Post by Zuyuri on Sept 29, 2016 5:33:35 GMT
“The one thing about Ombres you should know. When cancelled out, the likelihood of this place blowing up is…pretty high.”
Shadow uttered this warning to Sunshine as they skirted the gardens of Thorn Manor. She had no real weapons to defend herself with just in case the vampires decided to wake up from their power naps, so he told her to stay close. If all else failed, run; he could hold them off.
The gardens pretty much remained exactly the same as they had looked when he had arrived. The only difference was the groves made by his race with the giggler. At this point, Jasmine was the only vampire with a name to a face scenario, and considering her biggest asset was just trying to flirt with unsuspecting victims, chances were she wouldn’t be out hunting for unsuspecting prey on the grounds this early.
He paused at the location where he had been jumped. A huge part of him felt his skin crawl. Yes, the vamps were asleep, but he still couldn’t get over the creepy suspicion that he was being watched. Watched by the two rat sculptures that flanked the entry to a new part of the garden….a part that he hadn’t explored yet. He carefully approached, hesitated and backed up. He held up a hand, and fired a chaos spear. It shot through the entry without any sign of blockage, but it did rip a hole into a perfectly good rose bush.
“…Clear,” he reported, nodding to Sunshine.
She stepped behind him…and that was when the tables turned.
The rat sculptures eyes began to glow bright green. The bushes began reaching outward. Brambles and branches looped and swatted at them. The plant arbors were closed off by thick walls of leaves and sticks. One of the plant rats leapt forward, claws extended and green fangs extended. It may not have been drooling poison to complete the image, but it very well may have. The green rodent got onto all fours. Shadow stood in front of Sunshine, cocking his gun and aiming it for the head. Plant protection was n expensive type of voodoo magic and only the rich could have afforded it. The only way to set it off? Get close to something valuable. Something like an Ombre.
The creature was gaping at him. Shadow stood his ground, ready to fire a bullet, and his inhibitor rings were glowing in the case the bullet missed…
Only for the beast to be clocked in the head with a resonating “bwong”. It felt, revealing Sunshine, wielding a very heavy duty pan in both hands with a terrified facial expression.
Shadow discharged the power, blinking at what had just occurred. Yep, the creature was unconscious. The plants fell back. The growth had still been wild, but at least there was a way out.
Sunshine was panting like she had run a marathon. Her hands still clutched the frying pan like she had hit a home run and was savoring the moment. Her face melted from fear to absolute delight. She giggled, almost hysterically, and started jumping up and down. “Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, I just knocked out a monster! I blew up a vampire trap and knocked out a monster!” She paused, her excitement being held back temporarily. “Mom would be shocked. Thomas would be so jealous…oh my gosh, what am I going to tell them when I get out? IF I get out…”
“Sunshine!”
Shadow just yelled it. When he did, he had flung a chaos spear in a general direction of an unsuspecting statue that would have to get ahead.
Sunshine blinked once. She cradled her frying pan under her arm, recooperating from the adrenaline rush of having gotten her first real bad buy. A nervous grin crossed her face, along with her green eyes getting an apologetic look. “Sorry. I guess I got…a bit overexcited there. First time I ever got to use this outside of a bakery.”
“Where did you even get that?”
“Well…” Sunshine looked away, “remember when we stopped to look in the kitchen? I…kind of stole it.” She threw out her hands at Shadow’s glower. “What? It’s not like vampires cook their meat to medium-rare!”
Shadow huffed indifferently. On the one hand, that was a reckless move On the other hand, she had a weapon. But on the other hand, the vampires may have valued it. But on the other hand, she had made a good point that they didn’t really cook their food. He looked back down at the rat statue, whose eyes were no longer glowing but a dead black.
“Looks like the Ombre found us,” he said.
“You mean that thing was the Ombre?” Sunshine asked.
“Both of them were,” Shadow answered, nodding to the green rat. He fired yet another chaos spear towards the remaining rat. It tumbled and crumbled, landing at Sunshine. When the green noses touched, the eyes glowed green again. “Do your hair thing before they wake up again.”
