A/N )( It was strange, every time I use "sense" in this story, like how Mush uses his "senses" (which, in case you don't catch it, are his vampire senses), I kept thinking of Spiderman and his Spider Sense [Tobey Maguire plus fantastic butt quantity times impossibly tight Spandex equals a VERY HAPPY MONDIE]. Heh. Okay, so I really just wanted to remind you all of how incredibly CHOICE Tobey's butt is. So sue me.
Or don't. I'm poor.
Shoutouts!
Falco Conlon )( Hehe thanks goilie. Sorry Spot was laughing at you. **Mush hands Falco a crayon, then laughs and steals it back because he doesn't know how to share**
SparksdaNewsie )( MOREMOREMORE is here! LOL! Spot wasn't originally in the game plan, but now I'm glad he is. He's gonna be some opportunities for humor in this story. Let me tell you, Spot is NOT going to take lightly to the fact that Mush can control some of his actions. Heh heh heh.
Shade of Temair )( Well, you're not dead yet. That's in this chappy. Don't worry, though! It's gonna be all better soon. Soon, my pretty, soon… **Mondie cackles and rubs hands together**
Hottie5Star )( Yeah, I suppose Spot being a minion WOULD be a bit of a surprise… it was a bit of a surprise for me as well. ;D But now it's working out, so I'm not complaining. Thank you muchly-mushly!!!!
The Omniscient Bookseller )( Why, thank you! **Mush grabs red-violet crayon and scribbles a blush across Mondie's cheeks** You don't know who the "she" is? I DO! Hahaha! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! **Mondie falls over evil-laughing** That's a lot of people to have at your house. I don't even have that many people in my family. I have three cousins, two grandparents, two aunts, two uncles, my mom, my dad, and my brother. That's only twelve people, thirteen including me. Oh yeah, and I have a great-grandma who's in a nursing home. LOL! Hope you have more time to talk in this review, I love yours, Omni!!! :D
Misprint )( I do believe that is the LONGEST review I have EVER received. THANK YOU for that, first off! It was so nice to read. I heart long reviews!!!!!!!! Okay, let's go through and comment on your comments… Yes, Mush now hearts his crayons… I don't even know where I came up with that one from… HEHE! I'm glad you were doing a weird skipping thing to get from the phone to the compie. That's fun! I skip all the time. **Mush nods in agreement** Hehe, of COURSE I'm reading Keza's Writer's Block ficcy, and GUESS WHAT! **Mondie jumps up and down in excitement** We're gonna be in the same locay and I'm gonna be bugging you about Bloodflame in her story! Is that not too perfect or WHAT?! **Mondie laughs hysterically** I love that shirt of KB's too, oddly enough. Hmmm… you're still wearing it in the story. I wonder if I'll ever make him make you give it back. Prolly not. ^^ Mush-of-the-Crayola. Hahaha! He's excited about his box of 96 crayons right now. Even though he's eaten roughly twenty of them. **Mush sticks the goldenrod crayon in his mouth and looks thoughtful as he chews it up** Yes, I enjoy making fun of KB's eyepatch in this story… though I have to do it subtly, cuz or else he takes offense. **Mondie rolls eyes** HEY! Speaking of Blackjack and Race losing his harmonica… MORE BUST??? PLEAAAAAAASE? And more Pure? PLEEEEEEEEASE? And ((who knew this was coming)) MUCH MORE ECLIPSE/BLOODFLAME!!!!!!!!!!!! Mush always wears his studmuffinalicious knickers, so of course now he is wisesupervampiricboywithstudmuffinalicious knickers. Hehe. I wish that was a real word. Like in the dictionary. NO MORTAL CAN FOOL WISEMUSH! He's too wise. Yeah. **Mush grabs his black crayon and draws a pair of glasses on his face so that he looks smart** Yeah, Mush, that's it… real intelligent there… **Mondie and Mush make out for three hours** I AM THE WALRUS! KOO KOO KATCHU **Everybody stares at Mondie** What??? Actually, oddly enough, Shannon and I were singing that in French class the other day… HEHEHE you're funny when Mush creates his vampires. Now, when I say 'bound,' WHY does that make you think of Mush jumping around a grocery store sampling pies???? **Mondie raises eyebrows at Mis** Odd, Misi. Odd. YOU'RE RIGHT! Mush *is* too adorable for words! **Mondie huggles CrayolaMush** Yay for wonderful reviews! HERE'S YER KNIFE!
