Shadow Runners

"No, the demon is not dead yet..." N cursed under his breath. "The effective way to kill a demon like that is to force it out of the vessel, by using salt water or silver. They would be weak for a few moment, giving us a chance to cleanse it..." The shape-shifter ruffled his own hair furiously. It was a very, very stupid amateurish mistake. Just because he was tired from the last espionage mission it did not give him permission to mess up like this. He was supposed to be a master demon-slayer dammit!
 
"So should I get the salt water now? Or has the demon already escaped? Someone tell me what is going on, please."

The muscular Chinese man's voice took on a nervous edge. It wasn't everyday a demon infiltrated their base. He was worried. He was already halfway across the room, his shoulders set in a purposeful manner.
 
"The demon has already escaped.... but pour the salt water on the snake's body. Dead vessels usually generate miasma if not cleansed." N ordered XC.
 
Conners could do nothing but watch as the group fell onto the Chimera Snake, killing it with extreme prejudice. So it was posessed by a demon.

Black blood flowed from the cut neck of the snake and onto the ground where it quickly sank into. The body still squirmed before it stopped for a bit.

The others then started talking about pouring salt water on it and what not when Conners interjected. "Your forgetting something. That isn't a normal snake." As he spoke, the snake's body moved to its head, little tiny human like legs bent to look like a centapede's propelling it. The body touched the head with the stump and it was reattached before it slither-scampered away. "It's a Chimera with a snake as a base. Remember the alchemist we busted about a month ago? He many dozens of these things and Rhea kept one of them. Bloody hard to kill off. The demon is out so it should be ok now." He shot N a look. "I think you should go to bed. Your not at the top of you game, 'Old man'."
 
Fabius shook his head in silence as he went downstairs. He could still hear what was going on. Do they have to argue for everything? The demon escaped. He wondered if someone was taking care of Bria. He was nice with girls, but no good when things went emotional.

'Old Man'. Really?
Both knew well how to deal with the intruder there. Humans really need to rest. I guess it's just as important to them as my blood feeding is to me.
 
"That's a chimera snake?" N blinked owlishly at Conners. He stared at the snake, inspecting it, and moved his gaze to Rhea.
The young brunette looked guilty. "Sorry, should have told you about it."
"Yes you should." It was obvious that the shape-shifter was feeling cranky and stressed out. The group had heard about his last mission. It was supposed to be a simple recon mission, making sure if the rumors about a soul-feeding warlock was true. Until the human police came and thought that he was the one who killed all those victims. It wasn't a pleasant experience.
"I thought you won't let me keep it if I tell you..." Rhea avoided N's gaze.
"We have talk about this, I let you keep the snakes if they are under Protection Spell." N's hard gaze did not softened. The shape-shifter winced when a sharp pain attacked his head. Gods, he really need to sleep...
 
Conners sighed. "Come on, N. You can punish Rhea tomorrow when you can actually see clearly." He moved to N, trying to get him to go to his room. As he walked pass Rhea, he gave her a thumbs up sign from behind his back. Stay strong Little sis! "Besides, the morning will be busy. Lots of people coming to eat on Saturday. We need you awake for that."

"Rhea, can you check on Bria for me?"
 
Rhea silently thanked Conners for his quick thinking and nodded. She then approached Bria on the corner. Rhea never thought that Bria would cry like this after sort-of-defeating a demon. Her first impression of the older girl was that Bria was this strong chick that could beat down her enemy without flinching. Obviously, she was wrong and she was glad she was. That meant she could relate to the redheaded girl more. "Are you okay Bria?" She quietly sat besides the older girl.
 
Drake was still half asleep when this all happened, he barely had time to react, he aproched Bria and Rhea at the corner.
"It's ok Bria you did good, they can say what they want, but you didn't knew anybetter and thanks to you no one got hurt." He said while he stood on one knee near Bria and foundled her head.
 
