Avarice was walking through the streets. Though he did look somewhat odd, being in a black coat in the middle of the summer, he got few stares. His skin was very pale, and his eyes were a dark black, to the point where the the iris and the pupil seemed to be one and the same. He also seemed to stick to the shade a lot, but was not afraid to venture out into the light every once in a while.

Avarice was fairly young, only 34. His clothing, which was simple black pants and a black shirt, with a coat that went down to the ground, were nothing all that strange. His teeth and nails did appear unusually sharp and pointed though.

Avarice was walking when he bumped in to someone in the middle of the street.

"Sorry," he said, holding his hands up, "My fault." His voice sounded oddly chilling.

Vanadis looked at the stranger suspiciously. He was not what he seemed, that was easy to tell. What his true identity was was still a mystery, though.

"Was it your fault? Was it mine?" She spoke with a kind voice, but there was a hidden tone in it. "Or was it destiny that we should meet?"

Avarice wasn't sure what it was, but this person was special. Far from the ordinary humans he watched day after day, and the occasional surviving reploid. He had better watch his back. After all, it was still bright out.

"Perhaps it is," Avarice said in a chilling tone. "Tell me, what is your name?"

"My name is Vanadis Kmisha. Would you mind telling me yours? It's rude not to introduce oneself first."

A vague scent drifted into her nose, and an expression of recognisal appeared on her face.

"Even if you are a nightwalker."

"Is that what you call us?" Avarice mused. "I have no name. However, you may call me...Avarice."

Some of Avarice's unusally long tounge began to hang out. He was getting a bit excited.

*Vanadis looked at Avarice's ''facial expression'' and managed to suppress an expression of disgust.*

It's good to know that. I will have to put a name on your tomb, after all.

Avarice laughed.

"You are an odd one, aren't you?" Avarice said. "No living being has yet managed to put little more than a scratch on me. I doubt you'll fare much better. None of the traditional vampire wards have much effect on me." Avarice pointed at the Sun. "Get it? You don't stand a chance if you want to fight me."

"Do not think yourself so clever, just because you have some sunscreen on.
You'll find yourself not the only one who dismisses tradition..."

With that said, Vanadis unstrapped a medium sized shield on her back and put it on her arm.

"Very well then," Avarice said, "A fight it is..."

Avarice held his left hand in front of him, his nails becoming razor sharp.

Vanadis held up her hand.

"Not a fight."

A ball of green flames formed, spinning slowly.

"A fight would be barbaric. Think of this as a duel... a duel to the death."

"Well then, Miss Vanadis, I will be pleased to send you to your grave," Avarice taunted. "Unless you are of course, a virgin. That will make things far more exciting."

If she was, then all he would have to do would be to drink a little blood, as she would become like him. No, more than him. He was not a true vampire, after all. He had never died. That had strengths and weaknesses, but this woman...if he could bend her to his will, perhaps he could have a successor. There were very few strong women in the world anymore. Men wouldn't work either, they had to be of the opposite sex. Perhaps the scientists had been too accurate in their work, but it mattered little now. He would work around it. He would be satisfied, one way or another.

(Angelic babies come drop out of the sky :P )

"You may try. This is a fair fight, after all."

Avarice's question came as a surprise, but it did help her determine what he was. Only one kind of nightwalker would be interested in that, and that was a vampire.
That was something to worry about, but nothing she couldn't handle.
She looked at the ball of greenish flames from the corner of her eye. The ball had been a distractive move, an attempt to get him on the offensive first. Though it hadn't worked, it could serve another purpose.

She cut off the flow of energy sustaining it, and rerouted it to her upper left wing, while throwing the ball at Avarice with her right hand.
The wing suddenly and rapidly unfolded in an upwards arch, the tip pointing forward at Avarice. A soft glow ran across it for a split second, then an arrow made of light shot from it, aimed at the vampire.

(Fear biology.)

Avarice frowned. He preferred to know ahead of time. If she wasn't, then she would become a ghoul, virtually useless to him. And unlike a true vampire, familiars were out of the picture.

"One downside of the process, I suppose," Avarice thought.

