Chapter Eight – Seductions
Rouge, Vector and Espio, ran for their lives, as fast as their legs would carry them, straight back to the Chaotix Detective Agency. They ran in, slammed the door, and locked it, but Rouge was well aware that wasn't going to keep out an instinct fuelled Vampiric Shadow. They all collapsed in the floor, but within minutes, Rouge was back on the feet, about to make for the door. Vector panicked.
"Hey, where are you going?" He stammered. "It's not safe." He stuttered. But Rouge heaved.
"I have to leave. It's too dangerous for me to stay. Shadow is now running on pure instinct. His mind is gone, and he's going to come straight for me. If he finds you here with me, he'll immediately kill you both on sight." She gulped, then her cheeks when absolutely scarlet. "We're had relations." She breathed. But Espio when white. He stared.
"You've mated." He gasped. But Rouge nodded, tears in her eyes.
"Yes, but it was only a couple of times. It was casual, just us exploring what each other could do." She sighed, as the Chaotix stared. Rouge growled. "Look, it was before Shadow was changed into a Vampire." She spat. "He's the Ultimate Lifeform. I was just curious." She defended. But Vector heaved.
"But what about Knuckles? I thought you were into that Echidna?" He shrugged. But Rouge squealed, running for them, sliding to her knees, pleading.
"Please, I beg you. Don't tell him. He'll never forgive me." She cried, but Vector growled.
"Assuming you live. If Shadow's instincts really do think your his mate, I seriously doubt you'll survive if he finds you." He heaved. But Rouge nodded, getting back to her feet.
"I know, but I'd rather take my chances out there." She gulped, pointing to the front door. But suddenly, Espio grabbed Vector by the arm. He gasped, as he thought of something.
"What about Sonic?" He breathed, but Rouge shook her head. She growled.
"There's no time. I have to go now and you two need to go back to the training facility, and get those Chaos Emeralds." She ordered. "Shadow should be gone by now, everyone dead." She added. The Chaotix stared. The Bat had a very good point, but they both looked absolutely terrified Rouge growled. "What?" She questioned. "Your detectives, you should have seen the dead before." She hissed. But Vector gulped.
"Yes, but seeing Shadow slaughter all those people as he fed, was stomach churning and now you want us to go back." He stammered, but Rouge growled.
"You have to. If those Chaos Emeralds fall into the wrong hands we are done for, and I suspect they may be our only way of bringing Shadow back." She hissed, and then she roared his anger, as he temper flared. "Oh, suck it up, you idiots. I thought the Chaotix was better then this." He growled.
Suddenly, the windows rattled as something extremely fast whizzed past them. Suddenly, a now extremely familiar scent filled their noses. They all went white. Rouge cried.
"He's here. Go, I'll cover for you." She growled, pointing to the door, and immediately the Chaotix scrambled to their feet, ran past her and burst out through the door just as Shadow appearing, out of nowhere, in the room behind her. She gulped, she heard the rasping breath of the Black Vampire, panting heavily behind her. He didn't move as she held up her hands and turned around, and desperately tried not to scream at the sight that greeted her. Shadow was slight hunched as he stared at her, his quills and fur matted, his mouth hanging open, canine teeth and fangs fully bared. Blood and huge quantities of venom dripping from every tooth. His eyes were fixed on her, the grey smudges unmoving. He knew her scent. He'd followed it here, and knew exactly what it meant.
Vector and Espio was still running away behind her, just about seen though the open door, but thankfully, the Vampire didn't appear interested, as he smirked, licking his lips at her.
She cried as she saw him. How far her beautiful mighty Shadow had fallen? It angered her. What had those people done to him? They had to get him back. He just couldn't stay like this. She gulped as she backed away from her him. She knew running, would get her killed, but she wasn't planning to. She grabbed the door, and slammed it behind her, blocking the view of the fleeing Chaotix from the Vampire. Out of sight, out of mind. Or she hoped. She heaved.
He wanted her, desperately. He'd had her before and now he was extremely keen to have her again. She could see in his eyes, or lack of, which was creepy. But she realised that if she refused, she'd be killed. Her only chance of survival was to take control of the encounter, and to willingly allow the Vampire in. Then she hoped, as he officially saw her as his mate, he wouldn't kill her, as that would be counter-productive. In other words, play the instincts. She was deeply frightened, but in her heart, she was, like always, deeply curious. She smirked.
