Key: MC, MD, Sleep
Part 1: Joshua
Part 2: Martin
Part 3: Mike
Part 4: The Professor
Part 5: Alan Ucard
Part 6: Sven
Part 7: Nick
Continued From Part 8: Sandy
December 21st
It was a very dark night,
although not as cold as previous evenings, Josh was slowly moving
through an alley way with a stake in his hand. He was being careful,
cautious as he moved across the snow. Trying not to make a sound.
Before him was his prey, a demon in the middle of stalking his own
prey, a young woman moving down the street. The demon crouched behind
a dumpster, waiting slowly for his victim to walk past the alley,
waiting for his moment to strike, his moment to take another’s
innocence.
The clicking of the
woman’s heels could be heard echoing ever closer to the alley way.
The demon positioned himself in the perfect position, his back leg
moving to get a sprinter’s start. His arms gripping the side of the
dumpster, ready to pull himself into a run as he was about to take
this innocent young woman. The woman’s clicking of her heels got
closer and closer. Her shadow could be viewed easily on the ground
ever closer. As she moved into the entrance way of the alley the
demon pulled himself up to strike. But before he could he was grabbed
around the neck and had a stake plunged into his back from behind.
Josh held his quarry
tightly as it struggled, he had missed the heart but was close
enough. The silver in the stake acted quickly and the demon started
to burn and catch fire. Josh pulled the stake out and backed off as
the demon wailed and cried then hit the ground and disintegrated into
a puff of ash.
Josh looked around
eagerly, but after a few moments sighed disappointedly. “Damn it,
that’s the fourth one tonight where the hell is she.” He said
pulling out a stolen Angel's hunting list. He previewed the ever
changing list and then spied a likely candidate transformed into a
bat and flew off. Gliding over the city looking for the next monster,
or demon, or even vampire on his list. All the while searching for
the real target of his interest.
After a few minutes he
happened to find what he was looking for, a Nehalem, or half angel
half human hybrid, who had been using his powers of influence to
swindle people of their money. Not normally a capital offense, but in
the grand tradition of greed, the money that he had swindled had left
the people he took it from poor and destitute, many had moved into
poverty, some had to turn to crime in order to stay alive, and others
still died from a lack of food or proper medical care. This
individuals actions had caused ripples of suffering to move through
the world, and now he was going to pay for that suffering.
Unlike most normal
attacks which occurred in the dark places that evil usually walked,
this one was going to have to take place somewhere much nicer. He
transformed back to normal at the front lobby of a large banking
firm. He brushed himself off and walked into the lobby and started to
look around. He could feel the Nephalem was close. The power of an
angels blood is hard to mistake, and he knew it well. After a few
moments he determined his quarry was on the top floor, not
surprising. He moved to the elevator and rode it to the top. As the
doors opened he backed into a corner, a woman was walking past,
dressed very professionally complete with high heels and her hair in
a bun.
He slipped out of the
elevator and hid as he heard the secretary knock on the main door,
and then open it. “Mr. Kyle your 7:00 appointment is here to see
you.” She said with a professional smile. Josh could hear an
acknowledging grunt from inside the room and moved behind a pillar as
the secretary smiled at an unseen person. “Miss Shadow, Mr. Kyle
will see you now.” She said politely.
Josh turned so fast the
he embedded his face into the marble pillar then pulled it out again
quickly to see Shadow move into the mans office. “Well at least I
know where she is this time.” He said with a smile. As the
secretary closed the door and walked back towards her desk, Josh
slowly started to sneak through the office.
He knew Shadow wouldn’t
take long to get into position and he needed to get into the room
before she left in order to intercept her. He was half way to the
door when a loud crash could be heard from inside of the office. The
crash was followed immediately by the sounds of a struggle, and from
the sounds of it Shadow was doing most of the breaking.
The secretary quickly
stood up and ran to the door, she was going to try and see what was
going on inside, but before she could get there Josh slid up behind
her and grabbed her shoulder. The young secretary gasped and jerked a
bit as her eyes and mind went blank.