bittersweet )( I watch Sister, Sister for Mush too. ;D I love when he's on! And he's such a jerk and it's sooooooo cuuuuuuuuuute and it's just … aawwwwwwwwwwww. Heh. Yes, we muchly-mushly need to catch up. One of these days, I will get a new FOD. One of these days… **sigh** In some ways, I miss it, but in other ways, ff.net has totally taken over what I used to get from FOD. And I love writing, so… I dunno. I guess I like this better because it's a better way for me to hone my skills. But I do miss the writing of my boring life for others to read and be bored by. ;D Love ya goilie!
rumor )( I still say that Germans spit a lot. :P So there. Oooh, guess on who you think "she" is. Heh, I can't believe it isn't more obvious for you guys! It seems blaringly so to me. But then again, I know where this story is going. HAHAHAHAHA! **Mondie falls over laughing** Yes, I too loved Spot's aloof attitude toward becoming a vampire… hehehehe!
kimimay85 )( You really WERE lost, huh?? LOL! That's all right, I still love ya. We were the stepsisters in the French class play of Cinderella. And Drew was a mouse. And we read Les Miserables and it took friggin FOREVER but the French 3 class now only has to watch the movie. **Mondie tapdances away** NO WORK TONIGHT! WHOO WHOO WHOOOOOOOOO!
NDBT Chapter 5
Shade turned a corner and squinted into the impossibly bright sunlight. A figure was coming toward her, a mere shadow within the effervescent glow of the yellow-white wall of light behind him. She felt the wall coming closer, and with it, the figure. The sun was so warm… unusually warm… too warm. Frowning a bit, she moved backward, trying to escape, but the sun was on all sides now. And the figure… he darted around her, and she only caught sight of his smirk and one blue-green eye before being jerked awake—
The heat from her dream was real. She shot up in bed when she realized she was surrounded by darting flames, prophesizing a fantastic dance of mortality. She opened her mouth to scream, but the harsh intake of breath rubbed raw against her singed throat. Her lungs were full of ashy smoke, and as she vainly tried to cough it out, a new sound filled the air.
"Help! Help!" It took a moment for Gemini to actually form the words, and to thrust them forward, some time more. She tried to stand, tried to see, but the thick, billowing smoke made it all too impossible. Instead, she fell to her knees and tried to crawl forward, still bleating her one feeble word repeatedly. She heard a rasping cough, and looked forward, just as a burning beam fell from the wall. She rolled out of the way just in time, but didn't escape a heavy shot of soot in her face. She shrieked in pain as it fought battle with her eyes, a throbbing she could never have imagined before. Tears streamed down her face, and yet it seemed she was completely deserted in the bunkroom; aside from the coughing, she hadn't heard anyone else. Wiping furiously at her eyes to rid them of the criminal imposing substance, she looked blurrily forward. A curl flopped into her eyes, as normal; she was used to this hindrance by now. But as she moved to flip it back into place, she noticed its color. Not her usual brassy red, but gray with ash. In combination with the fumes and the heat, this stunned her, and she could only stare at her hair as if entranced. Eventually, it moved out of focus, and she instead noticed what had been just beyond her line of vision… two figures.
The smoke was hindering her movements, so it took five minutes to reach them. When she did, she shook her head and began to cry again, feeling exhausted and beat and too bogged down to even scream. It was Mondie and Broadway. Their hands were clasped together tightly, and their smoldering garments had burned holes as if they'd been on fire but had put it out. A beam had fallen, and it must have struck them down. It pinned them to the ground, across their backs, but neither of the girls was moving any longer. Not even a precious thin breath was being taken in or out.
Gemini couldn't hear the coughing anymore. She was tired, too… so tired. She looked yearningly toward the window, which had shattered some time before, she figured. Flames had begun to consume its sill, barring an exit by way of the fire escape. She jerked around, and it was getting harder and harder to breathe. She began to cough in the same harsh, resounding way that Shade had done earlier.
Soon, though, she too fell silent.
Spot stopped the group all as they began to cross the bridge. He quickly scaled down the bank and approached the water. Using his senses, Mush could see Spot examining his image in the murky water, undoubtedly testing his own senses. It had already been proven evident that Mush's powers far outshone the others; while they too could see at night, his vision was far less obstructed, and while they too could push out their fangs at will, it was a bit painful for them to do it. Mush watched as Spot grimaced at his reflection, and to his surprise, Mush could feel the vibrating feeling touch his mouth as Spot's fangs thrust out. And, if he concentrated hard enough, he could see exactly was Spot was seeing, down to the wavy reflections of water which didn't show the fearful fangs clearly enough for Spot's liking. It was as if he was inside Spot's brain…
With an actual jerk of his head, he pulled his thoughts away, and immediately felt himself regain the thoughts in his brain. He shook his head. Sometimes this vampire stuff was just too weird…
"Mush." He heard Misprint's voice clearly, though she was whispering. It sounded almost as if her tongue were too thick for her mouth. Intrigued, he looked over, only to find that she was attempting to talk around her jagged fangs. Finding it too hard, she sighed and willed them up amongst her other teeth. Then she began again. "I'se know some goils who'd love ta join dis… etoinal pardy…"
Mush rolled his eyes. "Mis, we's can't go aroun' makin' all a' ours frien's vampiahs."