"Hello, Big Boy." She smiled. She pointed to the door. "You don't want them." She hissed, and then walked right up to Shadow. "It's me, you want." She sniggered. The Vampire moved towards her, sniffing her hard, taking in huge lungfuls of her scent. She giggled, but desperately dodged the dripping venom. If that got in her eyes or mouth, she was dead. Within minutes, he was drooling all over her, and suddenly he began clawing at her clothes, tearing them off of her. She panicked. That venom was getting dangerously close, she had to control that mouth of his. He couldn't kiss or even lick her, let alone bite. She'd die.
Suddenly, she had an idea. She grabbed Shadow, running in for an almighty hug, throwing the head, and thus his nose and mouth, over her left shoulder. Then staying as close to the Vampire as possible, so he couldn't turn and go for her neck, she locked her arms in place around the back of his head. She then held on with everything she had. Then, while the Vampire was somewhat stunned at that sudden movement, she then kicked Shadow's legs out from under him, and they both fell to the floor. She fell first on her back, Shadow on top, completely winding her.
She swore. He was heavy, but recovered quickly, desperately trying to keep the Vampire's mouth dug into the floor, over her shoulder and away from her, as much as possible. The Vampire, whose instincts were completely none the wiser, to this subtle manipulation, immediately continued ripping the clothes off her, and then they mated, doing the deed.
Rouge, still incredibly frightened, was stunned, her emotions all over the place. The deed. It was so different to anything the Ultimate Lifeform had done before. Last time, Shadow had been very rough, and it was quite painful and this time, it was intensely pleasurable. So much so that Rouge temporarily forgot her fear, fully embracing the Vampire. For that nanosecond, everything seemed perfect, until suddenly, they conjoined and to her utter horror, Shadow, out of nowhere, plunged his fangs deep into her neck.
She tried to scream, but couldn't, as silence left her mouth, and as the Vampire gnawed into her neck, almost drinking her dry, the venom pouring into her. It should have been painful. It wasn't, the total opposite in fact. It felt good, but the tears fell, as she knew she was done for. She tried so hard, as she looked back at Shadow, and finally, her eyes rolled back into her head, and she was plummeted into darkness.
Going back into the training facility, was the very last thing Vector and Espio wanted to do, but they both knew that Rouge was right. To bring Shadow back, they needed the Chaos Emeralds. But they both cried, hugging each other. Rouge was gone. She'd sacrificed her life to save them, and now those five mighty gemstones were their only means of stopping the Ultimate Lifeform and potentially saving lives. As they reached the facility, they stopped and stared. The place was deadly silent, and completely drowned in darkness. In that little light that flickered, bodies were seen lying everywhere. Everyone had indeed be killed. Both Vector and Espio went white, the Crocodile gaged, going green to promptly get elbowed by Espio. He growled. Vector nodded, pulling himself together.
They were going to do this, as they crept through the facility, stepping over the bodies as they went. Back down the corridors and past the rooms they travelled through before, they found the main cavernous room, as it's corruption machine in the centre. Cold and dead, the power completely out. In around it's top, the five Chaos Emeralds still remained, shining and unscathed, but drained of their power. Espio checked the coast was clear and Vector want ran in, straight for the machine and proceed to climb the outside of the mighty mechanism. Then one-by-one, Vector, using his Super-Strength, proceeded to punch each of the Chaos Emeralds, tossing them down to Espio who bagged them. But it wasn't easy, as it took nearly an hour to get them out, and suddenly noises of an approaching helicopter meant they had to leave and now.
Finally, the last Chaos Emerald was out. They bagged it and ran, jumping over the bodies, and out of the facility, just as G.U.N. arrived. Thankfully, they weren't seen, as they escaped into the dark hue of the approaching dawn. But they didn't go back to their Detective Agency, they ran past it and straight to the only person they knew, who had the power to wield the Chaos Emeralds and save them all.
Sonic.
But someone was watching them, as they ran from the facility, smirking as he licked his fangs clean. Rouge had cheered Shadow's instincts up hugely, and now they were no long plagued by fear and grief. But the Vampire had a target sighted. The Chaotix were of no interest to him, as the filthy scent filled his nose. He hissed, hating it with a passion, still feeling incredibly threatened by it.
G.U.N.
The instincts knew that this swarm of people and their machines, must have a nest somewhere and now he was determined to find it. He watched them enter the facility, and stake it out, finding nothing left. Shadow crept back there, and sniffed round one of the vehicles, a transport truck. He smelt prey inside, and immediately climbed inside. Seeing the four soldiers, he attacked, brutally fast, draining all of them dry, before they could even scream, as suddenly, the truck went into the motion, as the driver returned, and drove it away. The Vampire hunkered down and smirked, completely unseen. All he had to do now was wait and the nest would be his for the taking.