Sunshine stared at them. She took a breath. Her heart was pounding. Would Shadow’s theory work? It had only been knocked out by her and not his power. And he was pretty powerful as far as…hedgehogs…went. She started singing. She thought about her mother singing it while wrapping her in a blanket or giving her a fresh cookie from the oven. She thought about the fireplace back at home and how her mother akinned fire to the sun. She thought about the sun…and that was when her scalp began to feel warm, and her hair began turning brighter. Her hair lengthed curling around the rats. They only had time to let out two feeble little screams before they themselves began wilting at the exposure of the sun. The leaves flared, going from green to orange fire to black char. Whatever heaviness lay in the air now…it was gone.
Sunshine stopped, and her hair reverted back. Shadow looked at her, and a genuine smile was crossing his face. It was just a microsecond of approval, but it felt momentous. He had only smiled at her like that once, when she had used her magic to get them out. Déjà vu, sure, but hey, anything to actually see someone so stoic actually smile was a good thing.
“…We…we should go.”
“Sunshine.”
This time, Shadow didn’t seem go huffy and go-to. This time, he was much more relaxed. He was glancing out at the exit, stretching his arm. “It’s faster if we go together. Besides,” In a blink, he had zipped to stand next to her, one hand prepped to grab hers gently, “I don’t think you actually saw me run.” Next thing Sunshine knew, she was pulled down into a bridal-style hold. Shadow was gripping her gently, making a way through the gate, past the rotting wall, past the rotting tree, past the blocked door, past the mansion where they had been held prisoner….
Beneath him, the entire ground was dissolving into nothing but solid air. For Sunshine, being rushed at near supersonic speeds was exhilarating, in both the good way and the bad way. It was like standing at the base of a super strong wind without the fear of getting clocked to death by rubble. She was getting sucked into Shadow’s grip, and part of her was surprised that a 3 foot anthropomorphic hedgehog was able to carry someone twice his size. But, well, if he was fast, strength was a feat he probably hadn’t shown. That and he had managed to catch her back in the attic stairwell without complaining about weight or showed signs of struggling. There was so much he hadn’t shared with her, or even had bothered sharing, judging by his aloofness just from their very first meeting.
He glided in silence. The fear of being chased by the suckers was there, but neither one of them were turning around, either by speed or by choosing not to. The cityscape of Bellerouge was getting ever closer as they left the magnolia laden roads of Lieu Sanglate. Some of the white petals scattered like leaves when he sped past. His jets were almost like the sound of a jet turbine, just a dimmed roar of heat and air.
The only thing he said after a while was, “Where do you live?”
“1865 LaRue,” she answered. “It’s the window with the suns painted around it.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
If anyone had been walking normal speed, it would have taken practically half the day to get to Sunshine’s house. Yet now, in just under an hour, Shadow was skidding to a halt in the French quarter. The blonde clambered out of his arms, looking at her house. After being thrown in a dark, shabby room, it was just now hitting her how much she missed staring at the little paintings in the window, and the cute door leading up to her place. She touched it, afraid it would dissolve under her fingertips. No, the wood was very much there. She choked back a noise between a laugh and a sob. She was home. She was safe. More importantly, she was alive.
“I…” she looked at the cop, who had folded his arms and was looking the place up and down. “I don’t know what to say. I really don’t. If you hadn’t showed up, I’dbe…”
“You helped, too.” It took some time, but Shadow saw so much potential in this scrubby baker girl who, up until today, had no idea what Ombres were. She just had to be captured and tormented by vampires in order to learn the hard lessons. To be locked up with the most stubborn of cops who didn’t even want to work with anyone period yet found enough to trust someone that could harness the power over the sun. She had helped. He had fought the monsters, but she had given the killing blow. Swallowing his pride was something Shadow found tough, but he had worked it up to say it here. He turned, but paused. She needed to know that the Others were not all bad. His unit risked their necks, she had seen it first hand. She had detective work…or potential for it, she just didn’t realize it. Finally, he went back to her as she was being let in by a neighbor.
“…Call me if you’re ever in trouble,” he said, pressing the card for the Others Unit, with the name ‘Shadow Griffiths’ scribbled in red sharpie on the front. “That is my name.”
