Chapter 26

James stood there, gazing into the eyes of Cassidy. She was sitting on her bed, shock written all over her face. Her eyes were flicking from the writing James had carved into the wall, to James himself. She completely forgot about Shade cowering behind her.

James blinked, and cast his gaze around the room quickly. There was a giant hole in the wall where the window had been, providing a shortcut to the sidewalk below. There was dust and debris scattered all over the room, as well as the bedside table being flipped over, and the bedroom door flung wide open. The sleeping bag was partially destroyed, and frayed in some places.

"What? But... How?" Cassidy asked, her jaw slack. She looked at the writing on the wall, unable to comprehend what the creature was trying to tell her.

James gave Cassidy an "I don't know" look, shrugged his shoulders, and flashed her a sheepish, toothy grin complete with several missing teeth.

James suddenly got an intense feeling of déjà vu. He swiftly turned around, and caught Marco in the air just as he leapt for James' unprotected back. He held Marco by the throat, instantly stopping his attack. Marco thrashed around viciously, kicking at James, and trying to pry his fingers away from his neck. Each minute that passed the creature seemed to get stronger; able to predict his next move. Marco had been sure that he would have been able to catch the scaly beast by surprise, and each time he had been stopped.

James increased the pressure he was applying to Marco's throat, causing him to let out a strangled gasp. His frantic kicking increased in speed, and Marco started desperately throwing punches at James.

James wouldn't budge, and kept his arm straight the entire time he held Marco. He curled and uncurled the fingers on his left hand, the one that wasn't suspending Marco in the air. James swished his tail back and forth experimentally, testing his motor skills. He then shuffled the wings on his back slightly, wincing slightly when the open gash on his wing grazed against the scales on his back. He could feel it slowly mending itself.

"Let... go!" Marco gasped.

James snapped his attention back towards Marco. He slowly decreased the amount of pressure he was applying to Marco's throat. James let go just enough to be suspending Marco in the air, but not enough to choke him. Marco took several deep breaths, filling his lungs quickly.

"You're-you're a monster!" Marco gasped.

James reacted almost as if he had been shot in the chest. He flinched slightly, and a combined look of surprise and sadness settled on his face. He started to slowly lower Marco to the ground, earning a surprised look from Cassidy.

"James, what are you doing!? He might attack you!" Cassidy shouted.

"I may be a monster," James thought, "but I won't act like one." James set Marco on the floor, and stepped away from him, glancing behind himself at Cassidy. Shade peeked her head out around Cassidy curiously.

"Stay away from her!" Marco shouted. He lunged forwards, and grabbed onto James' leg, causing James to fall off balance. James managed to plant his other foot on the ground to stop from falling on top of Marco. James managed to shake his leg free of Marco's grip. Marco stood up, and backup slightly, getting into a fighting stance.

"Marco, leave James alone!" Cassidy exclaimed. James managed to maneuver himself to get in between Marco and Cassidy, making sure to protect her and Shade from any aura spheres that may be launched.

"What are you talking about!?" Marco shouted. He took a step towards James, crouching lower to the ground, preparing to jump him.

"That's James!" Cassidy cried, trying to prevent any further conflict between the two. "Think about it! Where is James right now?"

"For all we know, that thing could have eaten him!" Marco exclaimed. He took another step towards James, clenching his paws into tight fists. Marco crouched lower, and growled deeply. He started circling towards James, fear rising in his chest.

James growled deeply in his throat, and crouched lower, pacing Marco's movements with his own. He flared his wings out slightly, and bared his teeth. His tail flicked back and forth behind him nervously. He and Marco slowly circled around the room, both glaring at each other. James flicked his eyes towards Cassidy and Shade, making sure that they were still alright.

Cassidy was sitting on the bed, trying to think of a way to convince Marco that this was, in fact, James he was fighting. Shade was following a seemingly invisible object around the room, looking at it curiously.

James and Marco were still facing off. James had his back towards the open doorway, watching Marco carefully. Marco's eyes flicked from James to behind him, the open door. He looked back at James, and smirked.

James heard footsteps behind him. He whipped his head around, now completely vulnerable to attack by Marco.

"Aaaaaahhhh!" Garth shouted his battle cry, and charged into the room. He didn't hesitate to launch himself at James, aiming for his throat.

James raised his arm to protect himself. Garth flew through the air, and bit down on James' arm with an extreme amount of force. James cringed back, Garth still clamped down into his arm. It felt as if a hydraulic press was trying to break through his arm. James flailed his arm around, trying to remove Garth from his arm.

