I don't own Sailor Moon or the Night World.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Moon Stalker"
Recorded by Ziska Ames
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER FIVE
AN: "Ke'chara" means beloved. I got it from a book I read by Mercedes
Lackey. Wonderful author. ^_^
~~~~~~
Serena woke up and stretched luxuriously in bed. It wasn't
often she got to sleep till she woke up on her own instead of having
the alarm attempt to put a hole in her ear drum. She moaned softly and
rolled to look out the window. The sun wasn't very high and a glance at
her clock confirmed that it was only nine o'clock.
"I can't even sleep late any more... This just isn't fair." she
mumbled into the pillow. A sudden weight landed on her back causing her
to yelp and literally leap out of bed. "Luna!" She yelled as the cat
smirked and settled into the spot Serena had just vacated.
"I think you deserved that after shocking me senseless last
night, Serena."
For a moment Serena stood there waiting for her brain to kick
in, then realization lit her face. "Oh... sorry about that, Luna. I
kept meaning to tell you, and then I would forget. But better late than
never, right?" she said as she sat down on the carpet and yawned. "I
can't believe I'm up this early."
"Don't change the subject, Serena."
Drat.
"Now listen, I don't want you being around that werewolf
anymore. It's bad news, Serena. It could be setting you up for a trap."
"Oh, Luna. Silk isn't a werewolf! I'd be dead by now! It's just
a regular wolf who, for some reason, has an affinity to be nice!"
"Don't interrupt. Werewolf or not it's a bad idea."
"You can't stop me, Luna, unless you intended to start coming
with me on my rounds. And we both remember what happened last time."
Oh yes, Luna remembered. She'd never been so embarrassed in all
her life. She really was more of a housecat than a stalker.
"Well, I guess I can't stop you. But I really don't think it is
advisable, Serena."
"I'll be careful, Luna! Don't worry." Serena said as her brain
finally kicked in and she started moving around to get dressed.
"Where's my green sweater?"
"And this whole thing with Andrew. When did this come up?" Luna
asked ignoring Serena.
"When I went to the club. Now I know I washed it the other day."
she mumbled as she searched her drawers leaving piles of folded clothes
on the floor.
"Well, it isn't often you just find your soul-mate like that!
How do you know it is the real thing?"
"I know, Luna. It's not something that can be easily faked.
Maybe the sweater's in my closet." Serena said as she moved to her
forest green closet doors and opened them wide. She began searching the
top shelf for the elusive green sweater pulling stuffed animals down
from hidden corners and dropping them behind her.
"Serena, please pay attention!"
"Where is that darn thing?! Luna, did you hide it?" Serena
asked as she hastily tossed the animals back into her closet and pushed
on the doors to shut it.
"Why would I hide your sweater?" Luna asked scandalized.
"Well, you do things like that sometimes. Remember when you hid
my purple shirt for a month?" she finally got the closet closed and
stepped away, waiting for it to spring open. Luckily, it stayed closed.
"You weren't fit to be seen in public in that thing. It was
much to small."
"They're made that way, Luna!" Serena said as she went to
search the hallway closet. "It's not my fault the designer decided to
cut them so short. Yes! I found it!"
She reappeared a moment later in her loose-knit grass green
sweater. "Now where did those hiphuggers go?"
Luna sighed in defeat and settled herself to wait till Serena
was ready.
Serena sighed happily as she walked out into the slightly crisp
fall air. She'd finally gotten Luna off her back about Andrew and
convinced her that having a slaying partner, two in fact, was not such
a bad thing after all.
She smiled to herself as she set off at a brisk walk to The
Laughing Planet. It was a club by night and an eatery by day. She and
Andrew had agreed to meet there last night and Serena couldn't wait to
see him again. She couldn't believe that only a couple days ago she'd
been so convinced that a boyfriend was the worst thing in the world for
her. Of course, Andrew wasn't really a boyfriend so much as part of her
soul. But she wasn't sure she could explain that to Mina or Raye at the
moment.
As she approached The Planet she could see Andrew was already
there, holding an outside table for them. She came up, kissed his cheek
and slid into the seat next to his. "Hi." she said sweetly. "I hope you
don't mind, but I invited Raye, Mina, Darien and Diamond to eat lunch
with us."