"Shoah we can!" she answered, pouting a bit. "You gots ta make all a' you's frien's inta vampiahs, now why can't I?"
Mush shrugged. "I'm not yer mastah, Misprint. You ain't a minion. So you kin make whoeveh ya want inta a vampiah. Jus' know dat sometimes people change when dey become vampiahs… dat's what Chalereux tol' me."
Misprint brightened. "Well, c'mon wit' me den. Wit' dese skills, I'se bet we's kin git all da way inta da bunkroom wit'out bein' caught. Den you boys kin see a goils' bunkroom. Lemme tell ya, it's so much cleaneh…"
Mush had to admit that this had a certain appeal to him, and so on his quiet command, the small band of vampires strode back into Manhattan, their strides nearly double. Misprint led the way through the twisting streets to her lodging house.
"Holy shit…" she cursed, staring up at the building in awe.
Large orange flames enveloped the entire building and the two on either side of it. A few terrified screams pierced the air. No one had yet made it outside, though shouts could be heard down the street, undoubtedly from some bulls alerting the volunteer fire service.
"Jesus, I'se gotta save 'em!" Misprint said, starting towards the building.
"No! You can't!" Mush said, feeling a bit panicked. "Dere's ways dat vampiahs can git keeled, remembeh? I tol' ya 'em oilieh, befoah we wen' ta Brooklyn even. FIAH IS ONE A' DEM. You's can't go in dere. You'll die."
"If I don', me friend's'll die!" Misprint shouted back, her fierce eyes locking on Mush's. She tried to brush past him, but he caught a fast hold on her arm and wouldn't let her move. She cried out in bitter agony as the flames mockingly jumped around in the rooms she couldn't get to. Mush was just that much stronger than she was. "SHADE!" she yelled miserably, wondering vaguely if somehow her voice had some magic power that would propel them out of the burning building. "MONDIE! GEM! BROADWAY!"
"Mush, we can't jus' let 'em scream in dere," Blink said anxiously, the flames reflecting in his visible eye. "Dey're dyin', Mush!" He too started for the building determinedly.
"No one is goin' in dere!" Mush roared, and Kid Blink was astounded to find that his feet were stuck fast to the ground. He could only retreat, not move forward. He whimpered a bit, truly disturbed at the fact that Mush would just let all those girls die without a fight.
Mush could hear Chalereux's voice in his head, and he knew that he alone could walk among the flames. She had told him that he couldn't be killed, even by the things that restricted other vampires. Yet it wasn't exactly himself alone that was restraining him. There was a purpose for these girls' deaths, as horrible as the thought seemed to him. He wished to spit its potency upon the ground. Yet he held fast to the prophetic thought, hoping that, this time, at least, he was doing the right thing.
"C'mon, back heah!" he commanded, leading the small group away from the burning building. Misprint was crying softly now, and her hypnotizing tears seemed worse than anything that anyone could do; they were the tears of bitter defeat, of angst and pain. Mush had to turn away from her.
"Wha's da use?" she finally spat. "Wha's da use a' bein' … bein'… one a' dese if I can't even help people?"
"Bein' a vampiah has nuttin' ta do wit' savin' people," Spot told her crossly. He wanted to go exploring, but because of the others' sensitivity, he was stuck watching an old building burn to its cinders. He wanted to go out, seduce some young night creature, and watch her slowly lose blood at his hands. A wicked smile pressed upon his lips.
"All a' me minions. You's on'y allowed ta drink da blood a' moiderahs an' dose who do what da Loid t'inks is a sin," Mush commanded.
Spot glared. "Wha' da hell is you talkin' abou?"
Misprint shrieked. "WHO CAHES! WHO CAHES! Ev'ry one a' me bes' friends is dyin, an' NONE A' YOU CARES!" She ripped her arm free of Mush's and ran from him. He watched closely to make sure she didn't run into the burning building, but she seemed to heed his warning (for once). Instead, she took off down a side street.
"Ey, why's she get ta move?" Kid Blink asked grumpily. "Wha' if she goes an' tells someone what we are, huh?"
Mush shook his head. "Give'r time, fellas. It's been a long night fer her. An' it's not oveh yet."