Ghost Rider #9

[fan4]

Ghost Rider #9
Better the Devil You Know, Part 3

Written by Mike Bowen
Edited by Aaron Martel

Blackout couldn’t believe what he was seeing. For nearly a century, he was among the strongest of the Lilin, constantly on top of the food chain. And now, on a simple extermination, he was facing his greatest challenge. He played it off with his typical bravado.

“You don’t fool me, boy,” he snarled, taking a fighting stance as Ghost Rider continued to close the distance between them. “I know you are in there, Blaze, and I intend to rip you out if I have to.”

“You cannot reach Johnny Blaze, demon,” Ghost Rider’s monotone voice rang out. “Your time on this earth has come to an end, and it will be done at the hands of the Spirit of Vengeance!”

A chain shot out from Ghost Rider’s shoulder with a clang and wrapped itself around the left forearm of the albino vampire. Upon contact Blackout’s skin began to blister and bubble, causing him to scream out in pain.

Ghost Rider’s laugh echoed through the darkened cemetery.

“That is but a taste,” he boomed. “I’m sure Blaze was not your first victim, and my penance stare will burn your black soul.”

Instead of struggling against his chained hand, Blackout used the force of Ghost Rider pulling on him to launch himself towards the towering inferno that was the Spirit of Vengeance. The two collided with the force of a small explosion, driving Ghost Rider onto his back, allowing Blackout to gain the upper hand. With a fury unlike Ghost Rider ever witnessed, the vampire began to tear at his chest with razor-sharp claws. Bits of black leather flew in all directions as the creature continued to claw his way towards the bones of Ghost Rider’s chest.
In his frenzy, he failed to notice that the chain attached to his wrist slackened and fell to the ground.

Blackout raised his hand to deliver what he thought would be a final strike, when the chain leapt off the ground and tightened around his neck. Before he could react, Blackout was thrown backwards by the chain into a tombstone that exploded as he hit it.

“You are only prolonging the inevitable,” Ghost Rider taunted his opponent. “Allow me to give you a lesson in vengeance, foul one.”

The remaining rubble of the shattered tombstone made what seemed like a deafening crunch under Ghost Rider’s heavy boots as he stalked towards the vampire.

Blackout laughed manically as he licked his own blood from his shattered face.

“Just because you want to play dress up, Blaze, doesn’t make you scary,” he cackled. “In fact, I know it!”

Blackout lunged with surprising speed, forcing his hand through Ghost Rider’s chest where his heart would have been. Bone fragments exploded from both sides of the Rider’s chest and his shoulders went limp. The flames around his skull dimmed suddenly, like they we dying.

“I told you,” Blackout said softly. “No one beats Blackout. Mother will be pleased, as will that dolt Blackhea...”

The flames leapt back to life with an intense heat. Ghost Rider’s shoulders straightened. A length of chain, its end sharpened into a blade, quickly appeared in Ghost Rider’s left hand.

“I promised you would feel vengeance, foul one,” Ghost Rider snarled. “And now is the time!”

With that, he plunged the chain-knife dead in the center of Blackout’s forehead with a pop. The vampire’s mouth shot open and his eyes went wide. Blackout’s arm fell limp out of Ghost Rider’s chest. The light in his eyes faded and his jaw went slack. Ghost Rider reached a bony hand into the vampire’s mouth and with a wet crunch, tore the teeth from Blackout’s head.

“You won’t be needing these anymore,” he rasped in his coarse voice.

He released his hold on the body and it dropped to the ground. After a few minutes of scanning the area, Ghost Rider dragged the body into the far corner of the cemetery and hid it well before disappearing into the darkness.

[fan4]

A man and woman sat beside each other on barstools, staring at the rows upon rows of liquor bottles lined behind the bar. The rest of the bar was empty and there was no door visible.

“It’s starting...” the man said.

The woman took a long slow sip of her glass, its blood-red contents giving off a slight smoke. “The old man is handling it. He’ll lead him here.”

The man shook his head. “The boy has already made mistakes. He’s lost his part of the medallion and left behind a piece of his chain to boot.”

The woman’s hand wavered and the glass nearly dropped to the bar. “Show me...NOW!”

The man reached and grabbed a bottle from beside him and poured the contents on the bar. The dark liquid began to swirl and the scene of Blackout and Ghost Rider’s battle came to life in the center of the spill.

