Shade and a Vampire Chapter 13
Hi everybody. Sorry again for the late update. Things have been slow over Christmas, and with all the family round there was no time to sneak away and write. Anyway, hope you enjoy this one.
Discaimer: I do not own Rosario+Vampire
Gabriel opened the door of his strangely undamaged car and stepped out into cool night air of the destroyed arena. His face was grim.
"I would never associate myself with Satan-spawn such as yourself." The words were filled with hatred and disgust. He turned his head, and spat onto the ground beside him.
"You would have to in a battle. Remember the battle of Chrystenthall a few years back? That was me."
Gabriel narrowed his eyes.
"The Archfiend… No wonder the lord, wise and exalted is he, sent me to vanquish you." He spat on the ground again. Shade rolled his eyes, and sighed.
"God…" Gabriel's face contorted with rage. "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK THE NAME OF THE LORD IN VAIN!" he yelled. He spat on the floor with such vigour that it made a small crater.
Shade looked down at the ever-expanding puddle.
"Is that really necessary?" he asked.
"YES!" came the reply. Gabriel was so angry now, that his earthly form was fraying at the edges. Small patches of skin spontaneously combusted, beams of golden light shining out of the holes.
Shade paid no attention to it, and carried on.
"Look, I'm not here to cause trouble. I…"
"Trouble? Trouble!" interrupted Gabriel. "Look around you!"
"…just have some unfinished business."
"It will stay unfinished." Gabriel spat and both men reached for their knives.
Half a second later, the air was full of pure destruction.
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The three dark lords stumbled out of the portal, and watched it snap shut behind them. Looking around, they found themselves in a dark alleyway, lit by a meagre flickering lamppost. The night air was cool and crisp, and much welcomed by the three after a decade of imprisonment. They savoured the moment, only to be snapped back into reality by the click of a gun's safety coming off.
A man had silently opened a door on the end of the alley, and was now holding the weapon in trembling hands, pointed at the three newcomers. Both parties stood for a moment, until a hand came out of the gloom in behind the doorway, patting the man on the shoulder.
"It's all right," said a female voice. "They're friendlies." The man grunted and went back inside, muttering something about weirdos popping up all over the place these days.
The woman, strongly built with vivid orange hair, stepped out into the half-light.
"I know you could have taken him, but Id rather you didn't kill my men. Or blow up the whole block for that matter. Wow, it sure is a surprise to see you here. Guess that guy came for you too, eh?"
The Headmaster started: "How did you…"
"We can talk about that later. Anyway, Headmaster, Stepmother, and pervy old Chinese guy, welcome to the resistance."
Koko ushered them in, through corridors lit by dim incandescent bulbs and filled with rough, war-worn, gun-toting people, human and monster alike. Akasha tried to talk more about what had happened, but Koko was having none of it.
"We can all talk about this together."
Eventually, they came to a large, bare, whitewashed bunkhouse, where all the former inmates of Hellhole prison were gathered. Everyone started talking at once, gleeful in reunion. Moka jumped for her mother, pulling her into a bone-breaking hug that would have crushed a normal person's bones to powder. Akasha returned the hug, tears in her eyes to be reunited after so long. The last one had been so short…
"Ah-hem." Koko interrupted. Everybody looked up. "I'm sorry if I seem kind of… cold, but years of leading a military unit will do that to a person. Anyway, you lot can get right back to all this after someone answers this question." Everyone stood in silence.
Koko sighed. "Who was that guy?! The guy who waltzed right in to my fortified base, knocked out every single one of my soldiers, blocked Batty with one finger, gave me the plans for the prison assault, showed up and did it all himself, then freed three of the most powerful people on the planet from the most secure cell ever made!" She stood there, breathless, staring at blank faces, trying to avoid her gaze.
"No one knows…" She sighed heavily, and sat down on a bed, defeated. Then, a small smile began to play its way across her face. "Although… I guess we should be glad he's on our side."
