Post by Zuyuri on May 23, 2016 5:14:35 GMT
Shadow came to with a throbbing sensation on his head. His quills had saved him from getting a skull crushing, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t invulnerable. The last thing he remembered were the vampire larvae bursting from the garden, hungry for human blood. They had targeted Molly, who had been stupid enough to not put on the garlic spray they provided. He had gotten her out of there…that was all he remembered. He gritted his teeth. The vampires had everything planned, used their own young as a defense in case someone stepped in on their plans. He had to find Rouge and Molly, get them to go and find…
As he stood, he walked face first into something solid. The impact made Shadow wince in pain, as if he had accidentally walked into a door. He rubbed his face, reaching his hand forward. The tips of his fingers made impact onto something. Whatever it was, it was thick as stone; some kind of magic trap. Shadow turned another direction, and came into the same result. No matter what direction he went, he was greeted with unpleasant thuds to the face. He was trapped.
Shadow tapped it with one finger, and instead of the small thud of a finger pad touching something or even the slightest ping of glass, he was greeted with silence. A silence that made noise the longer someone stayed still. He clenched his hand into a fist and punched. Not even a thud or even a trace of damage. Interestingly, the field didn’t try to repel any damage, almost as if it were taunting him and only after enough had been applied, it would send a force back.
Force. Maybe just physical strength wasn’t enough. Shadow took a breath, focusing on the chaos flow inside his very veins. His inhibitor rings were tightly bound, and that was a good sign. If he exerted too much power, it would be a beacon to Others, or whoever had managed to trap him in…whatever the field surrounding him was. It was an easier answer than science.
The sides of his hands tingled, which was good. The chaos was channeled just enough for one projectile shot; at least his captors were nice enough to leave him with some means of defense. Like he was swatting a bug , Shadow shot his wrist forward. From it emerged a small blot that changed from orange to yellow in the flickering. It crackled at first, the cracks spreading…
…until it rebounded to connect right into Shadow’s chest.
Had it gotten his heart, he would have suffered serious damage. That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like heck. Every muscle in his body locked. Even just lifting a finger sent painful, shooting sensations through his nerves. His vision went from blinding white to just traces of the different colors of darkness he had been looking out on. The pain eventually caused him to fall to the floor, panting as he tried to focus on anything than the searing sensation going through him. Now he knew how people felt getting hit by his chaos felt.
Shadow stayed groundbound for a while longer, letting the pain course through his body for as long as he could handle without closing his eyes. As the tingling sensation died off, he could reorient the situation. There was absolutely no light in the room, except for maybe the very small line of sun creeping in through the closed shutters. In that light, Shadow saw he wasn’t alone.
A length of blonde hair was shimmering against the floor. Golden blonde, to be exact. It was a shade so many people accomplished through dyeing, but the follicles of hair didn’t show any traces of breakage or smudging or anything associated with hair dye. This was a natural color. Shadow followed its length to what looked like a silhouetted knee. A person was kneeling. Or was. But, then, the shaded knee moved, and that made Shadow get into alert mode. Yes, he was weakened physically, but mentally he was trying to be prepared. He reached for the holster…only to find that the vampires had taken his items.
The knee was covered by a long length of cloth, probably a skirt of a pair of gaucho pants. So, this was a female figure. Muffled noises, that again were female, were being uttered. Was she gagged or could she not speak? Shadow pictured a profile in his head. This was a young girl, maybe eighteen or so, with blonde hair…
No. It couldn’t be. She had died right in front of him.
“Maria…” Shadow just said the name on impulse. The girl made a noise of inquiry at that, but he ignored it. His mind was going backwards from the strange box.
Bellerouge was a glittering array of lights when being looked down upon at a higher place. The downtown buildings were tall and metallic, much like the steeple of Lady of the Sun Cathedral, or Sun Lady, as the locals supposedly called it. The river ran through it in a green streak, which looked silver when the sun hit it just right. Shadow had been looking out at it, and someone said,
“Shadow, are you done looking out through that window?”
He turned at the source. Walking up to him was a twelve year old girl with her blonde hair held back with a headband. She wore blue, which matched her large eyes. Her smile was one of the few things that stopped his constantly racing thoughts whenever he was looking down. The blonde shrugged, staring down at the skyline with him, asking,
“What do you think it’s like? Living in a city?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Shadow shrugged. “the professor kept saying I’m here to do something important with the people, but he’s never said anything else beyond that. He says I’m…not ready to go down there.”
“At least you get to go,” the girl replied, “Grandpa says I can’t even go outside.”
“Maybe I’ll find you something down there, Maria.”