Suddenly, Rouge woke up with a start. Looking around, she noticed she was completely alone. She gasped huge lungfuls of air, unable to believe she was alive, having no idea how long she was out. She immediately sat up, feeling her neck. The Vampire's bite mark still remained, but now healed over and scared. She looked down at her partially naked body. She should be dead. Shadow bit her. No one had ever survived a Vampire bite, unless... She felt her mouth, and frowned. There was no fangs, or venom sacks, or any indications that they were hidden away. Her frown deepened, not understanding. If she hadn't been turned into a Vampire then what happened to her? Then as she tired to get up, she felt incredible weird in and around her stomach area. She grabbed it, collapsing back to the floor again. It wasn't painful, just extremely uncomfortable. She screw her eyes up, panting hard, as she began to feel something wriggle inside her belly.
Now she screamed, feeling the scars on her neck again. If Sonic's venom was powerful enough to change Shadow, then maybe his venom had changed her, especially during mating. But she cried. But they weren't compatible. Bats and Hedgehogs. Each species had to breed with their own kind. Different species could mate, but nothing happened, or at least it shouldn't. It seemed that rule didn't apply to Vampires, as Shadow's venom had changed her, to now make her compatible. The tears fell. She was alive. Utterly delighted, but now she knew why she'd survived. She sniffed. How was she going to explain this to the Echidna?
She was pregnant.
She gulped, and realising she couldn't stay here, she grabbed a blanket, wrapped it around herself, and ran for the door and in the morning sun, she opened her wings and took to skies, flying with everything she could. Thankfully, her apartment in Westropolis, wasn't far from the Chaotix Detective Agency. After much struggle, she made it for the still open window, and climbed in, collapsing on the bed. She desperately wanted to stay there, never wanting to go outside again. But suddenly, the fetus squirmed, and it was so uncomfortable that she curled up into a ball, it borderline painful.
She'd never been pregnant before, but she was certain that it wasn't suppose to be this uncomfortable or the baby be this high up in her belly. It felt like it was right next to her stomach. Suddenly, she rolled over on the bed, and promptly throw up on the floor. She cried. That hurt, and the suddenly, her eyes widened. There was a large quantity of blood in her sick. Absolutely panicking, she found a fresh set of clothes. She hadn't got another unitard, so she grabbed the short, black top and black trousers with white flowers, she used for Extreme Gear racing, got changed and dived for the open window and away. She now needed help and desperately, and knew of only one person who potentially had any knowledge of what was happening to her. Another Vampire.
Sonic.
But that meant telling him the truth, but considering how good Vampire senses were, he'd smell it on her first. As for Knuckles, she didn't care. Her life was still in danger, even if she had survived Shadow. She made a beeline for Tails' House, flying through the sky, but the more the baby wriggled, the more painful it got, and she found herself falling out of the sky, tumbling through the air. The pain just too much.
Suddenly, she landed on top of someone, running across the ground. There was screaming all round, but immediately she was grabbed and hugged. The Crocodile absolutely delighted. She had coincidentally found the Chaotix, also heading to the Fox's house. Vector cried.
"Rouge." He sniffed, but Espio frowned in deep concern, the bag of Chaos Emeralds still in his hand. He smelt her scent. He growled.
"No." He hissed. "Something's wrong." he spat. Suddenly, Rouge screamed, she hands grabbing her belly, the baby clearly visibly moving within. Her eyes streamed with tears. The Chaotix panicked. What had Shadow done to her? Only another Vampire would know. The fact that she was still alive was incredible, the Chaotix immediately got the impression that, that wouldn't last for much longer. Vector immediately picked her up in his arms, carrying her, and they continued running to the house.
About an hour later, they arrived, busting though the door, to a very confused Knuckles, and Tails, Rouge still screaming in tears. The Crocodile frantically looked around, and Knuckles took the Bat off of him. He frowned. Despite how much of a pain Rouge was to him and the Master Emerald, he liked her a lot. He cuddled her. He growled.
"What happened?" He cried. But Vector cut across him, panicking.
"Where's Sonic?" He stammered, but Tails stared.