Josh peeked inside,
Shadow was more then holding her own and the Nephalem was slowly
backing into a corner. He moved the secretary to her desk and
whispered into her ear. “You will remember nothing.” Then with a
quick squeeze the young woman sighed and fainted. Josh lowered her
head softly to the desk and left her to sleep off what he had done.
He moved to the door and
observed the fight. Inside Shadow with her dagger had managed to back
the Nephalem into a corner. The half breed angel was rather angry at
her though for destroying his office and reached up to the wall and
pulled out a very old sword, the kind that was actually built for
combat and not just wall decoration.
Shadow smirked a bit as
the man flailed the sword at her, she dodged easily and jumped up
onto his desk then flipped over him, spinning and slicing the half
breed across the arm. The Nephalem pulled back and growled, being a
banker, even one with half angel DNA did not make him overly fit.
But as Shadow moved
towards the man he swung his sword and hit the release for the
chandelier. The large glass fixture immediately started a rapid
decent downwards. Without thinking Josh flew at full speed at Shadow
and pulled her out of the way of the falling decorative ornament. The
impact of him grabbing her, and the subsequent face first slam into
the wall left her a bit dazed but caused less damage then the
chandelier.
“What the hell are you
doing here?” She asked a bit confused as she stood up and
readjusted her back and everything else he had knocked out of place.
Josh smiled a bit at her
“perhaps we can discuss that… after we finish with him?” Josh
pointed to the banker who was now running at both of them with his
sword over his head screaming.
Shadow looked up at the
rather serious scene only to have Josh block the incoming sword with
his silver stake, then kick the Nephalem clean in the chest and send
him flying back across the room. “You have been very naughty this
Christmas haven’t you Mr. Kyle” Josh said with a rather sadistic
grin as he walked towards the Nephalem waving his stake back and
forth. “Robbed from the poor and kept it for your self… not very
charitable, to say nothing of being angelic.”
Shadow moved around him
with her dagger and struck at the man, he ducked barely and moved
backwards right into Josh’s stake. The man jumped then looked down
at the tip of the stake sticking out of his chest. The look on his
face went from surprise, to… laughter?
Josh blinked and looked
at the man who then turned to look at him. “I’m a Nephalem, not a
vampire, I’m not allergic to silver, and in fact I rather like it.”
He said with a greedy grin before punching Josh in the face. The
vampire fell back into the wall and landed in a few filing cabinets.
Shadow swung at Kyle but
he managed to block with his sword as he pushed the stake that was
sticking out of his chest, far enough back pop out of his back. He
swung Shadow’s own blade up and over with his and flung the angel
off balance as he moved and pushed her hard into the desk.
She fell into it and then
slid up and over the other side. Damned Bankers and waxing their
desks. I mean really? Waxing your desk? What the hell!
Kyle picked up the stake
and turned it upside down in his left hand then charged at Josh,
swinging for his head with the sword. Josh quickly dodged to the
right only to have the man use his momentum to spin himself around
sending the stake right for Josh’s heart.
The vampires eyes grew
wide with the realization of what was about to happen, a millisecond
before Shadow hooked her dagger around the side of the stake to stop
its momentum.
Kyle looked shocked and
turned his head, slowly, ominously, to look at Shadow. Shadow’s
face portrayed her feelings perfectly, she was angry… very, very
angry. “You can steal,” she started “you can cheat, you can
destroy people’s lives… but no one stakes my boyfriend!” She
grunted and twist her dagger sending the stake our of Kyle’s hand.
Then with perfect control slashed his left arm, twisted the dagger
over and sliced the top of his thigh.
Kyle grunted in pain and
dropped to his knees covering his wounds with his hands as Shadow
stepped behind him and wrapped her dagger around his throat then
whispered into his hear. “Trying to stake him… makes me very,
very, angry.” She growled then in one skillful twist took Kyle’s
head clean off.
