"Use your powers to make us go faster!"
Kara turned around to look at the back of the vehicle. She didn't even know where to begin to make the car speed up. "Step on the gas, Raymond."
"I am," he replied, frustrated.
"Floor it, damn it!" Olivia swore while she pressed on his leg.
The car picked up more speed as gas pumped into the engine faster. Kara closed her eyes and focussed on the back of the car. She remembered the psychic blasts the other psychics had sent her. She spread a force along the back of the car, and imagined that she was pushing against it. She could feel the car moving faster with her thoughts. It increased her confidence, and she pushed harder.
Kara opened her eyes and she could feel the psychic energy blast from the ten rushing towards them. The force was busting lampposts and churning up the street as it flew at them. If it caught the car, they would be sent flying, or worse. She glanced over her shoulder to see that they were close to the turn for the next street. We might just make it.
Raymond pulled on the wheel hard, and the car turned the corner. Kara tried to stabilize the car, but it was too unwieldy. She had to stop pushing the car forward, otherwise they would flip or head into one of the houses nearby.
Just as they crossed the threshold of the next street, the psychic wave hit the rear of the car. The car tumbled sideways. Kara's world turned upside down, flipped, and twisted again as the car fell into someone's lawn. It finally landed upside down after two full rotations.
Kara's head had been knocked around several times, and she felt nauseated, but otherwise she was alright. "Olivia, Raymond, are you guys alright?" she asked.
Raymond groaned. "I think I'm okay, but my glasses shattered and cut my forehead," he said, touching his forehead and pulling his fingers away to show blood on his fingertips. "It's shallow. It'll heal quickly."
"I'm good," Olivia replied.
Kara reached for her belt and depressed it, letting her fall to the roof with a thud. She stumbled around and opened the door of the car, then crawled out. She went to Olivia's door and opened it, then helped her out. Afterwards, Olivia went and helped Raymond out of the driver's side.
Kara walked away from the car in the direction of where the blast hit.
"Help me flip the car back over, Raymond," Olivia said.
While the two tried to flip the car, Kara was stumbling forward as her mind took in what she was seeing.
The psychic blast of the ten people had hit between two of the houses on the street they were on. The two houses were completely split in half, all the way through. She could see the remnants of the other halves strewn about on the upturned lawns. Wood, busted appliances, crushed furniture, everything a normal house would have was now lying in bits in the dirt.
This is their power? Kara fell to her knees. How can we win against this?
She began to understand just why the vampires of old had been afraid of psychics, and the fear they must have had. She understood it so deeply because she now felt that same fear.
She looked at her own hands, and recalled the power she’d felt in the police station. It seemed pitiful in comparison. How can I even help in this fight?
"Kara, get up!" Olivia yelled.
Kara couldn't move. Her legs wouldn't work. Olivia ran over to her and picked her up off the ground. Then Olivia noticed what happened to the houses as well. She missed a step, but regained it quickly.
"Now you can see why I bring you along all the time," Olivia commented.
Olivia opened the back door of the car and placed Kara inside, then went into the front seat. Raymond hammered the gas, and they sped off just as they heard the noise of sirens approaching.
"We're doomed."
8. Psychics vs. Vampires
"We're not doomed, don't be so dramatic," Olivia admonished.
Kara's eyes opened wide and she leaned forward in her seat. "Did you see what they did back there?"
"Yes."
"They're too powerful. Maybe in a one-on-one fistfight, if they didn't have a chance to bind anyone, then we could win. The ten of them together, with their powers combined…" Kara shook her head as she trailed off. "We're no match for that."
Olivia slapped Kara across the face. She was taken aback, and stunned into silence.
"Now you listen here, Kara, because I'm only going to say this once. We're stronger than them, you're stronger than them. You know why I know that? Because just the other day you broke into a police station, and while you were already exhausted you fought another psychic and won. I didn't lose one of my fangs just for us to give up when those bastards come knocking at our door, and you didn't risk everything just so you could run away when things got tough. You fought back, and that's what we're going to do now. End of story." Olivia turned back around in her seat and folded her arms. "Got it?"