“This changes everything,” the woman muttered. “It is time to gather the Nine. Dark times are ahead and we need to be prepared.”

[fan4]

The news hit Mephisto like a thunderbolt. Not much happened in his domain that went unoticed by him. His son, Blackheart, had finally gathered enough force to stage a revolt for his throne. He’d dealt with revolts before, but this one was different. Blackheart knew his deepest secrets and in fact had already used one against him by igniting the curse in young Dan Ketch. Now there was word that he had brought Lilith into the affair. He felt the urge to sweep through Hell, burning souls as he went. But that would let Blackheart know he was on to his plan. He needed one of his own.

His thoughts wandered to the many denizens he kept in perpetual torture. Could he trust some of them to come to his aid? The image of Master Khan leapt to his mind. He’d sent Blackheart to supervise his imprisonment; maybe he’d like to have a shot at taking Blackheart down.

Too dangerous. Ghost Rider only was able to defeat Khan with his assistance. But the boy had learned a lot since that time.

There was only one person that could deal with his wayward son... and he wouldn’t be eager to help.

[fan4]

Blackout’s broken corpse lay under some brush in the far corner of the Cypress Hill Cemetery. His limbs were bent at odd angles and his face was completely disfigured by the bone-crushing hit of Ghost Rider’s chain and the subsequent impalement of the chain-link. It laid that way for several days, with the deer and other wildlife that inhabited the woods in the cemetery steering very clear of the area where the body was hidden.

On the sixth day, once the sun had set low over the trees surrounding the hiding place, there came a sound from the bushes like that of paper ripping. A clawed hand appeared out of nowhere and swiped downward, tearing a hole in reality, allowing a bespectacled bald man to step out, along with a slender female.

“He’s here Nakota, I see the body,” the man said to his companion. Her eyes were the size of dinner plates and cloudy. “You’ve done well in locating him. Mother will be pleased.”

“Don’t pretend you’re going to give me any credit, Pilgrim,” she shot back. “Why else would you have attacked me and forced me to use my sight to locate Blackout.”

Pilgrim smiled and nodded.

“You are right child,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re nothing more than a whelp among the Lilin. But you have your uses. Here, help me lift him.”

The girl quickly hurried over and helped her brother lift the dead body of their sibling. As Pilgrim clawed the air to tear another hole, Blackout’s limp arm fell from Nakota’s shoulder. In his hand was the distinct shine of something gold and metallic. Neither of the two Lilin noticed the object as they disappeared into Pilgrim’s rip, leaving nothing behind.

[fan4]

“You’ve got a lot to learn about everything, Johnny,” Caretaker said quietly, sitting opposite Blaze in his living room.

“Then why don’t you start with the answers,” Blaze spat.

Caretaker sighed and removed his dirty, weather-beaten hat and placed it on the table in front of him. “To give you the whole story would take more time than what you’ve got left, boy...”

“That’s bull...” Johnny started, but Caretaker held up a hand.

“Right now there’s a storm coming and it’s going to be up to you as the Ghost Rider to stop it. But you’re going to need help. And I just might know some people who could point us in the right direction.”

Blaze held up his hands in a questionable pose. “That’s just the thing. Why are we trying to prevent Mephisto from going down?”

Caretaker let out a long hearty laugh. “Mephisto might be one evil bastard, but compared to his boy Blackheart, he’s an angel. The old man has been at this a long time. He’s smart. He knows how to keep the balance and he’s not one to go off his rocker. He also knows if he starts getting froggy, the Big Guy will slap him down quicker than you can blink. He doesn’t want a war yet. What good is ruling the earth if there is no one to rule?”

“Now, Blackheart would soon wipe the earth clean of souls. He’s reckless and unpredictable. He wouldn’t win a battle with the guys upstairs, but he’ll burn the planet trying. And judging against your battle against the vampire in the park, he’s got help from the biggest, baddest kind.”

“So what do you propose we do?”

Caretaker picked up his hat and put it back on his head. “We go talk to the people who know about these things. Then... well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

The old man picked up his shovel and banged it on the wall, with a reverberating thud. A small pinprick of light appeared on the wall and began to grow until a large, glowing doorway appeared.

“After you, Johnny,” he said, waving his hand towards the door.

To be continued...