Chapter ten

Assassination attempt again?

It was night time in the Underworld and most of the day staff were in bed fast asleep or getting ready for bed. The night guards were on duty and patrolling around the outside and inside the palace. It was reaching ten o'clock and Shadow was planning a bust out in his bedroom. He had pretended to be in bed fast asleep wrapped in his covers, so his clothes weren't seen, for when his parents checked to see that he was indeed in bed an hour ago.

"Ok I reckon mum and dad are asleep now and don't plan to check on me again like the other night." Shadow thought as he threw the covers off him and quietly got out of his bed.

Shadow straightened himself out, slipped his boots on his feet then crept over to his door, opening it slowly and cautiously. He poked his head out first and looked down both ends of the corridor. Smirking as it was clear and quiet, he opened his door all the way and walked out. Shadow closed the door shut and cringed a little when it made a small noise, freezing on the spot for a few seconds. Shadow breathed out in relief as no one heard then began to make his way to one of the passageway entrances.

"This is so easy, I almost wish my parents were still up just for the challenge." Shadow smugly thought as he got to the end of the corridor and looked around the corner first before turning into it.

Seeing it empty he rushed down silently and avoiding being seen by the guards on duty as he went down the open corridor. Shadow slipped into a dark room and rushed over to the wall that would open up. He froze as he heard talking, getting louder as the voices moved closer to his location. Shadow looked around and cursed himself for choosing this passageway for the room was completely empty of places to hide behind.

"Damn it all." Shadow whispered under his breath as he rushed over to the entrance to the room and hid by the wall next to it.

Shadow held his breath and closed his eyes as the two guards stopped by the entrance and looked inside.

"Please don't come in here and just leave." Shadow thought as he could hear them both breathing very close to his position against the wall.

"I'm telling ya Alfie the new guy is all serious and doesn't talk much." The one not called Alfie said as he looked at his fellow night guard.

"Really, you sure Frank? I heard from one of the maids that the guy has a thing for Master Shadow and has been caught staring at the kid quite a few times for long periods until he is caught then he quickly walks away." Alfie replied then the two began to slowly walk away.

"No way, really?" Frank said in shock.

"Yep but the good thing is that Master Shadow hasn't noticed and Lord Collin said he will keep an eye on the guy." Alfie replied back then they both turned a corner.

"Oh My God that is so gross, I'm damn well thirteen and have a guy staring at me in that way…disturbing." Shadow thought as he gave a grossed out expression.

Shaking that thought away, and making a note to keep an eye on the new guy too, he proceeded in getting to the passageway and out of the palace before anyone else decided to show up. Now in the tunnel system Shadow rushed down the tunnels that would lead him to the park area. Shadow exited the tunnel, walking through bushes and passed trees until he reached the pathway near the play park.

"I do love the night time, it is quiet and peaceful." Shadow sighed out in contentment then began to slowly walk in the opposite way of the play area and down a path with trees on either side.

The lampposts were dimly shining down on the path and gently illuminating the way as the time was reaching eleven at night. Shadow smiled as he walked slowly and enjoying his walk. There wasn't a single person around and Shadow was thankful for that. Not only because if he was seen he would be in huge trouble from his parents but also because he just wanted time alone.

"This is nice, shame I have go behind mum and dads backs and sneak out like this. They just don't trust that I will be fine and wont lose it. Sometimes I wish they weren't so overprotected and give me some freedom." Shadow whispered to himself as he walked.

"Hey kid what you doing out at night and all on your own?" A deep voice called out and then the owner of that voice stepped out from beside the tree and stood in Shadows way on the path.

"That would be none of your business sir." Shadow frowned as his walk was disturbed by a brown bear, making him stop walking and stand a little away from him.

"Now that isn't very nice…Master Shadow." Another came out and joined the bear, smirking sinisterly and also a bear himself but with lighter brown fur.

"So you recognised me and in the dark too, impressive I guess. Do you mind moving aside please so I can continue my walk?" Shadow grinned as he spoke in a respectful tone of voice, being polite to try and get them to move.

"Let me have a little think…no!" The lighter bear said then pulled out a hand gun and pointed the barrel at Shadows head.

"You are aiming it wrong." The darker bear complained as he growled in frustration.

Shadow froze in fear as he had never seen a gun but had read about them. What he read was not good and knew this weapon can kill in one shot, especially where the bear was pointing. He needed to think fast and maybe try to distract the two so he could run away.