His head rolled to the
side as his body slowly fell forward. The instant the body hit the
ground both his body and his head flashed out of existence. No sign
that they were ever there. A moment latter another flash and all of
the damage in the room was repaired, there was even another name tag
on the desk, it was like Mr. Kyle had never existed.
Josh looked around a bit
confused as he picked himself up off of the ground. “What the hell
was that?” he asked while working a kink out of his shoulder.
Shadow glared and grabbed
him by the shirt and pulled him to her angrily. “That was you
nearly getting yourself killed!” she shouted. “What the hell are
you doing here?”
Josh grinned a bit
sheepishly, “its Christmas… your supposed to spend time with the
people that you love, which means you. But, I know your list is
really full this time of year so I figured getting you to take time
off would be impossible, so I kind of, decided to try and track you
down and spend it with you, on your terms. Hunting demons and all.”
Shadow’s anger was a
bit disarmed by the rather sweet comment as she loosened up her grip
on his shirt. “You nearly got yourself killed you know.” She said
making sure that he knew she was not happy about that brief tactical
error.
Josh grinned just a bit,
“yes but I also saved you from the chandelier falling on your
head.” He pointed to the chandelier that was once again hanging
from the ceiling. “Why did everything get fixed when he died?”
Josh asked really curiously.
Shadow smirked and let go
of Josh, “Because he was a Nephalem, when you destroy one,
everything they have done in their lives is reversed, they almost
literally erase themselves from history. All the people whose lives
that he ruined are now how they would be if they had never had any
interaction with Mr. Kyle. Whether they are better or not all depends
on the other choices that they made in their lives.”
Josh looked at the room,
and then at his completely destroyed clothes, and all the dust that
was covering him and her. “Then why do we still look…” he moved
a bit and grabbed his shoulder and physically relocated it into place
by hand “and feel like crap?”
Shadow smiled and leaned
in a bit giving him a soft kiss. “Because were the ones who stopped
him, consider it a reward.” she turned and sat on the desk and her
dagger disappeared.
Josh just kind of groaned
as he relocated his knee. “Some reward… couldn’t they give us a
consolation prize… something that hurts less maybe?” he asked
stretching out.
Shadow smirked as she
pulled out her list, and started to look it over. Josh moved to her
and sat down next to her looking at the list. “So who do we take on
next?” he asked, eager to spend time with her.
Shadow raised an eyebrow
and looked at him with a sideways grin. “I… will be taking on a
Satyr, You, will be going home.” She said rolling up her list and
then letting it disappear.
Josh grinned and shook
his head. “No way, I am going with you.”
“Yes way, you are going
home.” Shadow demanded as she stood up and put her hands on her
hips and glared.
Josh smiles and slid up
nose to nose with Shadow, playfully running his hands around her
waist. “Your really cute when your forceful… did you know that?”
he said with a smile.
Shadow rolled her eyes.
“No way buster your not sweat talking your way out of this…”
She was cut off by josh
kissing her, slowly at first, then deeper, more passionately. She
tried to fight it but finally let herself get lost in the kiss. When
it finally broke she smiled and was about to playfully scold Josh for
changing the subject when she opened her eyes and saw his were gazing
hypnotically into hers. “Relax now Shadow… and look into my
eyes.”
“That’s…
not….fair…” was all shadow got out before her eyes glazed over
and her body visibly relaxed.
Josh smiled and stole a
soft kiss before speaking again “Shadow you are OK with me going
with you, you know I will be safe, and stay out of your way, you know
I just want to be with you. Understand?”
Shadow nodded albeit
reluctantly as Josh grinned and snapped his fingers. Freeing the
dazed Angel from her trance. Shadow shook her head and glared at Josh
then smirked. “Alright smart ass, you want to go with fine... I
could use someone to carry all of my equipment, and you’ll need
armor… come with me!” She grabbed Josh by the arm and jerked him
towards a portal. But just before entering she stopped and pulled him
close. She kissed him softly. Then pulled them both through the
portal.
The last words that could
be heard as they vanished through the portal was Josh shouting “On
ward to the armory! And to all a good night!”
Shadow is the property of
RubyRain and used with permission.
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