Disclaimer:…Rah!!!
Chapter Thirteen
Unlike his adversary, Owen could not completely pull himself away from the scene. (In truth, he felt extremely guilty, but he would never have admitted that to himself) So instead of going home, he transported to the roof of a near by building to watch the scene unfold from the relative safety of the shadows.
He had just lit a well-needed cigarette when he heard the voices from below.
"Terrace, we've got a dead one. Get the stretcher and a bb. (*1)"
"Oh shit, someone's blasted her! The bullets went right through!"
"It's such a shame; she was so young with such a long life ahead of her."
"I know, but that's all this crazy city has come to these days. Kids make bad mistakes, no parents to stop them."
"Yeah, well, it's still a shame."
The two medics rolled away the now bagged dead girl. Owen watched on, the cigarette hanging loosely from his lips. She had not deserved to die, just as the rest of her kind did not deserve to be treated as objects, as bags of blood. Owen exhaled, a puff of smoke wafting up into the air as well. He watched as they loaded the girl into the back of the vehicle before heading for the front.
The first medic agreed with the second.
"Yeah…ya know, all of the gangs' shootings and street wars mean nothing when something like this happens."
Owen rubbed out his cigarette on a near by concrete stone before placing it in his pocket. Although he was fighting a battle on humanity's behalf, he still would rather not buy another pack of cigarettes from the local corner store; those humans he would rather not fight for. However, despite his displeasure, his fight for humanity would have to include the annoying Arabian corner store owners, even if they didn't know an adult when they saw one. (*2) Otherwise, it wouldn't be a fight for humanity, would it?
He sighed, watching the ambulance as it drove away. Slowly, steadily, it disappeared into the night. Yes, it was tragic that something like this had to happen, but it was out of their hands now. The cards were dealt, there was no turning back.
All they could do now was play what was in their favor.
He turned to leave, satisfied with what he saw, but another movement caught his attention, this time from another direction entirely.
'What the hell?' He watched in amazement as the lucid manhole cover in the middle of the adjacent street opened; a force from underneath lifting it, pushing it away.
"Raph, there is no such thing!" Leo stepped out of the manhole, waiting for the rest of their little army. Mikey came next, followed by the injured Raphael. Mike turned to help Raph up the last few ladder steps, but Raph waved him off. He could do it himself. Leo waited impatiently, his arms crossed, a toe tapping. As soon as Mike had replaced the man-hole cover, their search got underway.
Now on the move once again, Raph finally responded. "And why the hell not, Leo? You don't know what lives on this earth. Hell, ask any human if there are giant turtles living underground, and they'll say there is no such thing!" Raph argued his case. Leo rolled his eyes.
"But, Vampires, Raph? Vampires?!" Leo was not convinced. Raph seethed.
He knew what he saw, no matter what stupid Leo wanted to say.
Owen watched from above, genuinely intrigued. He had thought that there was only one turtle, only one of these freaks against nature, but he had been sorely mistaken. The one that he recognized now wore bandages and was followed by two more. As he recalled, that turtle had been pretty banged up at their first confrontation, he still looked pretty bad. The other two seemed identical to the one that he knew, except for the fact that they wore different color bandana's; which turned out to be the only way that he was able to tell them apart. He also couldn't help but marvel over the way that they traveled; well trained, naturally searching the shadows as they walked. Not only could these turtles walk up right and talk, but they also seemed to have some type of social structure. He could not tell much, but he knew that the one in blue was the leader; watching out for danger and motioning for the others only after he was sure that the coast was clear.
'Fascinating.' He moved, trying to get a better view. It had been a while since his scientific mind had been intrigued like this; there having been no need with his life style. But now he watched these new animals, just as he had before with other new species, in a life long long ago.
They talked as they walked; he couldn't help but overhear the subject, which turned out to be almost as interesting as the giant turtles themselves.
They were talking about vampires.