"Out hunting, why?" He shrugged. Both the Fox and the Echidna was completely unaware of what was going on. Vector gulped, staring at Knuckles, knowing how much this was going to hurt. But he had no choice. Rouge desperately needed their help.
He told them the truth, the best of what he knew. Their sneaking into the training facility, Shadow feeding to get them in. Then him getting caught and taken, the device on his head, G.U.N. trying to corrupt him and failing, and then his suddenly arrival at the Detective Agency, forcing them to flee. Rouge covering for them. She should be dead, but Shadow had clearing done something to her, as he belly now violently wriggled on his own, causing the Bat to scream. Knuckles exploded, his temper flared.
"I swear I'll kill that Ultimate Lifeform." He roared. But Rouge whimpered.
"It wasn't Shadow." She heaved. "He's gone. That device murdered his mind. It's dead. He's now nothing more then pure Vampire instincts." She cried. "He came for me." She sniffed. "I'm sorry, we'd had relations in the past. That's why he'd tracked me down. I had to let him, otherwise he'd have killed me." She cried, suddenly, screaming in tears. The coloured drained from all of them, when they finally realised the truth. Tails ran to her, examining her belly. He swore.
"She's pregnant." He panted. "But the baby is killing her." He cried. As the offspring of a Vampire, that was obvious. But Knuckles stared, gulping hard.
"What do we do?" He sniffed. No one had any idea. A hospital was out of the question, not even a street doctor. They wouldn't touch her. This was far to weird for them. They all cried, as suddenly, they heard loud highly aggressive hissing from behind them. Sonic was all fours, his body low to the ground, head up staring at them. His eyes were glaring, his teeth and fangs were bared at them, the venom dripping, his clawed fingers scraping the floors. But something was different, in his flaming red eyes. The sparkles and light was gone, as Sonic's own powerful Vampire instincts and pure anger had gotten the better of him.
Suddenly, he ran for them, as breakneck speeds, forcing everyone to flee as he grabbed Rouge by the scruff of the neck, by his almighty jaws. He violently forced to the floor, and rolling her over, just as her belly moved, to everyone's horror, his plunged his fangs and teeth, deep to her belly, between her top and trousers. The super-sharp teeth sliced her to pieces, the venom flowing. But, weirdly, the pain eased as the venom kicked in. Rouge was immune to the venom, so it didn't parallelise her, but it did numb a lot of the pain. She fearfully looked down at Sonic's biting and clawing at her belly, drinking the excess blood. Knuckles was about to intervene, but seeing Rouge having no effect, Tails immediately stopped him.
"No." He squealed. "She's immune to the venom. He's getting the baby out." He cried. Then he ran up towards them, his hands up, showing his non-aggression and immediately grabbed Rouge's head and arms to comfort her. Sonic allowed him. It was gory, and extremely brutal, but finally, Sonic found it, as he grabbed it by the scruff of the neck, with his jaws, and pulled the jet black, male baby Hedgehog from Rouge's belly. Everyone screamed. It was dripping in blood, organic tissue dangling it from it's quills, from where they had ripped her insides to pieces. Sonic clawing the umbilical cord, severing it.
It was hissing and spitting, it's tiny glowing red eyes glaring, claws and feet kicking desperate to get free. Everyone expected Sonic to let the little one go, but he didn't. Because the baby had yet to develop the infamous red stripes of his father, he was still mortal, and Sonic, knowing this, bit down hard and his fangs came together inside the baby's neck and severed the spinal cord. It squealed, and then fell limp and lifeless. Dead.
The Blue Blur heaved. He desperately didn't want to do that, by he had no choice. Everyone stared in utter horror. He dropped the infant on the floor, and immediately went back to Rouge to lick her clean. Tails gulped and he watched Sonic put his nose inside her and completely clean her out. Something weird was happening, even Rouge noticed, looking up. Tails' jaw dropped.
"The licking. Rouge. It's healing you." He gasped, as they watched Sonic settle down next to the Bat, purring into her belly, as he licked. Tissues reformed, cuts melted away, organs rebuilt themselves. Everyone watched in pure fascination, as over the course of an hour, Rouge was fully restored, and Sonic was left nuzzling her belly, leaving nothing more then a thin line across it. She heaved, panting heavily, but she exploded in delight, and suddenly grabbed the Blue Blur with everything she had, and pulled him into an almighty hug, him licking her all over.
Tails was forced to back away, as the venom went flying everywhere, but Rouge couldn't have cared less. She was immune and the Blue Blur had just saved her life. Suddenly, Rouge's emotions got the better of her, and she suddenly, cried her heart out into his shoulder. Sonic heaved, his fangs, claws and red eyes vanishing. He smiled.