"That's okay. But we really need to talk later." he said as he
turned and caught a waiter by the sleeve, telling her they needed four
more place settings.
"Hi guys!" Mina said as she sat down. She smiled gently at
Serena and nodded her acceptance of the situation. She wasn't mad at
Serena for being with Andrew, but she was a little disappointed. But
there were lots of other fish in the sea, as her friend Lita loved to
say.
"Hi, Mina." Andrew said with a smile and a pleasant nod. Serena
opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by Raye.
"Hello, beautiful people! How are we?" she said sliding into a
seat across from Serena.
"Good. But starving." Serena said as she finally looked at the
menu.
"I can agree with you on that point." Diamond said as he and
Darien arrived, completing the group. Serena smiled at them and then
turned back to the menu.
Soon sounds of rumbling stomachs could be heard as the group
looked over the delicious options. Eventually they all decided on
burritos and lunch was filled with mindless chatter, mainly from
Serena, Mina and Raye.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andrew glanced over at Serena who was some how managing to eat
and talk at the same time. He couldn't believe she was his soul-mate
--his flying mate-- his one and only forever. He'd had a crush on her
for as long as he'd known her, practically since they met in high
school. He'd had girlfriends before, but it had never been as special,
as complete, as this. Serena was his, the only one he would ever need.
He sighed happily and glanced around the table, sweeping his
eyes over the others. His gaze came to an abrupt rest on Diamond, who
was also staring at Serena.
He'd noticed Diamond's gaze on her a number of times, and it
made his blood boil. Nobody else knew just how connected he and Serena
were, but he still didn't think Diamond should have the audacity to
*stare*. Andrew glared at him, fixing his eyes on Diamond's own purple
ones.
Diamond looked up abruptly, his eyes meeting Andrew's in a
clash of male challenge. Andrew almost looked away. He flinched
visibly, but held his ground giving Diamond stare for stare till he
looked away, facing Raye instead of Serena.
Andrew was shaken. He'd seen a fierce *want* in Diamond's deep
purple eyes. A want and a need that Andrew couldn't begin to understand,
but that scared him to the very marrow of his bones.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Raye was jealous. She was damned jealous of the way Serena had
captured the attention of every one of the males at the table. Darien
wasn't looking at her, instead staring fixedly at a random tree, but it
was obvious that he was straining to hear every word, that every nuance
of her voice had an effect on him. Raye could feel it with that sixth
sense that told you the phone was about to ring, or to get out of the
street because a car was coming. Or that something horridly awful had
happened.
Raye shut her eyes briefly, breaking her gaze on Darien's face,
afraid she'd be drawn into that feeling and never escape. After a
moment, and a number of deep breaths, she reopened her eyes just as
Diamond turned to face her.
Purple eyes clashed with purple and Raye knew she was in love.
Completely and truly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darien now knew there were exactly twenty-two branches on the
tree and that together they all sported a total of one hundred and
fifty-seven leaves. He also knew that Serena's red hair could turn a
brilliant auburn in direct sunlight and that her laughing eyes were a
sparkling pale blue. He knew that her voice was a clear soprano with
just the right pitch to force tingles to run up and down his spine.
He'd tried. He'd tried so hard not to look at her, but he
couldn't help it. So what if Andrew was her boyfriend, that didn't mean
he couldn't *look* at the ravishing beauty across the table.
But, of course, it basically did mean that. Darien had never
been the type to try and fight for a girl, especially one he barely
knew, but something made him want to fight desperately for Serena's
heart. He just wished he could figure out what that something was.
Maybe then he could stop these strange feelings. The ones he
was strongly beginning to suspect were trying to tell him he was in
love.
"I talked to Luna." Serena said as she and Andrew walked down
Walnut Street to Serena's apartment building.
"Your cat?" Andrew asked after a moment.
"Yeah... she's more of an inside helper actually. She got me
into this whole mess of slaying in the dead of night when I should be
sleeping."
"How?" Andrew didn't sound skeptical so much as blatantly
curious.
"Well, about two years ago she just showed up on my door step,
dropped my half-mask at my feet, and told me to follow her. Needless to
say I slammed the door and hid in the bedroom."