Kara could still feel the harsh, throbbing pain on her cheek. She brought her hand up to her cheek and pressed on it to dull the sting. She smiled. "Thanks, Olivia. I needed that."
"You're welcome," Olivia replied, still in a harsh tone. After a moment she turned around and had a sad, concerned look on her face. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to hit you that hard. I'm sorry," she said with an exaggerated, yet still genuine, frown. She placed her hand on Kara's knee.
Kara laughed and gripped Olivia's hand. "I'm fine. I needed the wakeup. I know we can do this, I just don't know how."
"Yeah, neither do I," Olivia said with a chuckle.
"Well… I might have an idea," Raymond announced. "But we're going to need their help."
"Who?" Kara asked.
…
"So as you can see, guys, if we're going to make it through this, we need to work together just like they are. Otherwise, we're as good as dead," Raymond explained.
They had returned to Raymond and Damien's house to try to convince the other vampires to work with them again. This time Raymond headed the argument, with Olivia providing the details of the psychics' powers.
Damien glanced to the four other vampires, and they nodded. "Alright, we're in," he said. "But it's only to fight them. After that, she's not welcome." He pointed at Kara.
"Damien, stop being an ass," Raymond shot. "You can keep your opinions, no one's taking them from you, just keep them to yourself."
Damien pursed his lips and clenched his teeth, but didn't say another word. Raymond glanced over his shoulder at Olivia and Kara with a look of fear on his face, but they replied with a thumbs-up and an impressed look on theirs.
"So, what's the plan?" one of the other vampires asked.
Raymond cleared his throat and explained his idea. "Right, so with the thought of the psychics teaming up to use their powers together, the best plan of attack is to draw them away from each other. If we can separate them, then we can overpower them fairly easily. It's just getting to that point which is the hard part."
"So, how do we split them up?" Damien questioned.
"It depends on how they come to attack us," Raymond explained. "I figure there's only two ways it can go down. First, they could come by foot, which is the easiest for us. If we hide between the houses along the street, as they walk along we can use Kara's powers to bind them, then spirit them away one by one. It wouldn't be long before their numbers dwindle, then we can just ambush the rest."
"What's the hard way?"
"They come by car. If they're in a vehicle it’ll be harder to stop them, and harder to pull them away. If they stay in the car, they could drive off, they could attack us from afar, or they could easily combine their powers. If they come by car, we need to cripple the car, and then wait for them to exit. Stealth is our best and only option, but thankfully it's what we vampires do best."
Kara stepped forward. "If they come by car, it'll have to be at least two vehicles, as there's ten of them. I can take out one of the cars."
Damien glanced at Kara with spiteful eyes. "I'll take care of the other one."
"And, if by chance there's a third, I'll
handle it," Olivia offered.
Before they exited to take to the shadows, Raymond handed everyone earbud headphones with a microphone attached to the cord. He then set up a conference call so they could stay in communication with each other, but out of sight.
After everything was ready, they left the house and, in groups of two, hid amongst the buildings along the street. Raymond had told Kara and Olivia earlier about how there were quite a few abandoned buildings on their street due to the owners not being able to pay their mortgages. He pointed them out so that they could hide without notice next to them.
"Everyone in position?" Olivia asked through her mic while standing next to Kara. They were hiding in the bushes between two houses that gave them a good view of both ends of the street, but still provided them cover.
"Raymond and me are in position across from you, Olivia," Damien replied.
"'Raymond and I' dumbass," Olivia scoffed.
"Whatever," he shouted. "We're here."
The other groups reported in from farther down the street, and now they just had to wait for the attack to happen.
Olivia and Kara were kneeling down with their backs to each other as they watched opposite ends of the street, waiting for their marks to arrive.
