CrusaderTransformer1: (hides behind a shield) Please...don't...kill me! I've been a busy woman, having a new job and all, and now I have another job to add on to it! So please don't be mad at me for taking so long.

Sonic watched the ancient hedgehog that he officially marked as insane and dangerous, listen to the chorus of howls from the wolves. After a few heart-pounding moments, Shadow finally looked at the terrified Sonic, pleasure showing clearly on his gray face.

"The children of the night." Shadow said, his tone showing even more pleasure, "What sweet music they make."

Sonic's features twisted into an expression that was appalled and confused at the same time.

"Music?! Those animals?!" Sonic said/asked disbelievingly, his strange expression now more appalled than confused.

He stole a glance out the window towards the wolves' shadows and when his gaze turned back to where Shadow was, the ancient hedgehog's cape going out the door was what he saw instead. The door closed on its own again, with the count's shadow going out as well.

Seeing the count's shadow without its owner in the room made Sonic's heart leap in terror. Not knowing what else to do, he turned back to the window to watch the wolves' shadows once more and saw something else much more terrifying than ferocious wolves' shadows.

Count Shadow was crawling along the wall effortlessly like a huge gray spider with a crimson cape that stayed where it was behind him, like it would had Shadow been walking on the ground. Sonic's hands seemingly took a life of their own and they opened the window, their owner leaning out the window to take a better look in his terror.

Shadow paused on the wall twice for a split second, making Sonic's heart freeze, and he continued on after the second time while making a strange strangled noise from deep in his chest, not noticing his guest staring at him from the window.

As soon as the ancient specter was gone, Sonic slammed the window shut and headed for the door, grabbing a lit candle from a table as he went. He all but ran to what he believed what was his escape, and he shoved the rusty door open.

Sonic ran through the hall, down the stairs and through the dining room straight for the double doors that he had come through on that horrible day that Count Shadow had allowed him to enter this prison disguised as a castle.

Putting the candle down quickly near the doors' base, he tried to turn the crystal knobs and let himself out. They wouldn't budge at his constant turning and so in his panic, he started to push, pull, kick, and even charging the doors to slam his body against them. The only progress he made during this panic attack was a developing bruise on the side of his body. Sonic put a hand to his side, sucking air through his teeth as the touch of his fingers sent pain through him.

That monster must have the door bolted somehow! Sonic thought angrily, and he lifted up his shirt to inspect the damage on his side.

A small purple bruise was all he saw and he put his shirt down, walking over to pick up the candle. He mentally slapped himself for his panic, the Count always went out somewhere for the entire night right after 9:00 p.m. and it was now 10:30 p.m. according to the large clock that hung above another doorway.

I've got until morning to find a way out! Sonic thought confidently, becoming his cocky self again, Surely I'll find one by midnight!

With his courage restored, Sonic went off, walking through any door that he thought looked promising and he went through about ten doors before he began to feel discouraged again. It was about 2:45 a.m. when he came to a door that had the exact same designs as Sonic saw on the red robe that Count Shadow was always wearing.

Sonic decided that it wouldn't hurt to check it out, he hadn't had any luck with the other doors and hallways that he had gone through that night. As he approached the door and the candle lit up the door's frame, Sonic realized that there was foreign writing over the wood-work above the door. Sonic stared at it as he brushed away cobwebs, wishing he could read what it said and then directed his attention to the door. He turned the knob and tried to push it forward, but it wouldn't budge at first, making Sonic believe it was locked. He pushed it a little harder in his fear of it being locked, and it suddenly opened, making Sonic stumble inside the room, almost falling completely on his face.

Once inside, he found that the room was one of the oddest designs he had ever seen, with curtains hiding the rest of the room from him and the same writing from over the door on the hems. He looked around in curiosity before his gaze landed on a large trunk to the right of him, the lantern that the Count had been carrying the night he had arrived was hanging on a hook over it. Sonic walked over to the trunk and put the candle down, intending to open the trunk and see if there were any keys or any means of getting out of the castle.

To his disappointment, he found only bottles that looked as though they were filled with perfumes or colognes.

Darn it...Oh well, it's not a total loss. Sonic thought smiling as he reached for one, At least I can pick one of these to take home to Amy. My girl likes her perfumes!