Andrew's outburst of laughter caused Serena's grin to widen
more than she had thought possible. "You?! Hiding from a cat?" he
crowed between whoops of laughter. Serena stopped walking and glared at
him till he regained control and managed to look at her without
breaking down in giggles.
"Sorry, sorry. It was just a funny image in my mind."
"Yes, well, what would you do if a mysterious cat showed up and
told you to come with her?"
"Probably the exact thing you did."
"So there you have it. Now, do you wanna know the rest or not?"
Serena asked with a tiny pout.
"Of course, I want to hear the rest, ke'chara." Andrew said
softly as he smiled at her and slipped his arm around her shoulders.
She relaxed and leaned into the embrace as she continued.
"After that Luna somehow managed to get into my apartment --she
never did tell me how-- and after much prodding and convincing, got me
to go with her. I put on the mask, grabbed a sharp stick and followed
her into the woods." Serena took a deep breath. The next part was the
worst, she'd never told anyone but Raye... "When I saw the vampire
killing a human... I guess, instinct took over. I killed the leech
and... then I buried the body of the human." she looked away for a
moment and blinked rapidly. She pretended it didn't bother her in front
of Luna and Raye, but when she saw the lifeless body of a victim, it
made her heart cry out in anguish. It just wasn't fair to them, no
matter how Serena tried to do justice to their killer. It was never
enough to bring breath back into the broken bodies, to make them live
again.
Andrew stopped and just held her for a matter of minutes as
silent tears coursed down her cheeks. That first night was always the
worst to remember. The dead girl had been Molly, one of her best friends.
After a moment Andrew pulled away and looked at her. He kissed
her forehead and smiled sadly. "I'm so sorry. I never knew Molly very
well, but thank you for making me a part of your life like this.
Telling me these things means so much more to me than if I were to
happen across them in your mind. I want you to tell me stuff because
you want me to know it, not because it drops into my head."
"How did you know it was Molly?" Serena asked softly.
"It just dropped into my mind. She was all you were thinking
about a moment ago, and rightly so. She was a good friend and she
deserves to be mourned correctly." he kissed her on the forehead again
and began to walk. Serena walked along with him blindly for a moment,
before finally shaking her head and allowing the memory to leave her
again.
"Stake?"
"Got it."
"Say check."
"Check."
"Bokken?"
"Got i-check."
Luna smirked and continued to name off weapons and Serena
continued to acknowledge them as she suited up. Two silver blades in
her boots and two up her sleeves guaranteed she could handle most
werewolves. The bokken strapped to her back and the two stakes stuck in
her belt would handle vampires and any of those weapons would take care
of a witch.
As a knock came on the back door, Serena grabbed the extra
weapons and patted Luna on the head. "Don't wait up!" she called as she
slipped outside to join Andrew.
"Here. I brought you a stake and blade. The holster straps to
your arm and you do this to get it into your hand." She suddenly
snapped her wrist sideways and forward. One of the blades suddenly
gleamed up at them from her hand. "The only problem is putting it back."
she said as she pushed her sleeve up and re-holstered the blade.
After a few moments of practice Andrew was capable of pulling
the blade out fairly well, though throwing them would take much more
expertise. The stake he stuck in his belt and soon they were off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stay behind me. I'm better at sneaking around and if I need
you, I'll call. They had decided on mind-speech as it was completely
silent and undetectable. Silk bounded at Serena's side as the three of
them raced across the open field. Serena loved to run and although the
bokken slowed her down a little, the feeling of the wind in her hair
was one she would never give up willingly.
Got it. Andrew acknowledged. Serena was a little surprised
at his stamina. The night was half over and he was almost as fresh as
she was. They hadn't come upon any thing yet, but running around in the
woods for hours was usually enough to tire most people out.
A rustling in the trees to Serena's right caused her to
suddenly stop. Wait... listen. she said as she strained her ears
into the wind.
The bushes rustled again and Serena smiled slightly. She knew
who was out there. He may think he was sneaky, but she could usually
tell when he was following her. Although there were those occasions
when she wouldn't know he was there till he suddenly jumped into the
fight and helped her and Silk dispatch a particularly nasty vampire or
'wolf.
Those instances proved that she didn't always know he was
there, but now she knew it was definitely him, without a doubt.
