Chapter 7: Dual Against The Strawberry Pimp

"What the hell am I doing?!" Zack mentally screamed, doing his best to keep his facade of power and strength. It was odd, he felt powerful, but it was almost as if his body and voice was on autopilot. He was in control, but wasn't at the same time. Never in his life would he go off and threatens to fight a human, let alone a demon with the power to kill in mere seconds, but in this moment, he felt like he had to take a stand. He had to fight, to hell with running. Alastor, on the other hand, merely snickered.

"How peculiar. The look in your eyes, or rather eye, is quite different. With any luck, that look isn't for show," he spun his can in his hand, and slammed it down in front of him, his face exuding authority, yet humor, "Now, do try not to bore me. There's nothing more that I hate, than shear, absolute, boredom."

As he spoke his last word, all four of his tendrils shot at Zack faster than eyesight. With a swift leap to his left, he dodged the first attack, rolled under the second, and spun to his right, dodging the third and fourth tendril. Each attack rounded back towards him to go for another attack, their pointed ends nearing his legs. Zack huffed in annoyance, as he leapt into the arm and landed on a nearby tree branch, his hand gripping at the trunk to keep himself steady. His eyes scanned the area.

"Damn it, those shadow tentacles of his are relentless. There's gotta be a way I can get in closer!"

The sound of rustling leaves pulled him from his thoughts and caused him to turn his head. With a quick pounce, he jumped and evaded a hidden tendril, the tip of it nicking his left arm. Zack winced, as he hit the ground with a roll and leapt forward on to his feet. Alastor raised an eyebrow, his smile growing.

"Well well, looks like you're getting serious. Good, let's see what you can do!"

Alastor's eyes grew a darker shade of red and his pupils shrunk, his face growing a more demonic and sinister smile. The shadow behind him grew larger, towering over his already tall figure, and with a snap of his fingers, it began to morph. Through the darkness of the ink-black darkness, needles of shadow sliced through the air and launched towards Zack, who was barreling towards him. Zack sneered, as he gripped his make-shift knife of glass in his hand tightly. They were coming, and fast! He knew he could slice them all, there'd be no way, and dodging them all wouldn't exactly be possible. There was only one way, though it'd prove to be dangerous. No time for thinking, only action! He quickly crossed his arms over his face and lowered his center of gravity, as he ran straight through the needles of shadow. His body tingled and throbbed, as he felt each one pierce his body. Most went straight through, but at lot of them stuck into his skin, as if they were acupuncture needles. He had to keep running through it, after all, he couldn't keep firing those things forever. Soon, the barrage of spines stopped, but so did he. His body was covered in the shower of spikes, his breathing hard and labored. He was only a few yards away, just a little more and he could get to him. One punch, that's all he needed, just one punch!

"Come on, I gotta get in closer! There's gotta be some way I can-" Zack's eyes widened, as he noticed something. Was that a line, just floating in the air? No, he had to be seeing things, but it was connecting to his person, a tree, and to Alastor. Was this some sort of sign? A guide perhaps? The only thing that came to mind for him was some sort of guide you would see in a game's tutorial. He shook his head; if this could help him, then he was gonna take him out. Alastor, however, was completely oblivious. He merely laughed out, his shadow returning to it's normal spot behind him.

"Hahaha!! You're quite the interesting little human! Not many can jump around and dodge my attacks like that, and the way you charged through my barrage, how interesting," he smirked devilishly, as he rubbed his chin, "however, this wasn't as fun as I wanted it to be. No hard feelings though, I'm sure you'll be much more enjoyable, on my dinner plate." He spoke, his voice housing more static with every word he said. Zack, gripped the glass in his hand; it was now or never, do or die! With a twist of his body, he launched the knife towards the the tree. Alastor instantly stopped in his tracks and glanced at the tree. At that speed, it would surely shatter! To his surprise, it bounced off of the tree, changing it's directory. Within seconds, it would land puncture his neck, yet he merely smirked. With a flick of his wrist, the knife stopped in midair, a dark red hue surrounding the perimeter of glass.

"Hehe, did you really think that would-"

BAM!!!

With a loud and sudden echo of contact, Zack's bleeding right fist came into direct contact with Alastor's left cheek, the shear power of his attack knocking him off of his feet. Zack glared, he witnessed his body fly back by at least a good yard, before finally tumbling to the ground as a limp, unconscious mess. He huffed, as he inspected him from afar. Was it over, did he knock him out? Zack couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Was that it? Damn, I didn't think this would be a DBZ Broly type thing. Oh well, at least that's that. Now then, I better get out of here before another demon like him shows up to-"

Zack's body stopped and fell to his knees. His body trembled, and his breathing grew heavy. It was almost as if his body had something weighing it down.

