|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 4:35 pm
Len's legs seemed to give out from under her and she sagged against Malachi, crying so hard she couldn't breathe.
Ethan, his own eyes beginning to burn again, looked down at the floor. His head jolted up as the lights gave another damnable flicker.
"What the <********>," he muttered, standing and looking at the light. The bulb was struggling to stay lit. Once the flicker stopped the light was dimmer, the light browned. "Why is this..."
He paused. There was a faint crackling noise that suddenly grew louder with a snap, and then continued at its original volume. He looked around, trying to find the source. His eye caught the window and he paused. The glass was cracking, spiderwebbing out from a large gash angled across the pane.
"Lenore. Malachi. Get away from the window."
The crackling sound was coming from everywhere. The windows were all cracking for no reason. And above them, the dimmed light gave another flicker. It did not come back.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 4:37 pm
Rabid gave a short yelp, and Ike spun away from the counter, taking Len with him.
"Shhhh," he said, "it'll be okay." Although, frankly, he was fearing for his life. Björn the one person to stay by the window, looked on with mild interest, head tilted to one side.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 4:44 pm
Len clung to Malachi, though she was staring hard at Ethan.
"We shouldn't have come here," she hissed. "It's coming. It's coming for her."
"No," Ethan said, watching the light give a dying flick before fading. "No...it was using her as bait. It doesn't want her, it's us."
He felt sick. He'd lead the creature to a houseful of people. He'd made a terrible mistake.
"We need to get-" he began, but then cut himself off, clapping his hand to his mouth. His breath was beginning to fog. The house was growing colder, the cracking windows slicking over with frost. It was inside. How? How? They would have heard it come through the door, break through the windows...his eyes rested on the long shadows, and he felt his breath catch. The thing had pulled itself out of the wall in Crow's room.
"It uses the shadows," he breathed. He snapped to attention, looking for a way out. "We need to get out. Now."
"And go where?" Len said. Another loud crack silenced her, and in that moment she could hear something draw a rattling breath.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 4:48 pm
"Oh, ******** awesome. In a completely dark house."
"Nnhn," Ike said logically, raising a hand and squinting as a dim light flickered in his palm, no brighter than a weak flash light, and concentrated in a single area, "I don't see nothin'." He refused to believe the breath had been anything but his own.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 4:57 pm
Drawing knives from intangibility, ignoring the startled look Lenore gave him, Ethan tried to find the thing. It was useless, there were too many shadows it could hide in. The breathing noise came again, much closer. The cold intensified.
"Where are you," he muttered under his breath, knuckles going white on the hilts. A loud crack of glass made him jump.
Lenore's wings spread out fully and she put her arms up, searching the shadows with a murderous expression.
"Enough with the hide and seek," she snapped.
Time ticked by treacherously. The house was silent.
"What is it waiting for," he said, furious.
Len shook her head, looking around, and suddenly blanched.
"I think it wants you to turn around," she said faintly.
Two flickering white spots blinked on the wall behind Ethan, and a hooded head slowly emerged from the wall. The rattling breath turned into a laugh like a croak, and before Ethan could even turn to face it it swooped down on him. The cold was so sudden he felt as though his scream had frozen in his throat, and all he could see was black as the thing smothered him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:02 pm
"ETHAN!"
"JESUS!"
"NO!"
Rabid shrieked.
Hellis leaned forward, hand stretching for Ethan, as if he had any way to save him...and he broke into another bout of terrified tears when he felt the wall, pulling his hand back and pressing against Björn. He was very, very not-used-to things like this happening.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:11 pm
The creature gave a long shrill howl and the amorphous mass of shadow spit Ethan back out. There was a bloody bite mark deep in his neck and his eyes were closed, lying motionless on the floor.
Lenore gave a maddened scream and ran at the thing, slashing at it. The razor feathers passed through it like it was smoke, and she howled in pain as the thing slashed a whip-like arm across her chest. She fell to the floor, clutching at the new wound and glaring hatred up at it.
"You ******** son of a b***h come on try it again!" she screamed, getting up and going for the creature again.
"Ssszilensze."
Lenore's voice instantly cut off. She grabbed her throat and stumbled back, blinking in shock. The thing had spoken, or at least attempted to. Her mouth worked and she couldn't help but shrink back as the thing reared up to it's full height, head banging against the ceiling.
