Monsters

Leonardo, Raphael and Donatello were caught off guard by the swirling shadows and howling humans, but it didn't take them long to discover the shadows were merely a distraction. Attention quickly diverted back to the charging humans who were attacking as if possessed.

Leo turned to meet the first wave as his brothers peeled off to retrieve the orb and stop the thug from escaping. As the humans reached him, Leo was stunned to see Luna's assailants among them. Rage like he'd never known before engulfed him and he let out a howl that would have sent sane men running for the hills.

At the sight of those faces, those horrible, twisted, unforgettable faces, Leo snapped. His plan for capture and interrogation turned to dust. His anger had no measure.

Leonardo had never been so deadly.

He attacked with graceful fluid movements, bringing pain, devastation and destruction to those that had dared to violate the beautiful goddess he now called his mate. He sliced, slashed, and maimed those who stood before him, showing none of his usual regard for human life.

He would not rest until he had ended every single one of them.

Don had recovered the strange crystal and Raph had forced the thug into a blind corner when Leo's enraged cry broke over the alleyway. Raph gave him a concerned look, but Don turned, took in his brother's mindless rage, and jumped to the conclusion that these were the men who assaulted Luna.

And he wanted in on that action.

Don's bo spun in a deadly arc towards the humans who had so wantonly destroyed the fragile mortal existence of his patient. Each blow was dealt sternly in retribution for the broken bones he had to mend, the wounds he had to stitch, and the devastation he felt while caring for her broken form.

But none of it could relieve the pain, shame, and horror he endured while tending to her many other injuries. These rapists had to be put down, and he would not mourn them.

An unnatural silence fell over the alleyway.

Don's bo stilled.

There were no more targets.

Leo stood panting in the middle of the alley; surrounded by silent human forms, unmoving, on the street at his feet. When he was sure that none of the figures was going to rise again, Leonardo turned on the thug Raphael held pinned to the wall, his gaze still lethal.

"Who do you work for?" Leo demanded, raising a blood slicked katana to the man's throat.

"Stupid mortal." The thug spat. "I do not fear you. I am the Guardian of the Dead, and you know nothing of the affairs in which you interfere."

His eyes flashed red, and a mental storm of fire, pain and fury hit Leonardo. He staggered back with a gasp, dropping his swords. His brothers flinched in pain as they were caught by the edges of the blow.

Don wasn't sure how Leo was still standing. It felt like the Earth was swaying and Don had only been grazed by the blow. If there had been any question on the state of this enemy, it had now been answered. This being was definitely immortal.

At that moment, something blossomed in Leonardo's mind. One of the lessons Luna gave to him. A way to use his new talents as a defense... and a weapon. Leo's gaze narrowed, he reinforced his shields, and sent a mental lance of his own at the thug. The guy writhed under Raph's hard grip his eyes flaring.

Don stood by, on guard in case the bastard managed to twitch free of Raph's iron fist. His mind raced trying to put a name to the immortal. If they could only tell Luna who her enemies were, they might be able to plan out how to defeat them.

Keen eyes that flash to red, unstable angry personality, guardian of the dead. This has to be Charon, the ferryman of Hades.

Sensing easier prey, Charon turned his attack on Donnie and Raph. With no mental shields to soften the blow, Leo's brothers collapsed outright, clutching their heads and groaning in pain.

The crystal orb dropped from Donnie's numb fingers as he fell.

"NO!" screamed Charon.

His gaze burned a solid red, as he lept over the fallen Raphael and attempted to catch the orb before it was too late. Leo grabbed his arm and, with an effort that strained even his powerful muscles, held Charon back.

The orb slipped past the tips of Charon's fingers and shattered on the pavement.

A brilliant light shot out of the broken crystal remains and bathed them all in a deep red glow that coated the walls of the alleyway like spilled blood.

Michelangelo watched warily from his position about 10 feet away from Luna. The wraiths had not yet come into view, and he was worried about her sitting alone. Especially now that she couldn't see.

He could see, even though the shades were wrapped all around him, but he got the feeling that was a one way thing. Which was the point, he reminded himself, using the dead to hide from the undead. That was almost as clever as something Don would come up with. Of course, Don couldn't command the dead.

Mikey twitched uncomfortably and wished the shades didn't feel so slimy and cold. He shivered trying not to think too much about them as he eyed Luna again. He couldn't say for sure, but it didn't look like there were any shades hiding her.

Still, he held himself in place by repeating over and over that she was a goddess and knew what she was doing.

Stay in the shadows, she said.

He trusted her, but it didn't make him feel any less guilty about hiding over here when he should be protecting her. He didn't have too long to worry about it though. A few seconds later the first wraith topped the railing at the edge of the building and his mind went totally blank.

Luna felt it arrive and shivered in trepidation.

This is for Michelangelo she reminded herself sternly. If I don't get rid of these wraiths quickly, then they are going to find him. Those shades can't protect him forever.

With that thought, Luna pushed herself to her feet and stepped around the A/C unit; sliding each foot forwards carefully and testing her balance before putting her weight on it. She was actually quite glad she couldn't see the wraith. The last one she saw was not pretty, and she doubted this one was any different.

In fact, it wasn't.