Sonic picked the bottle up and took the cap off to smell the liquid that was inside. A little bit of the green liquid was on the lid, and as Sonic lifted the cap off, a drop went towards the ceiling, instead of down like it normally would. Sonic looked up after the drop, startled out of his mind and as he looked back down, he slowly put the cap back on as another drop went towards the ceiling.

Okay! Sonic thought, trying to forget what he had seen, These are not exactly...ideal for Amy.

Sonic put the bottle back and was about to pick up his candle when sounds like footsteps caught his ear.

"Sonic..." A voice that sounded like Amy suddenly said, making Sonic whirl around and look around for the cause of his Amy's voice, "Sonic come to me..."

The voice seemed to be coming from the curtains that he had seen before and Sonic slowly advanced towards them.

"Come..." Amy's voice beckoned again, making Sonic move a little faster towards the curtains.

Sonic reached out to draw back the curtain, but it drew back before he touched it, making him jump back. What he saw beyond the curtain was the strangest (bedroom, he decided) he had ever seen. The bed consisted of a huge, round, and slightly flat cushion on the floor, with blankets and pillows scattered all over it. A seductive purr came from within the bedroom, making Sonic shiver in fear...and strangely enough, desire.

"Sonic..." It beckoned again, and Sonic took small, slow steps into the bedroom, not noticing that footsteps formed from unseen feet coming towards him as he entered.

"Lay down, lay back into my arms." Amy's voice sweetly commanded and a purr of pleasure sounded when Sonic sat down on the 'bed'.

Sonic realized what he was doing and looked around for the cause of the voice, half-hoping it was really Amy he was hearing.

"Lay back, Sonic..." Amy's voice begged/commanded and Sonic turned to face the way he came, unaware that a body had started to form in the blankets behind him.

Sonic was sitting still before he realized that something was rising in the blankets in front of him, and he watched as a brown bat girl's head with long wavy hair and white-dressed torso came seemingly from the floor in front of him, the yellow eyes that she owned froze Sonic where he was with a seductive look. Sonic stared as the bat woman came completely out, her long white dress was like that of a bride's, sweeping over as she crawled on top of him. She let out a seductive growl that sounded like one of the wolves that had frightened Sonic just moments ago and Sonic took no notice as he went into a slight trance, the beauty of the bat forbidding him to acknowledge anything else, except the movements through the sheets that were at least two more than this bat with him. Sonic turned his head and sighed, allowing the trance to take him over as the bat parted his shirt, revealing the cross.

She hissed and reared back slightly, the sight of the cross to her like a knife threatening to stab a heart. She waved her hand at it, and it disappeared, leaving no trace that it had been on Sonic's neck just a moment ago. The threat gone, she continued towards Sonic's neck, her lips parting slightly to show her pearl-white fangs that gnashed together in want of biting the soft skin of the blue hedgehog's neck. The other two women, a black cat and the other a blonde porcupine, crawled forward, also flashed pearl-white fangs in want, but allowing the bat to have the first bite out of respect of her being the first of Shadow's brides.

The bat was just about to sink her teeth viciously into Sonic's neck when Shadow flew in, his eyes a blood red instead of ruby, and his fangs showing in anger.

Shadow snarled at them in his foreign language, his hand grapping the bat's neck in a grip that would have killed any normal animal and throwing her against the wall. Sonic snapped out his trance as she was thrown and he looked around in confusion before he looked straight at Shadow...and regretted it.

Shadow's eyes were glaring with all the heat of a blazing fire and his fangs were at least an inch under his bottom lip as he hissed at his brides in his language and to Sonic's horror, he found that he understood every word even though he didn't speak the language.

"How dare you touch him!" Shadow snarled at his brides, making all but one cringe at his fury as he gnashed his teeth, "He belongs to me!"

The bat woman rose easily, seemingly floating off the ground to her feet and then she proceeded to say something that both confused and terrified Sonic as he laid there, knowing full well that he was at their mercy, at the mercy of vampires.

"You yourself never loved!" The bat woman jeered, encouraging the others with her daringness despite Shadow's wrath and they laughed, the sound bouncing off the walls like chimes of doom.

Shadow then took a more gentle appearance, the blood-red in his eyes fading back to ruby while his fangs remained and he spoke with a tenderness that Sonic never would have believed capable of such a creature.