"Give it back," the thing hissed. "Our corpssze. Give it back. Need both. Want both. Have the boy already."
Lenore coughed as the strange sensation of something caught in her throat faded.
"Come and get her," she snarled.
The creature ignored her, its head swiveling from one side to the other. It seemed confused, muttering to itself, and then halted as it saw Liam.
"Thief," it hissed, a world of hatred in the word. "Usszurper."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:14 pm
"Len! Are you ******** stupid?!" Ike yelped protectively, pulling her back to him.
Liam swallowed. Hard.
"Nnh...whaa?"
Björn back away from Liam, taking Hellis with him. This did not bode well. Rabid followed suit, dragging Ike and thusly Len behind her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:20 pm
"Let me go, let me go, Ethan please get up," Len sputtered, trying to struggled against Malachi and get back to him.
The creature gave a shuddering growl.
"Misszerable little thief," it said, voice seething with rage. "Sssztole him. All of thissz YOUR fault! Uszzuper! THIEF! WRETCH!"
It flung itself towards Liam, shaking with fury.
"You fool," it gurgled, javelin-like arms raising and curling like writhing tentacles. "You do not even REALIZE what you have done..."
It's jaws clicked, blood and slimy black sputum dripping from under the hood. It gave a metallic scream and arched an arm back ready to plunge the point through Liam's throat.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:22 pm
"SORRY, BUDDY, BYEBYE," Ike yelled suddenly, holding both hands out and closing his eyes against a brilliant and sudden flash of bright white light. In that brief moment, he'd remembered Len, a wisp of shadow in hand, holding it up to the sunlight and watching it disappear.
It made sense, right?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:27 pm
The creature screamed and stumbled, trying to plunge back into the shadows but finding none. Its cloak and hood evaporated, revealing no physical body underneath except an animal skull head. The skull crashed to the floor, smashing into pieces, and a lick of white fire tried to tinder on the shards before it simply winked out.
Blinded, Lenore stumbled and slipped to the floor, covering her eyes.
"OKAY IKE IT'S DEAD YOU CAN STOP NOW," she shrieked, feeling as though she'd just had her eyes stabbed through.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:30 pm
Ike squinted, one eye closed.
"I did."
"A fair warning would have been nice."
"It was gonna EAT LIAM."
"Yeah, Twigs! Jeezum! Thanks, Ike...godIseelightswhenIblink." Hellis used Liam as a stand, leaning and rubbing at his eyes.
Björn, partially blinded, moved to Ethan's motionless body and crouched, taking his glasses off. He reached down and poked it once. He wasn't sure he could keep on living if the kid was dead.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:36 pm
"Is it gone? Did it blow up?" Len asked the wall, turning 'round in a full circle and trying to make out shapes. "Ethan? Ethan! Hey, is it gone?"
Ethan was still lying prone, his skin pale and clammy. A trickle of blood oozed from the wound. At the poke, there was no response. And then...
"Hh-HKKK!"
Ethan sat bolt upright, grabbing his throat and gasping for breath. He sucked in air like a drowning man, curled over and shuddering as though his body was trying to decide whether or not it was going into seizure. The moment passed and he coughed, collapsing onto the floor again.
"Hh...hhh...I...I missed the fight, didn't I," he said, blinking cold sweat out of his eyes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:38 pm
"It's gone! It's gone. Deep breath, Len. Deep breath."
Björn smiled with relief and placed a hand to the side of Ethan's face for a moment. Poor kid.
"Liam? Y'got one? I'm all out."
"Hm? Wha--oh, yeah." He handed over a healing phial.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:44 pm
Ethan scrabbled for the phial, knocking the contents back and coughing. The bite knitted back together, and he shuddered.
"Cold, it was...freezing," he babbled. "Bit me, felt like it was trying to rip me apart from inside...heard it. It...really had an issue with you," he added, nodding at Liam.
Shivering, feeling cold as ice even though he was covered in sweat, he leaned against Björn.
"Julian," he said at random, startling himself. "They've got him. We need to go and..." he paused to cough. "...we need to find him. Liam, what did you do to piss that thing off?"
Rubbing her eyes, blinking as Ike's face came into focus, Len gave a sigh and poked at the gash that split her skin open at the collarbone.
"Great, one for front and back," she said. Glaring at the skull shards, her eyes wandered to Crow's shrouded body.
"What would it want with a dead body," she muttered.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