"Th-The hell?! What's going on? Why can't I m-move?"

"Now that was a very fun show! Very very good!"

Zack's head slowly turned towards the familiar voice, his skin turning a deep white. Behind the trunk of the tree, a clapping, grinning Alastor appeared! He was there, completely conscious! Zack couldn't believe it! He should at least have a bruise but he was perfectly fine, no a mark of any kind!

"Wh-What?! But, how?! I thought I-!"

"Did you really think I would be fighting you myself? Haha, no no, my shadow is more than enough for you," he snapped his finger, causing the doppelganger to sink into the ground and return behind him, "or at least I thought so. You did much better than I thought, not even demons can take my shadow, let alone myself. I must say, you've intrigued me."

He smirked devilishly, as he stepped closer to Zack. The closer he got, the larger his antlers on his head grew and the sound of radio static grew louder. It soon became deafening to Zack, with Alastor's voice being the only thing that he could hear.

"Now then, what to do to you. Shall I feast upon you, or shall I merely torture you until I've grown bored?" He snarled out, as his tendrils wrapped around Zack's immobile body, slowly reaching up to his neck. It strangled at Zack's neck, cutting off his air flow. He gagged and choked. There had to be something he could do, anything, but first he had to get up! With a growl, Zack slowly pushed off the ground, and with slow and painful steps, he trudged his way closer to Alastor, his heart feeling as if it would explode. Alastor's eyes widened in amusement and slight shock. Was he seriously moving, even with his telekinesis keeping him grounded and weighted?! His grip around Zack's neck tightened even further, so much so that he could feel his bones popping. His eyes drooped and his body felt weak. He wasn't getting enough air and the adrenaline he was feeling was quickly fading. His body soon went limp, as he feel to his knees and down to the ground. There's nothing else he could do, nothing but feel the tight, dark hold, of death.

*

Zack gasped loudly, as his eyes shot open and his body flew up off the ground. He panted heavily, as he looked around sporadically. Darkness was everywhere, no light in sight. Was he dead?! He looked down at his hands, his eyes seeing them as clear as day, even down to the cut from the glass he held. He raised an eyebrow, as he slowly calmed his breathing.

"What the... It's dark, yet I can see my hands. Where the hell am I...? Am I dead? I don't feel dead..." He mumbled. He slowly got to his feet, his legs wobbly and trembling. It was quiet, almost too quiet.

"Hello?! Anyone here that can help me?!" He shouted out into the distance. He felt alone, yet felt watched. It wasn't at all something he was too fond of feeling. His hair stood on end, he could feel someone behind him. He slowly turned to look behind, his skin turning white from the individual before him. It was a towering, bipedal, evil-looking creature, it's clothes being nothing but a dark, torn piece of cloth that covered his entire body. It's face, however, was the star of the show. It was a skinless, muscle-less, pure white canine skull. It was completely bare, not even eyes where present on him!

"Wh-What the..."

Zack's body froze, his eyes opened wide. The figure merely stared at him, as it slowly brought a boney, finger up to his right eye, pointing towards it. Zack gasped softly, as he stared at it's finger. Before he could speak to it, the creature jabbed it's finger forward silently, the sound of flesh tearing filling the room.

*

"Gaaah!!"

Zack's screamed out in terror, as he sat up quickly, his body covered in a cold sweat. He panted heavily and fearfully, as he touched his cheek and eye, checking if there was any source of blood. It was completely dry and his sight wasn't damaged from what he could tell. Was it all just a bad dream? He took a deep breath, as he fell back on the bed, doing his best to calm himself down.

"Fucking shit...that was a terrible nightmare..." He huffed out, as he rubbed the sweat off his forehead. He turned his head, his eyes raking over the room. It was a normal sized place, nothing too special, but it definitely wasn't shabby. One problem, however, is that he didn't remember getting here. Last he remembered, he was getting strangled to death by Alastor. He touched his neck at the realization.

"So, does that mean someone saved me, or did someone let me go...? Well, whatever the reason, I'm getting the hell out of-" as he pulled the covers off his body, he was hit with a cold breeze of air to his legs. He shivered, as he stared at them. Now he had another problem, his pants were missing! He yelped out in shock, as he tumbled off the bed and hit the ground bellow him.

"Where'd my pants go!? I don't remember taking them off!"

Before he could even fathom what was going on, the door swung open and slammed against the wall, as a figure stepped through, the sound of what could only be their heels clicking against the ground.