Michelangelo could have told her, if he could have spoken through lips gone numb with fear. The wraith was a putrid green and ghastly to look upon. It had a snarling demon like face, with sharp gnashing teeth, a long pointed nose and yellow eyes that were filled with hunger and madness. Horns rose from it's skull and clumpy, unkempt bunches of green fur covered it's head.

Thankfully, most of it's body was covered in a large dark green cloak that billowed and glowed with the same sickly color of gaseous green as it's face. Only it's hands were exposed, crooked into deadly looking claws with long conical nails that looked like they could puncture armor.

It didn't seem to have any legs and it exuded noxious fumes that made him gag. It was the most terrifying thing Mikey had ever seen. It opened it's mouth and let out a moan, and a wave of hunger, pain, longing and sadness hit him so hard he just wanted to curl up and die.

Luna stood her ground as another joined the first. Then another. Until three distinct power sources floated in the air in front of her.

Three!

One she might have been able to bluff her way past. Three… There was no way she was going to be able to handle that many on her own.

She still had enough energy left to summon Hades, and he could easily rein in these monsters. They were from his realm, after all, and he owed her that much at the very least. As long as the shades sheltered Mikey it should be safe enough.

Michelangelo watched in horror as two more of the stupefyingly scary creatures appeared over the edge of the rooftop and settled in front of Luna. She had shocked him when she stood up and paced toward the creatures, and now he was certain they could see her.

His face hardened, and he shook off his fear to began easing his way towards her. He moved very slowly, and felt the shades move along with him. They really didn't want to get any closer to the wraiths, and they began to murmur around him in protest.

The wraiths seemed confused and milled around in place. Luna couldn't tell if they were perplexed by her partially shielded power levels, couldn't figure out why she wasn't screaming, or if they sensed Mikey but couldn't find him.

She didn't care, any delay was good. She reached inside and began to weave her summoning spell for Hades.

Suddenly, Luna felt Mikey moving up behind her. What was he doing? She tried to wave him off. Any change might send the wraiths into attack mode before she was finished. When he didn't respond to her wave, she hissed at him from the side of her mouth.

"Michelangelo! Keep back!"

He ignored her protest, determined to not let her stand alone, and kept moving toward her ever so slowly. Finally he stood so close he was almost pressed against her back.

"Can they see me?" he whispered.

"No," she whispered angrily back, trying not to draw any more attention to him.

She couldn't summon Hades here if Michelangelo insisted on being involved. She couldn't risk another god seeing his vast potential.

But Michelangelo had another plan in mind. Without warning, he shoved Luna behind him, shielding her with his invisible form.

The wraiths advanced, swarming towards the place where she had just disappeared, and Michelangelo attacked. He darted in between the three forms dishing out blows in a fluid series of moves. It would have been impressive if any of them had landed, but his weapons passed right through the nightmarish forms.

When his nunchucks didn't hit anything, it threw him completely off balance. He staggered into the cloak of the first wraith and the shades abandoned him, unable to hold their shield under the wraith's touch.

Now that the wraiths could see him, he was an irresistible lure to their hunger. They turned away from Luna to pursue him, and Michelangelo rolled smoothly under their non-existent feet. He lept up, fired some shuriken at them, and fell back to lead them further from Luna, but the throwing stars just passed through.

Michelangelo was phenomenally fast, dodging and bouncing all over the rooftops but the wraiths were not bound to Earthly rules like gravity and physics. Nothing he did seemed to slow them at all.

Luna collapsed on the gravel of the rooftop, her injured legs unable to hold her upright any longer. She couldn't actually see what was going on, but she had a pretty good idea where everybody was, since she could mentally "see" the power sources moving around.

The wraiths were almost on top of him, when Luna gathered her remaining power and blasted a bolt of hard silver light across the rooftop. They scattered, the wraith closest to him howled in injury. At least she'd tagged one.

She sensed the remaining wraiths turn towards her with even more malevolence and she screamed, panicked, unable to escape. Mikey's head snapped around at the scream. He dodged and charged back toward her as fast as he could. He lept over Luna just as a wraith raised its arm to strike. With no options left, he took the blow meant for her.

A swipe of seven horribly long claws.

Michelangelo shrieked as they tore deep gouges across his face, shredding his mask and just missing his left eye. He clutched at his wound, but still managed to land between them, and twist his shell protectively over Luna. He dropped to his hands and knees and crouched over her body, using his larger form to shelter her.

He quivered and grunted as blow after blow rained down on him, slicing out pieces of his flesh, and puncturing his shell. He refused to cry out again. He may not be able to strike at them, but to get to her, they were literally going to have to go through him.

He held his breath, and prayed he was strong enough.

Blood flowed freely from his wounds, dripping onto Luna and coating her skin. The warmth of his blood shocked her, and she reached desperately inside for the power to save him. The small trickle she had left wasn't enough.

She could not stop them.

"Michelangelo!"

It came out as a choked whisper, as she reached up to touch his face. Tears gathered in his eyes and mixed with hers as they rained down. His pain and despair washed over her. There was only one thing she could do now.

Her face illuminated with a soft moon-glow and his eyes opened wide. She leaned up and placed a kiss on his undamaged cheek, her lips lingering on his skin. With that kiss, she drew his agony into herself and gave him the serenity of the stars.

In response, he closed his eyes, breathed out slowly, and relaxed. Briefly, he touched his forehead to hers, a frighteningly tender action that silently accepted this end.

"I swore," he whispered. "I swore to protect you..."