It shouldn't be hard to distract him. He was trapped inside wherever he was for five decades. And now he's back with all this power. Of course, he's going to want to talk about it. He's been practically bragging about it ever since he grew his mouth. If it weren't for the smoke grenade, I have a feeling he'll keep on babbling about his "New Moon" lecture...That's it!
"Wait a minute," I said. "There were plenty of years before you came. Those years should have experienced new moons too, right? How come the past Shades were still affected?"
Come on, take the bait. I thought.
Daniel scoffed at me. "Well, I am not the past Shades, am I?" He raised his hand, spreading his shadow fingers. "You see, this Shade you refer to is nothing but a fraction of the Primordial's power."
Good. Tell us more. I thought.
"P-primordial?" Indigo asked. Her knees were shaking hard.
"The original inhabitants of this universe. Formless beings of pure darkness. Born out of the Void, long before the first sun blazed to life," he explained. "You know the myth about the Shadow People and the Celestials?"
No one answered.
"I guess you wouldn't. It was an old and forgotten lore that I stumbled upon by sheer happenstance," Daniel said. "Anyway, our ancestors knew of their existence and the danger they posed. They managed to banish them from this dimension. The Primordials cannot hope to enter this dimension or even manifest their influence."
For a moment, the room was silent. We were all waiting for him to continue.
"Unless they were, as I found out, permitted entry." Daniel said.
"So that night, fifty-one years ago..." I said.
"You really are quick," Daniel said. "The plan was to make my body a vessel to host one of the beings and control him."
"But they got to you first, right?" Caprice said. "You didn't complete the ritual."
"Which is why I had to improvise."
"The Shade." Indigo gasped.
"And to think my act of desperation would give me exactly what I had wanted," Daniel cackled.
"But still why now?" I said. "There were like three decades that the Shade killed haunteds freely. Why show yourself, now?"
He smiled. "I didn't. Someone had access to your blood. Someone attempted to repeat and finish the ritual. Someone MADE me show up."
"So Major Coleman was right," Harmony said. "The cult still exists. Who else could know how to do the ritual?"
"But where are they?" Cana asked.
"That really doesn't matter now, does it?" Daniel said. "What matters is I am in control of this power. At least for this night. Granted, I didn't even know I was in there until three days ago. It was still mostly Azga-the Shade's thoughts. It was like seating at the back of the car while the Shade drives in front. I only had glimpses of what happened that night. Like that spiky-headed boy."
"Kent!" Scarlet snapped. "And you killed him!"
He cocked his head to one side, considering what Scarlet just said. "Partly, yes. But like I said, I wasn't in full control. It was a constant tug-of-war with the Shade's urge to kill zodiac borns. Keeping my consciousness was hard enough. In the end, I disappeared that night."
He changed his arm into a scythe. "But last night, I had some practice."
"So all the changes three days ago, cutting up woods to destroy the lights, killing all those people, that was all you?" I asked.
"Correct." Daniel said, brandishing his scythe arm like a kid who've just got a new toy sword.
"I knew it was too much of a change," Cato said. "It was too human."
"Glad someone caught on," he said, changing his scythe arm back again. "It may seem ridiculous but spells and rituals require a great deal of time and experimenting. You'd be surprised how many teenagers we'd killed before we even figured out that blood was a necessary component. Long before we planned that mass kidnapping."
He paused for a bit. "You know, now that I think about it. That was a huge mistake. I could have just taken the safe route and abduct one or two from time to time. But I can't help it. I felt so close to finally completing the ritual." He sighed. "Sometimes, my passion ruins things for me."
"Let me get this straight," I said. "The past Shades were the Primordial-whatever using your soul as a link to this world. But now it's you, something from this dimension, who's in complete control so you can make full use of the void's power and the new moon?"
"Wow!" Daniel said, clapping. "That's it. I'm anointing you an acolyte in my cult. The rest can start as initiates." He raised his hand and made a Stop gesture. "Before you say anything, you should know, Bren-one of my twelve acolyte-his Sisig is the best."
Then his eyebrows narrowed. He strokes his chin. "I wonder if he's still alive..."
My plan to buy time has been working so far. Good thing my friends kept the questions coming without my prompting. But unless someone actually came up with a plan to escape, then all the time in the world will not help us. The conversation seems to start slowing down. And I am no closer to a solution.