Sunshine smiled long and hard at the card. Once again, she caught a sob/laugh in her throat. “Thank you…Shadow.”
Shadow uttered this warning to Sunshine as they skirted the gardens of Thorn Manor. She had no real weapons to defend herself with just in case the vampires decided to wake up from their power naps, so he told her to stay close. If all else failed, run; he could hold them off.
The gardens pretty much remained exactly the same as they had looked when he had arrived. The only difference was the groves made by his race with the giggler. At this point, Jasmine was the only vampire with a name to a face scenario, and considering her biggest asset was just trying to flirt with unsuspecting victims, chances were she wouldn’t be out hunting for unsuspecting prey on the grounds this early.
He paused at the location where he had been jumped. A huge part of him felt his skin crawl. Yes, the vamps were asleep, but he still couldn’t get over the creepy suspicion that he was being watched. Watched by the two rat sculptures that flanked the entry to a new part of the garden….a part that he hadn’t explored yet. He carefully approached, hesitated and backed up. He held up a hand, and fired a chaos spear. It shot through the entry without any sign of blockage, but it did rip a hole into a perfectly good rose bush.
“…Clear,” he reported, nodding to Sunshine.
She stepped behind him…and that was when the tables turned.
The rat sculptures eyes began to glow bright green. The bushes began reaching outward. Brambles and branches looped and swatted at them. The plant arbors were closed off by thick walls of leaves and sticks. One of the plant rats leapt forward, claws extended and green fangs extended. It may not have been drooling poison to complete the image, but it very well may have. The green rodent got onto all fours. Shadow stood in front of Sunshine, cocking his gun and aiming it for the head. Plant protection was n expensive type of voodoo magic and only the rich could have afforded it. The only way to set it off? Get close to something valuable. Something like an Ombre.
The creature was gaping at him. Shadow stood his ground, ready to fire a bullet, and his inhibitor rings were glowing in the case the bullet missed…
Only for the beast to be clocked in the head with a resonating “bwong”. It felt, revealing Sunshine, wielding a very heavy duty pan in both hands with a terrified facial expression.
Shadow discharged the power, blinking at what had just occurred. Yep, the creature was unconscious. The plants fell back. The growth had still been wild, but at least there was a way out.
Sunshine was panting like she had run a marathon. Her hands still clutched the frying pan like she had hit a home run and was savoring the moment. Her face melted from fear to absolute delight. She giggled, almost hysterically, and started jumping up and down. “Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, I just knocked out a monster! I blew up a vampire trap and knocked out a monster!” She paused, her excitement being held back temporarily. “Mom would be shocked. Thomas would be so jealous…oh my gosh, what am I going to tell them when I get out? IF I get out…”
“Sunshine!”
Shadow just yelled it. When he did, he had flung a chaos spear in a general direction of an unsuspecting statue that would have to get ahead.
Sunshine blinked once. She cradled her frying pan under her arm, recooperating from the adrenaline rush of having gotten her first real bad buy. A nervous grin crossed her face, along with her green eyes getting an apologetic look. “Sorry. I guess I got…a bit overexcited there. First time I ever got to use this outside of a bakery.”
“Where did you even get that?”
“Well…” Sunshine looked away, “remember when we stopped to look in the kitchen? I…kind of stole it.” She threw out her hands at Shadow’s glower. “What? It’s not like vampires cook their meat to medium-rare!”
Shadow huffed indifferently. On the one hand, that was a reckless move On the other hand, she had a weapon. But on the other hand, the vampires may have valued it. But on the other hand, she had made a good point that they didn’t really cook their food. He looked back down at the rat statue, whose eyes were no longer glowing but a dead black.
“Looks like the Ombre found us,” he said.
“You mean that thing was the Ombre?” Sunshine asked.
“Both of them were,” Shadow answered, nodding to the green rat. He fired yet another chaos spear towards the remaining rat. It tumbled and crumbled, landing at Sunshine. When the green noses touched, the eyes glowed green again. “Do your hair thing before they wake up again.”
