Hey readers, chapter 14 here and ready to read!~

I've found this chapter went by a lot smoother than any other i've written, and i hope it reads better than the others too.

That would mean writing this story paid off, as i would be getting better at it!

Go ahead and leave a comment stating if its better or worse, i'd love to hear your opinion!

Enjoy!~

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When the dust settled around him, Alex couldn't help but feel he had bad luck; who else would experience this much chaos in the span of several days?

He laid prone on the floor, gun held haphazardly in front of his chest. His heart beat wildly at the thought of what could have possibly made that much destruction so quickly, yet he feared to lift himself to check. He looked slowly toward the new opening in his ceiling, ready to marvel at the destruction and maybe catch a glimpse of the perpetrator.

What he found, was a large body hunched on the counter above him. The slim yet muscular figure could easily be eight feet tall, yet it seemed to have the contours of a predator built for speed; it entranced him, but also gave him warning that this new presence was one that trained its body for something.

He had a bad feeling it was built to hunt.

“Finally found what’s mine to take.” The figure stated, it’s voice feminine but deeper than he was used to hearing. The line set his mind into overdrive, but the pearly white teeth sent shivers down his spine; They shone through the moonlit shadow that covered the figure’s body.

The woman, he guessed it to be, lifted a thick and long sword that seemed impossibly heavy; The thing was longer than Alex’s own height, and the thickness to it made it more of a bludgeoning weapon than a cutting one. A sinister, red light crept up the large blade slowly, like death itself ready to take him.

The gun below him was ready to fire as soon as she swung, and his legs were poised to dodge as quickly as he could muster; a limb or two gone wouldn’t matter much if he was still alive.

Who knows, maybe his vampiric powers enabled limb regrowth; he’d heard the stories of some of the older vampires capable enough to sew it back on and walk it off like it was nothing.

“He’s not yours...He’s mine!”

Alex heard the scream as violet light began to shine from behind the counter. The woman that stood poised and ready to strike reacted, but only quick enough to catch a violet streak of light that hurled her through Alex’s fridge. The ball of light soon followed after the woman into where his bedroom used to be, and out into the parking lot.

He lifted his body enough to look through the new hole in his wall, but could only catch glimpses of blinding violet light. It moved too quickly for even his own enhanced eyes, not to mention the hole was only large enough for him to stand in.

He wasn’t sure, but the scream sounded eerily similar to Victoria’s voice; It was slightly lower though, and had a strange echo about it.

Alex placed the gun in his holster as he knew it was useless at this point. He stood up as his back ached, and walked toward the hole as flashes of violet splashed his sight. His bedroom had been torn to bits by that one hit, his bed thrown against the wall and the drawer on the floor and broken.

He arrived at the hole and noticed something immediately; none of the street lights or apartments gave light to the surroundings. Even the moonlight, unclouded in the sky, seemed much dimmer than normal.

Was it the violet light that took the light from the surroundings?

‘...It’s the only thing i know of that could.’ Alex thought, his mind reeling from the capabilities this ‘power’ seemed to have. Alex remembered everything about victoria was always purple in color; so it was very likely she was the one that currently pushed the woman around like a ragdoll.

He had never truly seen her capabilities in action, but this was against what the rumors had stated. He’d heard the title ‘Shadow of Death’, and even the title ‘Shadow’s Keeper’; but none that mentioned this violet light her body seemed to give off.

The speed alone she exhibited in this ‘form’ was incredibly fast, and was likely only visible to Alex as afterimages. The woman that had attacked them had flown around like a ragdoll without even touching the pavement below her since he began to watch the scene.

Alex sat at the new opening and focused on his eyes, and hoped to see more of the battle currently taking place; He felt just a tinge of guilt that this fight was about him, yet he was incapable of doing anything with his powerless human body.

So he’d watch the one that decided to protect the weak him.

With his eyes focused, he could now see Victoria better. Her form was of a pure violet light, but it was definitely hers; He looked at it enough to notice it anywhere, but he’d never state that out loud. He noticed two blades of the same color in both of her hands, that she swung each time she passed by the woman.