Bria sniffled and looked up at her two new friends. She leaned her head into Drake's hand, grateful for the comfort. She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing the tears away, and opened her eyes again.
"Yea." Her voice wavered a little bit but she sounded a lot more steady than she thought she would have. "Yea I'm fine. It's just been a long day." She sighed and looked up at Drake and Rhea. "I'm not usually like this..." She looked off into the distance. "I- I think I'm just gonna go to sleep." She looked at Drake. "Tell N that I'll start the dishes tomorrow." She sighed again.
 
"No! You learn nothing from that kind of punishment, besides you did good, tomorrow join me to study about diferent kinds of evil creatures, it's far more important than doing the dishes!"
He said trying to confort her.
 
Bria sniffled again and looked up at Drake with wary eyes. She wasn't sure what he was playing at or why he was being nice to her all of a sudden when he didn't seem like the person who was very sociable.

"I'm not sure that N would consider that a just punishment for what I did." She tilted her head. "Although, if it's with you then maybe he would..." She smirked.
 
He laughed slightly, he's glad he made her feel better.
"Hey, if anyone should be punished it would be Rhea, she's the one who kept the snake!" he turned to Rhea "Worry not!"
He adressed both girls "Neither of you did bad on purpose, you should study to know better how to react next time! But to be punished for trying to do a good thing is not right! Don't you agree?"
The environment got heavier, Uncle Bob had entered the room, he didn't make a sound, as mighty wizard his aura is mighty, he was not happy, his presence was noticed.
"Drake!" he said "Come with me for a second."
Drake got up "Be right back ladies." he said with a bow trying to act funny, then he followed his uncle into his office.
 
O'Brien came back a bit later, N-less this time. "Hey, Bria. Don't beat yourself up, you too sis. Your still young, lots of mistakes to be made. Just learn from them."

"Anyway, today is saturday, and I need you two awake for your jobs. And its Drake's turn to wash the dishes." He smiled at the two girls. "Come now, its time for bed." He tried to ussure the two of them to their beds.
 
Bria smiled then frowned as she watched Drake walk away with his uncle. She didn't see much of Uncle Bob but when she did, it felt like the whole room was too small for his presence. He was just that type of person. When Conners came in she smiled again. She liked Conners. He was the tough guy but he really seemed nice at heart. She was glad when he said that Drake had to do the dishes. Maybe she wouldn't have to do them after all. But that meant that N had to come up with another punishment if he was going to punish her.

Bria got up as he tried to move her to her room but then stopped and turned towards Rhea. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. Ok? I just need to talk to your brother for a second." She didn't wait to see if the girl left but immediately turned back to Conners.

She looked at him in the eye and forced down her pride. She was never the type to admit that she was weak but tonight's events made her nervous. She took a deep breath. "I need you to help me. I know that I'm new and everything and that I probably shouldn't be doing this so soon but I want to be able to protect myself. And yea, I can handle my long dagger but I want to know how to fight. Like hand-to-hand combat." She said it all in one breath. She lowered her eyes to the ground and shuffled her feet around. Then she managed to spit out the word "Please?" through gritted teeth.
 
