Author's Note: Thank you, Nebula the Hedgehog, MissMJS, aliciathewolf45, risingzero1984, Captain, Destinyxo, and Janttun3n for the reviews on the previous chapter. I really appreciate it. I hope you guys enjoy the next chapters. Things are starting to kick off!
Also, I'm noticing there are a lot of people still getting confused with the characters. Here's a cheat sheet in case you forgot:
Gala-Na the Echidna = Ivy (Shadow/Silver/Mephiles' mother. She's possessing Gala-Na's body)
Mighty the Armadillo = Mephiles the Dark (He's possessing Might's body.)
Hopefully this will clear up any confusion.
•~•
Once they returned back to Shadow's estate, the group convened in the living room to talk about their latest problem. "The witch wants soldiers, so now it's either join up or pay the price," Andrew explained to the group.
Shadow leaned forward on the sofa after hearing what his mother and brother had in store for the young wolves. "I've known Mephiles to be merciless, but I'll admit, this exceeds even my expectations."
"They're just kids, Shadow," Amy interjected, standing by his side. "We can't let Mephiles get away with this."
"She's right," Caleb concurred. "You know this city like the back of your hand if anyone can get them out, it's you."
"And take them where?" Shadow questioned. "Yes, I may be able to help you get them away from my brother's clutches, but then what?"
"We can migrate and hide the children until this blows over," Andrew pitched.
"Sounds like a good plan to me," Amy spoke, looking to Shadow for agreement.
Shadow looked over to the dingo. "I will help you, but I must remind you that I fully intend on searching for another imminent threat today that lurks around the corner," Shadow foreshadowed.
"Like what?" Caleb questioned.
"Our father has returned and is searching for my brother and I. I plan to find and destroy him before he finds us," Shadow explained. "He may be a vampire himself, but he's made it his mission in life to destroy his own kind, starting with us."
Caleb rubbed the back of his neck by the description. "Yikes, that does sound pretty bad…"
"Don't worry, brother, while you deal with father, I'll help Caleb and Andrew." Silver rose from his seat, feeling determination flow through him. "I refuse to send these children to war."
•~•
Later in the dining room, Silver, Blaze, Andrew, and Caleb discussed their plans of action. "The kids are being held in the city of the dead until we bring them to the city center and towards the docks," Andrew began. "Meanwhile, Mephiles is holding a meeting with some mortals that he plans to have the children kill to activate their curse."
"These mortals are aware they planned to be slaughtered?" Blaze gasped.
He shook his head. "They have no idea what's coming. Mighty's seduced them in somehow, but if we don't stop him, they'll become another casualty."
Caleb felt his fists clench by his side. "He's going to have the children kill any opposition, even innocents. By activating their curse, it sends a message to anyone thinking about going against him. It's two birds, one bloodbath."
Silver nodded in agreement. "Yes, so we'll have to hit him at the finish point." He looked over to the orange canine. "Will there be other werewolves escorting the children to the drop off point?"
Andrew nodded. "Yeah, there's supposed to be three of us doing that."
"Okay, well, you need to make sure you're one of the those escorting the children to the docks." Silver turned and looked to Caleb. "Caleb, you can shadow them and take out the other two werewolves then help Andrew get the children to safety. Blaze and I will handle Mephiles on our own."
"I'll have transportation waiting for you behind my shop," Blaze added. "The keys will be waiting for you in the ignition. Lead them there and everything should be fine."
"Wait, wait, wait!" Andrew interrupted. "Your mom and your psycho brother are already giving me the stink eye. If these kids go missing on my watch I'm as good as dead," he countered nervously.
"You wanted to help your people and make amends for the past, correct?" Andrew nodded hesitantly. "Then this is your chance. Make it right, Andrew."
Andrew bowed his head as he let the words sink in. They were right, he needed to do whatever he could, even if it caused him his death.
•~•
Once, Silver, Blaze, Andrew, and Caleb left to initiate their plan, Shadow prepared himself as he readied to set off in search for his father. Amy watched as Shadow put on his leather jacket in front of the full-length mirror on the wall by the front door. "You sure you want to do this on your own? Why not wait for Silver to finish this other mission?" Amy questioned with reluctance.
Shadow stared at his reflection as he ran a hand over his quills, smoothing them out. "I've killed him on my own before and I can do it again," he spoke confidently. Amy took a few steps closer, not as certain on his self-assuredness. Hearing her silence, Shadow turned to look at his worried girlfriend. "What's the matter?"
