=Chapter 6=

Shadow was feeling off when he, Sonic, and Knuckles got back to the apartment. Poor Amy nearly had a heart attack when she saw Shadow with his clothes partly torn up, blood soaked, and looking like complete hell. Sonic was amazed that the crimson splashed hedgehog managed to soothe his adoptive sister in only a few seconds.

Maybe the myth about vampires being able to dazzle people was true. Who knows?

The next day, Shadow was looking noticeably paler, which caused the sakura hedgehog even more worry. She tried to convince him to stay indoors for the day, but he reassured her he would be fine. After decoding some messages on the wireless, the midnight warrior went into the basement where Sonic was looking and inspecting some specialized weaponry.

"Knuckles and Rouge are continuing to comb Soleanna for Alicia Acorn." Shadow told the Blue Blur. "I should get a call from them in an hour or so."

"Wonderful." Sonic replied while closing a shotgun. "By the way, I got a little something for you from the local hospital."

The royal blue hedgehog pointed towards a brown parcel sitting alone on a stool. Curiously, Shadow opened it and gasped a little in surprise. Inside the insulated box, was glass IVs filled with blood. This gesture caught him completely off guard.

"I...I...thank you, Sonic." the ebony male murmured. "However, this is not necessary."

"Don't kid yourself, Shads." Sonic replied. "You need it."

Shadow heavily sighed and reluctantly picked up the parcel. He carried it all the way up to his room upstairs. Amy caught him walking through the hall from her room since her was ajar. She witnessed him go into his room and partly close his door. With her own curiosity peaked, she positioned herself so that she could see into Shadow's room from her own. The cherry-pink female then saw her foster brother pull out one of the glass IVs. Curiosity quickly turned to confusion. What on earth was Shadow doing with something like that? Then the midnight hedgehog brought the IV to his lips and proceeded to sip and suckle down on it like tea or water.

Amy was so shocked and startled that she nearly fell onto her bed as she backed into it. She had never ever seen him do that before and she was at a total loss as to why. Then there was a knock at the front door made her jump and gasp at bit.

"I'll get it!" Sonic called out from downstairs.

While Amy tried to collect herself, the cerulean speedster went to answer the door. Poking his head out, he discovered a package left on the porch by the post man.

"Pay dirt." Sonic grinned.

When he came back inside, he saw Amy with a bonnet and a shawl on trotting down the stairs.

"Hey, where are you off to in a hurry?" the Blue Blur asked.

"I...I'm going to the market." Amy lied partly. "We need some more fresh fruit and milk."

"Well, okay then. Careful out there willya?"

"Yes...of course."

The young flower left without another word. Although she wasn't really planning to go to the grocery market until the next day, Amy just had to get out of the penthouse. She felt sick. And she started to wonder if her eyes betrayed her.

xxxxxxx

Back inside the apartment, Shadow finished the second IV that he picked out of the box. Then he closed it, and took it back down to the basement. Whilst doing so, the crimson splashed warrior noticed that the penthouse had gotten considerably quiet. He couldn't hear Amy's usual humming as she went about her daily chores. A few minutes later, he found Sonic going through the contents of the package that had arrived.

"Smoke grenades?" Shadow inquired as he arched a brow.

"I love these things." Sonic said, looking like a child on Christmas morning. "Two benefits in one. It knocks out your target and allows you a chance of critical attack or escape. Or both."

"And I'm certain you'll make good use of them."

"You bet'chur ass. At least if Knuckles doesn't, I sure as hell will."

"Have you seen Amy?"

"Oh yeah, she left a few minutes ago."

Shadow's ruby eyes widened in surprise.

"What?" he exclaimed. "When did she leave? And where to?!"

"Will you relax?" Sonic retorted. "She just went down to the market for a bit."

"Why would she leave without telling me?"

"Well, she was in a rush."

Shadow rubbed his temples in exasperation. Something must've been wrong, Amy had never done something like that before. The ebony male pulled out his phone and dialed Rouge's number.

xxxxxxx

Later that morning, Shadow and Sonic set out to meet Knuckles in the city. The ruby echidna had gone around a few pharmacies to see if he could find out anything about Cell 67 Unfortunately, his efforts were quite fruitless as no one seemed to know anything about it. However, he did manage to find one pharmacist who had heard something about it, which was one of the reasons why they were all meeting in the first place.

They rendezvoused near a vehicle stop near the said pharmacy.