Avarice saw the ball being hurled. As it and the arrow approached, he began to sink into the earth. The ball had missed, but the arrow was dead on. It struck him just above the ground, near his chest, spraying blood about. Avarice smiled, and licked his lips, sinking the rest of the way, only to come out behind Vanadis, arm extending, nails now longer and razor sharp, aiming to tear through her back and rip out her heart.

Vanadis was caught by surprise. However, Avarice too came across a surprise as his nails tore through the clothes but did not pierce the flesh underneath. From the tear came a white light, obviously magical.
Vanadis had used stored up energy to turn her wings into magical shields. And since there were three of them still folded up, her back was incredibly well protected. Even when all were folded out, the aura would keep her safe from quite some attacks.

"Now that isn't nice, is it? Attacking an innocent maiden in the back..."

She quickly turned to face Avarice once again.
As she poured energy into her shield it gained the same glow as the arrow of light.
She made a slashing movement with her ''weapon'', intending to slam Avarice straight in his chest with it.

"Who ever said I was nice?" Avarice joked. "We vampires rarely are."

He struggled to cut through, but to no avail. When the "weapon" hit him, he went flying, a gash cut in his chest. It seemed to heal quickly, even the clothes. Avarice grinned.

"Got anything better, birdie!" Avarice shouted, lashing out with his right hand.

Out of each finger, a long and razor sharp whip made of a black energy shot out, twisting and turning, aiming to behead Vanadis. It was far sharper and more powerful than the nails alone.

The quick attack left only one option: Defending.
Vanadis had the advantage that her shield was relatively light, allowing her to manouver it with ease. She covered her head and shoulders, stopping the whips, while she backed away and chanted a quick spell.

"As a matter of fact, I do have something!"

The ground beneath Avarice trembled, right before sharp spikes of stone shot upwards in a diameter of 12 foot around him.

"Next," Avarice said, sounding bored.

Avarice respoonded by simply turning into a mist, then reforming at the end of the attack.

"Unless you've got something a lot better than that, you'll never be able to touch me, wench."

Avarice retracted the whips, holding his hand in front of himself for a moment. Then he reached down into his pocket, inside his cloak.

Vanadis slowly unfolded her remaining three wings. She wasn't sure what Avarice was up to, and wanted to be prepared for everything.

"I shall say the same to you, nightwalker. I doubt you know who I am, and I don't intend to tell you. You will find out, eventually."

She smiled. Her shield was stronger than anything a human or nightwalker could ever make, and her wings worked fine as protection against magic or ranged attacks.
And of course she had the advantage that she could rapidly cast her spells.
If he could stand up against that, there were... other... things she could do.

"Good," Avarice said. "I enjoy a challenge."

Avarice drew a ball from his coat. A simple child's toy. He squeezed it several times, before throwing it over Vanadis, and behind her. He smiled.

The ball came as a surprise. Vanadis stared at it, as it lay on the ground.

A ball? A child's toy? Is he nuts? Is it a trap? Doesn't seem like either...

Puzzled by the object, Vanadis barely noticed her guard faded, leaving quite an opening for Avarice to exploit.

Just as he had hoped. He extended his right hand, launching the whips, all held together now in one spike. The would go right up to Vanadis' neck and...avoid it, split in half and go around. The ball glowed in resonance with the power, a black colored light. Avarice had loaded it with a barely detectable amount of energy. It acted like a magnet to the dark whips. And like a slingshot, they swung around, rejoined, and came around for the back of her neck, aiming to create a small hole, merely to hold her in place.

Vanadis eyes went wide open, and her arms and wings trembled as the whips pierced her neck.

How... could I... have fallen... for such a trick...

She tried to move, but her body was paralyzed by shock.

Now Avarice was happy. With Vanadis like this, she would be unable to do much, for a while. He could talk as much as he needed.

"Don't even think about moving," Avarice said, gloating. "These whips are perfectly capable of taking that pretty head of that neck."

Avarice began to pace, his whips extending as to give him room to walk without disturbing Vanadis' wound. He walked around her, full circle.

"Having fun?" He asked happily. "Tell me...just who are you? With those wings, you seem like an agnel. I know angels shouldn't exist, but then again, neither should vampires. Are you the twisted result of the scientists wishes? Or something else entirely?"

Vanadis spoke, slow and carefully.

"I am not a creation... of mortals."

She followed his movement with her eyes. She would smile amusedly, if not for her 'situation'.

