Disclaimer:
We don't own Teen Titans, if we did, it'd still be on.Night 5: Blood Vengence
Shadow sat in the waiting room patiently as Beast Boy sat next to him, fidgeting anxiously every so often. He rolled his eyes; the green boy was seriously annoying. The more animal part of his mind kept telling him to smack the changeling senseless. But the vampire just ignored him (and his urge) and looked to the door of the dentist's office concernedly. He then looked around and noticed something strange…They were the only ones here. Not another soul in sight.
Shadow closed his eyes and listened intently to the dentist's office to hear if he was getting to work. He then opened his eyes, narrowed in suspicion. There was no sound coming from it indicating if the dentist was working. Starfire wasn't even making a sound either.
A deep sense of worry came over him. Something wasn't right, and if Shadow learned anything in the past few centuries it was always trust your instincts. Before Beast Boy knew it, Shadow was marching towards the door.
"I'm sorry but the doctor-" she began and froze as Shadow gave her the coldest glare she'd ever seen. Her blood ran cold as she stared at his red and black eyes. They were the eyes of the Devil…
"Stand aside," he commanded firmly and she did as told. Beast Boy then stood up and walked over to see what was going on.
"Hey, dude. What's going on?" Beast Boy asked.
"Something isn't right," Shadow said as he reached for the knob and turned. It was locked. The vampire then clasped an iron hand on the changeling's shoulder, and of course ignored the sharp yelp that flew out of the boy's throat.
"Hey, what are you-?" Beast Boy began but then felt a tingly feeling coming over his body as black energy surrounded both him and Shadow. The two of them then just phased through the door and into the room.
They then looked surprised, well Beast Boy did anyway, when they saw Starfire chained to the chair wearing a necklace of garlic around her neck. Shadow shielded his nose as he walked over and tore off the necklace. Garlic had a strong smell that irritated vampires, so there was no doubt it had knocked the poor girl out. He eyed the chains. Silver. But who?
"VAMPIRE! PREPARE TO DIE!!"
Question asked, question answered.
It seemed time had went into slow motion. Shadow could see how the slow horizontal slice of a long silver knife literally cut the tension in the air. He didn't focus on the owner of the weapon but on the threat at hand. The moment the knife would have embedded itself in the vampire's neck, Shadow grabbed the man's wrist and using the momentum he threw the assassin across the room. A medical cabinet smashed into hundreds of pieces when the Vampire Hunter smashed into it. The man slumped to the floor like a wasted drunk. He looked so daze he probably couldn't tell which way was up or down.
"The hell was that?" Beast Boy stared at the Vampire Hunter incredulously.
"A Vampire Hunter, obviously." Shadow eyed the fallen figure cautiously. His clenched his fists tightly as every muscle in his body screamed with the primal lust for combat. "Beast Boy."
"Yeah?" The green boy froze at the vampire's monotonous command. The very sound of it sent shivers up his spine.
"Break the chains and get her out of here. I'll take care of this."
With a mental breath of relief, Beast Boy gave Shadow the thumb's up gesture and grinned, "You got it, dude!"
"You… aren't going anywhere." the Vampire Hunter growled. Shakily, he got back to his feet. Panting like an old man on his deathbed but glaring with the eyes of ferocious animal, his resolution was strong and bold. Shadow could tell that this was a man who didn't have the word "surrender" in his vocabulary. He felt an odd mix of respect and animosity towards the Hunter. After all, the bastard used his innocent fledgling as bait.
And he wasn't going to let that slip. No way and not a snowball's chance in Hell.
"Who are you?" Shadow asked calmly. His tone was perfectly leveled and commanding. To most people who would've heard it, they might have surrendered to his voice. But to a man like this, the vampire studied, there was a big chance he wouldn't reply and just go on the attack again. Then again, there was the chance that he would dramatically give off a long and boring monologue about his name and his origins.
Vampire Hunters with big egos often did that. Unfortunately, it wasn't as Shadow had hoped. Instead, the Hunter simply opened his coat and pulled out two long silver knives.
"Hmm, a knife-user. Haven't encountered someone like you in ages," Shadow mused.
With a maddened cry, the Hunter ran towards him with psychotic resolution. If this were a normal human, Shadow would have won in 3 seconds flat. But something was off.
The fact that the man moved with inhuman speed was pretty much the reason. Shadow's eyes widened incredulously as he barely dodged the swipes. He could feel the silver just grazing off his cheeks. Shadow attempted a high kick but his attacker jumped back with ease, despite his madness.
"You're fast for a human." Shadow said respectively. With his own burst of speed, he threw quick punches at the Hunter. The man parried them expertly and retaliated with a swift slash across the vampire's forearm.
Silver and vampires didn't mix. A fact Shadow knew all too well. He stepped back to dodge another swipe and kicked the man in the chest with all the strength his leg could muster. The man smashed against the sink and dropped one of his knives in the fall. The vampire clasped his forearm and panted painfully. The silver burned like fire from Hell as the pain rippled intensively throughout Shadow's pale arm. Imagine what would happen if it struck him anywhere else?
Shadow looked over his shoulder to see Beast Boy had assumed the form of a gorilla. The green primate was clutching at the chains, trying to pull them apart but to no avail. Solid silver was quite strong but it still had to have its limits. Shadow turned his attention back to the Hunter. He had to keep this guy busy so that Beast Boy and Starfire could escape. He hissed as the pain in his arm continued. Silver on contact would weaken a vampire and prolonged exposure could burn them. He looked over at Starfire to see it wasn't the case. Good. Maybe her alien physiology once again made her immune to the adverse effects of silver, at least the burning part. The silver would still probably weaken her.
