Chapter 20

He had a checklist.

Certain things need to go a certain way in his mind. So far, he was about halfway there. Sonic kept watch from the shadows, his King has developed quite well from his perspective. His power has doubled, he is getting use to the notion of controlling his strength and abilities as well as learning what he is capable of, but more importantly is his growth. Bad need to grow far more than his current state. "He has nearly consumed enough but not just yet…" he said.

"Do you intend on feeding the King once more?"

Sonic paused as he looked to the shadows, the ninjas who fell in their pervious battle lingered and listened in on his private conversation. He merely smirked to them. "Are you going to stop me? It was simple enough to convince the vampires to attempt a war with our King, but he fell short of the initial goal, he need more souls."

"You should have come to us!" protested Galewind.

"Indeed you have done well but we can assure our King gets the rest that he needs." Insisted Hellfire. "Besides, it has to be with subtlety now, he will be sure to watch himself and what he consumes from here on. But you also forget one factor to ease this burden… the size of the soul he consumes can make up for many."

Sonic paused. He then snickered. "I forgot to realize that, how foolish of me! That would quicken this up rather nicely"

"Getting him to do so thought…" pondered Galewind. "That is the true test!"

"Perhaps he needs a push to do so, our King has many factors to contend with. However a key right now is standing before us…"

"Garou…" the two shadows muttered. "He must know something is afoot by now."

"Indeed, he does, he is no fool and instantly suspected me of being untrustworthy…"

"Keep a close eye on that one, continue on as planned and we will do what we can to help. You should have told us about this, Sonic. We would have been more than happy to assist you," protested Hellfire.

"Well, you know now, keep it a secret!"

"It's no secret, the council is aware of your actions, but no action is begin taken against you… at least, not yet."

"It's too late for that to happen anyways. I better go, they will be heading back for dinner soon. I need to get it started."

"Feed our King well" with that, the shadows vanished. Sonic smile only grew wider, tonight he will ensure that the second phase is put into motion…

#

He was feeling strange around Garou now.

Bad had suppressed these emotions before, and yet in his arms, he felt comfortable. He took in his scent and then smelt the blood under the skin. For some reason he was tempted to draw it out, but he ruined the mood by stated how good Garou's blood smelt to him.

The embrace suddenly went limp from the Human monster. "What…"

"Shit… I just sounded creepy!" Bad pulled away as he turned from Garou. "SHIT!"

"Bad… are you okay?"

"Yea… no… I don't know… I got these emotions just swirling inside of me! I can't seem to focus on one or the other… you know when I saw you get hurt… I felt as if someone just ripped a part of me out of my body and tore it before my eyes!" he said.

Garou froze.

"You felt that strongly…"

"Shit man, as I said, you're a pain in the ass, but you are MY pain in the ass… No I didn't mean it like that… Goddamn it!" he was getting flustered, yet there came a sly grin over Garou.

"Really? The great Metal Bat… is having trouble with his own feelings? Let's see then…" He was fast, he got right into Bad face and then suddenly, his lips locked on to his. Bad felt the kiss grow stronger and more passionate until Garou pulled away. "Now… how do you feel?"

There was no answer from him. Metal Bat was oddly silent as he stared at Garou oddly, almost lost in a sense to what just happened. "You kissed me?"

"Beats having to keep kissing your neck! I've been wanting to do that for a while…"

He meant it too.

Garou wasn't being a smart ass about the kiss, Bad felt the passion behind it, the taste and the power he felt, it wasn't to be an asshole… he wanted to kiss him! The urge he felt within him resided, was this want he was looking for? Was this what he really wanted?

"Garou…" Bad began to say, yet found himself unable to speak any farther.

"It's okay, don't answer that unless you know for sure. Come on, we got to get home for Zenko, right?"

He merely nodded his head, but for the rest of the day, Bad tasted his lips, trying to relish the flavor of them.

'Yeah… I liked it…' he thought and smirked to himself.

#

They both went to pick up Zenko, Bad however kept to the dark alleyways so he wouldn't startle anyone. He just wished he could change back to his normal self than to be stuck in his Shadow King from. It was becoming a pain in the ass to say the least! He watched on as Garou and Zenko left. With that he managed to cover himself up and leave the alley without becoming too suspicious. He was able to catch up to them in no time.

"Big Brother!" Zenko cheered. Her hand fearlessly clasped into his. "I didn't think you were up. You snore you know, really loudly!"

"Yeah, you do," snickered Garou.

"Shut it." Bad warned Garou, but then turned to his sister. "Sorry, I'll try to stop."

When they got home, there was a massive meal waiting for them on the table. Turkey, roasted chicken, steaks and roasts… everything! "Whoa… that is some spread…" Bad muttered.

Then his stomach churned with hunger. "Damn it, I just ate too!"

"Old habits die hard huh?" snickered Garou. "At least it won't go to waste!"

Bad took a seat, he waited for Zenko and Garou to take their fill before he began to eat. Despite the pervious meal, he cleared the table rather quickly, surprising his little sister in the process. "You haven't done that in ages!" she said. "But you were asleep for a week, so it's okay."

Bad didn't have the heart to tell her about the massive meal he ate at the Heroes Association, instead he smiled and nodded to her.

The rest of the night they sat on the couch and watched TV. Zenko kept cuddling into Bad, and for some reason so did Garou! "You are a lot easy to lie on now, you're nice and padded!" joked Garou.

"Shut up" snapped Bad. Zenko was falling asleep, it wasn't long until Bad carried her off to bed, and he decided to go to sleep himself.

"I'm staying up for a bit, you go ahead." Said Garou.

Bad nodded as he went to his room, despite getting ready for bed, he wasn't the least bit tired. Instead he laid there wide-awake and thinking about the kiss. "He meant it, I felt his heart was in that… damn… why did it take so long for me to see it?!" Bad muttered. As his eyes grew heavy he began to drift off to sleep, yet the strangest thing happened. He felt as if he were awake. Bad dreamt he got out of bed and ventured into the halls, from there he turned to Garou's room and snuck in. He was sprawled out over the bed, wearing nothing more than his sleeping bottoms. Yet Bad slipped himself in beside him, taking in his scent once more.

'What is with this dream?' Bad thought, 'I swear I can smell him like I did before…'

The dream became more complex as Garou woke. "Huh? Bad? What are you doing here?" he muttered in an incoherent tone. Yet Bad assumed it was part of the dream. He leaned in and then, he felt his teeth drag over the skin of Garou. "What… what are you doing?!"

BITE

Bad's teeth broke through the skin and he began to drink. Mouthful after mouthful, he took a fair amount from Garou.

"WHAT THE FUCK, GET OFF OF ME!" Garou screamed.

Bad suddenly jolted, this was no dream! He released Garou and fell out of the bed. Yet his mouth was covered in blood. Garou was holding on to his shoulder as it continued to bleed out. "Oh God! I am sorry! Really, I don't… I don't…" Bad picked himself off the floor but was quick to brace Garou to him. "Drink!" he demanded.

He didn't need to tell him twice!

Garou was quick to break the skin and drink, more blood than before. Yet as he pulled away, his wound already healed over. Garou was breathless as he stared down at Bad.

Bad was trembling.

"Why… why did I just do that? Why!?" he asked and then began to tear up. "Man, I'm sorry!"

Garou wasn't angry with him, he was more stunned than anything. "Are you okay though?" he asked. "I only care that you're okay, are you hurt?"

Bad shook his head no. "What the hell is wrong with me!?"

Garou didn't know, but it has to be looked into as soon as possible.