Shadow (Paused and Undergoing MAJOR Editing)

Chapter Eleven

Stefan

He looks at us. "You're not Arkera. Did she send you?" I close the door behind us, and his blonde hair sways with the wind. I don't say anything. "I am Torian, brother of Arkera. You did know that, I'm sure," he adds. Echo looks shocked, betrayal flashing across her expression.

"What? Stefan, did you come here just to please Shadow?" she accuses, raising her eyebrows and looking me straight in the eye.

It's hard to concentrate with her bright eyes on me, but I snap out of it. Get it together, Stefan! "No!" I shout. "I was taken, I told you already!"

"Oh," she replies casually. "Just... wondering." Torian stares at us, confusion in his eyes. He taps my shoulder.

"Where's Arkera?" he asks.

"We call her Shadow. We were... betrayed. By Wittnor. He took me here."

"If you are a friend of Shadow, you are a friend of mine. Call me Tor."

I nod. Echo looks at Tor with a deadly expression, the same one she gets when she talks about Shadow. Why does she hate Shadow so much that she has to hate her brother, too?

"Well," she says, "Let's go free the rest of the prisoners." I follow her out of the cell. Tor, grabs her arm, and my chest fills with a... sour feeling? Maybe I shouldn't have drank that coke...

"Wait! You can only open one cell at a time. Otherwise it sounds an alarm!" he warns us. The sour feeling fades. Echo nods quickly and leads us out. She suddenly stops, halfway to the exit. I look to see why she's stopped. It's Julk, Tulk, and Ben! I gasp, and Tor steps forward, wielding an arrow of Goetic energy.

"Why are you here?" I ask them.

"Guar- wait, Stefan? And... Echo? But who's that?" Ben says disbelievingly, looking at Tor. Julk summons lightning from the sky, and Tulk focuses on something. A pillar of rock comes jutting out of the floor.

"Oops," he grins, "I'm not paying for that floor."

Ben steps in front of them, undying flames in both of his palms. "We came because we heard a crash in here. There was no guard." There were guards... "Why are you here?" he asks us. Tor shrugs at me when I look at him, and Echo just looks bewildered.

"We're here because we broke Tor out," I say. Tor stares at me, his mouth agape. Echo slaps her forehead. Ohhh. I was supposed to lie? "Heh heh," I add carefully. Julk and Tulk look apologetic.

"Actually, we followed you," they say in unison. It's creepy. "Well, Ben did. We... don't get an opinion," they say. Ben glares at them. "What? It's true," they say, still speaking together.

Ben scowls. "Then go join Stefan, Echo, and Tor and do whatever jailbreak you want!" Julk and Tulk look at each other, considering this.

"All right," they say, and move to go beside us. Ben looks shocked.

"What? I - what - huh?" he says. Then he shrugs. "I guess I can't fight all of you. GUARD! GUARD!" he starts to scream.

"Wait!" I yell, thinking. "You'll get in trouble, too. Just go." Ben shrugs and turns to leave. Suddenly, a huge fruit bat flaps down from the dark ceiling. It turns into a tall vampire with a single sword in her hand. She looks straight at us and speaks with an indescribable accent.

"You should not be here," she says. I gulp. Who is this? Her gaze is full of authority. She looks at Ben, who is nearly at the exit, and calmly throws the sword at him. It hits his back, and he collapses. Oh no. Did she just kill him? While we huddle together fearfully, the vampire walks over to retrieve her sword, and then walks back to us. She suddenly swipes her sword in the air, and slashes Julk in the arm. She uses her sword with years of practice. Julk screams and Tulk yells and rushes forward, his rock pillar aimed at the mysterious killer. She dodges with expertise and reveals a dart in her sleeve. She throws it at Tulk, and it hits his arm. Confused, he reaches to pull it out, but then drops down to the floor.

"NO!" Julk yells. He rushes at her. I close my eyes, not wanting to see the result of this. When I open my eyes again, he's sprawled on the floor, not breathing. The vampire looks at the rest of us, without a hint of remorse in her eyes.

"I suggest you leave now. And don't come back, or you will be killed." Without seeing if we obey, she transforms back into a fruit bat, and flies up to the ceiling. We scramble out of the horrifying place.

...

Echo, Tor and I have escaped the prison, but we still can barely breathe. Who was that? And how did we survive? We are now at an illegal airport to go to Mt. Sutwex, the mountain where the rest of our group is. I know that Shadow will wait for me. Echo sneaks around a lot, and she heard about this airport. Vamcorl should be more careful. I quickly go to the washroom. Soon I'll be back.