Bloodlust (Part 2)
By Geraldine Cheong
May 1998

"How's Jamie doing?" Lorna asked.

"The doc said he'll feel like a bus ran over his head when he wakes up. Other then that, he's fine," the proton-based lifeform, Shard replied. "Any luck locating Sabretooth?"

"Nope. It is as if he just vanished from the surface of the earth." Wildchild frowned. "I tracked him all the way into that alley where his scent just...stopped. There were 2 other scents. Mutants. I'd bet my bottom dozen they are bad news. The stench of death in the alley almost completely blotted my senses to their individual scents. You oughta thank your lucky stars you don't have a heightened sense of smell. That alley positively reeked."

"Are you sure it wasn't your incompetence that prevented you from locating Creed?" Mystique asked dryly. Wildchild growled.

"That's enough, you two," Forge snapped.

"Whatever you say, bossman," Mystique flashed Forge a seductive smile.

"Strange...it's not like Sabretooth to attack someone without leaving a scratch on them. If it had been Sabretooth that attacked Jamie, all we would find is the eviscerated remnants of Jamie." Polaris stated.

"Wildchild, did you recognise the scents at the alley?" Forge asked.

"Never smelt anything like that before."

"We can wait for Jamie to wake up and see if he remembers what the 2 mutants looked like," Shard offered.

"I guess that'll have to do for now," Forge said.

Morph slept.

Blink paced.

Creed watched.

Fascinating. The girl couldn't be anymore than seventeen, eighteen at most, yet she moved with a grace and confidence that far exceeded her years. Surely she knew who he was, what he was capable of, surely she understood that he had no qualms about rearranging her innards. In spite of that, she seemed utterly fearless of him. He sniffed. Not a whiff of fear, not one bit. Strange.

Blink paced around the room. A worried frown furrowed her brows. Why was the Madri after him? Did Apocalypse know they were here? She noticed Morph, slouched over the table in the middle of the room, dead to the world around him. Her frown deepened. Irate, she marched over to Morph, with the intention of prodding him awake, then thought better of it and resumed her angry pacing.

Help me to become a better man...

They had found him...a feral version of Mister Creed...an evil doppelganger. Granted he looked like Mister Creed, his name was Victor Creed, his callsign, Sabretooth, yet she could not imagine this reality's Sabretooth fighting along side the X-Men, rescuing her from the burning house, from Abyss...

Mister Creed, tell me what to do.

Help me become a better man.

How?

...

Creed leered at her.

Blink despaired.

Creed did not particularly care for the self-righteous look the girl cast him. A cold harsh look which gradually softened. If he didn't know any better he'd say that girl had feelings for him.

This could get interesting...

"Hi, everybody!" Everyone turned to see 2 Jamies walking in the room, one supporting the other.

"Jamie! Just the person we wanted to see. How are you feeling?" Lorna asked.

"My head hurts..." The Jamie that was being supported moaned.

"Stop being such a baby!" The Jamie that was supporting his double chided.

"Am not!" The other retorted.

"Jamie, we really don't have time for this." Forge broke up the 'am not am too' argument before it went any further. "Can you tell us what happened in that alley? Who attacked you?"

"I found Creed at the alley. I was just about to bring him in..."

"Stop bragging.  It's making my headache worse, listening to you getting swell-headed."

The Jamie dupe made an annoyed sound and continued, " There were two other mutants there. One of them had grey skin and was wearing this hideous suit with loud colours, bright blue and bright purple. The other was a teenage girl. Magenta coloured skin and hair. There were strange markings on her face. She was dressed from top to toe in lime green... When she saw me, she shouted something, 'Madri' if I didn't remember wrongly. The next thing I knew, a glowing spike was flying at me. When it touched me, the world melted away and I woke up here."

Forge keyed in the description of the 2 mutants Jamie had given them. A list of mutants appeared within seconds. Forge scrolled through the list.

"Stop! That's the one! The girl. Her hair was longer but I know it's her, the eyes..."

On the large screen overhead the picture of  a young mutant stared back at them. The name above the picture read: Clarice Ferguson. Stamped diagonally across the picture was the word 'deceased'.

End of Part 2