"You've shown me memories of how your father treated you in the past. Yet, you expect me not to worry for your safety?" she asked, in slight offense.
He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a sincere smile. "I appreciate the concern, love, but let me do the worrying around here."
"You say it like you're so sure, but I can't help it. Please be careful, Shadow," she begged.
He leaned in and gave her a peck on the lips. "I promise." He turned and headed for the front door. "I'll be back either today or tomorrow, but I'll keep you up to date through texts by the hour. How does that sound?"
She huffed, already growing suspicious of his alleged vow. "You better hold that promise, mister."
"Cross my heart," he replied holding up his right hand.
•~•
Later that evening, Andrew led the children through the bustling city center during an annual festival that occurred every autumn in Station Square. The streets were absolutely crowded with drunken mortals dancing to the blaring music with balloons and confetti everywhere. With bright lights and kiosks all up and down the sidewalks, the streets looked submerged with people. While Andrew led the front of the line, two other werewolves devoted led the children on either side as a precaution.
A few yards away, hidden in the crowd, Caleb watched the children follow Andrew, but tried to blend in with the crowd as he moved in closer to take out the other two werewolves. As his targets came closer into view, he unapologetically bumped into people in the streets, earning disgusted glares.
Back up front, Andrew looked over his shoulder at the thirteen children lined up behind him. Most of them looked terrified as they were led to their final destination. "Alright kids, keep moving," he encouraged. The children obliged with his commands and continued to quicken their pace as they navigated through the massive crowd of mortals.
Seeing this as his chance, Caleb quickly made his move and swiftly came up behind one of the werewolves and snapped his neck, allowing him to drop to the ground. Most of the people in the crowd were too drunk or high to even notice the body that had fallen to the ground, and would only assume it to be a drunken person passed out on the streets.
The children rounded a corner, with now the last werewolf member on the other side. Caleb followed them as they rounded a corner into an alleyway. Just as the other werewolf noticed his friend was missing, he felt a sharp stab from his backside. Caleb covered his mouth before he could scream, stifling his cries. Gently, he lowered him to the ground behind a dumpster as he bled out. "I'm sorry," he whispered. The brown echidna, looked up at him with anger before Caleb gave him one last stab in the chest, finishing him.
With the other two escorts dead, Andrew and Caleb led the children behind Blaze's shop to the safe point. There, they found an old ambulance that would accommodate enough room for the children to make their escape. Caleb ran over and opened the back doors. "Alright kids, climb aboard."
One by one, the children climbed inside and found their seats. Once they were all strapped in, Caleb closed the doors, sealing them inside. "I'll drive," Andrew volunteered as he ran over to the driver's seat and climbed in.
While Andrew started up the car, Caleb rummaged into his pocket pulling out his cellphone to send a text message to Blaze and Silver to let them know their first half of the plan had gone down seamlessly.
Unbeknownst to them, a figure stood on one of the buildings above them and watched as the ambulance took off, driving down the back alleys. That figure happened to be Mighty, who had witnessed the entire thing. A grin flashed across his muzzle before he lifted his phone to his ear. "Begin plan B," he instructed to an unknown entity.
•~•
Meanwhile, back at home; Amy finished pouring herself a glass of blood for dinner. She grimaced at the sight, but took a deep breath and drank what was in the glass to satisfy her hunger. Once she finished, she placed the glass down on the kitchen counter right near the video baby monitor. But as she quickly glanced at the screen, her eyes caught something troubling. Standing next to the crib was a male hedgehog figure, watching over her sleeping infant. It was in that moment, that Amy felt her stomach sink with the realization that she had an intruder in her home.
Frantically looking all over the kitchen for a weapon, her eyes landed on a butcher knife in the sink. Quietly and quickly, she grabbed the weapon and made her way upstairs prepared to initiate a battle if it meant saving her daughter. The moment she got upstairs, her heart raced as she approached the nursery door. With a deep breath, she kicked it open but was flabbergasted to find the bedroom empty. Her eyes fell onto the crib, where Faith was still sound asleep, despite her loud entrance. Amy did a quick investigation, looking behind curtains, inside closets and out on the balcony for any sign of the intruder but came up empty.
Relaxing her tense stance, Amy re-entered the bedroom and lowered her knife, resting it on one of the dressers. Perhaps she had just thought she had seen something? But just as she let her guard drop, she felt a firm hand grab her from around the waist, while another hand cupped firmly against her mouth. She tried to let out a muffled cry for help, but an unfamiliar voice tsked her from behind. "Now, now, we don't want to wake my grand daughter, do we?"