"Say erm…what is that you have in your hand?" Shadow asked as he decided to play dumb in hopes that he truly wasn't alone with the bears tonight and someone will come pass and help him out.

"What, this old thing? You never seen a gun or heard of one before?" The lighter bear said as he waved the gun a little but kept it pointed at Shadows head.

"Y-yeah that." Shadow nervously said as he gulped when the bear carelessly waved it while it was pointing right at him.

"Will you be careful with that thing or I'm taking over and killing the little brat muself. We already got lucky he was out tonight while we patrolled the park just in case and you are going to blow it." The darker one growled at the carelessness of the other.

"Ok, you are such a woman sometimes. This is called a gun and you will very quickly learn what it can do." The lighter one said with a sinister smirk, cocking the gun and getting ready to pull the trigger.

Shadow hitched a breath and widened his eyes in pure fear as he thought this was the end of him. He began to shake a little as he watched the bear holding the gun, pointed at his head, slowly put a little more pressure on the trigger.

"Oh God I'm going to die and at thirteen, damn it all." Shadow thought as he hoped it wouldn't be painful and it would be quick.

"W-why are you doing this for?" Shadow fearfully asked as he wanted to know why he had to die before actually dying, he figured he was at least owed that much.

"You are nothing by a mistake, damaged goods that should never have been born. You are contaminated with that gift and need to be eliminated from existence. For the sake of the vampire race's survival and free of your future reign we are ending you now before things get ugly and chaotic." The darker bear said with venom in his voice, giving Shadow a disgusted look.

"Hey you there, what are you both doing?" A passer by called out then rushed over when he saw the bear point a gun at a child.

"Shit hurry up and pull the damn trigger." The dark bear quickly said.

Shadow slowly turned his head slight and watched the human run then tackled the one not holding the gun. The bear fell and lightly bumped into the gun holder, making him change his aiming. The gun went off by accident and the bullet went flying at Shadow. Shadow found he couldn't move and was glued in place then the bullet hit flesh.

"Ahhh god damn it, that damn well hurts!" Shadow shouted out as the bullet hit his upper arm/shoulder area and was now imbedded into his bone.

Shadow hissed as he quickly grabbed his arm and tried to stop the bleeding. He knew it wont until the bullet was removed but luckily the two bears had ran off when the gun was fired, leaving Shadow and the passer-by alone. The guy that tackled one of the bares was back on his feet and had rushed over to Shadow with worry for he recognised the hedgehogs voice.

"Master Shadow let me have a look at your wound please." The man asked as he tried to keep a calm voice.

Shadow nodded then slowly removed his blooded hand to show the man his gun wound. Blood poured out of the bullet hole and showing no signs of stopping. The man frowned as he inspected the wound.

"You are going to need to go to the hospital, someone is going to have to remove that bullet so your healing process can start. If it isn't removed then you can run the risk of bleeding to death." The man seriously said then stood up straight.

"Thank you for helping me." Shadow said with gratitude while also trying to not think of how much his arm is hurting or about the blood flowing out and down his arm.

Shadow recovered his wound and hissed when pain shot down his arm. He knew he needed to put pressure on the wound to slow down the bleeding but did not mean to put that much pressure on it. The man gave Shadow a sympathetic look then began to make a portal to the hospital. When it was made the man gently wrapped an arm around Shadow and guided the young hedgehog into the portal with himself.

"I'm in so much trouble, dad is going to be so mad at me for this. Mum's going to have me watched every moment of every day now…oh the Gods must be punishing me for sneaking out at night." Shadow thought as he and the stranger that helped him walked out of the portal and into the hospital.

Suddenly to Shadow, the gun wound and what happened was not so scary, having his parents finding out he snuck out again was way more terrifying to him now.

"I am so dead when they get that phone call to say I'm here with a gun shot wound that needs treating. Why do I get myself into these situations?" Shadows next thought was when he and the human he was with walked up to the front desk.

"Good evening Miss but we are in need of urgent assistance. Master Shadow was attacked in the park by two large men and one shot him, as you can see." The man politely said in a calm voice.

"Do you think there is the possibility that someone could just patch me up and not inform my parents of this?" Shadow nervously asked as he looked at the rabbit receptionist, begging to her with his eyes to say yes of course.

"Oh dear God…right I'll page Dr Lynx right away." The rabbit said with panic and quickly got her pager out to inform Dr Lynx, completely ignoring Shadows hope filled request.

"I am in so much trouble." Shadow sighed as he looked down to the floor and into the blood puddle that rippled when a drop fell into it.

