I watched the fires burn out of control, licking every portion of their bodies until they turned into nothing but dust and ashes. I still saw the look in their eyes. Eyes glazed over with hate, sadness, shock, anger and madness.

They didn't see it coming. None of them did. Losers. Did they I was still locked away and no longer a threat? Did they think they turned me, that with a few platitudes I'd give up who I really was inside? Did they think I was sorry? Did they even think of me at all? Well, their short-sightedness earned them their deaths.

Ding-dong, they were all gone. I smiled wolfishly, grinning at the pure simplicity of it all. Lure them in with a purported crisis situation involving their nemeses, see them fight against each other to claim the dominance and righteousness of their respective causes and then BAM! hit them with the all-too-late realization that they were just played, and played big time.

God, I was good. So good in fact that I even scared myself at times. Lighting the solitary match that turned the abandoned, tightly-locked down building into a conflagration of epic proportions was so sweet and so damned easy.

I remembered laughing at them as they struggled to overcome the blaze, scurrying like rats trying to desert a sinking ship. Their pathetic attempts at a belated truce served only to bring about their demise all the more sooner. They clumped together, trying out the unfamiliar pattern of cohesion. That just made them larger targets for the fire. Stupid. Were I in one of their shoes, I would have simply left the others to burn. Screw the rest of them, I'd look out for numero uno.

***

I knew the Slayerette saw me enjoying the blazing spectacle as she scrapped helplessly at the slits of the barred windows. Even her superpowers couldn't save her. Nothing like some good old tough lumber supported by some titanium to seal her in the crypt-like building. All doors, all windows, all access shut down. Her eyes blazed with hate as she realized how much I had duped her. No, deep inside I hadn't duped her. She knew who I really was, knew I could not really overcome what was within me. And she hated it, hated knowing that the thing, the evil thing, was within her too. Because ultimately, she and I were alike. She also knew that there could only be one of us.

***

I winked at the Slayerette's angelic lover as he turned his dark, brooding eyes on me. Was he daring me? Perhaps. But then he turned his vampire strength to the stubborn boards, intensity plastered all over his face as he tried to rip off the boards. All to no avail. His eyes gleamed after a few seconds, not with hatred, but with sadness. Sadness because he knew he failed. He failed to turn me, failed in his all-holy mission. His mission of soul savior weakened me, turned me into a shell of my former self, something I, in all good conscience, could never be. Where was his soul now? Oh, yes, it was about to go up in flames.

***

I merely arched at eyebrow at Mr. Soldier Boy. So clueless, so whipped. He hung on the coattails of the little blonde, whimpering and whining. Always whining about what he was, about what he did which was never good enough. He deserved to die just for that. Who could stand a whiner? Not I. Even in the end, when his little angel and her dark lover were trying to save all of them, he was still whining, "Over here, over here. Come with me. No, that's not the way out. Why don't you listen to me?" Idiot. Didn't he know there was no way out? I made sure of that. Ah, his look said it all. No, the lame brain wasn't getting out of this one. No choppers to help him escape, no initiative to call on for help. The look of shock and disbelief on his face was priceless, it should have been framed.

***

I looked at the blonde sire with certain regret. I did have second thoughts about her. She was so beautiful, so classic in her evilness that I hesitated to do her in. But me being who I was, I couldn't help it. Couldn't go against my nature, could I? She screeched like a harpy, cursing everyone, cursing me with acid-like venom. I ruined her and her great plans of destruction and general mayhem. Puh- leeze, like that was even a plan. If she had to rely on stupid monsters with their brains halfway up their asses to dominate the world, then she really wasn't worth keeping alive. Didn't she know the end of the world began and ended with me? Oh, yeah, now she did. I just ended hers. Watch the master and learn, bitch.

***

My eyes lit last on the poor little crazy soul. Her big, brown eyes widened momentarily then shut down. She never really knew what was going on as she was already trapped in her own world of sensory gloom. She should have thanked me for doing her the ultimate favor, for releasing her from the curse that the dark angel and her blonde sire brought. I didn't think she was ever destined for their world, no matter how lovely her words made it seem. The madness in her leaped for an instant, as though in rebellion, then quieted down. She understood. Glad to know that someone, even her, understood.

***

The fire was gone now. The hull of the building was all that was left, with some shards of twisted metal and scorched ashes sprinklered about the ground. Funny, I didn't think even those would be left behind.

The cool air whirled around me like a quiet shadow. I saw no eyes, heard no voices - nothing, not even them. There was just me, as it was always meant to be. My work here was done. "Five by five," I muttered as I walked away.