Cassidy watched as Garth practically glued himself to James' arm, while Marco slowly stalked towards him from behind. Marco's fist started glowing red, and he clenched his paw into a tight fist.

"How can I prove that he is James!?" Cassidy thought to herself. She was nearly giving herself a migraine from thinking so hard.

Marco pounced James. He tackled James to the ground, and pinned down the arm that Garth wasn't chewing on. James was laying on his back, unable to use his arms to fight back. Marco pulled back one of his fists, surrounded by the glowing red aura, and struck James.

Smack!

The sound echoed around the room. Cassidy cringed, and Shade seemed to jump a bit. James didn't even flinch. He seemed to be concentrating on something, and not paying attention to anything else. Marco pulled back his arm, and readied for another attack.

Cassidy leapt from the bed, now completely sure that she wouldn't be flattened by bodies flying across the room. She grabbed onto Marco's arm just before he struck James again, preventing him from attacking.

"What are you doing!?" Marco screeched. He shook his arm around, trying to dislodge Cassidy.

"I'm telling you, he's James!" Cassidy exclaimed. She tried to pull Marco off of James, tugging on his arm.

"Enough!" Marco shouted. He wrenched his arm away from Cassidy, causing her to stumble backwards, and slam her heel into the bed frame. Cassidy inhaled sharply, and started forwards again, reaching for Marco.

Something caught her attention. She immediately stopped, and watched the thing slide across the floor.

James was using all of his will power to try to break free. He wasn't trying to use his arms though. His eyes were glazed over, and he was staring off into space.

Crack!

Marco struck James across the face with his glowing fist once again. Cassidy cringed as the sound of something breaking permeated the sound of struggle that filled the room. James' eyes suddenly snapped open wide.

"Gotcha!" He thought. He wrapped his tail around Marco's ankle, and tugged hard. Marco fell off balance, and fell to his side. He swiftly got up, but it was too late. James had used his other arm, and had managed to pry Garth off of him. James threw Garth at Marco, and the two fell to the floor in a pile of limbs (which were mostly Marco's.)

James quickly stood up, and glanced towards Cassidy's foot, checking to see if she was fine.

Cassidy paid no heed to his caring glance, too busy watching Marco and Garth stand up, and start towards James once again. She was visibly shaking with fear, imagining the horrible things they would do to him if they could catch him off guard.

James blocked a punch from Marco, and then sidestepped around a Dragon Rage fired by Garth. When Marco threw another punch towards him, James caught it, spun Marco around, and shoved him. Marco fell off balance, and landed near the hole in the wall that led to the sidewalk three stories below. Garth sprinted for James, ducked around the grab James made for him, and slashed him across the back of his foot, slicing through a tendon.

James roared in pain, causing the entire room to shake with the noise of it. Cassidy and Shade covered their ears, and ducked their heads down.

James fell to one knee, his leg now gushing blood, and almost quite literally spraying it behind him. Garth dashed around to the front of James, and leapt into the air, slashing him across the face. It caused a long, thin gash to appear on his face, ranging from beside his eye to just below his mouth.

It stung just as badly as a paper cut, and blood started to run out of the vertical cut. James grabbed Garth just as he landed, and whipped him across the room. He smashed into a wall, leaving a fair sized dent, then fell to the floor dazed.

"If James doesn't fight back soon, he'll-" A light bulb went off in her head. Suddenly, a light bulb fell from the ceiling, and shattered on the ground. She gagged slightly as the severed tendon knitted itself back into place, the skin and scales slowly growing back over it.

Marco stood up once again, and charged towards James. He swung, and James blocked it, wincing slightly from the strength of the attack. Marco lashed out again, and this time, caught James square in the chest. James stumbled backwards slightly, but ignored the pain.

"Marco, listen!" Cassidy exclaimed. "He's only defending himself!"

James sidestepped another attack by Marco, and managed to shove him again, sending Marco stumbling backwards. He tripped over his own feet, and fell to the floor with a loud crash, nearly landing on the shattered light bulb.

"That's crazy!" Marco shouted, slightly irked that she wouldn't accept that this wasn't James. He got to his knees, and started to push himself up.

"Think about it! He didn't attack you just now when you fell over, did he?" Cassidy asked. Marco stopped all together at this point.

"Well, no... But-"

"But nothing!" Cassidy shouted. "He isn't attacking you!"

