tumbling across the floor. She pounced, but he kicked out his leg and caught her in the stomach. She was propelled back through the air and crashed into the doors, which caved in from the force. Her body tumbled down the snowy steps and into the square.

Bram was after her, stake in hand. She was quickly on her feet, and the two fell to blows once more.

--------------------

Sera finished stirring some of the ashes into a thick paste with holy water from a nearby stand and brought a knife to Pip's arm. Gritting her teeth, she cut into his flesh, watching as his blood - an unusually dark shade of red - began to run down his arm. She scooped up the paste and applied it to the wound, hoping to get as much into his circulation as possible.

The reaction was immediate. Pip gasped out, his eyes rolling back as his body went into tremors. Ava caught him and laid him on her lap, muttering soothing words as she brushed his hair away from his forehead.

Sera sealed up the jar of phoenix ash and looked up. Bram and Larka were no longer in sight, though she could still hear sounds coming from the square.

"Here," she said, thrusting the jar of phoenix ash into Mati's hands. "If she has become a perfect chimera, you're going to need this."

Jordan, Aurora, and Mati bounded down the aisle for the door as Sera got to her knees by Pip's side. His breathing was faint. It wasn't looking good.

"Come on, kid," she whispered. "I know you're stronger than this. Pull through."

--------------------

Larka's hand punched hard enough to crack Bram's ribs like kindling, but he was no human. In a moment, he'd pinned her arm to his side and thrust the stake toward her heart. Larka swiveled, the wood carving a gash along her side. She cried out, then brought her foot smashing down on his knee.

Bram fell to the ground, momentarily paralyzed. Larka stamped down on his hand, pinning the stake to the ground and grabbed at his throat.

For a moment, Bram looked up into her eyes - a monstrous red, not like the blue eyes she used to have. Silver hair fluttered in the snowy wind, no longer a warm blonde like her sisters.

Aurora had been the quiet, obedient, dutiful one. Larka had been inquisitive, insatiable, and charming. They'd been so different, but so close. And they'd adored him, fighting to get on his knees first. They'd known him as grandfather, then as a father when their own parents died. They only had each other.

And then, it was gone.

"Was it worth it?" Bram asked softly. Larka's ruby lips curved into a wicked smile.

"Yes."

Bram nodded. That was all he needed to know.

His hand shot out and yanked on her leg. Larka lost her balance and hit the ground hard. Bram gripped the stake and pounced. The wood drove through Larka's, sending a shower of blood over the stony ground. Larka's eyes went wide, and she gasped out her last words.

"Grandfather... You..."

She went still. Bram gazed down at her, and with each passing moment, his vision began to blur as tears cascaded down the old, weathered face. He couldn't hold it in - he let out a strangled sob that echoed through the square. He pulled the stake out and dropped it aside, then pulled her up and into his arms.

Why? Why had it come to this? The great Van Helsing family brought to ruins. His dearest granddaughter dead by his own hands.

She said it had been worth it, but even then, he couldn't bring himself to hate her - only mourn the loss of the girl who'd tried to gain everything and lost it all.

--------------------

Mati, Jordan, and Aurora had made it out the door just as Larka hit the ground for the last time. The flash of the stake, the sight of blood as it drove into her sister's heart, tore through Aurora's brain. She crumpled to her knees, a scream stuck in her throat.

"Oh god..." she whispered hoarsely. She wanted to look away, but her eyes were riveted on the scene. Larka's body held limply in Bram's arms.

Larka... Grandfather...

Why had it had to end like this?

"Why Larka?" she cried.

Larka... It was like something out of a nightmare. She was watching, but she couldn't say a word. She could only watch in stunned horror as Larka's hand suddenly moved to snatch the stake beside her. Bram's sob was cut short in a strangled gasp as Larka drove the stake through his back and into his heart in one brutal move.

Bram's arms fell away. He stared up in shock as Larka got to her feet, wiping the blood from her face.

"You can't kill me with that," she said. "Nothing can. I'm perfection."

She turned and ran off into the snowy woods at the edge of the square. Bram watched her go, struggling to reach out after her. He fell to the ground, feeling his power drain from his body.

His eyes drifted up to the snow, cascading gently down upon him, as though blissfully unaware of the transgressions happening down below.

"Grandfather!"

That... was Aurora. She was dropping beside him, tears running afresh down her face as she gripped his hand.

