The urge to spin around and give a chuck norris style round house kick built up in the young bat. Although before deciding to act upon it she turned around to see who exactly was behind her. Like Rouge had said to Shadow ealier she was a big girl and she knew how to take care of herself. Aqua eyes met lush red fur as her nose slightly burshed against the soft tuft.
"Knuckles..." She murmured almost in a sigh of relief, tilting her head upwards she grinned as her gaze fixed on the red echinda.
"Hello..Rouge" The rather strong looking male said, "Don't you know it's dangerous to be outside on your own like this?"
"Don't you know it's rude to sneak up on girls like this?" Brushing his hands off her gently she gave a small sneer, "they could think you're up to no good and we don't want you to end up arrested."
"Yeah with the recent murder and all, how about I walk you home then?" Quickly changing the subject to avoid any further discussion on the murder topic Knuckles briskly hooked Rouge's arm into his and continued onwards.
Streetlights flickered about as swarms of bugs gathered at the lightsource hovering about to be an easy meal to maybe a bat or somesort. Or whatever ate bugs these days. Buildings of solid grey, black and filth loomed over the couple as they picked their way through the streets passing maybe one or two more live citizens on the way. A slight breeze carried out into the night with clouded skies to block out the only real source of natural light left in the metallic world.
"You know Red, you never said why you were out of your jungle so late?" Rouge light teased Knuckles feeling at ease with him around her, gently she nestled closer to his shoulder. Nuzzling her cheek against the warm, smooth fur.
"Very funny bat girl, I was coming back from Sonic's place and I saw you wandering around by yourself."
"Ironic don't you think? Unless you were stalking me." The bat said in a mocking tone as she looked up to see the semi-amused face stare back at her.
With an uttmost straight face he could pull off Knuckle's proceeded to reply. " Oh of course Rouge, I would definitely stalk you 'cause you know you're that irresistable."
Holding back a laugh, Rouge tossed her hair lightly over her shoulder. "You better not forget it Red."
With a light conversation the two treasure hunters arrived at Rouge's place where Shadow was most likely taking a nap on the couch or like any concerned friend pacing about the front door. Turning to face each other the young bat thanked the echidna for walking her home and that maybe she would see him around sometime. With wishes of good luck and be safe the two parted both glancing over their shoulders to catch a glimpse of one another before they disappeared into the darkness. Diving into ther contents of her purse the female quickly grabbed the familiar shape of the apartment key which was jammed into the lock before another breath was exhaled. Turning the small piece of metal to one side she opened the door and stepped into the welcoming warmth.
"Hey Shad, I'm home." She chirped happily as the secure feeling was set back in stone as the soft thud of the door clicked with the lock. Slipping out of her boots Rouge walked into the living room to see Shadow no where in sight which was really...odd. Either he was in his room already in bed or maybe he ran out to go find her? Those seemed like the only explantional options at that moment, setting her purse and trench coat onto the coach she scanned the room. Making sure that everything seemed in tact but her mind told her that she was being paranoid. Which was more true then anything. Every since this case it's made her more jumpy around anything that made a noise although no matter what she told herself she couldn't get over the feeling of being watched. Well unless it was by Knuckles then maybe she wouldn't have such an issue with it. Folding the soft leather wings around herself she procceeded to sit on the couch and turn the T.V on.
Twelve times the great clock in their apartment chimed making the young bat jump at the sound when she realized that it was the only clock. Glancing over with warry eyes she noticed that it was midnight now and she hadn't heard anything from Shadow, Worried she sat up from the couch and walked over towards her friends room, they thought that maybe he was asleep lingered in her head. Turning the brass knob slowly she peered into the darkness, before sending a small wave of sound to make out any shapes in the gloom. Nope, no Shadow shape under the covers...biting her lower lip Rouge furrowed her brow in worry, That was weird when she talked to Shadow he had said that he was at home. Running a hand through her own hair in fustration she wondered if the black hedgehog had maybe taken a run around town to find her. Or yet worse he was attacked, shaking her head from side to side Rouge dispelled the thoughts from her head. Those were silly ideas as the killer only killed females..although it was too early to make a profile on the pyschopath.
Feet pitter pattered their way to the cold kitchen tiles to find some sort of hard drink to ease the worry off. Rouge took a long swing from the bottle, feeling the familiar burning sensation in her throat as the liquid reached her stomach. That really hit the spot, and in this case the saying has never been any more true. Ears raised to sense any danger the woman made her way to the couch again when she heard the front door click. Panic rose for a moment, had she locked the door after she came in? Gripping the glass bottle in hand she readied herself incase of attack, slowly standing up she pursed her lips to utter her friend's name soflty.
"Sh-shadow?" She stuttered out trying to see a regular shape in the hallway. Then it hit her the metallic scent of blood, it was a scent that she was used too from the crime scenes that she had seen. Why was there so much blood? Could it be Shadow? Is he the killer? So many questions and she still wasn't sure if it was her friend or not. The sound of short breathes came from the hallway, the figure seemed like he was out of breath...or maybe winded? Rushing to one side Rouge pressed her frame against the wall fumbling her freehand for the lightswitch until her fingers touched the little switch which flicked on the hallway lights.
"Wait- you're not-" Rouge didn't get to finish her sentence before the figure collided with her body knocking them both to the ground. The attacked on top pressed one strong hand against the soft throat beneath them. Struggling the bat tried everything to get the weight off of her, or more importantly to get some air. Arms flailing with horror she realized that the bottle had dropped from her hand with the collision. Now weaponless Rouge didn't want to be the next victim on the newspaper, to start a serial killers reign. But what happens if the blood she can clearly see on the attacker was Shadow's? That maybe he was the second victim leaving her to be the third. A growl came from her throat as she fought back with all her might kicking out, Head spinning from the lack of oxygen wasn't helpful in the slightest, until fangs met with flesh. With as much strength was left from the fight Rouge bit down as hard as she could into the flesh. With sucess! The Attacker let go in a relfex giving Rouge the advantage who instantly shoved the startled attacker backwards. Scrambling up she grabbed the nearest weapon she could see, hands wrapped around a lamp pulling the cord from the socket. Turning to her assailant ready to bash the bastards brains out, adreniline pumped through her brains making her feel almost invincible. Just then the attacked decided to flee faster then Rouge could blink leaving the girl disorented from what just happened. A wave of weakness shot through her knees making her fall down that she had just survived from a possible murder. But hadn't she locked the door? She was sure she did, with shaky legs she got back up and walked over to the door. Not letting go of the lamp from one hand in case another situation should arrive. Closing the door into it's frame she made sure to lock it, even so much as to put a chair against the handle to prevent anyone from coming in. Even if it was Shadow...that was if he was still alive. Out of breath and a little batter the pale bat collasped her body onto the soft leather interior of her couch passing out from all the excitment.
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Mel: I never really wanted to continue this story, due to the fact that I probably forgot most of the ideas that I had for it in the beginning. But it was fun to type this up. I don't have microsoft word, and I'm currently using word pad. If there is grammar, spelling or whatever mistakes I apologize but this story isn't serious enough to go back and fix anything. So hopefully you enjoy the second installment of the Dark Prince.