"Come out, Mask. I know you are there." She said. She stood
cockily next to Andrew with Silk sitting between them as the shadowed
figure emerged from the woods. She heard Andrew's frantic thought to
run and instantly sent a wave of reassurance.
It was true though. Seeing a tall stranger completely outfitted
in black except his hands was enough to make any one want to run. His
presence sometimes seemed to suffocate Serena when he was close to her.
Although she would never admit it, he scared her sometimes. He was the
perfect look-a-like of any random mugger on the street.
But he never acted any less than gentlemanly and that always
helped to easy her fears.
"Stalker." he said in greeting. He nodded to them all and then
just stood there.
"Mask, I don't believe I ever asked you to follow me."
"No, you did not. You never said I couldn't either. I know this
is your 'territory', so to speak, but I have no where else to hunt. And
you know the feeling of needing to take out the monsters. You can't
stop yourself sometimes." His voice was cold and detached, sending a
shiver of fear down her spine.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't follow me anymore. I can
handle things and my friends will help me."
"Ah, yes. The human and the wolf. You do realize it is a
werewolf? I know you may not believe it, but I've seen it change back
to its other form."
"Then how come you never killed it? If this need is so great,
why didn't you ever just make Silk disappear at some point?" Serena
asked as she stored the knowledge in her brain that he *knew* about
Andrew. Possibly knew more than he was telling. It was something to
think about later, but not now. Not during this verbal sparring match.
"I was waiting till it would help serve my purposes. You may
not realize it, but I do have a personal agenda in all this as well."
"And what would that be?"
"You." he said simply. Suddenly, he dived between Serena and
Andrew, grabbed Silk around the middle and sprinted off into the night,
hitting Silk hard on the temple as he ran. Serena's shocked mind worked
frantically for a couple moments before realizing that her friend had
just been kidnapped, and knocked out, by a man she had thought was an
ally.
"No!" She screamed belatedly as she suddenly sprang into motion
chasing after the Mask and Silk. But it was already too late. They were
lost to the forest and lost to her.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------
That's it for now, minna!! Comments are always appreciated. ^_^
Ja ne,
Zi-chan
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Moon Stalker"
Recorded by Ziska Ames
----------------------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER FIVE
AN: "Ke'chara" means beloved. I got it from a book I read by Mercedes
Lackey. Wonderful author. ^_^
~~~~~~
Serena woke up and stretched luxuriously in bed. It wasn't
often she got to sleep till she woke up on her own instead of having
the alarm attempt to put a hole in her ear drum. She moaned softly and
rolled to look out the window. The sun wasn't very high and a glance at
her clock confirmed that it was only nine o'clock.
"I can't even sleep late any more... This just isn't fair." she
mumbled into the pillow. A sudden weight landed on her back causing her
to yelp and literally leap out of bed. "Luna!" She yelled as the cat
smirked and settled into the spot Serena had just vacated.
"I think you deserved that after shocking me senseless last
night, Serena."
For a moment Serena stood there waiting for her brain to kick
in, then realization lit her face. "Oh... sorry about that, Luna. I
kept meaning to tell you, and then I would forget. But better late than
never, right?" she said as she sat down on the carpet and yawned. "I
can't believe I'm up this early."
"Don't change the subject, Serena."
Drat.
"Now listen, I don't want you being around that werewolf
anymore. It's bad news, Serena. It could be setting you up for a trap."
"Oh, Luna. Silk isn't a werewolf! I'd be dead by now! It's just
a regular wolf who, for some reason, has an affinity to be nice!"
"Don't interrupt. Werewolf or not it's a bad idea."
"You can't stop me, Luna, unless you intended to start coming
with me on my rounds. And we both remember what happened last time."
Oh yes, Luna remembered. She'd never been so embarrassed in all
her life. She really was more of a housecat than a stalker.
"Well, I guess I can't stop you. But I really don't think it is
advisable, Serena."
"I'll be careful, Luna! Don't worry." Serena said as her brain
finally kicked in and she started moving around to get dressed.
"Where's my green sweater?"
"And this whole thing with Andrew. When did this come up?" Luna
asked ignoring Serena.
"When I went to the club. Now I know I washed it the other day."
she mumbled as she searched her drawers leaving piles of folded clothes
on the floor.