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Shade and Gabriel moved faster than the eye could follow, two blades flashing past one another, sending a shower of sparks flying every time they met. The two beings fought with unmatched strength and ferocity, the likes of which had not been seen on earth for millennia. The battle had been going for half an hour, and neither combatant was tiring.
Gabriel lunged, then feinted, swinging his knife with deadly precision. Shade brought his blade to meet it, angling the sparks to spray into Gabriel's eyes. The seraph roared and drew away, opening his eyes just in time to dodge a black thunderbolt conjured from Shade's hand. He swung his blade, a scythe of heavenly light flying from the tip, flying toward Shade, who punched the ground, out of which erupted a wall of black stone. The wall shattered under impact, but Shade had vanished. Gabriel yelled:
"Show yourself, you cowardly Imp!"… Only silence replied. He took a deep breath, reaching out to the world around him… Suddenly, a great malevolent presence appeared behind him. Moving fast… Wait… No… Not malevolent… Something else…
Nevertheless, it was his enemy. He span to block the incoming strike… but was too late. Shade flicked the knife out of his hands, sending it flying into one of the last walls left standing, where it impaled itself and began to blister the stone.
Shade kicked Gabriel in the chest, knocking him to the floor. Grabbing his vest, shade lifted him as if he weighed little more than a paperclip. Gabriel struggled, to no avail. His enemy's knife was poised to plunge into his heart, scattering his essence between the dimensions, never to return… He looked sternly into the victor's eyes. He had lost, but he was not weak.
But then… A flicker of weakness crossed Shade's face. He swung the knife, not towards the heart, but across the neck. Golden fluid spurted from the stump of a neck, and both parts fell to the ground.
Shade straightened up, sheathed his knife, and began to change into his sealed form. It still wasn't over. Not by a long shot. He had spared him… Why? He was the general of the legions of hell, an abomination made flesh… How could something as weak as mercy even be known to him, let alone be present?
He sighed, and his transformation completed itself. His body seemed to fold into the air, and then the arena was still. All that remained was ravaged stone walls, crumbling to dust after the night's events, and a corpse, twitching in a puddle of golden fluid.
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Shade reappeared in the dimly lit streets of one of the new monster cities. He had a few hours before dawn broke. What could he do in that time…?
A small man scurried past him, clutching a pile of papers in his arms. He went up to a nearby wall, spat some sort of sticky substance onto it, then began to apply the posters. He finished, then seemed to notice Shade.
"Didn't believe it at first…"he muttered. "Tings is going to get even worse round here soon, you believe me…" He scurried off down the street, and Shade walked up to the posters.
They held pictures of all the inmates of Hellhole prison and the majority of the soldiers who had sprung them free, as well as a large reward.
Shade tore down the posters, peeled off the adhesive, rolled up the posters and tucked them under his arm.
He could make himself useful, that's what.
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The current door guard at Koko's fortified outpost was taking a nap, when suddenly, he heard an enormous noise from the door. He jumped to his feet, drew his gun, and opened the door. The alleyway was deserted. He looked down, and saw a roll of papers. He picked them up and opened them. His eyes went wide.
Two minutes later, Koko and her new recruits were disturbed by the man, out of breath and clutching the papers. Koko opened them, and swore.
"Shit. We wont be able to go anywhere near the centre of town any more. How are we going to resupply?" She saw a small note scrawled at the bottom of one of the papers. It read: "NOT EVERYONE. Shade."
"Not everyone…" She thought.
At the back of the room, Akasha opened the small bundle of cloth given to her by their rescuer. She spoke up.
"Not everyone." In her hands was a small metal cross, with a blood red gem in the center. One person was not on those posters. Outer Moka.
There. Hope you enjoyed it, cos it was difficult to write. Bye!
Oh, and a quick shout out to animecollecter: please clarify on your last review. Did you mean that the chapter was… or that you were concerned for shade?
Theonewhodidnotdoit leaves the scene…