Haunted

Chapter 13

Lana looked up from the book she was reading and sighed in annoyance. "What do you want, Scott?" she asked, giving him an annoyed glare as he leaned against the doorframe of the library.

"There is no way you're not a mutant." He said.

She sighed again. They'd had this conversation multiple times a day since the incident in Canada. It didn't help that her wounds wouldn't heal, for some reason. "We have had this talk many times and my response will never change. I am not a mutant."

Scott looked frustrated. "How can you survive three holes in your lungs, a severed spine, and that amount of blood loss and still claim to be human?"

She groaned and placed her palm against her forehead. "I never said I was human." She said, a little louder than she wanted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Scott asked, silently happy that she accidentally let something slip.

"What is what supposed to mean?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. Scott sighed and went to tell the Professor what she had said.

"Not human?" Xavier asked, steepling his fingers and frowning in thought. "That gives us something to work with. Physical characteristics aren't getting us very far."

"What about the words on her knife? Have you gotten very far with that?"

"Unfortunately, no. All I could find is the translation."

"Lana, wait!"

They both turned to see Lana run past the doorway and outside, Kurt hot on her trail. "Lana!"

She completely ignored him, heading straight for the tree line and out of sight. Kurt cursed and moved to go after her, but a mental call from the Professor stopped him. He sighed and teleported to the Professor's study where everyone had gathered after hearing the commotion. "What happened, Kurt?" Xavier asked.

"I don't know." He said. "We were just talking when she suddenly went rigid. Next thing I know she's in full battle mode and running for the door. It was weird. The moment she hit the trees, it was like she disappeared."

The Prof nodded before turning to Logan. "Take Ororo and Jean with you and find her. I'm worried about her injuries."

Logan nodded and motioned for the two females to follow him

The three X-men searched the woods, trying their best to find Lana but to no avail. Logan couldn't even find a scent trail. "I don't get it." Jean said. "It's like she dropped off the face of the-" Logan cut her off by tackling her to dodge a white blur that came at them. The three X men turned and stared in horror at the creature in front of them. Its skin was white as snow and fangs that were almost as long as Logan's claws. It had two bull like horns that were yellow in color protruding from its temples and elfin ears. Two tails whipped behind it, yellow fluff on the ends. Its appendages were covered in spikey, armor like scales that pointed into claws at the ends of each digit. The scales also covered it's nether regions from the waist to the knees. It had leathery bat wings folded against its back. The wings, scales and hair on its head were the same color yellow as its horns. But what surprised them the most was its eyes. They were a hauntingly familiar shade of bright orange with reptilian slits for pupils.

The creature grinned a maniacal grin and charged again, only this time aiming for Logan.

But, before Logan could react, another creature charged through the trees, smashing into the white and yellow one. This one was similar yet completely different. While the white one was obviously male, this one was female. Its skin was dark purple and its fangs were a little shorter than the others, but they seemed sharper. Her scales were black and covered her hands up to her elbows and her feet up to her knees. The scales also covered her breasts and her nether region, giving the look of a bikini. Her horns looked more like a ram than a bull and her hair was longer, both the same black as her scales. She had four black wings instead of the white one's two and five tails that were thin and segmented with scorpion like barbs at the ends. Its eyes were the same as the white one's, but something about them was different. The white one's eyes were maniacal and untamed while the female's eyes were cool and calculating.

The two snarled at each other, the purple one standing between the white one and the X men. The white one grinned again before charging, the purple one waiting until the last second to move out of the way. Purple grabbed White's arm as he passed, twisting it behind his back before using her other hand to slam his head into the ground. White used his tails to fling Purple away, but she did a flip and landed on all fours. The two glared at each other before White charged again. Purple waited until the last second before launching herself at White, knocking him to the ground where the fight became more feral. The two creatures bit, scratched, snarled and, in Purple's case, stabbed with her tails. The sounds coming from the fight were similar to that one would hear when two Tom cats fought. It was a terrible sound. Blood splattered all over the trees and the grass, the X men having retreated far enough away that they wouldn't get hit. The scene was similar to a train wreck, too gruesome to look at but impossible to look away from.

Purple managed to trap White's arm behind his back and she pulled. There was an audible snap that made the X men flinch and White howl in pain. White managed to get away and retreated into the forest, Purple chasing after him. The X men didn't dare follow, but they didn't have to. They heard another howl of pain that was cut short by a nightmarish snarl and then the sound of flesh being ripped apart. Finally, they heard nothing.

