Shadow Angel: Volume 1

The Check-Up

"Uh, what am I looking at?" Cody asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You are looking at x-rays of your ribcage, Cody," Heather answered, pointing her finger at both pictures. "The one on the left is your ribs last week when the Gorilla Eldritch attacked. The other one on the right is your ribs now."

"Huh. They healed rather quickly," Cody remarked.

"For a human, bones take at least four to six weeks to heal. Considering you're a Turned Eldritch..."

"I see..." Cody nodded. Then, he asked, "What's gonna happen now?"

"Things should go back to normal once classes resume next week," Mia replied. "But when that happens, remember to go easy on yourself from now on."

"Why?"

"You said it yourself, kid," Rich said. "We don't want what happened two weeks ago to happen again. That also means you getting injured like that."

"Right, I did say that," Cody said with a nod.

The room became silent for a few seconds before suddenly, Scott turned to Cody and asked, "Um, Cody? Could you please step out of the room for a bit? There's something I need to talk to everyone about alone."

"Uh, sure. Okay." With that, he stood from his chair and walked out of the office.

Now sitting in the hallway, Cody patiently waited for Scott and the others to finish their conversation. While he waited, he looked around the hallway, watching as doctors and Slayers walked back and forth. Then, he heard something rolling toward him and he turned to his right to find a dark-skinned woman approaching his spot with a silver cart with wheels at the bottom. As she got closer, she brought the cart close to Cody's right side, not batting an eye at him when she did so. Cody watched as she walked away before turning his attention to the cart she left behind.

Cody looked on top of the cart, finding a silver tray holding a needle, a spool of thread, a tiny pair of scissors, and a white rag. Curious, he reached for the tray to pick up the needle, bringing it close to his face to examine it closely. From what he could see, the small silver rod was shiny and clean. Cody hummed before looking down at his left hand, and then turning back to the needle in his right one. He looked up at the hallway once more to make sure no one was watching him. Seeing no one noticing him, he sighed before looking back at the needle and his hand. With a deep breath, Cody slowly brought the needle to his left pointing finger, poking at the surface of its skin before pushing its sharp end into it. By doing so, he scrunched up his face as he quietly grunted in pain.

Pulling the needle out of his skin, Cody watched as black blood trickled down from his pointing finger to his palm. Then, the puncture he made closed up, not leaving a scar. Before he could do anything else, he felt something whoosh past him as it hit the wall next to him. Squeezing his left hand shut, Cody turned to his right to find an arm in a blue hoodie sleeve and a fingerless glove. When he looked in front of him, his eyes went wide and he became tense as he found the arm's owner: Lucien Nanami. Lucien was smirking at him, staring into his eyes with a face that sent chills down his spine.

"You know," Lucien began. "I've been seeing you around lately."

"Uh..." Cody gulped, not knowing what to say.

Lucien looked down at the dark-haired boy's hands, finding the needle in his right one. With a hum, he reached for it and snatched it from Cody's hand to have a closer look. Then, he looked back at the other boy and said, "Didn't your parents tell you not to play with needles, fresh meat?"

"Fresh meat?" Cody repeated. "Me?"

"Never mind that, newbie." Lucien looked down at Cody's left hand. "You pricked your finger, didn't you?"

"I-I-"

"Here, let me see." The eyepatch boy reached for his left hand.

"No!" Cody yelled.

Before Lucien could touch his hand, he felt someone roughly grab his shoulder. He turned his head around to find Scott standing behind him, sneering at him. Meanwhile, Cody sighed with relief, knowing he was safe for now.

"Leave him alone, Nanami," Scott firmly said.

"Tch." Lucien turned back to Cody and darkly whispered, "You got lucky this time, newbie." Then, as he shrugged his shoulder out of Scott's grasp, he stood up straight and walked down the hallway, putting the needle back on the tray as he did.

Cody and Scott watched as the purple-and-blue-haired boy walked down the hallway with his hands in his pockets, taking a left as he did. With Lucien gone, Cody opened his left hand again as Scott turned to the dark-haired boy, immediately noticing the black blood on his hand. With wide eyes, the blue-haired man went on one knee and took the boy's hand to examine it.

"Cody, did Lucien do this?" Scott asked in a panic.

"No, I did it to myself," Cody answered.

Scott raised an eyebrow before he noticed the cart with the tray holding the needle, thread, scissors, and rag. By looking at the needle, the blue-haired man quickly understood what happened. With a sigh, Scott took the rag from the tray and offered it to Cody, who gratefully took it and used it to wipe the black blood off his hand.

"You can't let anyone see that, Cody," Scott said before crossing his arms. "Every Slayer knows what color an Eldritch's blood is. You may appear human on the outside, but on the inside, you're still at Eldritch."

As soon as he finished wiping his hand, Cody looked up at Scott and nodded. "Yeah, I know," he said.

"If someone spots you bleeding, they'll immediately realize you're not human. They will know what you are in an instant and even detain you. I've seen it happen plenty of times. That's why I'm giving you these." Scott reached into his jacket to pull out what looked like a black pill bottle.

As the bottle was placed into his grasp, Cody raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "What is it?"

Scott brought his face close to the dark-haired boy's ear and whispered, "It's a drug Turned Eldritch use to blend in with humans. It causes their blood to turn red every time they get wounded."

"Where did you find this?" he asked as Scott pulled his head away.

"Let's just say I know someone." Scott pointed at the bottle. "Take one of these every day, only one. Each dose lasts for about fifteen hours. Also, don't let anyone see it."

"Not even Milo?" Cody asked.

"Not even Milo."

Cody looked down at the pill bottle one last time before looking back at Scott and nodded. "I think I get it. I'll be careful when I'm using it, I promise."

With a smile, Scott put a hand on the boy's shoulder and said, "Good."