"Next time, don't mate with a Vampire, especially a Mindless Monster. This is how they reproduce." He sighed, as everyone looked at him, Rouge nodding. He then turned to the dead infant and cried. "When a pureblood Vampire looses his mind, he is no longer a pureblood. The biology changes, and he becomes a Mindless Monster." He shrugged. "Pureblood Vampires breed like all other species, the normal way, with their own kind. I know Shadow didn't do this by choice, but the instincts just saw an opportunity here and took it. Mindless Monster are always male and when they want to breed, he can partially change an ordinary female, of any species, using his venom, while mating. This will make them, one, immune to the venom, and two, able to bare his child. Turning them into Carriers. The baby wasn't in your uterus, Rouge, it was in your abdomen, growing extremely fast, feeding from you as it grew, it's quills slicing and dicing you. But." He gulped, looking at Rouge. "You wouldn't have been able to deliver the baby. It would have eaten it's way out, killing you in the process. A Carrier never survives the birth." He heaved. Several people screamed, causing Sonic to growl with the sound, hands over his ears. However, he quickly regained composure, as suddenly, his head fell, walking over to the infant, still lying where it fell. No one had dared touch it. He picked it up, stroking it, his eyes filling with tears, he looked up. "I swear, I didn't want to kill the kid, but it too was mindless, I could feel it, and we can't afford another monster on the loose, killing everyone. I had to do it now, before it developed the red stripes. The immortality." He sniffed, then he cuddled the dead infant, crying hard. He knew what this baby would have meant to the Ultimate Lifeform, even though it was a Mindless Monster. "Oh Shads. Please forgive me." He wailed.
He knew all this because of the instinctive knowledge he'd been born with, which had exploded in recent months, and the stories he'd read. Loosing one's mind was a pureblood Vampire's worse nightmare, a fate worse then death. But Rouge got to her feet, walked over and comforted him. She sighed, looking down at the baby. She should have felt grief but didn't. It was entirely Hedgehog. There was nothing of her in it at all. It wasn't her baby. She smiled.
"When we get him back, he will." She sighed. But Sonic frowned.
"But how? Shadow's dead." He hissed. He immediately knew this from the Shadow's scent on her. That was what caused him to explode. But suddenly, Espio held up the bag of mighty gemstones, still drained of their power, hence the Blue Blur hadn't immediately noticed their presence. The Chameleonheaved.
"The Chaos Emeralds?" He asked, of which Sonic gasped. Both he and Shadow shared another Chaos Power other then Super-Speed. Chaos Wield, and this time with huge quantities of positive Chaos Energy, in Super-form, it might just work. If that didn't bring Shadow back then nothing would. Immediately, Sonic thrusted the dead baby into Rouge's arms and ran for the bag, snatching it from Espio. He dived his nose into the bag, sniffing hard. He then looked up again.
"Hey, there are only five in here, where are the other two?" He asked. But Vector heaved.
"In a security vault on the Ark." He recounted. Sonic growled.
"Fine." He spat, but Rouge collared him, before he left. She squealed.
"Sonic, that vault is D.N.A. locked. You'll need Shadow's blood to open it." She panted. Sonic roared in frustration. Despite Shadow's change into a Mindless Monster, his D.N.A. shouldn't have altered much. Certainly not enough to be refused on a D.N.A. electronic lock. He heaved. Why wasn't anything simple? His fangs and claws exploded from his jaws and hands, his eyes a vivid red. He made for the door, but whirled around growling.
"Now stay here, please, and I mean it, this time. I don't want anymore incidents." He growled. He did have a point. But Tails squealed, gulping hard.
"Where are you going?" But the Blue Blur just smirked.
"Hunting." He sniggered, and with that he ran through the door. He closed it behind him, and paused. Then turning around, he screwed his face up in extreme discomfort and then, in severe pain, proceeded to throw up a mouthful of blood and spray it all over Tails' front door. He heaved, panting. The regurgitated blood was gross, but might be enough to keep the Mindless Monster away. If Shadow didn't like the smell of it, then he definitely wouldn't. Sonic smiled. Just in case. Anyway, time to go, and ran into the night, a boom behind him. If Shadow's blood was needed, then he'll just have to get it. As a Mindless Monster, Shadow's scent was now very strong. Sonic had learned it off the baby. Now time to track him down.