Amy froze, suddenly recognizing the voice, but the trespasser turned her neck violently to the side, snapping and breaking it successfully. Her entire body went limp now that she was temporarily dead for the time being. "Easier than I thought," Coal mumbled. He bent down to pick up Amy's body but suddenly noticed Faith sitting up in her crib and staring straight in his direction. Seeing the infant stare at him, Coal decided he'd humor himself with some small talk. "My apologies for being so noisy, but I have plans for your mother."
Faith stared back at him, not in the least bit frightened and sucked on the binky in her mouth. Seeing that he could not strike fear into her, Coal scoffed and returned to his original goal. "Once I'm finished with Shadow and this whore perhaps I'll come back and finish you." Just as his hands went to tuck under Amy's body, he felt a strong and powerful radiating headache begin to build. Coal placed a hand to his forehead and shut his eyes, trying to fight off the agonizing pain. "Gah, damn it!"
Keeping one eye closed, he stared over at Faith, who was still staring dead at him, looking quite innocent. The pain started to increase to an unfathomable pain that he had never felt before. In an instant, Coal was rendered to his knees and felt his whole world begin to shudder. His nose bled and he cried out for mercy. Meanwhile, Amy remained unconscious on the floor, completely oblivious to her daughter's antics.
Realizing this torture was coming from Faith, Coal glared at the child. "How. Is. This. Possible?" he grunted.
Seeing how strong his granddaughter was, Coal quickly scooped Amy up into his arms and zipped out of the room to get away from her mental torture. How could an infant so young be able to use such a technique at that age?
•~•
Meanwhile, Silver and Blaze met at the docks in an empty warehouse where the children were to be brought under Mighty's orders. Unfortunately, Mighty wouldn't be pleased to discover them not arriving. Blaze looked down at her phone after receiving a text message from Caleb. She opened it up to read it.
The message read: Home Free.
Blaze smiled at the good news and put her phone away. "They got them out, now all we have to do is wait to confront Mephiles." As if on cue, the rest of the werewolves came wandering into the warehouse without Mighty anywhere in sight. "Well, well, well, what do we have here? An Original and a witch?"
Silver remained confident as the group of wolves surrounded them. "Upset that it's not the children instead? I hate to inform you, but the little ones you were expecting are long gone," he smirked proudly.
The werewolf chuckled. "That's fine," he replied calmly. There's actually been a change of plans. The witch wants you now," he pointed.
Silver shot him an incredulous look. "I have no intentions of going anywhere near her again."
"That's too bad because she gave us the instructions to bring you to her tonight," the werewolf replied. "Using the children was a ruse to lure you in."
"Tricked once again," Blaze cursed. "Your mother always seems to be one step ahead of us…"
"Listen to me very carefully," Silver spoke calmly towards the group of wolves. "I told a good friend that I'd do my very best to spare the lives of his people. If you leave right now, I will honor that. Stay, and the situation becomes irrefutably awkward."
"He's right," Blaze seconded. "None of us want to have to hurt you tonight."
The hedgehog got into a fighting stance, clearly giving his final response. Silver shook his head by his answer and sighed in discontent. "Very well."
Silver got into a fighting stance and stood back to back with Blaze. "I'll take the ones on the right," Blaze spoke, eying her competition. The fight was about to commence.
•~•
Twenty minutes later, Amy began to come back to consciousness. Disoriented, she tried to rub at her eyes in her current position, but once again, quickly realized her hands were tightly bound together by some sort of rope drenched in a burning substance. The more she tried to wiggle her wrists out of her binds, the worse the pain increased. Just from her few seconds of struggling, Amy discovered that she was in the back seat of a car in motion. She continued trying to wiggle free from the rope but spotted a dark red rash forming just underneath the ropes. Her wrists were practically raw from the substance. "Ouch," she hissed.
Hearing her sharp gasps of pain, the driver of the vehicle let out a sly chuckle from the front. "Vervain soaked ropes," the male spoke. "Stings, does it not?"
"Vervain?" she repeated in alert. She sat upright and looked towards the driver's seat where she saw the back of a dark gray male hedgehog, driving the vehicle she was in. "Hey, what's the deal? Why did you kidnap me?"
"Do you know who I am?" The stranger looked at her in his rearview mirror and the two locked eyes.
Amy gulped nervously. "You're Coal, Shadow's father."