Kara muted her mic, then reached over and muted Olivia's before returning to her watch. "I feel I have to thank you again, Liv," she said.
"What for?"
"For helping me out back there. I appreciated the confidence boost."
"Well, I know how you can get sometimes, especially when it comes to things like this."
"Things like this?" Kara questioned.
Olivia turned around for a moment to look at Kara. "Remember how we met?"
Kara raised her brow, confused, but then it hit her and she smiled. "I got into a fight but I didn't fight back, and of course I lost. You were there, but you didn't help me."
"That's right, because if you weren't going to fight for yourself, why should I have?"
Kara grinned. "But even so, afterwards you took my arm and scolded me, and then you taught me how to fight."
"I knew you weren't weak, so to see you give up a fight like that… I could tell something was holding you back and making you weak. I wanted to teach you that you could be strong… that you are strong." Olivia grinned as she looked at Kara over her shoulder.
Kara smiled and felt the twinge of a tear forming at the corner of her eye. She wiped it away. "I don't know if I ever told you why I didn't want to fight back," she began. "I didn't want to fight because I couldn't control my psychic powers, and I didn't want anyone to know about them. I was so pathetic," she said with a sad smile. "I was so afraid of letting people see my true self that I would rather get beaten up. You were the first person I felt that I could trust with who I really was. If not for you, I don't know who I would be right now. Thank you, Olivia."
Olivia pushed Kara. "I'm trying to tell you that you don't have to thank me, you dummy," she chided with a smirk.
Kara was grinning, until the two of them heard the noise of a car approaching. Kara turned around to look at the approaching vehicle.
She noticed only one vehicle, but she could immediately tell that psychics were in it. She could feel the psychic energy radiating off the people inside. Only one car? That can't be right. Kara pulled the mic up to her mouth and whispered "Does anyone see another car?"
"Is that them, Kara?" Raymond's voice came over the earbud.
"Yes, that's them, do you see another car?" she asked again.
"Repeat, is that them, Kara?"
Damn it, the mic is still muted! Kara unmuted the mic and confirmed the first car held psychics, and repeated her question. Luckily the car was moving slowly as they were no doubt looking for the right address.
"It's on the other side of the street, on this end," one of the vampires said over the conference call.
Kara and Olivia peered over the bushes to the other end of the street and saw the car in question. It was too far away for Olivia or Damien to attack. "I'll take out the car down the street. Damien, you get the one closest to us afterwards," she suggested.
"Got it," he replied.
Kara imagined her hand hovering over the hood of the farther car. She mirrored the movement of her imagined hand with her real one as she balled it into a tight fist. "Get ready," she said. She punched downwards with all the physical and mental strength she could muster, twisting her hand as she did so to imbue it with more power.
An unseen force crushed the car's hood. The engine and other components were smashed to bits and pieces flew away from the chassis. The impact of Kara's psychic punch, as well as the momentum of the car, caused it to flip forward and onto its hood with a crash.
Not to be outdone, Damien sprung out of the shadows and into action. In one swift motion he used the car’s thrust and his vampiric strength to lift it from the front and perform a suplex on it. He smashed the car down onto its hood just like the other, causing a slight tremor in the surrounding area. Damien took a moment to catch his breath before jumping back into the dark.
"That's how it's done," he bragged, even though it was clear it took a lot out of him.
Kara and Olivia observed the vehicles. Even though they just suffered heavy damage, the roofs were still intact. They probably used their powers to protect them at the last minute, Kara thought.
After a moment, the doors opened and five people crawled out of each car. Kara could see James coming out of the driver's side of the car closest to her. "Where are you, you damn leeches?" he shouted.
"Alright, let's get them separated. If you attack, be sure to move to a new area right away to not get attacked," Olivia advised.