"Yes, I too can love." Shadow said to his brides, who were now crawling towards on all fours, their white dresses dragging behind them as Sonic laid there frozen and temporarily forgotten, "And I shall love again."

Sonic's fear doubled in fear as his mind struggled with his frozen body, both begging and ordering it to move away from these demons in flesh before him. He managed to move his hands twice in an attempt to crab-crawl away, but twice was all he managed.

"Are we to have nothing tonight?" The cat bride suddenly asked as they all snuggled up against Shadow's legs, the ancient hedgehog looking down at them smiling and his hands touching their heads like a man giving some affection to his favorite pets.

Shadow slowly turned away as the question reached his ears, and Sonic suddenly heard the sound of a baby crying. As Shadow turned back around, Sonic could see that he had a baby animal in his hands, what species he couldn't tell as the brides leapt up and snatched the poor thing, running away into the shadow, where they completely vanished. Knowing all too well what they were going to do with the poor thing, Sonic let out a strangled scream before fainting dead away, and Shadow looked at him coldly for a moment, his fangs bared as he began to laugh cruelly as his hands clapped together, rubbing together in plan.

The next day...

Amy ran excitedly to Rouge's garden, her red heeled-boots clicking rapidly down the stairs as she hurried to her favorite seat on one of the fountains, her hand clutching a long-awaited letter from her beloved Sonic. Anyone in the garden might have smiled at this display of happiness, but Amy was alone as she quickly sat and opened the letter. As she looked at the letter, her smile slowly faded as she read.

Dearest Amy,

All is well here. The Count has insisted I remain for a month to tutor him in English custom.

I can say no more, except I love you.

Ever Faithful, Sonic

Amy slowly raised her head from the letter, her emerald eyes filling with some tears while her heart ached at the cold and blunt letter that she now held on her lap. Amy allowed the tears to flow down her face, wondering why Sonic had decided to be so cold and uncaring all of a sudden. He was never like that towards her, ever...

Back at the castle...

Sonic had run down the stairs almost the exact second he had awakened, surprisingly unharmed and in the chamber he had been staying in. He knew that Shadow had carried him there, and that led him to know the fact that he was in danger. He regretted ever sending those letters to his press and Amy, no one would come to his aid now in this time of danger. He didn't know why Shadow wanted with him, but he wanted nothing more to do with the ancient hedgehog or his three demon women.

Sonic ran to the front doors and was beyond relief to find that he could run outside, the doors had been unlocked. Sonic nearly leapt up in the air for happiness that he was out of the castle, and he prepared to use his speed to run to the nearest train station to leave with his life and go back to Amy like he had promised her. He wanted to marry her and make her as happy as he could for the rest of their lives.

Several men shouting caught Sonic's attention and he forgot his intention to run to a train station and instead went to see if the animals would help him. As he found them, he had to hide, for the animals he saw were dressed like gypsies and they were loading boxes onto a horse-drawn wooden cart.

Sonic had heard of gypsies like the ones before him, they were fearless warriors and were loyal to the dead to whichever noble family they served.

Sonic began to spy, watching from either shadow or corner, making sure to keep out of sight no matter what as he watched them. He knew that they would either report him while holding him somewhere or kill him on sight, whichever were Shadow's orders to them. Sonic noticed as he watched that they brought the boxes from under the castle, so with all the stealth he possessed, he managed to sneak his way down the stairs from where they were coming and going.

When Sonic reached the end of the stairs, he found that he was directly in the bowls of the castle, the gypsies digging and putting the earth that was there in large boxes, large enough to hold Sonic if he was either crouching or sitting in them. As Sonic crept around, he ran into a pole and when he looked at the pole, his eyes went to the top of it and he nearly screamed in pure terror.

There was a corpse on the pole, looking almost centuries old, and what kind of animal it might have been was impossible to see, the fur and the features had rotten off long ago. Sonic couldn't look at it at all, for his stomach lurched at the sight and the smell as he kept his eyes to the floor while holding his mouth with both hands.

A loud bang got his attention and he realized that he was out in the open, so he sprang to a nearby shadow just as a couple of gypsies passed the spot where he had just been seconds ago. Sonic began to creep around until he found a golden coffin, which he hid behind. He was a little creeped that there was also a coffin and probably more, but that was nothing compared to the poor animals that had been on poles for a very long time, deprived of a decent grave where they could rot in peace.