Nobody spoke for several moments. "The hell was that?" Logan mumbled. Not taking his eyes from where the two creatures disappeared. The two women didn't answer, to shocked to form coherent sentences if they tried.

A rustling from the bushes caused them to put there guard up. Purple stumbled through the foliage on all fours, bruised and covered in blood, but obviously the victor. She swayed slightly before regaining her balance momentarily. She shook her head once before noticing the three people watching her. She sorted at them and bounded into the trees, immediately disappearing into the shadows.

The three looked at each other before unanimously deciding to redouble their efforts to find Lana. They were worried that in her wounded state, she might have fallen victim to one of these creatures.

They didn't have to look long, for not even five minutes after they started looking again did Xavier contact them telepathically saying that not only had Lana returned to the mansion but all her wounds were healed as well.

The three got back to see Lana surrounded by everyone and getting asked hundreds of questions a minute. She sat there, her arms crossed and an annoyed look on her face until she saw Logan and the others. "Did you hear it?" she asked before they could say anything. They gave her an odd look. "It sounded like two animals fighting. Did you hear it?"

"We more than heard it, kid." Logan said, crossing his arms. "We witnessed it."

Her eyes widened and changed color, realization hitting the three like a ton of bricks. That was why the creatures' eyes looked so familiar. They were the same as Lana's. Logan told the others what he, Jean and Ororo saw in great detail. The entire time, Lana rubbed her wristband, looking like she was thinking about something. "I'm worried." Xavier said. "If there is a potential threat out in the woods, then we need to find it."

"What if it's a mutant?" Kitty asked.

"Then Cerebro would have picked it up. This creature isn't human."

"Whatever it is, the purple one was protecting us." Jean said. "It didn't attack us at all."

"Be that as it may, I'd like to know more about it before we decide what course of action we should take."

They heard a growl and all heads turned to Lana, who had removed her wristband and was now glaring at the mark on her wrist. "What is it about that mark?" Rouge yelled. "Why is it such a big deal?"

Lana's orange eyes rested on Rouge and the girl in question gasped. There was so much pain behind those eyes, so much guilt and sadness, but also anger and a need for vengeance. "It is so that I will not forget." She said.

"Forget what?" Kitty asked.

Lana's gaze shifted to Kitty before giving her a small, sad smile and walking out of the room. "I just don't get her." Kitty said, crossing her arms. "Why does she feel like she has to be so secretive?"

"Because she wants to protect us." Jean responded, looking at Kitty.

"We don't need protecting."

"If Svetlana believes that we need protecting, then chances are that we do." Ororo said. "She has never underestimated or overestimated us. She knows out strengths and weaknesses. If she thinks we are not ready to come face to face with these problems, then we're not."

"How can we be if she won't teach us?" Kurt asked. "Why doesn't she trust us?"

"I do trust you." Lana said, entering the room again with an apple in her hand. She tossed it up in the air and caught it a few times. "It is the opponent that I do not trust." She suddenly threw the apple, hitting Kurt right between the eyes with it. She sighed in disappointment and picked it up when it rolled back to her feet. "Your reflexes are too slow. If you want to even stand a chance in the kind of training I would put you through, you need to be better."

"I didn't expect it!" He said, trying to defend himself.

Lana gave him a look before dropping the apple and running forward. Kurt braced himself for the attack only to be surprised when she did a pirouette type of turn to go around him, aiming a kick at Scott's head. Her foot stopped centimeters from Scott's cheek and she smirked, tapping his cheek with her foot before lowering her leg to the ground. "You guy would not last a minute." She picked up her apple again and took a bite as she left the room.

"That was interesting." Evan muttered, breaking the silence in the room.

Lana walked down the hallways of the mansion towards her room while eating her apple. She was surprised when she felt herself being lifted off the ground and sighed in irritation. "Yes, Jean?"

Jean turned Lana around so that they were facing each other. "We'll get better if you teach us." Jean said, getting right to the point.

"That goes without saying." Lana replied, taking a bite from her apple. "But I still will not teach you."

"Why not?"

"Because no matter how much you train, you cannot win against them. The only things that can kill them is silver or another one of their kind, and while you can wield silver in a weapon, you will never be fast enough or strong enough to get close so you can kill them."

Jean sighed. "At least tell me this. What are they?"

Lana hesitated, wondering if she could tell them that or not. Finally, she answered. "They are the upavshii. And they will do anything they can to kill me."