It looked to him like Victoria had toyed with the woman, as she hadn’t let her feet touch the ground to get a foothold even once.

‘Well, she’s always had a strange temper when it dealt with me...’ Alex thought as Victoria swiped the greatsword again, while the blade in her other hand left a scar across the woman’s arm. The woman had begun to get frustrated, her brow scrunched and her teeth bared in anger.

A red light gathered near her chest and expanded quickly, which knocked the violet covered Victoria back several feet. It was only for a moment, but it was all the woman needed to get a foot back on the ground.

She swung at Victoria who had charged again, but the blade whizzed by several inches above her; but from this, Victoria couldn’t get close enough to deal any damage. She stopped her rush, and the violet light that shone from her body seemed to disappear into a black hole.

She was soon only a black silhouette, hardly noticeable even to Alex’s slightly enhanced eyes; even stranger, the wisps of black that lept off her body messed with his concentration.

“‘Cursed child’, what a fitting title that is for you!” The tall woman yelled, and then stabbed her greatsword into the ground. Red light expanded from the center of her stomach outward until it was a full circle around her body. Alex couldn’t help but blink in surprise,not at the power itself but…That she looked alarmingly like a very tall human woman.

Her body was thin yet muscular, tattoos lined her dark skin, and her dark brown hair met her waist. He recognized the common features to this particular race easily, mainly because they had fascinated him as a child.

She was an ‘Amazonian’, a thought to be long extinct cousin to the human race.

Victoria’s figure blurred into view in front of the Amazonian while Alex had ogled her. She struck it with black daggers several times in quick succession, but only small cuts appeared. The cuts dissipated after several seconds while the two stared at each other, and then Victorias figure vanished from sight again. Several shard of black appeared around the orb and struck it, but they bounced off with only the same small damage as before.

Everything went quiet, neither of the fighters moved from where they were; or at least Alex thought so, as he hadn’t seen Victoria anywhere in his view.

He felt a tap on his shoulder suddenly, which startled him out of his concentration. He turned around to find Victoria as she stood limply behind him, her arm cradled over her stomach.

“We need to leave.” She stated, and pulled Alex’s arm with enough strength to send him onto his feet easily. She cringed a bit and held her side tighter, but continued to pull him away from the hole. He looked back at the Amazonian, who faced away from them and still prepared for battle.

He wondered at what point she would figure out they had left, and hoped it would be enough time to get away.

He grabbed the keys thrown onto the floor near the untouched couch, and followed Victoria's shadow like figure out the door and down the metal stairs outside.

“You little shit! Where are you!?” The Amazonian screamed loudly, which caused Alex to drop the keys he had prepared to put into the car door. Victoria grabbed his arm and yanked him over the fence in front of his car. She pushed him behind a dumpster in the alleyway of two buildings, and poised herself on guard.

The Amazonian fell from the sky just as Alex peeked out of the corner, and crushed his car beneath her feet. It sent a shiver down his spine as her sharp eyes scanned the surroundings, and he ducked back behind it just as she swept her sight over where he was. He sat motionless for a good minute, until the sirens blared in the distance.

The sirens always seemed to be his safety card nowadays, though he was unsure if that was a good or bad thing. He heard the Amazonian howl ferociously like a werewolf and peeked out to see her jump away toward his apartment and out of sight. He waited for Victoria to move, as she had more knowledge in fights than he did, but she stood still.

“...Victoria?” Alex called out, and noticed she had begun to tip forward. He caught her before she hit the ground, and checked her breathing as the black shadow dissipated from her body. She seemed to be breathing harshly, which was a bad sign right after she used those powers.

‘Guess i better find a place to get you checked out...and call the chief so he knows i’m alive.’ Alex thought as he picked her up into a bridal carry. He took one final look at his apartment and the destroyed car, shook his head, and then turned around and walked off into the dark alley.