Sonic continued to watch as a couple of gypsies pushed on a box that was being pulled up the stairs on a rope.

Why are they filling boxes with dirt? Sonic couldn't help but wonder as he placed his hands upon the coffin before he realized what he was doing.

The gold coffin flew open and Shadow stood up with burning blood-red eyes, clad in a golden burial gown, reaching for the blue hedgehog as Sonic screamed as he tried to run, drawing the attention of every gypsy that was there.

Back at Rouge's house...

"I love him! I love him!" Amy heard Rouge exclaim loudly from where she sat on a bench in the shade, quickly wiped away her tears, put on a false cheery face, and looked up in time to see her purple gown-clad friend throw two roses from the bouquet that she carried with her and then Rouge walked quickly towards Amy, "Oh Amy! It's so wonderful! He proposed and I said yes!"

"Oh finally!" Amy exclaimed happily, now knowing that someone had proposed to Rouge and she clasped her friend's hands as she closed her eyes in imagination, "Don't tell me...the crocodile with the cowboy hat."

"Oh no," Rouge replied, making Amy open her eyes and playfully pout because she had guessed wrong, "It was my dear number three. Lord Knuckles Guardian, we are to be Lord and Lady Guardian."

Amy smiled at her friend warmly, but it slowly dropped as she gazed at the letter and her friend went on excitingly.

"Do you want to be my maid of honor, please say yes." Rouge pleaded, but then noticed the look on Amy's face, "Amy, are you alright? It's the most exciting day of my life and yet you're sad. What's the matter?"

"I'm sorry Rouge, it's just that I'm so terribly worried about Sonic." Amy said and she gave the letter to Rouge, who looked it over, "That letter is so cold and unnatural, it's not like him at all."

Rouge gave the letter a quick read, frowned at the cold and bluntness, but decided to try and cheer Amy up.

"Oh Amy, don't worry." Rouge said in a cheerful tone, "It's probably the count, keeping him so busy and he was probably tired when he wrote the letter. I'm sure he didn't mean to be cold."

Rouge really didn't think that the count was keeping him so busy, but it was just to reassure Amy that Sonic wasn't trying to be cold, or at least she hoped that Sonic wasn't trying to be cold.

Amy smiled, feeling better at what Rouge said, and suddenly thunder rumbled over them, making both women look up in time to have several raindrops fall onto their faces. Both giggled as they covered their heads and ran for cover under a walkway, watching as the rain poured down onto the bench where they had just been. As the rain poured on and the women stood under the walkway, both suddenly had a feeling that they were being watched by something very powerful and dark. Both looked into the clouds at the same time to see a pair of ruby red eyes watching them, making both cringe in terror, but the eyes vanished from their sight.

Both suddenly had the desire to run in the rain and Rouge led the running into the hedge maze that she owned, Amy following easily with her speed. As soon as they reached the entrance, both ran their separate ways and amazingly didn't slip in the mud as they ran through the maze at will. They sometimes passed one another as they ran and laughed like small children, unknowingly being watched by Shadow's possessed shadow that was present there in the maze, watching the both of them as they frolicked and danced in the rain.

Shadow chuckled from inside the box that he was in as a ship called the Demeter carried the fifty boxes of the earth that the gypsies had loaded, telling the captain that it was experiential earth for a group of scientists in London.

Shadow watched through his shadow and chuckled at both the women, especially Amy who was undoubtedly the silliest in his opinion. He could barely wait to get to his intended fresh supply of blood and to Amy, whom he intended to make his immortal bride. The only bride he would have actually, as he intended to get rid of the other three brides so that he could have the one he loved all to himself. He called his shadow back, breaking the spell he had placed on the women who would remember nothing of his eyes and their urge to run in the rain. They would probably wonder what they had been thinking or how or why they were in the maze.

Shadow crept out of the box, looking for a sailor or two to quench his hunger and then return to the box to sleep and keep his strength.

Shadow had taken the liberty of feeding off the sailors one at a time after the boxes had been loaded onboard, and then the number of feedings went up as the ship continued on its course towards London.