"Aurora... My beautiful girl," he whispered. Aurora kissed his forehead, her body trembling.

"Don't leave me... Please..." she said, her breath warm against his skin.

"Be strong," he told her with his last words, "Aurora Van Helsing. Last... Of a long line."

Aurora felt his hand go cold. She gaze at the face she loved so dearly, then buried her face in his chest and wept.

Mati had his eyes cast down as Bram as he saw how emotionally Bram was involved with Larka's death.

But that was a brief moment of bitter victory; the bitter victory was soon turned into the defeat. Larka  was still alive and she had undone Bram.

Aurora went to her grandfather's side.

Mati, without a second thought, chased after Larka; the mistake he probably had made was passing the jar to Jordan. Then again, Mati couldn't risk it.

Mati entered the forest where Larka had entered, searching for any trace of her and following any trails that she had left. Larka was some what hurry so she could not erased her trails while she was running away.

Mati was fully alarmed as well, his senses were tensed, not trying to miss any sound or anything suspicious. Larka that he had fought before was no longer a monster that he could go easy, no, if he actually fights her, he probably have to reveal his true strength as well.

In any case, he couldn't let her escape; he won't allow her to just slip pass by and get away. He needed to know where she was heading next.

"How could you do that to your own family? If that thing won't kill you, you could have faked your death and get over with this hunt. Instead you wanted to kill people and let your presence known. Are you that crazy about putting world under your rule?" Shouted Mati, frustration, and disappointment.

He already had his family broken up, and to watch a family of someone he knew breaking a part made him mad. The anger he had been holding for so long looked like it wanted to be out. He wanted to burn everything.

However, he did not lose his focus. He had to chase Larka, or he had to know where she was going. He was not going to let her get away.

Sera stood on the steps to the church, staring out over the snowy square. It was hard to see such a legend lying there broken. Aurora hadn't let go of him, though her sobs had subsided.

"Mati went after her," Jordan said, looking agitated. Sera sighed and nodded.

"Larka can't be allowed to escape. She has to be eliminated," Sera said quietly. Jordan looked past her into the church, and she knew what he was thinking.

"Is he going to make it?"

"Maybe," Sera said, though she wasn't feeling hopeful. Pip definitely was reacting badly to the phoenix ash. That at least gave hope that it would stop Larka, though she hated herself for thinking of it that way.

"You should stay here with them," Jordan said. "I don't think there's any chimera left, but just in case..."

Sera didn't like the idea of leaving them unprotected, but she didn't like the idea of putting aside Larka to watch them. They needed all hands available for this one.

"Mati and I can handle it," Jordan said, and she saw the look of a hardened soldier for the first time in his eyes. Sera sighed and pulled out a cigarette.

"All right," she agreed. "But no more casualties. That's an order."

Jordan managed a grim smile and nodded. He turned to head down the steps, but came face to face with Aurora. Her face was tear-stained, but hardened.

"I'm going to," she said.

"Aurora-" Sera began, but damn if that girl didn't have her grandfather's steely-eyed determination after all.

"All right, all right," Sera muttered irritably. "Both of you get out of here before I change my mind."

Aurora and Jordan nodded and rushed for the woods after Mati. Sera took a drag from her cigarette and blew the vapor into the wind. Before it had drifted away, she had turned and shut the door behind her.

--------------------

Mati's cy echoed through the woods, but there was no reply. Then, the faint crunch of snow sounded behind him. He whirled about, but it was only Jordan and Aurora.

"She's fast, but she can't have gone too far," Jordan said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "With the three of us, she's made her last escape."

He nodded to Aurora, who fixed her eyes on Mati.

"You promised me once to help me save my sister," she said softly, her gaze falling to the bottle of phoenix ash. "I'm asking you to uphold that... the only way I still know."

Mati sighed, "I do not break my promise." then, he stared it into the bottle of ash and looked at Aurora once again.

"The only way you could save her... You mean, you are going to kill her?"

Mati locked his eyes with hers, searching for how determined she was.

"Well, how are you going to do it?"

Mati asked her, hoping she had a plan or plans for cornering Larka and end it all.

Aurora stared up into the woods, her expression grim.

"Larka still wants me," she said. "She won't have gone too far. We just have to divide the phoenix ash among the three of us and hope someone gets a shot at using it. Maybe if she's paying attention to me, she won't notice either of you."

"Not much of a plan," Jordan said, frowning. Aurora nodded.

"But it's the only one we've got."