Night Chronicles- Chapter 3

Nyx POV

After being introduced to the remaining members of Jack's team- Owen and Toshiko- I was set to work as Torchwood's new (as Jack liked to call it) 'alien liaison'.

He led me to the weapons room. He stopped and picked up a dusty black box. He pulled off the faded lid, and unravelled a knife.

'Look at this knife' Jack explained, offering the hilt of the knife in the package. 'These little symbols down the side, none of our translators can read them. Could you?'.

He handed the knife to me. It was, roughly, two hand spans long with a jagged, silver blade. The hilt was a dark red with gold symbols etched into the length.

I turned it sideways. Nice knife. Well balanced, sharp.

Hmmm... I wonder if Jack was going to keep it?

Everyone seemed to stare expectantly.

'Oh right'.

Luckily I recognised the language, the small gold symbols were the remnants of an old 'shifter' language- luckily, one I knew.

'Err... Fear my blade, whom I made with my own fyra, and that shall reap the souls of those who oppose it'. I looked up at the others. They seemed very... surprised.

'Oh, and I name it... err... r-reaper. There.'

No-one moved.

'Did I do something wrong?'

'No, not at all, err... Nyx' Toshiko came and, to my displeasure, took the knife from me.

'But, how can you read that? Where did you learn?' asked Gwen (in her strange welsh accent) and then the others plagued me with questions until I was overwhelmed.

I panicked.

Keep calm, Nyx. Not time to bring out the knives.

Not yet.

I forcefully brushed past the small group, whilst also snatching Reaper and placing it in my pocket.

I ran towards the entrance.

I needed some air.

I decided to calm myself on the steps, outside the nearby Cardiff Millennium centre. As I sat, I noticed the number of columns, a few metres tall, pointing at the sky.

If only. The slow and lazy clouds floated across the open sky. I longed to be up there, with them.

'Are you all right?' Jack asked. I didn't see him approach. I jumped- preparing for a fight.

'Oh. Sorry Jack. Yeah, I'm all right. Just...'

I sighed and sat down again.

'Just?'

'Daydreaming. Jack, I don't know if I can keep this up!' I whispered. 'They already suspect something. What will I do?'

I stroked Reaper in my arms.

'You did fine' Jack assured. He sat down next to me. 'Just give it some time. We'll work things out'.

I rolled my shoulders, uncomfortably.

'C'mon. Let's get something to eat.' Jack offered, stood up and held out his hand.

Gwen POV

'I've tried all UK databases, Gwen.' Tosh explained. 'Criminal logs, missing, run-away, school records... Who else could she be?'

'I'm really not sure, Tosh.' I said, and then reconsidered. 'Maybe she's not from here. Have you tried anywhere else?'

'I can only gain access to international terrorists- and she's not one. I checked.' She answered guiltily.

Damn.

Suddenly, Jack and Nyx entered the building, yelling, and both were dripping with a fizzing brown liquid.

'Coke?' Nyx accused. 'That stuff was poison!'

'People here love it, and I didn't force you to drink it' Jack countered.

'How can they love it? It is disgusting!' she yelled.

'And that didn't mean you have to spit it out all over us'

'You should have seen your face!' Nyx grinned, and Jack burst out laughing.

Tosh quickly closed the search window, and continued with her previous work. 'I'll keep working on it' she whispered, eyes glued to the screen.

'Let's go!' Jack rallied and led us to the morgue, where he insisted on letting Nyx look at the corpse.

Yes, the already-twice-cut-up one.

Owen POV

At first I doubted Nyx's abilities to deduce ANYTHING from the corpse that a doctor couldn't.

I was so wrong.

Soon I was amazed by her ability to recognise the injuries in the corpse; although it was evident her English was starting to struggle.

'See these long, err, slashes here' she pointed to the victim's arm and legs. 'One long, sharp, err...'

'Blade?' Jack butted in.

'Yeah. A blade about this (she showed with her fingers) long. Sharp on only one side.'

She showed the number one with her index finger.

'And these?' I asked. I pointed to some more peculiar marks on the remains of the victim's stomach and neck.

'Teeth' she said, simply, pointing to her own.

'Human teeth?' Jack asked.

'Not even class, closs, um... near, Jack'.

'So? What do you know?' Jack asked.

'Everything. I know what it is.' She smiled, smugly.

Jack POV

Torchwood Conference Room. The following morning.

The team (now of six) had gathered in the conference room for a 'debrief', led by Nyx.

'It is called a Rierv'

'Say what?' Owen shouted, from the back of the room.

'Rierv' she repeated.