"Alright, this gentleman mentioned that he had heard something about this 'Cell 67', but only bits and pieces." the crimson-furred echidna said.

"I see." Shadow replied.

"He said a weird looking guy came into his shop for some codeine. And he overheard him muttering something about Cell 67."

"Did he catch the guy's name?" Sonic asked.

"Actually yeah, much to our good fortune. His name is Dr. Finitevus."

"A doctor huh? That's interesting." the cerulean speedster remarked.

"Was there any indication that-"

Suddenly, Shadow's sixth sense alerted him to an intruder. He instantly leapt off the ground, pushing both Sonic and Knuckles aside just as a few projectiles aimed for them hit the ground. Regaining their bearings, the trio saw a female mongoose with pale yellow fur and flowing violet hair perched atop a building. Her right hand was a huge monstrous claw.

"Who the hell is that?!" Sonic sputtered.

"A Bride." Knuckles growled.

"A what who?"

The vampiric maiden smiled warmly at Shadow.

"Hello, Shadow. It's been an awfully long time since we've seen each other hasn't it?"

Shadow wasted no time in attacking her. He had his machete out and swung at the saffron mongoose. But she dodged every attack he made.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Shadow." she purred teasingly. "Where on earth are your manners? That's certainly no way to a-UNNGH!"

Knuckles had managed to take aim with his Colt Python and took a shot at the maid, causing blood to spurt out of her chest.

"EAT COLT SHELLS, BITCH!" the ruby male shouted.

While Sonic had his shot gun at bay, Shadow attempted another go at her, but she quickly recovered and disappeared.

"H-hey, where the hell did she-"

Sonic was cut off when the mongoose suddenly reappeared beside Knuckles looking quite insulted.

"You brute! I do have a name." she exclaimed. "It's Mina McAvoy!"

But apparently, Knuckles didn't really care. He unloaded his gun on her again, but she vanished once more. She reappeared on the roof of another building looking cheerful still.

"Let's play a game, gentlemen." she leered. "Hide and seek!"

Shadow growled in frustration as did Knuckles.

XXXXXXX

At the local grocery market, Amy had gone around and picked up some oranges, and raspberries. In the vegetable section, she got some potatoes. Then she came to a section where fish were lying in large baskets and carts.

"All our fish were caught fresh this morning, ma'am." the booth keeper informed the sakura hedgehog.

Amy glanced at the various trout and salmon and gave some thought about the possibility of getting a large fish for dinner that night. A few minutes later, the cherry-pink female had an unexpected visitor.

"Hey, fancy meeting you here." purred a female voice.

Amy looked up to see whom it was. It turned out to be the snow white bat huntress.

"Oh, hello Miss Rouge." the young flower meekly greeted.

"I was on my way to the penthouse when I caught you shopping. Need any help?"

"Not really. I'm almost done here, but thank you."

Amy was beginning to suspect that Shadow had sent Rouge after her. The ivory bat meanwhile noticed how sullen Amy seemed to be.

"What's wrong, dearie?" Rouge asked. "You look so gloomy today."

Amy frowned and stared at her feet a little.

"Rouge, go you happen to know anything about Shadow that I don't?"

xxxxxxx

Mina playfully leapt from building to building, sending her pursuers racing at her heals. Shadow however, was always two steps behind her. For a Bride, she was really fast. Of course another reason, was that Mina, like her fellow 'sisters', freely fed on mortals while Shadow refused to do so himself. That was why he seldom fed on blood that was made available to him whenever he really needed it, courtesy of Sonic and Knuckles.

Then suddenly, both he and Mina mentally heard the roar of a newborn mouse. The demonic cries seemed to shock the mongoose more than her rival.

'What the-What's this?!' she asked herself.

xxxxxxx

Rouge looked at Amy with pity when the young flower asked her question. It was quite obvious that in spite of how she and Shadow were close, Amy didn't know the real him.

"Well, Amy..." the ivory bat began. "I'm not sure if I'm the right person to answer that."

That made Amy really annoyed.

"But why can't-"

Suddenly the two women jumped to the sound of screaming and an unearthly roar. Amy practically covered her ears in shock.

"Wha...what on earth was that?!" she cried.

Then lunging through the market, knocking over baskets, carts, and booths and crushing their contents, was a chiroptera. Another victim of Cell 67 still retaining some of his 'mortal' parts.

'Damn!' Rouge thought. 'I don't have any heavy duty weapons on me! All I got is a pistol!'

