We thought there was nothing wrong with it. I mean, it was pretty simple: just walking home after an open dojo night. All of us were tired since we had been practicing for an extra two hours. Of course, it didn't stop our screwing around and making plenty of noise on the way back to disturb any quiet, suburban family dinner. But we didn't care overly much; we had performed too well (as our master and I had both agreed), and had decided creating a ruckus was to be overlooked.
It was supposed to be simple. A shame it didn't turn out that way.
You see, by the time the seminar had ended, as I said, later than usual, it was already dark. But what happened was, usually, the sky was light enough for all of us to go our separate paths home with no apprehension. From the look of it then, the older members that didn't take their cars decided a group was the safest route. Although I was an instructor, the leader of all of them save our master, I was still only seventeen, they said. And though I thought I was a big, tough guy, I should still go with them on the way home. I would have refused out of sheer pride, but I had Antonio to consider.
Antonio was two years younger than I was and semi-innocent in his choice of sports. He was a decent fighter, real quick, but often, as many younger belts do, he decided he could skip all the way to instructor sparring level. Still, he was a good kid, if not a bit brazen, and I tended to look after him. People saw us as brothers, though I had none to relate. In a way, I looked after him a lot more than anyone else cared, and it wasn't a problem at all. The kid got into scores of crap in his zealousness that no one else would bail him out.
And so, he accompanied us home, as he usually did with me, because I would not allow him otherwise. As I had said, the guys were fooling around and Antonio was not at all halted by his younger age. We were loud; we were rowdy. We were well on our way back when I felt something was wrong.
At first, of course, I ignored it, thinking it to be no more than a wayward sensation. However, as the feeling did not desist, and as we began to pass the corner that always was plagued with a broken bulb in the lamp post, I knew something was going to happen. Normally, I would have led, feeling no fear even in pitch. From this crippling feeling, though, I was reduced and somewhat shamed by my comrades around me. I knew something was wrong, no matter how much fun they were making out of me. With a close to irritated hand, I attempted to dismiss both their jives and my worry. And in the next instant, all was washed from me as if a storm had circuited within my conscious.
A man, one I didn't think was there before, had centered himself on the street. I couldn't begin to see his features, for the scarce light almost made me miss his presence entirely. The man's face was to the ground, and he moved not an inch as we neared on the neighboring sidewalk. My companions didn't seem to notice he was there. Was I imagining everything? No, I still had to get Antonio home; no time for distractions.
"Justin, you alright?" the youngest of us spoke, realizing my fixation on the road. His head turned to where I was looking and, finally, viewed what had nearly stopped me cold. Antonio realized the irregularity of this occurrence, making the others stop as well.
"There's nothing weird about a person in the street," Jordan, the oldest of our group at 22, assured, "Quit staring."
He's not moving. He's just…standing there." I could hardly understand the uneasiness in my voice. This was not right.
"So? What's the matter?" Another of us asked.
I shook my head, as if clearing the doubt from me. The guys started walking again, but when I willed myself forward, I was stuck in place. A few annoyed remarked came from them, but they didn't even get me to twitch. What was happening?
Jordan's muscles tensed as he waited for me to start. Stocky and small, he was much more brawn than any of us there. His tanned skin crinkled in impatience. He was always sort of testy with me; challenging me to matches he couldn't win no matter how much strength he had. The man wanted my instructor position more fiercely than any in the dojo, it was no secret. Now he was pushing the matter further. "This is why he shouldn't be assistant master. He's piss scared of everything that walks."
"I'm not an 'assistant master.' I have full rank and a full ability to discipline you for that. What you said isn't true, you should know it." I finally protested, fatigued of his insults.
He almost scoffed at me as he continued, "If you're so worried about it, why don't you go ask why he's doing that?"
"It's rude. Why would it be any of our business?"
"Your business. We didn't have anything to do with it." Another of the group reprimanded. Had he not been older than me, and outside the dojo at the time, I would have taken out a mounting irritation on him.
A nervous glance over my shoulder at the immovable man gave me a great shock. He wasn't there any longer. It should have been normal; he could have just walked away. But something wasn't right. Something was going to happen. I fought with myself to warn the others, balancing my dwindling authority with the urgency of the message. At last, I won out to tell them; however, before I could speak but a word, I saw something had attached itself to Jordan.
The other males in the group all jumped as Jordan let out a cry of pain. Only a moment separated me from the man, and as all the others were then frozen in surprise, I leaped at the thing hooked to my elder in a desperate attempt to free him. My hands wrapped around the face of the person, though I could not weaken his hold. Realizing this, I slipped to the back of him and squirmed my arms around his neck. A single chocking motion to the throat was enough for him to give up. Sick freak was biting Jordan! He made a sound of anguish and stepped back, giving me a view of my comrade's neck. It was red with blood, the prize of the entire struggle. The man only spilled it from my intervention. I could not care for his pain at the time, for the person turned upon me, tackling the both of us to the street in anger.
Fate shined on me, for my martial arts, my expertise, was based almost solely on the ground. Practiced ease took over my actions, as I brought my legs up and slammed them into his midsection. A grunt and a single moment of pause from the man gave me enough time to get out from under him and twist both his wrist and arm back to his shoulder blade. I straddled and held him fast, preventing most of his movement from a tug to the trapped arm.
Meanwhile, Jordan had taken it upon himself to crumple to the ground in deafened terror and weakness. His long hair, normally bound with a strip of red-dyed leather, lay strewn across the dark street. He twitched slightly but was otherwise still.