"But why?" I said, opening another topic, hoping to buy more time. "Why do this at all?"
"He's a sick, blood-drinking, psycho," Cana suggested. "Why else."
"Now that's just rude." Daniel said, pretending to be offended.
"Answer the question." Darius demanded.
Daniel's expression turned serious. "Imagine learning that there exist beings older than our universe, of other realities that our own minds could never have come up with, and knowing that such knowledge is within reach, would you not take action?"
"And by taking action," Cana said. "Of course you meant butchering all twelve, what was it...zodiac borns? for your ritual."
"Of course." Daniel said with a smile.
"So, that's it?" Harmony said. "So you did all these just because you're curious?"
"But all these killing—"Indigo said.
Daniel sighed in exasperation. "Oh you sweet, naïve, girl," he said. "Governments all over the world would do worse to possess the knowledge I have. Some might even sponsor me."
"Then why not go public?" Cato said. "Ask for backing to continue your...academic research?"
"If they got their greedy, destructive hands on what I have right now," Daniel said, staring at his Shade arm that he turned into a blade. "You can be sure it will be weaponized. Imagine an army that no weapons can fell." He returned his blade arm back to normal. "This...Shade," Daniel said, admiring his Shade hands, which he keeps closing and opening. "Will make conventional arms obsolete, ushering an era of supernatural warfare."
"Looks like you've got them beat." Cato said.
"Not my intention," Daniel said. "This Shade was not part of my plan, remember?"
"You already killed two, which means you don't have enough to do your ritual," I said.
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about that," Daniel replied. Then, from his stomach, the Shade's shadow body rippled. And out came Kent's and Eris' torso, heads lolled backward. Kent's eyes were still wearing the expression it had the first night he was killed. I want to scream. But my throat tightened that only strange, choking sounds came out.
"You monster!" Cana snapped.
"But their blood-"Cato said.
"Is mostly drained now," Daniel said, pulling Kent's and Eris' bodies back into his stomach. "It'll have to do."
"And if you fail? What if it didn't work?" I said, doing my best to discourage him from his plans.
He just scoffed. "With all twelve of you here, I doubt that very much," he said. "Now I have indulged you long enough. This is my final offer. Join me, and I will let you live. Together, we will haunt other zodiac borns. My acolytes will welcome you into our family."
"Hypothetically," Cato said. "How are we supposed to join you after you killed all of us for your ritual?"
"Like I said," Daniel said. "My rituals involve a lot of trial and error. Maybe with all twelve of you here, I'll only need just a few pints of your blood. Maybe that'll be enough for my goal. Worst case scenario, I drink you all dry, and then I turn you into MY Shades." he said, cackling at the thought of his sick idea.
"So it's either you succeed and we live as a cultist or you succeed and we die." Cato said.
Daniel shrugged. "I see no problem with that."
"Sorry, but I'm not really into drinking blood," Cana said. "You should try twilight fans."
"Yeah, we'll how bout you drop dead you disgusting...whatever the thing you are!" Scarlet followed.
"I see. Such a shame," Daniel said, shaking his head in disappointment. "Oh well. I'll be sure to make good use of your bodies." He raised an arm-which was still fully Shade-and it thrust forward.
I jumped to the side, dodging the arm. What I didn't know was that Demi was behind me. The arm got him instead. We all reached for Demi as the arm pulled away. I managed to grab his sleeves. But the pull was too much that the fabric tore immediately. Demi was dragged away, and I am left holding a piece of his uniform.
"Demi!" I shouted.
"No!" Demi cried, struggling around Daniel's grip with his feet kicking in the air. "Help! I don't want to die!"He burst down crying and screaming. "Please...don't let him kill me..."
"I guess you'll have to do." Daniel said, looking disappointed with his catch.
"You let him go you piece of-" Scarlet unleashed a string of swear words.
"Please, you don't have to do this..." Caprice pleaded.
Daniel morphed his free arm into a blade. When Demi saw this, he stopped thrashing around and turned his head towards us. He fixed his black eyes on mine. Pleading, terrified eyes.
"Vergil..." he said between sobs."Please..."
"Wait!" I yelled, desperate to get Daniel's attention. "I'll join your cult, I'll be an acolyte!"
But it looks like he didn't hear me, or didn't care about what I have to say because his blade arm opened a cut at Demi's neck.