"Well, it isn't often you just find your soul-mate like that!
How do you know it is the real thing?"
"I know, Luna. It's not something that can be easily faked.
Maybe the sweater's in my closet." Serena said as she moved to her
forest green closet doors and opened them wide. She began searching the
top shelf for the elusive green sweater pulling stuffed animals down
from hidden corners and dropping them behind her.
"Serena, please pay attention!"
"Where is that darn thing?! Luna, did you hide it?" Serena
asked as she hastily tossed the animals back into her closet and pushed
on the doors to shut it.
"Why would I hide your sweater?" Luna asked scandalized.
"Well, you do things like that sometimes. Remember when you hid
my purple shirt for a month?" she finally got the closet closed and
stepped away, waiting for it to spring open. Luckily, it stayed closed.
"You weren't fit to be seen in public in that thing. It was
much to small."
"They're made that way, Luna!" Serena said as she went to
search the hallway closet. "It's not my fault the designer decided to
cut them so short. Yes! I found it!"
She reappeared a moment later in her loose-knit grass green
sweater. "Now where did those hiphuggers go?"
Luna sighed in defeat and settled herself to wait till Serena
was ready.
Serena sighed happily as she walked out into the slightly crisp
fall air. She'd finally gotten Luna off her back about Andrew and
convinced her that having a slaying partner, two in fact, was not such
a bad thing after all.
She smiled to herself as she set off at a brisk walk to The
Laughing Planet. It was a club by night and an eatery by day. She and
Andrew had agreed to meet there last night and Serena couldn't wait to
see him again. She couldn't believe that only a couple days ago she'd
been so convinced that a boyfriend was the worst thing in the world for
her. Of course, Andrew wasn't really a boyfriend so much as part of her
soul. But she wasn't sure she could explain that to Mina or Raye at the
moment.
As she approached The Planet she could see Andrew was already
there, holding an outside table for them. She came up, kissed his cheek
and slid into the seat next to his. "Hi." she said sweetly. "I hope you
don't mind, but I invited Raye, Mina, Darien and Diamond to eat lunch
with us."
"That's okay. But we really need to talk later." he said as he
turned and caught a waiter by the sleeve, telling her they needed four
more place settings.
"Hi guys!" Mina said as she sat down. She smiled gently at
Serena and nodded her acceptance of the situation. She wasn't mad at
Serena for being with Andrew, but she was a little disappointed. But
there were lots of other fish in the sea, as her friend Lita loved to
say.
"Hi, Mina." Andrew said with a smile and a pleasant nod. Serena
opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by Raye.
"Hello, beautiful people! How are we?" she said sliding into a
seat across from Serena.
"Good. But starving." Serena said as she finally looked at the
menu.
"I can agree with you on that point." Diamond said as he and
Darien arrived, completing the group. Serena smiled at them and then
turned back to the menu.
Soon sounds of rumbling stomachs could be heard as the group
looked over the delicious options. Eventually they all decided on
burritos and lunch was filled with mindless chatter, mainly from
Serena, Mina and Raye.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andrew glanced over at Serena who was some how managing to eat
and talk at the same time. He couldn't believe she was his soul-mate
--his flying mate-- his one and only forever. He'd had a crush on her
for as long as he'd known her, practically since they met in high
school. He'd had girlfriends before, but it had never been as special,
as complete, as this. Serena was his, the only one he would ever need.
He sighed happily and glanced around the table, sweeping his
eyes over the others. His gaze came to an abrupt rest on Diamond, who
was also staring at Serena.
He'd noticed Diamond's gaze on her a number of times, and it
made his blood boil. Nobody else knew just how connected he and Serena
were, but he still didn't think Diamond should have the audacity to
*stare*. Andrew glared at him, fixing his eyes on Diamond's own purple
ones.
Diamond looked up abruptly, his eyes meeting Andrew's in a
clash of male challenge. Andrew almost looked away. He flinched
visibly, but held his ground giving Diamond stare for stare till he
looked away, facing Raye instead of Serena.
