The Vampires and the deepening nightmare
Ema was far too tired to continue working. She took Apollo's lead and told Klavier she was going on a lunch break.
"I want you to show me where you woke up…" Ema rubbed behind Apollo's ears. "Can you show me?"
"Of course!" Apollo barked and tried to pull Ema to where he remembered. He could hear the stream while he was still a good distance away from it and soon got Ema to the canal.
"Is this where?" Ema earned a nod from Apollo. A loud bark echoed in the distance.
"Setter! Axel!" Apollo recognised them but he doubted he could be as loud. Unless… Chords of Steel! "Setter! Axel! Where are you?" When he earned no reply and Ema could tell he wanted something she released the catch on his lead and chased him through the streets.
Apollo could smell they had been in an alley of a nearby butcher's shop to the junk yard.
"Axel? Pru?" Apollo cried still earning no reply.
He scrambled through the large Setter sized gap in the Junk Yard gates. Ema stood with a blank stare and pulled hard on the gates.
"It's the little squirt!" Falco swopped from the top of the trash. "There is a human with him though!" He landed just before Apollo again. "You know humans aren't welcome here!"
"You let me in." Apollo replied bluntly. "Besides, she isn't here to hurt anyone, she's my human girlfriend!"
"Then that's ok!" Axel crawled out from the boot of an old red Toyota.
"Help me let Ema in!" Apollo looked between Setter and Axel.
"Allow me…" The Wolfhound stepped forward and bit deep into the rusted lock. It fell to the floor.
"Apollo!" Ema grabbed him from the floor. "Why are we here with a bunch of vicious dogs?" Apollo squirmed.
"I'll show you if you put me down!" He knew it was useless. Suddenly he felt himself being lowered at the sight of Chloe and Pru who were harmless. "Could everybody line up please?"
"Of course? Baby Mi too?" Pru was clearly overjoyed at seeing the small puppy back with the gang but more importantly with his human mate. "She'd be happy to see her 'big brother' again. That's what she calls you!"
"I think Mi should stay hidden." Apollo watched as the dogs lined up in size order again.
"Hey, the little squirts still alright!" Bruiser barked laughing.
"We never doubted you for a second Kiddo!" Axel trotted to his position.
"What are you going to do to show me why we're here?" Ema asked kneeling down in the dirt beside him. "My laptop's got no life left." Apollo stood in thought before deciding. In the dirt in front of Pru he wrote out 'She found me' and an arrow pointing at her. Then in big letters he wrote 'They all took care of me'.
"I guess I should say thank you then." Ema grumbled. Her cellphone vibrated in the white lab coat and she took this as an opportunity to take Apollo away.
"Bye guys!" Apollo barked.
The caller ID showed Trucy but she very rarely had her cellphone switched on.
"Hello? Is something the matter Trucy?" Ema tried to support Apollo so he was close to the phone and could hear her voice.
"Ema!" The voice was a cry of distress. "You need to come to my school and fast!" She was hyperventilating and Ema was immediately concerned.
"Give me that phone or I'll make you sorry!" A male voice that neither Apollo nor Ema recognised. "Let me make this clear. You have 30 minutes to bring the puppy, yourself, the rock star and his girlfriend."
"And if I don't?" Ema retaliated. "And who are you?"
"We have no name, and I assure you I'm not alone." The man cackled. "If you don't… then you'll be responsible for all these brat's deaths."
"All?" Ema felt herself shudder and could feel Apollo's muscles twitching.
"Help!" All the voices were girls and Ema recognised a few of them – Trucy, Pearl and Apollo's foster sister Claire.
"What do you want with Apollo?" Ema growled.
"Well… if you want him to be human again, you're going to have to bring him here. We were the ones who changed him and we know how to change him back." The man paused for a split second. "You have 30 minutes starting from…now!" The line went dead.
"We have to get back to the precinct!" Ema had never run so fast and clutched Apollo tighter in her life.
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"Klavier! Lana! We have 20 minutes to get to Trucy's school!" Ema cried for the second time in the ten minute run. "You've gotta believe me! They're going to kill Trucy and Pearl!"