James breathed a sigh of relief now that he wasn't fighting several people all at once. Even like this, fighting hand to hand combat with multiple people was difficult, especially against Marco.

"But... How?" Marco asked in disbelief. He looked straight at James now, expecting him to prove her wrong. He didn't. James just stood there, watching Marco cautiously.

"Johnny, where are you going?" Shade asked curiously. James looked directly at her. She seemed to be following something, something no one else could see.

Marco stood sat down, shaking his head, once again not sure about what was going on. He looked over at James, then at Cassidy, and then towards Garth who was just starting to get up once again. Marco looked back at James, and he seemed saddened.

"James," Marco started, sounding remorseful, "I'm so-" Marco instantly stopped. His hands flew towards his throat, and he started gasping for air. He instantly fell backwards, and started struggling with an invisible force. He gasped for air, and thrashed around on the ground, struggling for a single breath of air. None would come. His thrashing grew weaker and more feeble by the second. He looked directly into James' eyes, Marco's own eyes wide with fear. His eyes seemed to lock with something for an instant, before becoming glazed over, and falling cold.

Everyone just stood there, shocked at what had just transpired. Everyone but Shade. She was looking at the ground sadly, several tears running down her cheeks, and dripping off of her muzzle onto the cold floor.

"Why would you do that Johnny?" She sniffed.

A purple mist started to come off of Marco's body. At first it started with small particles gently floating away, like dandelion seeds.

"Here they come." Shade whispered ominously.

A quiet whispering filled the air. The purple mist coming off of Marco started speeding up, and flowing away in larger amounts. His body slowly dissolved before their eyes, and in a matter of seconds, he was gone.

The purple mist that had come from Marco's body collected in the middle of the room. It started folding into itself, making it smaller and smaller. The whispering started to increase in volume. The purple mist was now a tiny, condensed orb. A sound much like building pressure started from the ball. It rose in pitch, and intensity, slowly getting louder.

"What's happening?" Garth asked blearily. He had hit his head hard, and was starting to see purple dots.

The noise was reaching a crescendo. It sounded much like a kettle screaming its top off, indicating the water was boiled. The sound was ear splitting, and rose in pitch still. Everyone covered their ears, and stared at the orb.

It suddenly exploded, completely filling the room in a thin purple mist. The noise ended abruptly. A pair of red eyes popped into existence before James. It stared at him, and he stared right back. Another pair of eyes appeared beside the first. Then another, and another. The room was suddenly full if red eyes, and the purple mist seemed to be getting thicker.

The eyes suddenly swarmed around Shade. They collected around her, and started spinning around her. The mist seemed to become a solid around Shade, and little wisps of mist started floating from the rapidly spinning vortex around Shade.

Everything around Shade suddenly shot off in different directions. All that was left was an empty space where Shade used to be.

The eyes converged upon Garth, and started to circle around him rapidly, at paces faster than possible to see with the naked eye.

A blast of yellow and blue energy shot from within the vortex. It passed through the wall of the spinning eyes, but did not stop them. The whispering became louder still.

The eyes suddenly shot off in different directions once again. Garth was gone.

The purple mist instantly became too think to see through. The whispers were so loud, James could start to make out what they were saying.

"Save us..."

"Murder..."

"Run..."

"Monster..."

The purple mist completely covered his vision. There was nothing else besides the mist. Everything was purple. There was no floor, nor walls or even Cassidy. It was just purple mist, speckled with red floating eyes.

The mist started becoming black. An intense feeling of exhaustion washed over James. Everything was becoming black. James tried to lift his arm, to try and move the darkness, but found himself immobile. He was stuck, listening to the facing whispers, and slowly his eyelids closed.

Everything was dark. The whispers had finally faded, and James was left completely alone. Nothing, not even his own breathing could be heard. The silence was deafening. James was terrified, but he didn't understand why.

He suddenly felt the presence of another being. It slowly came closer to him, until it was breathing its hate directly into his ear. He tried to move, he tried to get away from the thing that was radiating evil.

The being chuckled, and then whispered in his ear, its voice utterly shattering the silence.

"Sleep well, my little monster."

Authors Note

Hey, sorry about the wait. I was sort of depressed, and had to do school stuff. Anyways, "the plot thickens." Yadda yadda yadda. Sorry I don't seem that enthusiastic, but it's pretty late, and I want to finish this. Please send me a PM if you have suggestions, or just want to talk in general. Please review as those make my day (usually(not forcing you!)) You're all awesome, and "I'll see you" in the next chapter.

Thanks

InfamousVenous