Andrew was shaken. He'd seen a fierce *want* in Diamond's deep
purple eyes. A want and a need that Andrew couldn't begin to understand,
but that scared him to the very marrow of his bones.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Raye was jealous. She was damned jealous of the way Serena had
captured the attention of every one of the males at the table. Darien
wasn't looking at her, instead staring fixedly at a random tree, but it
was obvious that he was straining to hear every word, that every nuance
of her voice had an effect on him. Raye could feel it with that sixth
sense that told you the phone was about to ring, or to get out of the
street because a car was coming. Or that something horridly awful had
happened.
Raye shut her eyes briefly, breaking her gaze on Darien's face,
afraid she'd be drawn into that feeling and never escape. After a
moment, and a number of deep breaths, she reopened her eyes just as
Diamond turned to face her.
Purple eyes clashed with purple and Raye knew she was in love.
Completely and truly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darien now knew there were exactly twenty-two branches on the
tree and that together they all sported a total of one hundred and
fifty-seven leaves. He also knew that Serena's red hair could turn a
brilliant auburn in direct sunlight and that her laughing eyes were a
sparkling pale blue. He knew that her voice was a clear soprano with
just the right pitch to force tingles to run up and down his spine.
He'd tried. He'd tried so hard not to look at her, but he
couldn't help it. So what if Andrew was her boyfriend, that didn't mean
he couldn't *look* at the ravishing beauty across the table.
But, of course, it basically did mean that. Darien had never
been the type to try and fight for a girl, especially one he barely
knew, but something made him want to fight desperately for Serena's
heart. He just wished he could figure out what that something was.
Maybe then he could stop these strange feelings. The ones he
was strongly beginning to suspect were trying to tell him he was in
love.
"I talked to Luna." Serena said as she and Andrew walked down
Walnut Street to Serena's apartment building.
"Your cat?" Andrew asked after a moment.
"Yeah... she's more of an inside helper actually. She got me
into this whole mess of slaying in the dead of night when I should be
sleeping."
"How?" Andrew didn't sound skeptical so much as blatantly
curious.
"Well, about two years ago she just showed up on my door step,
dropped my half-mask at my feet, and told me to follow her. Needless to
say I slammed the door and hid in the bedroom."
Andrew's outburst of laughter caused Serena's grin to widen
more than she had thought possible. "You?! Hiding from a cat?" he
crowed between whoops of laughter. Serena stopped walking and glared at
him till he regained control and managed to look at her without
breaking down in giggles.
"Sorry, sorry. It was just a funny image in my mind."
"Yes, well, what would you do if a mysterious cat showed up and
told you to come with her?"
"Probably the exact thing you did."
"So there you have it. Now, do you wanna know the rest or not?"
Serena asked with a tiny pout.
"Of course, I want to hear the rest, ke'chara." Andrew said
softly as he smiled at her and slipped his arm around her shoulders.
She relaxed and leaned into the embrace as she continued.
"After that Luna somehow managed to get into my apartment --she
never did tell me how-- and after much prodding and convincing, got me
to go with her. I put on the mask, grabbed a sharp stick and followed
her into the woods." Serena took a deep breath. The next part was the
worst, she'd never told anyone but Raye... "When I saw the vampire
killing a human... I guess, instinct took over. I killed the leech
and... then I buried the body of the human." she looked away for a
moment and blinked rapidly. She pretended it didn't bother her in front
of Luna and Raye, but when she saw the lifeless body of a victim, it
made her heart cry out in anguish. It just wasn't fair to them, no
matter how Serena tried to do justice to their killer. It was never
enough to bring breath back into the broken bodies, to make them live
again.
Andrew stopped and just held her for a matter of minutes as
silent tears coursed down her cheeks. That first night was always the
worst to remember. The dead girl had been Molly, one of her best friends.
After a moment Andrew pulled away and looked at her. He kissed
her forehead and smiled sadly. "I'm so sorry. I never knew Molly very
well, but thank you for making me a part of your life like this.
Telling me these things means so much more to me than if I were to
happen across them in your mind. I want you to tell me stuff because
you want me to know it, not because it drops into my head."
"How did you know it was Molly?" Serena asked softly.
"It just dropped into my mind. She was all you were thinking
about a moment ago, and rightly so. She was a good friend and she
deserves to be mourned correctly." he kissed her on the forehead again
and began to walk. Serena walked along with him blindly for a moment,
before finally shaking her head and allowing the memory to leave her
again.