A knife flew in the air and Shadow ducked before it hit him between the eyes. The knife flew past Beast Boy's head and imbedded itself in the wall. Beast Boy's terrified eyes widened. That had been close! Holy shit!
Frowning, Shadow clenched his fists and then allowed the shadows to travel into them. The shadow energy pulsated around his hands as he got ready to engage the Hunter again.
He remembered Starfire's words. He shouldn't kill…He heard the beeping from Beast Boy's communicator. Good, he had called the Titans.
But, Shadow would need no backup handling this.
He harnessed the energy in his hand like a Duracell battery and then pulled his arm back before throwing his arm, hurling the ball of crackling shadow energy at the Hunter. The Hunter, in turn, threw a pair of his silver knives at the flying shadow ball. Both weapons collided on impact, and before either knew it, there was a brief blinding light as the positive effects of the silver met the negative effects of the dark ball. Curious, but unfortunately, Shadow would have to think on this peculiar consequence after.
During the great flash of light, the Hunter pulled out another knife and threw it as a fast as a flash of lightning. The vampire's eyes widened as he attempted a dodge. The silver blade was heading right for his head… he leaned backwards just as the knife would have connected with his eye. Unfortunately, a groan of unexpected pain escaped from the vampire's throat as an agonizing shimmer sliced up his cheek and forehead.
The vampire dropped to the floor on his back with a great THUD. Silver against vampire skin was a horrible combination. When silver touched vampire skin, the flesh and blood would literally boil as though under a great heat, thus causing terrible pain to any sorry blood-drinker who touched even a silver utensil! In this case though, the entire right side of Shadow's face felt like it was going to melt in agonizing heat.
His attacker would not give him the time to get up; mercilessly he stomped on Shadow's chest as hard as he could. He continued doing do, stomping on the Vampire's chest again and again, ignoring his small groans of pain. Blood leaked out of the cut from his face, and his eyes widened in absolute spite. He growled like an animal at the Hunter, who simply smirked arrogantly and grinned manically. The Hunter then removed another knife from his coat. Just how many did this guy have.
"Now…you filthy vampire…you die now," the Hunter said before he gripped the knife, ready to plunge it into Shadow's heart. However, his plan was soon derailed when a blue sonic energy beam slammed hard into his chest and sent him flying, crashing through the window and shattering the glass. Shadow blinked but then heard someone shouting out, "Booyah! Right on the mark." He then felt someone helping him to his feet. The bright colors of the person's clothes were a tell-tale sign of who it was.
"Robin?" Shadow asked.
"Easy there, Shadow," Robin told him, wincing as he saw the wound on the vampire's face.
"So, you came," Shadow noted.
"Beast Boy called us, said it was an emergency," Robin said before narrowing his eyes at the window. "And looks like he was right."
As Shadow got back to his feet, he cast Robin a glare, "I didn't need any help."
"It looks like you did, Shadow," Robin said. Shadow looked away and headed for the window. He looked down to see if the Hunter was there and hissed. He expected to see the Hunter lying in a pile of glass and in a pool of his own blood, but the Hunter was nowhere insight. Shadow's red eyes narrowed and glowed for a second. He wanted to make the Hunter pay for endangering his fledgling…
"Master?"
Hearing Starfire's soft voice caused the vampire to calm down. Putting on a neutral face, he turned to face Starfire. She had awoken and was being checked on by Raven. He took staggering steps towards her.
"Are you alright?" he asked her and her hand was raised to touch his cheek.
"You are…injured," she said.
"It will heal," he told her, "But what about you?"
"I am unharmed, Master. The person merely put me in a state of unconsciousness and tied me up. I believe…I wasn't his priority."
"Who was that guy anyway?' Cyborg asked.
Shadow replied, "With the existence of vampires, there are vampire hunters. Humans who believe that my kind are an abomination and should not be allowed to live. There are narrow-minded bigots who feel that killing vampires is just, even innocent ones. To them, in their eyes, ALL vampires should be eliminated."
"So, he's going to come back for you?" Raven asked. Shadow nodded.
"Exactly, which means that as long as I stay here, you all will be in danger as well," Shadow said.
"Hey, we're the Titans. We can handle it!" Beast Boy said boastfully.
"Hmm," Shadow frowned. "While I'm not surprised that you are capable of defending yourselves, the Hunters rely on subterfuge and trickery. Like the one who attacked me did. You'd be surprised at how low one would go to kill my kind."
Starfire approached her master with a look of worry on her face. He had been injured for protecting and she felt great guilt. "Master…shall I assist back to the Tower?" she asked.
Shadow looked towards his fledgling, her emerald eyes pleading for him to say yes. However, he had something to do. With one hunter around, things weren't going to be easy for them. He had to remind himself to keep his emotions locked away and not to give into his fledgling's pleas, no matter how justified they were.
"No," Shadow said. "But thank you, fledgling. I will be with you all shortly. In the meantime, return home with your friends."
"But-" Starfire started to protest but the look she got from him made it know to her that he didn't want to hear her argue. "I understand, Master," she bowed her head. He placed a hand to her shoulder and gave a firm squeeze. It was his version of a hug. He then turned away and seemed to vanish, which he did.
The vampire hunter leaned against the wall, pulling out the glass shards from his bleeding body. He had no expected the Titans, this city's 'heroes' to interfere but maybe that was because he never expected for them to even care for these vile things…these vampires…
If that was the case, then the Titans were now enemies for consorting with vampires. The hunter didn't want to do it, but if they were willing to consort with a vampire, then they would have to face the consequences.
The hunter gripped one of his knives. That vampire would pay…and pay it shall…with blood.