Olivia looked at Kara, and Kara nodded. Kara searched for a target. She was going to use James, but she wanted him to herself. I'll make sure you pay for what you made Liv endure, but she can handle one of your friends. She bound one of James' comrades and pulled him towards the bushes she and Olivia were hiding behind at a high speed. She pulled him through the thick, spiky branches, and straight towards Olivia. Olivia had reared back, ready to strike. She punched him square in the face, sending him flying back through the bush. He fell to the ground, unconscious from one thunderous punch.
Kara and Olivia jumped away from the bushes. Psychic blasts tore the green shrubbery to bits, but they were already gone. They moved behind the house to hide, and then ran farther down the street under cover of the shadows.
They jumped on top of one of the abandoned houses and lay down on the roof to watch. Kara counted the psychics and there were only four on the far side of the street. One of the guys must have taken someone out. The psychics were jumping at shadows and stayed huddled together.
"Come out, you cowards!" James yelled as his eyes flitted back and forth across the street.
A flurry of rocks chucked at high speed hurtled towards James' group. Their barriers protected them from the brunt of the damage, but they still howled in pain. Two of the psychics picked up the rocks with their minds and flung them back to where they’d come from, but no one was there.
More rocks, bigger this time, darted at them from another direction. One of the stones hit a psychic in the jaw. He shouted an obscenity and ran in the direction the rocks came from.
"No, don't separate! That's what they want, damn it!"
James' words fell on deaf ears, and the psychic went around the corner of one of the houses. A second later he tumbled backwards towards the street before falling flat on his face. He wasn't moving.
James gritted his teeth and began searching the shadows more fervently.
Kara glanced over to the other car, and the other group of psychics had lost another man. Now there were three psychics on each side of the street.
We might just be able to win.
Kara looked over at Olivia and caught her attention. "Let's go in for another attack and end this," she suggested.
Olivia nodded, and the two of them began standing up on the roof
. "Got you!" Kara heard, turning her attention back to James' group.
Raymond was floating in the air, clutching his neck. James had his hand out in the shape of a claw, like he was choking the air. Kara's instincts kicked in and she moved to get up. Olivia gripped her arm and stopped her from leaving. She gave Olivia a dirty look, but stopped just in time to see Damien running out of the shadows.
Damien rushed towards James, his fist cocked to strike. Damien went for a powerful punch right to James' jaw, but froze in place inches before contact. The other two psychics had stopped him.
James laughed maniacally, and then slammed his hand down. He tossed Raymond down to the pavement face first. Raymond's face broke on the concrete and stone and his glasses shattered to pieces.
Olivia let go of Kara's arm. "Raymond!" Kara shouted as she rose to her feet on the roof.
Kara gritted her teeth in anger and leapt from the building with all her strength. She sent a blast of energy at the two psychics pinning Damien. Their bodies collided violently with the car behind them, and they lost their hold on Damien. Damien's momentum was stunted, and he stumbled forward, catching himself before he fell. Still in the air, Kara reared her arm back, coiled her hand into a fist, and coated it with power.
James lifted his hand to stop her with his mind, but before he could pull his thoughts together Damien was behind him. Damien wrapped his muscular arms under James' arms and around his neck, putting him in a full nelson. Damien then lifted him off the ground towards Kara's collision course.
Kara let out a guttural yell like a lion's roar, and thrust her fist towards James. His face contorted in fear and pain even before the fist made contact. Her punch hit and there was a violent explosion of air. The force of the impact sent James and Damien back twenty feet. They hit the ground and rolled several times before stopping in the middle of a grassy lawn.
Kara landed on her feet, stepping forward a few times before she could control her momentum. She glanced to her right to see the two psychics knocked out and Olivia right there next to them. She was panting, but not the worse for wear. She looked to her left and then ran over to Raymond to check on him. Kara's eyes followed Olivia, and then her feet made to do the same. Olivia turned Raymond over and checked his pulse.
Psychics Vs. Vampires Episodes 1-4 (Psychics Vs. Vampires Collection) Page 6