Raph turned to Mikey as they walked. Beside him, Mike traveled in silence. It had been it Mike's idea to go to Centrice's; being the only place that Donatello would have retreated to.
'So why is Mikey being so quiet?'
"Mikey, you believe me, don't you?" Raph caught Mike's gaze. If anyone would believe him, it would be Mikey. However, Mikey broke the gaze, suddenly finding the ground rather interesting.
He did not believe him.
Raphael did not respond but silently cursed them all. No one believed him. Not even Mikey.
But…He was so sure about this one! Why didn't they believe him?!
'Would you believe it if Mike came up to you one day and said that there were vampires living right under your noses? 'Oh; and by the way, one of them might have bitten Donny.''
Well, no. He wouldn't have believed it either if the shoe was on the other foot.
But, still….
Leo suddenly stopped, halting before the two of them. He looked up. Raph followed his gaze. They were there.
"We're here." Leo stated rather needlessly before jumping for the fire escape. Raph rolled his eyes, before jumping also. He struggled a little, his cuts aching which the exertions. There was a push from underneath and Raph was up the rung. He looked down, Mikey smiled up at him. Meanwhile, Leo climbed, oblivious to the transactions going on below him. He ranted.
"Raph, when are you going to grow up? When are you going to realize that everything that you read is not real? Geez, ever since you got that damn book, you've been in the clouds; and that was years ago! Raph, there are no such thing as goblins. There are no such things as leprechauns. There are no such things as little men that come from space. And there are, without a doubt, no such things as vamp-" Leo froze, finally at Centrice's window. From below, Raph waited for his brother's annoying speech to finish but it didn't. Tetchily, he climbed up the rest of the ladder, initially to confront Leo, but froze once he caught sight of the scene within. Mike came up, basically to see what everyone was staring at, and he too froze. His mouth dropped. Centrice lay bleeding from inside, the room unusually dark. But even in the dark room the shadow of a giant turtle could be seen from under the body of the girl. The shadow stirred.
Donatello was waking up.
Raph seemed to get his voice back, turning to the still stunned brother in blue. Raph lowered his head.
"I hate it when I'm right."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Owen watched on in anticipation.
All of the turtles stopped outside of a single window.
His curiosity was getting better of him. What were they looking at? He watched as the one in red (Mr. Bandages) opened the unlocked window. All of them filled in accordingly, suddenly quiet. He also noticed how suddenly the mood changed between them all. Before, they were all talkative, even though there was some tension that even he could pick up on. But now, they were silent, reverend. He soon got his answer as to why.
Orange soon came out of the building once again, a girl in his arms.
She was unconscious, but alive. He could feel her heart beat from the roof top. But she was not in very good condition, he could tell that for sure. She had been blooded too much, left barely alive.
'That would be the work of a newbie.' But a newbie vampire?
'What would these turtles have to do with a newbie vampire?'
Leo exited the building, a sobbing Donatello in his grasp. From his perch on the roof top, Owen was barely able to make out the moisture on the turtles lips. Red, crimson, blood dripped from its chin.
This turtle, this mutant, was a vampire.
'Just when I thought this day couldn't get any weirder.'
***
OK, sorry I took so long. I just had to rethink my entire story structure. I was going to have everything be in one story, but I decided not to. As you can see, I changed the story title and the chapter titles. It's for a reason, which I don't feel like going into right now (more like I want to keep you guys in the dark :D)…*surprise!!!* Anyways, don't worry, the changes aren't too drastic, and they don't effect anything that you have already read. : ) (Sorry 'in the clouds' for taking so long)
*1: BB, as in body bag, if you haven't guessed before.
*2: Not meant to be racist at all, actually, it's suppose to be a joke, because it seems as though all of the corner stores here are owned by Arabians. Lol
Oh, and I'm sorry this chapter is so short, I have each chapter 'planned' out, and this one just ended up this way. But more to come soon, I promise! R and R