Sunshine stared at them. She took a breath. Her heart was pounding. Would Shadow’s theory work? It had only been knocked out by her and not his power. And he was pretty powerful as far as…hedgehogs…went. She started singing. She thought about her mother singing it while wrapping her in a blanket or giving her a fresh cookie from the oven. She thought about the fireplace back at home and how her mother akinned fire to the sun. She thought about the sun…and that was when her scalp began to feel warm, and her hair began turning brighter. Her hair lengthed curling around the rats. They only had time to let out two feeble little screams before they themselves began wilting at the exposure of the sun. The leaves flared, going from green to orange fire to black char. Whatever heaviness lay in the air now…it was gone.
Sunshine stopped, and her hair reverted back. Shadow looked at her, and a genuine smile was crossing his face. It was just a microsecond of approval, but it felt momentous. He had only smiled at her like that once, when she had used her magic to get them out. Déjà vu, sure, but hey, anything to actually see someone so stoic actually smile was a good thing.
“…We…we should go.”
“Sunshine.”
This time, Shadow didn’t seem go huffy and go-to. This time, he was much more relaxed. He was glancing out at the exit, stretching his arm. “It’s faster if we go together. Besides,” In a blink, he had zipped to stand next to her, one hand prepped to grab hers gently, “I don’t think you actually saw me run.” Next thing Sunshine knew, she was pulled down into a bridal-style hold. Shadow was gripping her gently, making a way through the gate, past the rotting wall, past the rotting tree, past the blocked door, past the mansion where they had been held prisoner….
Beneath him, the entire ground was dissolving into nothing but solid air. For Sunshine, being rushed at near supersonic speeds was exhilarating, in both the good way and the bad way. It was like standing at the base of a super strong wind without the fear of getting clocked to death by rubble. She was getting sucked into Shadow’s grip, and part of her was surprised that a 3 foot anthropomorphic hedgehog was able to carry someone twice his size. But, well, if he was fast, strength was a feat he probably hadn’t shown. That and he had managed to catch her back in the attic stairwell without complaining about weight or showed signs of struggling. There was so much he hadn’t shared with her, or even had bothered sharing, judging by his aloofness just from their very first meeting.
He glided in silence. The fear of being chased by the suckers was there, but neither one of them were turning around, either by speed or by choosing not to. The cityscape of Bellerouge was getting ever closer as they left the magnolia laden roads of Lieu Sanglate. Some of the white petals scattered like leaves when he sped past. His jets were almost like the sound of a jet turbine, just a dimmed roar of heat and air.
The only thing he said after a while was, “Where do you live?”
“1865 LaRue,” she answered. “It’s the window with the suns painted around it.”
“Why am I not surprised?”
If anyone had been walking normal speed, it would have taken practically half the day to get to Sunshine’s house. Yet now, in just under an hour, Shadow was skidding to a halt in the French quarter. The blonde clambered out of his arms, looking at her house. After being thrown in a dark, shabby room, it was just now hitting her how much she missed staring at the little paintings in the window, and the cute door leading up to her place. She touched it, afraid it would dissolve under her fingertips. No, the wood was very much there. She choked back a noise between a laugh and a sob. She was home. She was safe. More importantly, she was alive.
“I…” she looked at the cop, who had folded his arms and was looking the place up and down. “I don’t know what to say. I really don’t. If you hadn’t showed up, I’dbe…”
“You helped, too.” It took some time, but Shadow saw so much potential in this scrubby baker girl who, up until today, had no idea what Ombres were. She just had to be captured and tormented by vampires in order to learn the hard lessons. To be locked up with the most stubborn of cops who didn’t even want to work with anyone period yet found enough to trust someone that could harness the power over the sun. She had helped. He had fought the monsters, but she had given the killing blow. Swallowing his pride was something Shadow found tough, but he had worked it up to say it here. He turned, but paused. She needed to know that the Others were not all bad. His unit risked their necks, she had seen it first hand. She had detective work…or potential for it, she just didn’t realize it. Finally, he went back to her as she was being let in by a neighbor.
“…Call me if you’re ever in trouble,” he said, pressing the card for the Others Unit, with the name ‘Shadow Griffiths’ scribbled in red sharpie on the front. “That is my name.”
Sunshine smiled long and hard at the card. Once again, she caught a sob/laugh in her throat. “Thank you…Shadow.”