"Stake?"
"Got it."
"Say check."
"Check."
"Bokken?"
"Got i-check."
Luna smirked and continued to name off weapons and Serena
continued to acknowledge them as she suited up. Two silver blades in
her boots and two up her sleeves guaranteed she could handle most
werewolves. The bokken strapped to her back and the two stakes stuck in
her belt would handle vampires and any of those weapons would take care
of a witch.
As a knock came on the back door, Serena grabbed the extra
weapons and patted Luna on the head. "Don't wait up!" she called as she
slipped outside to join Andrew.
"Here. I brought you a stake and blade. The holster straps to
your arm and you do this to get it into your hand." She suddenly
snapped her wrist sideways and forward. One of the blades suddenly
gleamed up at them from her hand. "The only problem is putting it back."
she said as she pushed her sleeve up and re-holstered the blade.
After a few moments of practice Andrew was capable of pulling
the blade out fairly well, though throwing them would take much more
expertise. The stake he stuck in his belt and soon they were off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stay behind me. I'm better at sneaking around and if I need
you, I'll call. They had decided on mind-speech as it was completely
silent and undetectable. Silk bounded at Serena's side as the three of
them raced across the open field. Serena loved to run and although the
bokken slowed her down a little, the feeling of the wind in her hair
was one she would never give up willingly.
Got it. Andrew acknowledged. Serena was a little surprised
at his stamina. The night was half over and he was almost as fresh as
she was. They hadn't come upon any thing yet, but running around in the
woods for hours was usually enough to tire most people out.
A rustling in the trees to Serena's right caused her to
suddenly stop. Wait... listen. she said as she strained her ears
into the wind.
The bushes rustled again and Serena smiled slightly. She knew
who was out there. He may think he was sneaky, but she could usually
tell when he was following her. Although there were those occasions
when she wouldn't know he was there till he suddenly jumped into the
fight and helped her and Silk dispatch a particularly nasty vampire or
'wolf.
Those instances proved that she didn't always know he was
there, but now she knew it was definitely him, without a doubt.
"Come out, Mask. I know you are there." She said. She stood
cockily next to Andrew with Silk sitting between them as the shadowed
figure emerged from the woods. She heard Andrew's frantic thought to
run and instantly sent a wave of reassurance.
It was true though. Seeing a tall stranger completely outfitted
in black except his hands was enough to make any one want to run. His
presence sometimes seemed to suffocate Serena when he was close to her.
Although she would never admit it, he scared her sometimes. He was the
perfect look-a-like of any random mugger on the street.
But he never acted any less than gentlemanly and that always
helped to easy her fears.
"Stalker." he said in greeting. He nodded to them all and then
just stood there.
"Mask, I don't believe I ever asked you to follow me."
"No, you did not. You never said I couldn't either. I know this
is your 'territory', so to speak, but I have no where else to hunt. And
you know the feeling of needing to take out the monsters. You can't
stop yourself sometimes." His voice was cold and detached, sending a
shiver of fear down her spine.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't follow me anymore. I can
handle things and my friends will help me."
"Ah, yes. The human and the wolf. You do realize it is a
werewolf? I know you may not believe it, but I've seen it change back
to its other form."
"Then how come you never killed it? If this need is so great,
why didn't you ever just make Silk disappear at some point?" Serena
asked as she stored the knowledge in her brain that he *knew* about
Andrew. Possibly knew more than he was telling. It was something to
think about later, but not now. Not during this verbal sparring match.
"I was waiting till it would help serve my purposes. You may
not realize it, but I do have a personal agenda in all this as well."
"And what would that be?"
"You." he said simply. Suddenly, he dived between Serena and
Andrew, grabbed Silk around the middle and sprinted off into the night,
hitting Silk hard on the temple as he ran. Serena's shocked mind worked
frantically for a couple moments before realizing that her friend had
just been kidnapped, and knocked out, by a man she had thought was an
ally.
"No!" She screamed belatedly as she suddenly sprang into motion
chasing after the Mask and Silk. But it was already too late. They were
lost to the forest and lost to her.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------
That's it for now, minna!! Comments are always appreciated. ^_^
Ja ne,
Zi-chan