"I'm sure your parents will be more thankful to see you are alive than anything. Although I am sure you do now realise it wasn't very smart to sneak out by yourself." The man gently said as he looked down at Shadow.

"Yeah I know, erm what's your name?" Shadow sighed again then asked his question as he moved his head up to look at the one who saved his life.

"It's Rubin. Yes I know very unusual, ah here comes Dr Lynx." Rubin smiled at Shadow then noticed the doctor run towards them both.

"Janet inform Master Shadow's parents of this instant and assure them that their son is fine and being treated. Then I want you to call the police to come down, they will need to investigate this further. Please sir could you stay here, the police will want to talk to you." Dr Lynx said in a serious tone then when he was done, put a hand on Shadows back and guided him gently into a room.

"Thank you again for helping me and saving my life, maybe you could save me from my parents too." Shadow called back as he looked behind him at the human, joking a little with a anxious smile.

"You will be fine and good bye." Rubin smiled back with a slight bow of his head then took a seat in the waiting room.

Shadow turned back around and took in a deep breath as he was guided into an empty hospital room and over to the bed. Dr lynx assisted Shadow to sit on the edge of the bed and motioned the young hedgehog to remove his hand from the bleeding wound.

"Now Master Shadow, what was you doing out at this time of night?" Dr Lynx asked with a deep frown while examining the bullet wound with his eyes and putting on a pair of gloves at the same time.

"I wont lie to you, I know I shouldn't be out during the night by myself. Sometimes being at home can be a little suffocating and I just needed some time away. I swear I had no idea I was going to get shot and thought I will be back way before anyone realised I wasn't in bed." Shadow replied as he looked at his wound.

"Well I do hope you now realise this was a very irresponsible move to make, you could have been killed if someone didn't come along and intervene." Dr Lynx seriously said then moved his glove covered hands towards the wound and gently moved some blooded fur away so he could see the hole better.

"Yes and this is completely all down to me and my stupidity. It would never have happened if I just stayed home." Shadow sighed as yes he knew it was risky going out at night knowing he has had his life threatened before but simply ignored it and went out regardless.

"You are going to have to go to theatre and have the bullet removed." Dr Lynx said as he stood up straight and removed his blood covered gloves.

"Oh goody." Shadow thought but decided to not voice his displeasure.

Dr Lynx paged a nurse to come and prepare Shadow for surgery then went over to a cupboard to cover the wound to try and get the bleeding to slow down and not get everywhere as they take Shadow down to operate.

An hour later Shadow was being wheeled out of surgery while lying on the bed. His wound was patched up with stitches that would fall out once the wound was healed over. Collin and Emily were waiting in Shadows hospital room with anxious expressions and when Shadow was wheeled inside they sighed in relief that their son was doing alright. A nurse set up a drip then left the room. Dr Lynx entered with a faint smile and stood in front of the royals. He bowed his head then straightened up.

"Master Shadow is fine and his wound will be fully healed by tomorrow nigh. The bullet was embedded into his bone but no permanent damage was done. The bone never shattered which is very good news although it is cracked a little from the force of the bullet hitting his bone. He is a very luck hedgehog in that sense for it could have been far worse. He did lose a fair amount of blood and will be a little weak when he comes around from the sedation. We would like to keep him over night so we can monitor him and see if he needs another bag for the drip." Dr Lynx explained with a semi serious tone, every now and then glancing over at Shadow asleep on the bed.

"Thank you so much Dr Lynx for everything." Emily said in a relieving tone, very happy to hear her son was going to be fine, well until she and Collin gets him back home that is.

"The police would like to speak to Master Shadow before you take him home tomorrow morning and they will come see him when he awake…My apologies I have to go but please call if you both require anything." Dr Lynx said then was paged and had to leave to attend to another patient, closing the door after walking out.

"Oh he is in so much trouble when we take him home." Collin said with anger in his voice as he looked at Shadow.

"I say a constant escort is a start, he will surly dislike that." Emily said as she crossed her arms and also looking at her sleeping son.

"But despite how angry I am with him, I'm so relieved he is alright. Those men could have…anyway I am so thankful Rubin came along when he did." Collin sighed as he looked at his wife with slight sadness in his eyes.

He and Emily personally thanked their son's saviour after the police were done questioning him in the empty waiting room near where they were.

"I know dear." Emily faintly smiled and moved closer to hug her husband.