That flashback occupied Shadow for a few hours, because when he snapped out of it, the sun had moved. That meant light was coming in just enough to reveal a bit of who he was facing. The girl was barefooted, probably captured off guard like he had been, but in a place that was comfortable; her bohemian style lavender dress was creased and showed signs she had been struggling for a time. Her blonde hair was much longer than a typical girl, going just beyond the common to the waist growth. Her hands were behind her back, held by strong shackles that had been chained to the wall. As suspected, she was gagged. But what caught Shadow’s eye was her own expression. Her green eyes, which were already big, were widened, as if she had seen something come in. It was an expression of absolute fear.
Fear could make people behave irrationally. If he was to get answers, he’d have to earn her trust. He held up one hand. “It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you. In fact,” he demonstrated the invisible field with a punch, “I’m just as stuck as you are. So, calm down.”
Word must have gotten to her, because she settled onto her haunches, focusing on trying to remove the gag with her shoulder. Six attempts were made, with the seventh one snagging the cloth and making it fall to her neck. “So, you’re not one of them? You have red eyes, so… don’t be offended if I didn’t exactly trust you.”
“One of what?”
The blonde looked at him skeptically, “the people who locked me up here. Dracula’s…I don’t know, brooders, followers…the vampires that don’t sparkle.”
Vampires. That explained why the attack had been so sudden. They were famous for silent assaults. It couldn’t have been Rouge who got him; she could be glory hungry, but never to the point where she put police officers in danger. The stories about Thorn Manor were true, then. A gang of vampires had made it their home and was the cause of the Ombre reopening. But why did they want this blonde girl? Was she the entrée for the evening? Heck, the better question why did they want Shadow?
“Well,” Shadow looked at the light, “we have a couple of hours until they come back. How about we start with introductions?”
The blonde shrugged. A look in her eyes showed agreement that talking was one way of getting through a day without knowing nothing. She took a breath, and all that came out was like word vomit. “I have no knowledge of supernatural stuff. Heck, I’m a baker at Nevermore. The daughter of the owner, actually. I was just minding my own business, locking up the bakery after work. I took my regular route to get home, only to black out after I turn the key and wake up,” she shook her shackles, “to this.”
Shadow eyed the shackles. So, she was just grabbed by vampires at random. A bit of a confusing tactic. Vampires didn’t strike unless they sensed fresh blood, be it from someone running hard laps or accidentally cutting themselves. The girl was just doing her daily business. Unless they wanted blood and chocolate, attacking her seemed random.
“I’m a police officer. They…took my badge, so I can’t show it. I’m a member of the Others Unit. My team and I got called out. We got separated, and, well, same thing as you. Blackout, wake up trapped.”
“Okay, so we know each other’s life story, how about…” but Shadow was too busy looking for means of escape to pay anymore attention, and was getting over the glimmer of hope he had that the girl was Maria. She looked like her, yes, but it wasn’t.
As he stood, he walked face first into something solid. The impact made Shadow wince in pain, as if he had accidentally walked into a door. He rubbed his face, reaching his hand forward. The tips of his fingers made impact onto something. Whatever it was, it was thick as stone; some kind of magic trap. Shadow turned another direction, and came into the same result. No matter what direction he went, he was greeted with unpleasant thuds to the face. He was trapped.
Shadow tapped it with one finger, and instead of the small thud of a finger pad touching something or even the slightest ping of glass, he was greeted with silence. A silence that made noise the longer someone stayed still. He clenched his hand into a fist and punched. Not even a thud or even a trace of damage. Interestingly, the field didn’t try to repel any damage, almost as if it were taunting him and only after enough had been applied, it would send a force back.
Force. Maybe just physical strength wasn’t enough. Shadow took a breath, focusing on the chaos flow inside his very veins. His inhibitor rings were tightly bound, and that was a good sign. If he exerted too much power, it would be a beacon to Others, or whoever had managed to trap him in…whatever the field surrounding him was. It was an easier answer than science.
The sides of his hands tingled, which was good. The chaos was channeled just enough for one projectile shot; at least his captors were nice enough to leave him with some means of defense. Like he was swatting a bug , Shadow shot his wrist forward. From it emerged a small blot that changed from orange to yellow in the flickering. It crackled at first, the cracks spreading…
…until it rebounded to connect right into Shadow’s chest.
Had it gotten his heart, he would have suffered serious damage. That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt like heck. Every muscle in his body locked. Even just lifting a finger sent painful, shooting sensations through his nerves. His vision went from blinding white to just traces of the different colors of darkness he had been looking out on. The pain eventually caused him to fall to the floor, panting as he tried to focus on anything than the searing sensation going through him. Now he knew how people felt getting hit by his chaos felt.
Shadow stayed groundbound for a while longer, letting the pain course through his body for as long as he could handle without closing his eyes. As the tingling sensation died off, he could reorient the situation. There was absolutely no light in the room, except for maybe the very small line of sun creeping in through the closed shutters. In that light, Shadow saw he wasn’t alone.