"Oh my god! Tell us on the way!" Lana grabbed Ema's wrist and threw her into the backseat of the sports car. Apollo was placed in her hands and Klavier dived into the driver's seat. Lana dived into the passenger seat and they sped away before anyone had chance to fasten a seatbelt.
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They almost missed the 30 minute deadline as they burst through the front doors of the school past the receptionist who had fainted.
"What the hell's going off?" Lana followed Ema and Apollo. Apollo suddenly seemed to know where he was going as if he could sense Trucy's distress.
"This way!" Apollo tried to call as he fell from Ema's grip. He ran towards the girl's gym.
"Well, well. I was wondering if you'd make it!" The man who spoke on the phone swung towards the door and pointed the heavy calibre gun at the group in the doorway. His voice seems so… familiar to me… Apollo wondered. Have I heard him before? I know I've only ever heard his voice once… "Get in here then! I want to see if you're all here." Apollo trotted in first, Ema closely behind him and Klavier and Lana last. They stood beside Ema.
"Ja, we're all here. What do you want with Herr Puppy?" Klavier replied as he watched the cowering figure of the girls' gym class and the teachers cowering in the corner.
"We want him to come with us." The man replied bluntly and more men surrounded him. They all wore identical uniforms – black leather jackets and black formal trousers with polished black leather shoes. Some of them wore hats to cover their hair and others masked their identities in various ways.
"No! Why should we hand him to you?" Ema yelled.
"You really should learn to be quiet until spoken too. Have you ever been in a hostage situation before?" Apollo heard some of the men cover the doors that he had just walked through and another man blocked the door into the teacher's car park – leading to the front of the school. Apollo sat quietly. "Well have you?"
"No… but I know what to expect so…" Ema replied quietly as the man burst her bubble.
"So, what do you want?" Lana quickly cut in.
"Like we said, we want Apollo. If you refuse then… well…" The man all drew firearms ranging from pistols to shotguns, rifles and several illegal and some hand made firearms. They were all pointed towards the screaming and shaking group of girls and women. "Allow me to prove the weapons are loaded…" A large man stepped forward with a hand made heavy calibre gun. He fired it straight at the wall beside Ema, the concrete crumbled from the force of the blow. Apollo even realised that one man – who had probably been given a felony charge and not allowed to buy firearms had constructed a gun. It looked like a tire pump or a jack for a car. The end had been sawed off and the pump on the other side, if pushed with enough force could fire a bullet.
Lana shuddered and reached for Klavier's hand to calm her.
"We don't just want Apollo; he's just one of many more experiments to come. But for now we'll let puppy boy pick what he wants." The man knelt down. "Is that fair?" Apollo nodded, unaware of how much Ema was protesting. "Young lady. Keep your gob shut. It's between me and the pup! Do you want to come with us or be responsible for the deaths of all the people in this room?" Apollo closed his eyes.
"Why should he have to pick?" Lana hissed. "We still have no idea who you are!"
"Then you may call us the Vampires. Hurry up puppy." Apollo forced himself to walk towards the man with the mysterious identity. "Good dog. You ain't half as stupid as you look!" He felt a thick metal choker being wrapped around his neck by another man and he was pulled towards the door to the car park. He protested and struggled but knew if he didn't move he would be suffocated. He felt like crying when he looked into Ema's sorrowful eyes – he knew that she knew this had to happen.
He was outside looking in by the time he saw movement. Klavier lunged towards the gentleman in the middle. Only to be injected by something and fall to the floor screaming and squirming in pain. His sixth sense kicked in and his bracelet began to glow. My bracelets… He forced his paw on top of the other one. Suddenly he felt the most intense pain he had ever done before. It was as if his muscles were growing rapidly and he was powerless to stop it. He felt the blood shoot into his head and could feel himself growing and yet at the same time being choked. He knew this was meant to happen but he wasn't sure what this was…
Cliff hanger! Sorry! Hope it gets you excited for the next chapter though! Please review I beg you!
Thanks to DDT 4 and the anonymous person for reviewing my story xx