The guys, for the most part, either had fled or ran to Jordan's side, trying to heft him up again. Only Antonio wished to help me, but by the time he could reach us two, my maneuver had the stranger already incapacitated. The youngest of us stood to my side, unsure what he could do in the situation. His voice was his only tool.
"What the hell did you think you were doing?! he yelled, in honest distress for our fallen classmate.
Another tug on his arm did not prompt him to speak, no matter how powerful I made it. I found it strange that he did not fight my grip in the least. The feeling that had disappeared during the conflict was beginning to return: a sinister sensation that chilled me even as I held him. By the time I could snap out of my thoughts, I saw that the man had turned his face to view Antonio. His features were known to me then, and he was no simple thug.
The blonde hair that had flown across his face in our struggle seemed to be reflecting every bit of light that touched it. His skin was almost matching the locks' shimmer, for it was too white for belief. The skin eyes that somehow, then, held an amused inflection, could have been a plethora of colors, changing as subtly as the rest of his being. The expression on his face must have unnerved my young friend, because his angry tone of just a few moments ago was gone, and I think I heard him gasp in uneasiness.
I'm not sure if everything paused for a moment or he moved too quickly for me to see, for the next conscious thing I felt was the person tossing my weight off him as if I was nothing. He was going for Antonio, this I knew even without being able to see his motions. I had no way of aiding my companion; I could only let out a frustrated yell in my failure to holding the attacker.
But he was spared by another of our classmates, one who was older than I was by two years. The kid was tall and thickly built, shielding Antonio with his body as the stranger lunged toward them. The assailant met a wall of muscle (I knew from sparring him countless times), though, somehow, he was able to push them both backward to the point where the youngest of us was knocked onto his haunches in the exchange. He scrambled backward Jacob, the nineteen year-old started a power war with the man. Jordan was already trying to flee with the others.
"Antonio! Get out of here!" I yelled for our youngest to do the same.
With my plea came the compete defeat of Jacob as the man jumped to him and sliced down on the kid's neck with his teeth. By the time I could rise, my comrade was slumped against the attacker, rendering all of his strength useless in a fit of draining energy. I could not know at the time, but when the stranger tossed him aside, he was completely robbed of his lifeblood.
For the moment, I didn't know and didn't care. I leaped towards Antonio, grasping him about the shoulders. I had to save him, get him away. I ordered, "Get to your house: run! Keep going and don't stop until you're there! I'll keep him here as long as I can!"
"I can't leave you here to die!" he protested in a panic, "Not to him!"
"You know who he is?" I practically screamed, but knew there wasn't any time left. I shoved him backward powerfully, "Go!"
His eyes held fear. It was clear as it could have been. With great conflict within him, he turned and sprinted, following the trail left by his comrades gone long before him. The flight was the last thing I was able to see as the stranger came upon me. He locked himself around me, his arms restraining mine. It couldn't last long, though, for I broke the expertly, went to the back of him, and took his arms just as he had bound mine: without the flaw in form. A simple move that I had practiced with my master more times than I could count, I had worked it into near perfection. The hold successfully pinned his arm behind his body, the man then involuntarily issuing a grunt. But somehow, he laughed through my whole struggle, as if the situation was a ruse.
"Mon amour, why do you fight when you cannot win? Can you not accept my will?" His voice was sinister, yet melodic. How he ever mixed the two was beyond my understanding.
" 'Accept?' You left my friend half dead on the sidewalk!" My protective nature flared as I thought of Jacob collapsed on the ground. And Jordan as well! The bastard was destroying them all!
"And I'll take the rest; there's no amount of power within you that can stop me." It was as if he had read my mind. This was more than enough to make me yank his arm back more painfully than it was. Another moment and the limb would be dislodged. But he continued, not feeling the sensation at all, "The little beauty will be especially pleasing. Antonio, was it? He'll scream wonderfully."
The sickening crack of his arm sounded through my ears. I had lost control in my outburst of anger. I couldn't give a damn about his now.
"You asshole!" I hissed, my grip only tightening. My mouth was right next to his ear when I promised, "You're in no position to do anything. Say something else like that and I'll break your other arm and work my way up."
Surprisingly, he emitted not a whimper of agony when I had hurt him. And now my threat only caused his laughter. What the hell was wrong with this man!
"Will you now? And who are you-" The stranger paused, making an unbelievably fast movement that broke my grasp. He grabbed my front, "to think that you have subdued me?"
In an instant, I was slammed into the street post closest to us with insurmountable strength. My head slapped up against the unrelenting metal, making my vision to go askew. It was amazing that I did not go unconscious in the action. Surprising for him too, probably; he made no other moves until I could see enough to fight back.
However, it was like he had grown in power tenfold as I hit him. I could not begin to move the bastard. Though my fists fell upon him in a swift fury, they just as soon retracted painfully in defeat. Was he made of stone?! My hand was numb! I felt him grip my temples. I could do nothing to halt him. His smirk was triumphant and painful for me to bear, and as a curse rang inside my head at both him and myself, his victory was absolute. With little effort, he crashed my head into the lamp post.
The last thing I saw was the damnable beast walking away as my form crumpled to the street. But there was something else even more pressing: a silhouette had appeared in front of him, in a stance readied for fighting. What was it?
"No! Antonio!!" It was caught in my throat. It was too late; I blacked out.
Yay, a new story. :) Well, I hope everyone enjoyed it, and comments/reviews are welcome.