"So, you're not just a pretty face then," he cracked bluntly before placing his vision back on the road.
Amy narrowed her eyes at him as another thought crossed her mind. "I swear to God if you hurt my daughter-"
"Calm your tits," he interrupted. "I didn't even touch the little bugger, but that girl has some magnificent power."
"Power?" Amy repeated. "She's just a baby."
He took a turn down a road. "I'm telling you, she's no ordinary baby," he interjected. "She nearly killed me back there after I knocked you out."
Amy mulled over his comment for a second. Perhaps Ivy was right; maybe Faith really did have insurmountable power. "You're not the first one to tell me that Faith is strong…" Amy's thoughts shifted to something else. "But enough about my child, what the hell do you want with me?" she questioned, tone hardening.
"I think you know exactly what I want, but rest assured, you'll get plenty of answers on our little car journey," he smirked wickedly.
•~•
With one last brutal rip, Silver finished killing the last werewolf opposing them. Blaze lowered her arms after finishing her last counter attack and panted to catch her breath. Covered in blood, the cat looked around staring at all the bodies and body parts scattered around them. Silver tossed a dismembered arm to the side as he dusted off his bloody hands. "It's a shame that it had to come to this," Blaze noted as she stepped over the fallen bodies.
"They made their choice," Silver replied. "I didn't want to have to kill them, but it was them or us," he defended.
"Did your brother really think this would subdue you?" Blaze asked as she gestured to the fallen werewolves. "I thought he was a lot smarter than that."
Before Silver could open his mouth to answer, he felt an agonizing pain shoot through his brain. "Ahhh!" The pain was so intense that it rendered him to his knees. He clutched the sides of his head as the pain refused to subside, making his head feel unbearable.
"Silver!" Blaze cried as she rushed over to his side.
"—Actually, I'm just getting started," another person vocalized. Blaze looked up and spotted Mighty walking towards them with his hand extended outwards, continuing to inflict his brain trauma on her fiancé. Once he got closer, he clenched his hand into a fist only make the pain even more intense.
"Aah!" Silver screamed.
Blaze's eyebrows furrowed as she stood up to defend him. "Leave him alone," she shouted sticking out her hands for a counter attack, but before she could do anything, Mighty directed his other hand towards her, sending her hurtling backward. The unseen force sent the cat slamming into a crate of boxes making her yelp from the impact. As her body settled on its side, she fell unconscious.
Still on his knees and hunched over, Silver extended his arm out weakly in her direction, reaching for her. "B-Blaze…" he croaked weakly. Because Mighty had taken his attention off of him to attack Blaze, it had given Silver just enough time to regain his composure and strike. Silver growled as he used his agility to smash Mighty up against a crated box and held by the neck. Silver looked at him venomously. "Perhaps your next body will last a little longer than this one, brother." He lifted his free hand, ready to strike at his chest, but once again felt a painful CRACK! He looked down at his chest where he spotted a wooden stake plunging its way out of his chest. He released his hold on Mighty and fell to his knees again.
Mighty smirked wickedly down at his brother before looking behind Silver where Gala-Na stood after stabbing her son through the chest. "I was wondering when you'd make your entrance," Mighty noted.
"I would never leave you hanging, my sweet."
•~•
In the city, Shadow finished doing one thorough sweep of the city before checking in with Amy. He sent her a quick text giving her an update of where he had been and where he planned to head next. After a minute or so, Shadow stared at his phone, finding it odd that he hadn't heard back from her as quickly. Believing she must've had just been asleep, he shoved his phone back into his pocket and continued his journey, oblivious to the fact that Amy had been kidnapped by the exact person he had set out to look for.
•~•
Later, in an unknown location, Silver began to stir after being knocked out at the docks. Feeling weak and groggy as he came to, his amber eyes opened to look around, but he felt his hands and legs bound by cuffs and chains. Silver was being held up by the wrists in chains and appeared to be in some sort of mausoleum. There were lit candles everywhere around him in the darkened room almost in ritualistic fashion. As ideas plagued his mind, he began to panic. He tried to pull at his chains to break free but was shocked to find them unbreakable even with his own insurmountable vampire strength.
"Ah, you're finally awake." Silver looked over to the doorway where Gala-Na stood with a sincere smile.
He scowled at her sight. "What do you want?"
Slowly, she entered the room before stopping just in front of him. "I only want us to be a family again, Silver." Her hand reached out and held him by the chin, forcing him to look her in the eye. "But in order for that to happen, you must be… purified."