Chapter 7: Brief encounters with Death

The sun fell below the horizon at 6:46 PM. Dusk settled exactly thirty minutes later.

Shadow strolled past Club Rouge, glancing through one of its tinted windows at the fearless club-hoppers inside. He turned away, continuing down the street in an amble, wondering if Rouge knew that her club had played host to a trio of vampires. There could be more inside, partying away with the living, sizing up and dancing with their next meals...

Speaking of which, he admitted that he needed to find someone in a dark alley. He thought Blair would have popped up already; the annoying kid seemed intent on hanging around him, but at least, with him, it wasn't like a whole person was dying for just one bite.

"Hey, faker!"

The hog cringed at the nasally voice, his ears flicking about as a certain pair of footfalls increased in volume behind him. Shadow's body turned against his will, until he and his blue counterpart faced each other.

"Hedgehog," he mumbled, in acknowledgment of Sonic's presence. "Unless you found those guys we're looking for-"

"Nope!"

"-Then please go play in traffic."

"I did that on the way here," the cobalt hero admitted, scratching his head and looking up in thought. Shadow sighed and turned back the way he had been going, only to again freeze in his tracks.

"..."

"I can't believe clubs are closing down over vampires!" The iguana grumbled, hands behind his head. "It's back to Club Rouge."

"We should start our own club," one of his cronies, a gecko, mused. "You know. Just for vampires?"

"Wow, that's a stupid marketing campaign: tell the whole city where the bloodsuckers hang!"

"I'd go there," the third traveler, a gila monster, added in. "Not."

The iguana rolled his eyes as the two began to bicker, nearing a crosswalk and glancing down the connected sidewalk. His gaze fell upon the surprised expression of the black hedgehog he'd almost gone to jail fighting.

"Eh? Isn't that... that guy, Roderick?" The gecko asked, tail flicking back and forth. The iguana didn't reply, his attention on the hedgehog, whose expression had switched from surprised to infuriated.

Shadow glared at the lizard, and both shot off, back the way the trio had come. Sonic followed a second later, before skidding to a halt, pausing, and backtracking, coming to stop in front of the other two lizards.

"You're vampires too, aren't you?" He snickered, a wide, mischievous grin appearing at the teens' nervous glances to each other. Without turning back to him, they sneered and hissed, teeth growing into formidable fangs. The two lunged, their actions easily dodged as the blue speed demon somersaulted over their heads. "Alright! You guys are fast; let's dance!"

Roderick bolted into the first alley he came across, his dark pursuer close on his tail. The iguana spun around before he had even stopped, successfully skidding backwards to face the hedgehog.

"Hey, what's your-" The green iguana's inquisition was cut short as a black-and-red, spike-covered ball smashed into his chest. The two tumbled down the alley at high speeds, only coming to a halt when the two slammed into a chain-link fence.

"What's my problem? Is that what you were going to say?" Shadow hissed, large canines glinting. "You bit me!"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!"

The iguana's eyes had grown large. He jumped to his feet, or attempted to; Shadow's hand grasped his scaly neck and slammed him right back onto ground.

"No! You're not going anywhere!" He let go of his neck, instead grabbing the iguana's shoulder and wrenching him forward to deliver a fatal and fateful bite. Roderick screamed, grabbing his would-be-murderer's quill. He twisted his senseless opponent's head to the side, successfully throwing the vengeful hedgehog past him. Shadow's face crashed into the chain-link fence, both fangs wrapping around the metal wire, and the lizard jumped to his feet, his form shrinking and shifting into that of a ragged raven.

Blinded by pure hatred, Shadow all but shrieked, the enraged cry causing window panes to shatter and rain into the alley. Caught on the metal fence and hearing the telltale beating of wings, he knew his target was escaping, and that thought further maddened him into thrashing about. He was free in a matter of seconds, slamming onto his back from the force of his last pull. The hedgehog jumped back onto his feet, feeling the crushing weight of shifting into his smaller avian form; however, quicker than he switched, he returned to his usual self, head and eyes snapping around in search of the lizard.

The skies were empty.

He couldn't scream, curse, or form words at all. His body trembled with a rage that refused to die down. The hedgehog stood in the dark alley, eyes blazing, ears burning, back shivering. A cold, slimey something filled his mouth, until he spat out the foul, bitter substance and glared at it as if it were the the cause of his failure. As his mouth began to fill again, the feeling accompanied by a painful throbbing under his snout, he realized that the dark liquid was his own, half congealed blood.

His fangs were lying on the ground, on the other side of the fence. Shadow stared at the pearly teeth, both crowed by a bit of flesh from his gums and lying in small, crimson pools.

The hedgehog spat out another mouthful of blood and backed out of the alley.

His aim was perfect; Sonic's homing attack hit dead on, throwing the gecko into a street light, which bent from the force of the collision. The gila monster had not yet dislodged himself from the car-door window he'd been launched into.

"That was boring," he chuckled, looking between the two monsters. His ears flicked, and he looked to the side to see Tails landing on the sidewalk. The fox glanced at and backed away from the rocking car, it's stuck half-occupant hissing madly. "You missed it!"

