Christy stood, frozen in place, staring at the man. That dark outline looked so familiar. She thought she heard the sound of sinister laughter before she was swept up in the crowd that had rushed onto the field. When she looked back, the man was gone. Shaking her head, Christy tried to focus on the reporters and fans that were screaming her name. Smiling, she thrust her fist in the air as the crowd roared around her.

"That was a pretty daring move, the flip I mean." Christy looked up from where she was polishing her bike to see Johnny Blaze standing in the doorway of her garage.

"Nothing you haven't done before."

"Yes but when I did it, it wasn't over fifty obstacles, it's almost as though you have a deathwish." Christy paused and locked gazes with the older rider, her thoughts flashing to the numerous rides she had made, the various deadly tricks she had done in which she had never garnered so much as a scratch.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Is there something in particular I can help you with?" Christy's hands felt warm as she gripped the polishing cloth.

"No, I just wanted to offer my congratulations." Christy felt a rise of annoyance rise in her for no reason, her hands felt hotter than ever and she ground her teeth together.

"Thanks, you'd better be...going." Christy grimaced as the strange heat in her hands increased. Blaze looked at her oddly for a moment before he turned to go. He was a few feet away from the building before he paused and turned to stare at her. Christy rolled her eyes and ground her teeth. The heat was getting stronger, spreading up her arms, it felt as though tendrils of flame were slowly engulfing her.

"Did you by chance know that man in the stadium?" Christy shut her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Which man, there were a lot of them."

"The one all in black, older, he had grey hair." Christy looked up at Blaze, her thoughts flying to the drop of blood on the contract, the man, the man with the cane and the sharp eyes.

"I don't know who you're talking about." With that, Christy spun and barreled out of the back door of her garage. Her breath came in hot gasps as she stumbled down the dark alley that lined the back of her garage. Her eyes swam in the heat that seemed to be spreading over her chest and up her neck.

She bit back the urge to whimper as the searing sensation swirled around her. "Well looky here, what're you doing all alone out here darlin?" Christy looked up blearily to see a greasy haired young man leering at her from across the alley.

"Go away, whoever you are, go away." Her voice was tight with pain as Christy ignored the man. What was happening to her?

"Now I can't do that, why would I leave a pretty young girl in a dark alley, someone who's not as nice as me could come along and do bad things." The man was coming closer to Christy, his boots making squelching sounds as they splashed through grimy puddles. "Let me help you." The man's voice was low and predatorial as he leaned over Christy. In an instant, Christy looked into the man's eyes and something happened.

She felt the heat, but it was no longer painful, it had consumed her till she was the fire. "Yes, I can only imagine how you can help me." Christy was startled to hear her own voice, it was wild and hot, like a searing desert wind. The man froze, his eyes wide open his hand streched towards her.

"What the hell!" He stared at her and Christy wondered what was wrong with him. Ignoring the thought, Christy reached into her back pocket and pulled out her trusty blade.

"So, I think that since you wanted to help me, it's only fair that I help you." Christy was startled when she looked down to see that her blade had melted. Throwing away the now useless blade and ignoring the oddness of the occurence, Christy advanced on the creep pausing as she felt something odd, looking down, she saw that her jeans had been replaced by motorcycle leathers. Her bare hands seemed to shiver as flames danced around her fingers.

As though in a trance, Christy's hand shot out and closed around the man's throat, she pushed him against the brick of the alley wall with a strength that she didn't know she had. She made eye contact with the man and was immediately pulled into a vortex of racing images and nightmares.

There was the man, surrounded by countless bruised girls, their screams grating on his ears, their hands clawing at his clothes. In another instant Christy saw him standing in a doorway, an overflowing bag of money in his hand. A dead body stood in front of him, a bullet wound in it's chest. The man turned to walk outside,instead he found himself engulfed in flames, the money burned away as he looked around to see the door he had just come through shutting, he screamed as the flames engulfed him and a deep voice spoke from above him.

"Eternity is a long time to burn." The man screamed again as flames rushed down his throat. Christy broke eye contact and released him, the visions disappearing. The man fell to the floor, his eyes wide and shocked. Turning away, Christy stared down the alley, a bum was staring at her, his mouth wide open. Christy glanced at him before she walked down the alley, making her way back to the garage, her skin cooling along with her anger. What the hell was going on?

"In more surprising news, it seems that the strange man dubbed "The Ghostrider" has company. The strange phenomenon called the ghostrider appeared last year with a blaze of fire and burned asphalt. Now, it appears that another firey apparition has struck out town." Christy looked blearily at the TV as the Anchorwoman, Roxanne something or other, reported the morning news. Christy stretched tiredly as the coffee pot sputtered behind her. "Last night a homeless man was reported as having seen a strange occurence, eerily similar to those that heralded the arrival of the Ghostrider, we go to the scene now." Christy sat up in shock as the camera zoomed in on the homeless bum from last night, he was standing in the alley behind her garage. Christy turned up the volume, staring intently at the screen.

"There was this guy yeah, and he was goin' up to this girl, couldn' really see her face in the dark, but he was goin up on her like and she stood up and said somethin' her voice was all creepy and suddenly she looked like she was all on fire. Yeah," Here the man paused and looked eagerly at the camera twisting a hat in his hands. "Yeah and then, her hair, it suddenly looked like it was all in flames, like she had fire for hair, it was all down her back and waving an' stuff. Yeah, and then, she like picked the guy up by his throat and pushed him against the wall righ' there see," the man pointed to a spot on the wall where dark scorch marks marred the brick before continuing. "And then, she looked into his eyes he started screaming like, and after a minute she let 'im go and he fell down and then she was lookin at me like, and I saw her eyes. Yeah, looked like they was pure fire, yeah, fire in her eyes. And then she just walked off. A bit later, I heard a big motorcycle revv up. It was real weird like."

Christy stopped paying attention as she sat back in her chair. So that was what had happend. She had turned into some sort of fiery demon thing, like the Ghostrider. Christy stared at a picture of Megan for a moment before she turned, grabbing her leather jacket, she pulled on her helmet and quickly made her way down to the lobby of her apartment, quickly running the two blocks that lay between her and her garage. She pulled open the door and threw a leg over Adrenaline. She needed air. Kicking the motorcycle into action, she let it roar out of the garage startling two stray cats in a shadowy corner. A dark figure watched her go. Eyes gleamed in the shade as he snapped his fingers, two more shadowy figures disappeared into wisps of smoke, the third figure stood, pausing for a moment muttering darkly under his breath.

"So you don't want to be an obedient rider Blaze? We'll make another rider, a better one." With a whisper of shadows, the figure disappeared into a flicker of smoke as the roar of Christy's bike faded in the distance.