"AMY GET BEHIND ME!" the snow white female barked as she drew her weapon.

The sakura hedgehog was frozen in shock and terror. For a moment, she thought she was stuck in some kind of nightmare. Rouge yanked Amy behind her and kept her aim at the beast.

xxxxxxx

The monster's inhumane cries were now heard by Knuckles and Sonic.

"Aww crap, don't tell me there's another one already!" Sonic exclaimed.

Mina, making a rather perturbed face, vanished from sight, making Shadow ever more frustrated. But he could not ignore the fact that there was now a mouse menacing the public.

"Let's go." the midnight warrior told his partners.

"What about the woman?" Knuckles asked.

"We shall have to worry about her later."

Meanwhile, back at the market, it did not take long for the monster to notice Rouge with her weapon aimed at it. It instantly became angry at her and gave a hair-raising growl. While Rouge was frantically trying to figure out how not to get herself and Amy injured or killed and get out of their predicament, Amy remained stupefied in fear. Her mind completely rendered blank by the monstrosity staring back at her.

Then without warning it let out a huge roar of which the sound waves caused the glass windows of the surrounding buildings to shatter and nearly knocked Rouge and Amy off their feet.

"Amy, are you alright?!" Rouge shouted after regaining her bearings.

The cherry-pink female gave a very weak nod as she was extremely overwhelmed. She froze in place again when the chiroptera started at them. Rouge quickly unloaded her pistol in order to try and stave him off. Unfortunately, the bullets had no effect and the mouse took an angry swipe at the ivory bat, sending her a good three feet away. Amy almost screamed, but it got stuck in her throat. Then the vampiric creature turned its attention to her. Poor Amy only had time to shut her eyes.

"NO!"

Out of the nowhere, Shadow's form came swooping down on the scene like a hawk and wrapped himself around Amy's form. The monster then swung its claws at the ebony hedgehog, ripping into his back and causing massive amounts of blood to spurt and gush out. Amy finally let out a scream as it happened, but thanks to her last minute savior, she was unharmed. Before the vampiric beast could do anymore harm or damage, Knuckles and Sonic finally arrived at the scene. Sonic quickly whipped out his shotgun and emptied its barrels into the mouse while Knuckles went to Rouge's side.

"Rouge! Are you hurt?!" the ruby echidna cried.

"I'm fine!" the female bat rasped. "It's Amy I'm worried about!"

Knuckles looked up and saw Shadow still shielding the young flower and slightly shaking from the injury he received as it took time to instantly heal.

Meanwhile, the blue blur managed to gain the monster's full attention by unloading more shells into it.

"That's right, baby. Come to Papa." Sonic quipped.

Finally, he lured the creature far away enough from everyone else to safely deploy his smoke bombs.

"Pleasant dreams!"

The beast growled and grunted as smoke suddenly blew into its face. Moments later, it fell to the ground in a dizzy state. Shadow, now fully healed, weakly rose to his feet and took out his machete. Amy was still on her knees and completely in a state of shock. The crimson-splashed male then engaged the stricken mouse, which was, despite being under the influence of Sonic's smoke bombs, getting back on its feet. Shadow was not going to grant this creature any mercy. Not after trying to attack Amy. Within mere micro-seconds, its head came clean off, and a moment later, its remains turned to stone. But taking the head of the mouse wasn't enough for the ebony hedgehog as he growled and started slashing and hacking at the monster's remains.

"Whoa! Shads, cool it!" Sonic exclaimed. "It won't get any deader than that!"

The midnight warrior finally collected himself. As the cerulean speedster took out his lighter, to burn the corpse, Shadow turned towards his adoptive little sister who was now lying unconscious in the snow and in Knuckles' arms. Without a thought, Shadow rushed towards them in a frenzy.

"She's alright, she's just fainted." the crimson-furred echidna told him.

Shadow's restrained raged features softened and he knelt down.

"Here, give her to me." he said in a low voice.

Knuckles carefully transferred the stupored Amy into Shadow's arms who subsequently scooped her up.

"Let's get back to the penthouse." the ebony male declared.

The rest of the group then followed suit.

Watching them from afar and from a safe distance, was Mina. Although she failed in shaking down Shadow for her Master, she was more disturbed by the sudden appearance of a chiropteran mouse. Truthfully, the saffron mongoose knew nothing about it, and it was that very notion that bothered her greatly.

'Alicia has some explaining to do...'