The fox stared into the vehicle, before his tails straightened in surprise.

"That's one of the guys Shadow described!"

"Yeah; the other one's in that pole," Sonic laughed. "Shadow chased down the last guy."

Police sirens could be heard in the distance. Naturally, the precinct was fashionably late. Tails glanced in the direction of the growing noise, before turning to his friend.

"Where is Shadow?"

"Right there!"

Indeed, the hedgehog in question could be seen trudging back down the street. He spat out more blood and wiped his mouth with the back of glove. Sonic and Tails traded questioning looks as their friend drew closer.

"What? Did he punch you again?" Sonic asked, his usual cocky smirk on his face. "You've got to move faster, faker!"

"Shut up," Shadow replied, his voice heavy. He passed the two, not even sparing a glance their way. "I didn't catch him."

He finally stopped his paces, and all three heroes looked forward as a few cop cars finally turned onto the street, a few blocks down. The vehicles were laden with floodlights, which shined brightly even from their far-off positions.

In the cars' distant glares, Shadow's eyes began to burn and blur. His fur charred, his skin became painfully hot, and the hedgehog came to a quick conclusion as to the source of his discomfort. Without any further thought, he turned on a heel and shot down the road, away from the cars covered in UV light.

"Bye!" Sonic shouted, long after his rival had disappeared. "See you!"

Tails frowned, his nose twitching as the unique scent of charcoal filled his nostrils. He nearly jumped out of his skin as the gila monster screeched, shattering his vehicular cell's windows. In the light of the oncoming squad cars, Tails and Sonic could see smoke rising off of the shrieking, writhing figure and within moments, he and his gecko friend erupted into thrashing balls of flame. The illuminated cars braked quickly, bathing the burning figures in the bright, purging light. The officers never stepped out of their cars; as the gila monster's coals caught onto the sedan that entombed them, the squad cars continued down the street,

"That can't be healthy," came Sonic's blunt quip as the hedgehog shielded his eyes from the fading lights and growing fires.

Tails own eyes traveled to his companion, but he soon gazed back toward the glowing blazes on either side of the street.

"Sonic, do you think that's it's right to destroy the vampires?" He began, ears flattening slightly. " At least, like this? Just burning them to death?"

The speed demon stayed quiet, crossing his arms and staring forward. Tails couldn't tell whether his friend was thinking, or if he hadn't heard the question.

"I just mean," he continued. "There's got to be something wrong with this. When I said 'stop the vampires,' I didn't mean... this."

The hedgehog remained silent, but he did manage to turn his head and smirk at the young fox. The small smile completed an optimistic expression, but the hedgehog gave a thumbs up to emphasize his mood. The ambivalent response only caused the young fox to raise his brows and cock his head, but before he could question the speedy hero further, said hedgehog shot off, his tailwind dragging a few orange tongues of the flames with him. Tails only sighed, his frustrated expression emphasized by the flickering glow of the fires. He couldn't understand what his friend could possibly be thinking, and, per usual, that worried him to no end. If even Sonic didn't know what to make of the situation- if the cheery joker couldn't even make a carefree quip- then things were pretty serious.

The fox turned, heading in the direction Shadow had come from, lost in thought as to how exactly to solve Station Square's latest crisis. The vulpine inventor stared down at the sidewalk, his eyes eventually catching on a burgundy splotch of old blood on the pavement. He froze, taking a moment to confirm that the lumpy substance was in fact sanguine in nature: it definitely was, and the kit quickly recalled Shadow's injury. He continued his trek down the concrete, soon coming across another splash of the clotted liquid. This time, Tails lifted his gaze from the pavement and looked around; he found himself and the crimson evidence to be in front of an alley. It was dark and empty, illuminated only at its mouth by the lights of the main street.

Shadow must have chased the vampire in there, he thought to himself, leaning toward the gaping mouth of the back street, unable to get his feet to step forward. Eventually, he willed himself to enter. One heavy foot lifted and glided over the sidewalk, hovering over the broken asphalt of the lane before setting down.

He nearly jumped out of his skin as something cawed, its gravely voice echoing down the narrow gap. Tails looked around for the source of the cry, and found it to be a small raven sitting on a fire escape. The bird peered down at him, it's light blue eyes fixed intently on his. Again, it cawed, flapping its wings frantically before ascending to another level of the wrought-iron stairwell. Tails' eyes followed the bird toward the overcast sky, but they quickly fixated on a more interesting subject; perched on the parapet of one bordering building was a small flock of the black birds.

A chill ran down the fox's spine as he gazed at the five or six avians. His ears folded back and fur rose as they all stared back, some leaning forward as if ready to drop right on top of him. His attention snapped back to the first bird, which had cawed again, and slowly removed his foot from the alleyway.

It was a sudden clap of thunder that really made the fox yelp and take off down the street, his haste quickened by a cacophony of screaming birds behind him. He looked back and saw the frightening ravens take off from their perch, each taking turns ramming into and battering the one that had cried first. He turned his attention forward with another yelp at a second roll of thunder, making a bee-line for the train. He was blissfully unaware of his narrow escape from a gruesome end.