Shadow Land

The Light in the Dark

“No! Haven’t you learned anything? Poison doesn’t work on Shabtis! They’re made of chemicals!” Alexander cried hopelessly as Alycia stared at her dart confused.

                “But…it…I mixed it right….oh, God!” She cried as the demon lunged at her. It was their third night of training, and Alycia was not doing well. She tried to run backwards, out of its way, but stumbled on the ground and fell backwards onto her hands.

                Shabtis always came in pairs, so Alexander was busy taking out the other one, the stronger one. He had hoped that Alycia would be able to deal with one by herself, but Shabtis were pretty strong anyway, so he was keeping an eye on her. DJ was sulking in his room after being banned from training Alycia (he had tried to convince her that in order to prevent demon strikes, she had to drink bleach, and then, while on a hunting trip, he had nearly, accidently, got her killed by leaving her in the hands of a Lazerus demon. It was an accident, he promised).

                Alycia screamed and threw her hands above her head as the Shabti towered over her. Stabbing his demon in the heart (a place that would only paralyze it temporarily), Alexander ran to Alycia, sword ready, but before he could reach her, her instincts kicked in.

                A blinding flash of light illuminated the alley, making both demons scream in agony. Alycia’s demon suddenly found itself being attacked by a big leopard made of a web of light. The second the leopard touched it, the demon evaporated into black dust.

                Alexander was transfixed, he couldn’t take his eyes off the leopard. Despite his best efforts, he was still not used to the idea of knowing an Atroxian. In her true form, Alycia was beautiful, her lights were just breath-taking. She had all the power and grace of a leopard, too. It was just unfair. He did, however, wish that she would wear something other than a mini skirt in her human form.

                Suddenly, the light streams started moving, the ‘muscles’ of the leopard bunching up before it leapt over Alexander’s head to crash into the Shabti behind him. Alexander spun around and silently cursed. While he had been staring at Alycia, the Shabti had regained its strength and was about to attack him. Now, it was just a pile of dust underneath a sheepish looking light-leopard.

                Alycia lowered her head as her web of lights loosened and started moving to put her back into her human form. Both of them blinked as their eyes adjusted to the sudden loss of light, the whole alley looking slightly green.

                Alexander sighed, “I’m not sure if I should thank you, or yell at you.”

                “I’m sorry! I know I shouldn’t do that, but I panicked. It was going to kill me!”

                “You do know why I say you can’t take your true form while hunting, right?” He asked, raising and eyebrow.

                Alycia studied the ground, “Because the light attracts humans and the power attracts Shadow’s from everywhere.

                Alexander sighed, he couldn’t yell at her just after she had saved his life, “Look, I know it’s hard, but we’re living in a town, there are a lot of power hungry demons out there. Just…try next time. And remember, Shabti and all other Morris Demons are immune to poisons. They made of poison, it just makes them stronger.”

                “I’m sorry. Do you think I could get another sword? It bit mine,” She asked, hitting him with her best Bambi eyes.