"Hey, ya up yet? Charlie asked me ta' check up on ya, so I said I'd do tha-" they stopped in front of Zack, who was groaning softly. Zack slowly looked forward and up slowly, his eyes completely inspecting the figure. Whoever they were, they didn't look human like Charlie and Alastor. This prey, or demon rather, had white, fluffy fur, and dark purple eyes, one of them being completely black. He wore black heeled boots, a pink and white coat, a pair of low-cut black shorts, and pink gloves, putting it all together with a black and pink bow. Now that was weird enough, but was weirder, was that this individual, had four arms! It was definitely another demon! Zack quickly jumped on to the bed and grabbed a nearby pillow, holding it up in a position to attack.

"Stay back you! I have a pillow and uh, I'll make you sneeze a lot with all the feathers in it! I promise you, I'll do it!!" He threatened.

The individual merely raised an eyebrow, as their eyes slowly looked downward. They smirked, as they looked back up at Zack.

"So, tell me, what's a human like you packin'?"

Zack blinked in confusion.

"Packing...? Like, luggage...? Or maybe packing peanuts...? Or..." Zack's face turned a deep red, as he quickly covered his lower half with the pillow he held.

"Th-Thats none of your business, and I'll ask the questions here! Who are you and where am I?!"

The creature slowly walked towards him, their hips slowly swaying. Their grin almost oozed an almost predatorial aura, their gold tooth shown for the world to see.

"Oh calm down toots, I just wanna see if a human's got more than the usual that I've seen~" they said, as they gently pulled the pillow away and pushed Zack on to his rear. Zack's heart was pounding rapidly. Was he seriously gonna get potentially raped, again?! The fluffy demon, licked their golden tooth, as their fingers brushed against the waist band of his boxers.

"Don't worry, your fluffy spida' Angel Dust will be very-"

"Angel, what the fuck are you doing?!"

The two's eyes shot open, as they quickly looked towards the door. This time, it was a woman, one with a white dress, dark grey elbow-length and different colored thigh-high boots, one being a dark grey and the other being grey and pink striped. She had long white hair with a pink bow at the back, and a glowing pink and white eyes, the other being hidden behind her air, where a large dark pink X laid over it. She, for lack of a better term, was pissed.

"The last thing we need is for you basically taking advantage of a human! We just asked you to check up on him, not tear away at his clothes!"

Zack sighed in relief. It seemed she was actually trying to help him. The fluffy demon, who was named Angel Dust, shook his groaned in annoyance, as he stepped away from Zack and towards the door.

"You know, you're such a fun sponge Vaggie. I mean, he was probably enjoying it too, ya know." He called out from the hall, as he made his way downstairs. The demoness, who was known as Vaggie, huffed out a Spanish curse and walked into the room. Zack quickly covered his lower half with the blanket near him, smiling awkwardly.

"Sorry about him, he's always like that... You're Zack, right?" She asked, to which he nodded in response. "Thought so. Charlie told me about you and said that Alastor attacked you. It's lucky that you're even still breathing..." She tilted her head, as she leaned closer, inspecting him, "Your body seems to have even healed too...well, except for that eye of yours."

Zack tilted his head in confusion.

"My eye? What did she mean about that...?"

Vaggie shook her head and shrugged, as she laid a pair of black jeans on the bed. They were his!

"Either way, come on down when you're ready. We washed your jeans for you, they were pretty muddy. See you in a bit." She said, as she walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. Zack merely sat in confusion, as he slipped his jeans back on, sighing softly in relief. He hoped this wouldn't happen for a third time.

"Well she at least seemed nice. Are those two the other people that Charlie spoke of? So that would make Vaggie that girl, and Angel Dust that guy who was trying to strip me." He mumbled, as he stood to his feet, "but what did she mean that my eye got damaged? It feels fine to me, maybe a bit red before but it.. wasn't..." His voiced trailed off into silence, as he stared at his reflection in the nearby mirror. She was right, something was definitely off. He quickly leaped to the mirror, getting a much closer look. His eye, it was a deep blood red, and the iris was a much shinier silver than before. It was almost as if someone replaced his old eye with a new one, one that didn't even look human!

"What the hell is this?! What happened to my eye?! Did I damage it?! No, I'm sure I didn't, I definitely would have felt it! But then, what could have-?!"

The figure? The only thing that came to mind was the skeleton figure that jabbed his finger into his eye, but that was merely a dream, right? It had to have been a dream, no doubt about it! He could feel his breath quickening and his heart pounding. Everything was spiraling out of control. First he was taken by a hellhound, then he ended up stuck in the worse city in hell, and now he's been feeling his body changing, and not in the puberty way! His faster healing process, his strange senses, his strength and speed increasing; it was all something he couldn't fathom!

"What's going on..? What's happening to me..?"

To Be Continued...