'I mean, err, never mind' he grumbled and was quiet.

'Keep going, you're doing fine' I encouraged.

'It comes from the system of um... M'genshbori' she pronounced in another strange language. 'In English, the silver system'.

She took a deep breath, and kept going.

'Rierv are about as tall as I am. Black scaly skin. They have knives for fingers, stronger than diamonds. Their teeth are also sharpened, like wolfs.'

'Wolves' I muttered under my breath.

She continued.

'Very sensitive hearing and seeing, also like wolfs, and twice as strong as a human.'

'Can you shoot them?' Owen shouted.

'Err... Yes. Fire is best.'

'See? Problem solved.'

Gwen 'sssh'ed him and whilst Nyx continued.

'They hunt alone, keep to the shadows, and jump out on their prey- giving little time for flight... err, I mean, running away'.

'So, we're searching for a monster, in the dark, that will give us next to no warning as to whether it's coming?' Gwen asked. What she really meant was; 'You have got to be kidding me,'

'Yes' I confirmed. And we're doing it tonight'.

Nyx POV

Night

My first Torchwood monster hunt.

We equipped ourselves inside the reception; shotguns, stunguns, the occasional machine gun and bulletproof vests.

Did they really think the Rierv would have a gun too?

Owen was busy packing a medical kit, whilst Toshiko prepared her tracking computer for the night ahead. Even she had a gun.

I declined a bulletproof vest (much to Gwen's insistence), but was not offered any type of gun.

All I needed were my two knives, Blädun and Zentr (which translated to dark and fear, which I thought appropriate) and Reaper.

Reaper?

I must have left him in Jack's office.

The others were ready to head out.

I ran off, shouted 'I'm getting Reaper!' and entered the lift.

'Reaper!' I exclaimed. I had left him in Jack's office.

As soon as I touched the knife, I had a vision.

'No, not now...' I breathed and then collapsed onto the desk.

I saw the Rierv. It moved silently through a dark alleyway. Typical. It stopped, sniffing the breeze. I tried to look around. The vision town was quiet, but I could hear water nearby. Huh? I was starting to recognise the buildings. Could it be? Cardiff? I could hear voices, faintly in the distance. Jack! Owen! Tosh! The Rierv followed the sound of the voices, ready to hunt. Wait, no! NO! RUN! JAAACK! I tried to scream, but couldn't. Then I realised.

I was the Rierv.

I awoke suddenly, slumped over Jack's desk.

I grabbed reaper, and jumped through Jack's window (sorry, Jack) onto the hub floor, rolled, and then jumped onto the square block of concrete.

It began to move up, slowly, and soon the roof opened, revealing a small square hole.

Too slow!

Dammit.

I sighed, pulled off my jacket, and unfurled my wings. Black as the night sky, they shimmered in the hub lights.

I jumped, flew through the hole and landed beside Jack.

'Nyx? What...' Before he could finish his sentence, I grabbed reaper, shouted 'RIERV!' and collided with the Rierv in midair, before crashing to the ground.

I managed to grab its hands, pinning them to the ground as they slashed at my wrists. The Rierv was snapping at my face, and luckily, I was able to avoid it.

The Rierv managed to shift his weight and soon he was on top of me, and I wasn't able to hold it off much longer.

'Aaargh!' I screamed as his teeth sunk into my shoulder. My vision hazed, but I managed to kick the Rierv in the gut, and it let go, for now.

I couldn't reach Blädun and Zentr without letting go of the Rierv's hands, but I glanced to my left. Reaper was still on the pavement. In arms reach.

In a split second, I reached out, grabbed Reaper and stabbed the Rierv in the chest. With his free left hand, he slashed at my stabbing arm, but it was too late.

Reaper was embedded, deep in the Rierv's chest. It began to glow a magnificent red, not like blood, but fire, and began to heat up.

'Fyra' I managed to summon as the knife glowed bright orange with the heat of hundred fires.

I twisted the knife, and it was over.

The corpse of the Rierv started to smoulder, and then melted away from beside me into a pool of oil.

I took some deep breathes. That was unexpected, to say the least.

I stood up, weak. My shoulder bleed freely and the cuts on my wrists and arm were deep.

The world was slow, fuzzy; my vision had little dancing black spots, and all sound was blurred and incomprehensible.

Someone was yelling. I couldn't tell, where or whom.

Gradually, my vision began to improve, and my hearing also.

It was Jack shouting.

'DON'T SHOOT! DON'T SHOOT HER!'

As I realised;

I had four guns aimed at my head.

More coming soon (hopefully)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Please review!

~ArtemisDark