Morning finally came around and Shadow was slowly beginning to wake up. He opened his eyes and looked around the room slowly. He gulped nervously at seeing his father asleep in the room on a cushioned chair next to him and was silently cursing his stupid actions in sneaking out that late or early, depending how you look at it. Shadow stiffened up as he watched his father move then relaxed as Collin settled back down again.

"Ok if I am really, really quiet then he wont wake up for another half an hour or so. That will give me plenty of time to come up with some sort of excuse as to why I was out and not in bed." Shadow thought as he very carefully sat up and shuffled back a little so his back was resting up against the pillows, the drip no longer attached to him.

Unfortunately for Shadow a Doctor came into the room with a nurse seconds after he moved and woke Collin up in the process. Colin stretched up and soon relaxed himself then looked over at his nervous looking son. Collin gave Shadow a look that said, 'just you wait until we get back home, you are in so much trouble young man'.

"Good morning my Lord and it is good to see you awake and sitting up Master Shadow. Lets have a little look at that wound shall we?" Dr Lynx smiled warmly as he motioned the nurse to remove the dressing so he could inspect it before giving Shadow the all clear to go home.

When the nurse finished with her task Dr lynx came closer and gave the closed wound a good inspection before smiling in satisfaction.

"It is healing nicely but I wouldn't lift anything heavy for a few days or do anything drastic. The bone could still be healing and any further damages will result in permanent damage." Dr Lynx said with a semi firm voice towards Shadow.

"So I can go home?" Shadow asked with drooped ears as he knew the quicker he was home the quicker he will have to face his punishment he was sure his parents were going to dish out.

"Great I get punished for almost being killed but I guess it wouldn't have happened if I just stayed home." Shadow thought as he looked down to his sheet covered lap.

"I shouldn't have to hide at home though and should be allowed to go out without being attacked." Shadows next thought was and wasn't paying attention to the adults talking in the room.

"Shadow are you listening?" Collin groaned as he could see that his son was not and was getting frustrated.

"Hmmm? Oh right I'm going home then yeah?" Shadow said with a forced smile as he looked up at his father.

"No the police need to have a word with you first then we are going home. Dr Lynx has just left to tell them we are ready for that chat." Collin shook his head with a heavy sigh.

"Oh." Shadow muttered and inwardly sighed in relief as he wasn't going home just yet.

It took almost two hours to talk to the police and that was only because Shadow was stalling to avoid going home. Yes he knew he would eventually but he also knew his mother was waiting for him with probably the worst punishment ever to be invented. Right now Shadow was standing beside his father by the front desk while Collin filled out some paperwork.

"Please don't let my punishment be a months cleaning or a damn escort." Shadow thought as he anxiously waited to leave the hospital.

After five more minutes they two silently walked out of the hospital and through a portal Collin had made. Collin took his sons hand and led the way, never dropping his sons hand as they left the portal and walked into the palace through the gardens entrance. Emily was standing there with arms crossed and not at all looking happy at her son.

"Right as much as I am absolutely relieved to see you are fine but you will be punished for sneaking out alone during the night. I have organised an escort to be with you for three months and he is waiting for you in the lounge. I advise you do not start or cause trouble for him or it will be longer and more trouble will come your way." Emily firmly said with a deadly serious expression as she looked at her very sorry looking son, all standing in the corridor by the garden entrance.

"The guards all around are also going to keep a sharp eye on your movements and there will be someone stationed outside your bedroom door every night until I see fit. Try to sneak out again and there will be hell for you until you are old enough to rule after me. You will go to your room at seven every evening and someone will get you up at seven in the morning. I do not want to hear any complaining from you during these three months for like your mother said, it will be extended." Collin said as he gave Shadow the same expressions and tones as his wife.

"I just wish to say that I am very sorry and I honestly did not know things were going to end up like they did. You will have no trouble from me for this is all my fault for being so stupid and irresponsible." Shadow sighed with drooped ears and looking down to the ground with apologetic features, hating the oncoming three months of having someone constantly being with him wherever he goes.

"Now lets just go get some breakfast and try to learn from all of this ok." Collin said with a much more softer voice and guided his son to the dining room by the hand.

"I'll see you both after breakfast in the lounge, I'm going to give Samuel a run down of what to expect being Shadows escort." Emily called out with a more cheerful voice then walked off in the opposite direction.

It is safe to sat Shadow will not be sneaking out during the night ever again, well while he was still only a child.

(Thanks for reading and sorry it took so long to update but there it is. Hope all who are reading this is still enjoying the story and any comments are welcomed...)