A length of blonde hair was shimmering against the floor. Golden blonde, to be exact. It was a shade so many people accomplished through dyeing, but the follicles of hair didn’t show any traces of breakage or smudging or anything associated with hair dye. This was a natural color. Shadow followed its length to what looked like a silhouetted knee. A person was kneeling. Or was. But, then, the shaded knee moved, and that made Shadow get into alert mode. Yes, he was weakened physically, but mentally he was trying to be prepared. He reached for the holster…only to find that the vampires had taken his items.
The knee was covered by a long length of cloth, probably a skirt of a pair of gaucho pants. So, this was a female figure. Muffled noises, that again were female, were being uttered. Was she gagged or could she not speak? Shadow pictured a profile in his head. This was a young girl, maybe eighteen or so, with blonde hair…
No. It couldn’t be. She had died right in front of him.
“Maria…” Shadow just said the name on impulse. The girl made a noise of inquiry at that, but he ignored it. His mind was going backwards from the strange box.
Bellerouge was a glittering array of lights when being looked down upon at a higher place. The downtown buildings were tall and metallic, much like the steeple of Lady of the Sun Cathedral, or Sun Lady, as the locals supposedly called it. The river ran through it in a green streak, which looked silver when the sun hit it just right. Shadow had been looking out at it, and someone said,
“Shadow, are you done looking out through that window?”
He turned at the source. Walking up to him was a twelve year old girl with her blonde hair held back with a headband. She wore blue, which matched her large eyes. Her smile was one of the few things that stopped his constantly racing thoughts whenever he was looking down. The blonde shrugged, staring down at the skyline with him, asking,
“What do you think it’s like? Living in a city?”
“Your guess is as good as mine,” Shadow shrugged. “the professor kept saying I’m here to do something important with the people, but he’s never said anything else beyond that. He says I’m…not ready to go down there.”
“At least you get to go,” the girl replied, “Grandpa says I can’t even go outside.”
“Maybe I’ll find you something down there, Maria.”
That flashback occupied Shadow for a few hours, because when he snapped out of it, the sun had moved. That meant light was coming in just enough to reveal a bit of who he was facing. The girl was barefooted, probably captured off guard like he had been, but in a place that was comfortable; her bohemian style lavender dress was creased and showed signs she had been struggling for a time. Her blonde hair was much longer than a typical girl, going just beyond the common to the waist growth. Her hands were behind her back, held by strong shackles that had been chained to the wall. As suspected, she was gagged. But what caught Shadow’s eye was her own expression. Her green eyes, which were already big, were widened, as if she had seen something come in. It was an expression of absolute fear.
Fear could make people behave irrationally. If he was to get answers, he’d have to earn her trust. He held up one hand. “It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you. In fact,” he demonstrated the invisible field with a punch, “I’m just as stuck as you are. So, calm down.”
Word must have gotten to her, because she settled onto her haunches, focusing on trying to remove the gag with her shoulder. Six attempts were made, with the seventh one snagging the cloth and making it fall to her neck. “So, you’re not one of them? You have red eyes, so… don’t be offended if I didn’t exactly trust you.”
“One of what?”
The blonde looked at him skeptically, “the people who locked me up here. Dracula’s…I don’t know, brooders, followers…the vampires that don’t sparkle.”
Vampires. That explained why the attack had been so sudden. They were famous for silent assaults. It couldn’t have been Rouge who got him; she could be glory hungry, but never to the point where she put police officers in danger. The stories about Thorn Manor were true, then. A gang of vampires had made it their home and was the cause of the Ombre reopening. But why did they want this blonde girl? Was she the entrée for the evening? Heck, the better question why did they want Shadow?
“Well,” Shadow looked at the light, “we have a couple of hours until they come back. How about we start with introductions?”
The blonde shrugged. A look in her eyes showed agreement that talking was one way of getting through a day without knowing nothing. She took a breath, and all that came out was like word vomit. “I have no knowledge of supernatural stuff. Heck, I’m a baker at Nevermore. The daughter of the owner, actually. I was just minding my own business, locking up the bakery after work. I took my regular route to get home, only to black out after I turn the key and wake up,” she shook her shackles, “to this.”
Shadow eyed the shackles. So, she was just grabbed by vampires at random. A bit of a confusing tactic. Vampires didn’t strike unless they sensed fresh blood, be it from someone running hard laps or accidentally cutting themselves. The girl was just doing her daily business. Unless they wanted blood and chocolate, attacking her seemed random.
“I’m a police officer. They…took my badge, so I can’t show it. I’m a member of the Others Unit. My team and I got called out. We got separated, and, well, same thing as you. Blackout, wake up trapped.”
“Okay, so we know each other’s life story, how about…” but Shadow was too busy looking for means of escape to pay anymore attention, and was getting over the glimmer of hope he had that the girl was Maria. She looked like her, yes, but it wasn’t.