"There are things in this world... that science doesn't know...
I'm one of them."

"I find that hard to believe," Avarice said. "If you are not of mortals, than what are you of?"

Avarice had a hard time understanding such things, even though he himself used powers derived from them. All his life, he had been taught that such things did not exist...until he become one himself. It was still a little new to him.

"People don't just pop into existence," Avarice said. "Every creation needs a creator, after all."

Vanadis managed to put a smile on her face.

"I have no creator. At least not in what you view as one."

"Perhaps you are right," Avarice said. "Well, if you can beat me, then you would obviously be right. Nothing of this world will ever kill me. Tell you what, take your best shot."

Avarice dissolved the whips with a flick of his fingers. He then opened up his coat and unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his chest. It was not overly muscular, but he was very strong, with the strength of ten men. It was also covered in scars, from the research done on him. Avarice seemed to fully intend to allow Vanadis to kill him. His fae showed it. His confidence. His composure. He would not lose here, he told himself, angel or not.

The vampire seemed certain of himself, but he had the right to do so. She could feel that he hadn't shown what he was worth yet... but so had she.

"There are things which are worse than death. Should I show you?"

"Go ahead, try it," Avarice said confidently.

Perhaps he was a bit too confident. He seemed to think he was untouchable, but he had more than one weakness, some convential, some not.

Vanadis smiled.

"Your life was forfeit the moment you crossed paths with me... child."

She spoke mockingly, and yet with a hint of something else.
Her wings folded a bit, then stretched, and curled forwards.

It hardly stung, but Vanadis was more right than she knew. In fact, he was only in his early thirties, and had only been a vampire for less than a decade. Who knew how old such a creatures as she could be?

"I'm waiting..." Avarice said, bored.

Vanadis suddenly flapped her wings, and quickly went airborne. Aiming both of her hands, she threw an arrow of light and a ball of green fire at Avarice.
The arrow was small but the ball was rather slow in comparison.

Avarice allowed the ball to hit him, but caught the arrow. The light wouldn't kill him outright, but it would certainly sting more than he would wish. The flames lapped over him, searing his skin, even melting some. He simply laughed, allowing his freakishly fast regeneration to heal the wound. He crushed the light arrow in his hands.

"Anything else?" he asked.

Vanadis cursed silently. Avarice was tougher than she had expected. Still, she had... other powers she could use if needed.
She let her wings carry her even higher, and fired another three arrows.

Avarice pulled out three small capsule from his coat in one hand, in between his fingers. He threw them in the path of the arrows. Each exploded into a small shield of darkness, absorbing and nullifying the light. Next, he drew two small, circular grenades. These were not normal grenades. They were designed to create a huge shockwave of air pressure, which would cause soft targets, like people, especially soft tissues, like eyes or eardrums, to crumple and collapse. They went up to within 5 meters of her and exploded.

Being a creature born from magic, Vanadis could withstand the grenades without trouble. The shockwave did quite mess up her flight, and gravity kicked in.
She fell onto the ground, her ego hurt more than her body.

"Why you..."

"It's not over yet," Avarice said in a sing-song tone. "Let the fun begin!"

His eyes were wild and crazy, his bloodlust begun. He created a a spear of red lightning in each hand. Blood red. It was one of his specialties.

Vanadis slowly got up. The white in her eye turned grey, then black. Her hair turned white, save for the ends. Her wings grew about a foot larger, the feathers turning black.

"Ask and ye shall receive..."

She brought her hands together.

"Spirits of the Fallen, hear my call. Gather here for the fight.
Spirits of brave warriors, come here..."

Vague figures appear before her. Each is semi-transparant, and carries weaponry of sorts.

"... Einherjar."

"I'm not going to pretend I know what that meant, but it won't matter once you're dead," Avarice said. "You called down the thunder, so accept your lot in life. It's over!"

Avarice hurled both spears at Vanadis' head, both at the exact same point. Then he flicked his fingers, once again casting out his deadly whips, aiming to trap Vanadis.

With a smile on her face, Vanadis closed her wings in front of her, shielding herself from the spears.

"The young ones rarely understand the past."

The spirits of Einherjar took their weapons. There were eight of them, five with swords and three with an axe.
Two of the swordies charged at Avarice, aiming to slash at each of his sides.