Drake and Uncle Bob were alone in the office.
Bob looks Drake down in disapointment.
"I saw what happened there." Bob said.
"But you..." Drake tried to answer but got interrupted.
"Security cams!" Bob yelled. Drake was caught by surprise and and felt trapped.
"Shame on you! I trained you since a kid, a dump demon show up and you're caught of guard! You didn't even react till the beast was dead!"
"I was caught by surprise! I was yet half asleep..."
"Half a sleep! You're a shadow runner you sleep with your both eyes open!"
"Hey..."
"What! Hey what, you have a good excuse for being lazy! When you met Bria you also were late and she killed the demon alone, she's traumatized! Why? Cause you didn't do your job on time! And now again, she's roockie, and shows more instint than you, who praticed your all life!"
"It's been..."
"Shut up! It's been what? Hard? Our job is hard, you want to quit?"
"No..."
"It seems that way! You are lazy, you don't try hard, do you care at all?"
"I..."
"You what? Have you been practing other spells? Or are you gonna become a master expert in fire balls?"
"I just..."
"You just can't! No! You don't try hard enough! And them you go to the gym trying to attone your guilt! You say to yourself that at least you're getting better at something, WRONG! We don't need one more fighter, any of your team mates can kick your ass, it's their job! No matter how hard you train, they won't stop training so they will allways be better than you! The only way you can ever be of some value is if you master your spells!"
"I try! Ok! I try! It's not my fault..."
"Show me!"
"What?"
"Show me cast a spell any spell that is not a fire ball!"
"What now?"
"No when pigs can fly! Of course!"
"I just..."
Then Bob casted thunderball at Drake, who dodged it.
"Fight me back!"
Out of insting Drake fired a fire ball at his uncle, you slaped it back against him making him fall on his back.
"Fire!? Try something different!"
Drake then started another fireball holding it on his hands trying to change the element from fire to something else, the flame changed color, but then it faded and Drake felt on his knees exausted.
 
The anti-mage stood outside the door of Bob's office, his back against the wall and head bowed. He seemed to be deep in thought, most of his face covered in shadows. In actual fact, he was listening to whatever was going on in the office. Bob was simply riding Drake too hard. Sleep was a necessity for all of them, after all. He, at first thought the whole matter was going to end just in a reprimand, his eyes widened and he stood up straight once he felt magic - offensive magic, being casted. No, things were going a little too far here.

Xu Cheng was normally the ghost of the team. He kept to himself and rarely interacted with anyone, lest in a good mood - before was one of these rare occasions. With an elegant spin, he pulled the door open gently and stepped into the room. First his eyes darted to Drake, on the floor and then to Bob.

"You ride the boy too hard, Bob. Not all of us have the natural talent Bria exudes in fighting the supernatural, nor do they have the mastery you do in the arcane arts. Drake tries his best. Why not compliment him for that? Why scold him for what human effort cannot change - his natural ability? If he has an affinity with fire and physical combat, so be it. He shall be a fire mage so potent in his spells, yet also a hand-to-hand fighter to be reckoned with. We, as his teammates should be proud of him."
 
"The team already has fighters and fire arms! They need someone who can summon all the elements and that won't froze when confronted with danger!" Bob yelled at Cheng
He then turned to Drake.
"You advise the girl she needs to study! Well boy, you and me in the gym now, you gotta study your lessons first if you want to teach other!"
Bobs hard words have driven Drake into a high adrenaline state, he was so mad at his uncle he no longer felt tired.
He was gonna say something but didn't know what to say.
He wanted to show his uncle wrong, to beat him, but the moment had been ruined by the pause to talk, he'd have to wait till they get in the gym, but he felt the adrenaline spike running throught his spine right then, he couldn't wait. He thought quickly, what was the most hard element to summon, a dark energy ball, the sort of magic used by unholy demons.
He held his palms together summoning the energy, then he splited his palms revealing a dark energy ball, he yelled as he summoned more energy into it till it was the size of his torso.
His uncle was impressed and couldn't form a word.
But summoning the dark is dangerous, the energy of evil has the power to corrupt, making the righteous man sin, Drake succumbed to the deadly sin of rage and fired the evil energy ball at his uncle.
Bob barely had time to react summoning an holy magic shield.
 
His eyes widened again, as he saw and felt the energy that was being summoned. He knew he had to act fast. But first, the Chinese man spat out at Bob "Look what you drove him to do."

Thrusting both of his palms to face each other at the center of his chest, XC channeled his power, a fiery blue incandescence roared to life. This was no earthly fire. This was the fire that would burn away one's 'mana'. He bent the fire to his will, the unshaped ball turning into a deadly viper that slithered through the air in circles around Drake, ready to burn out the spell if Drake lost control. He dared not pour too much power into the burn, though - He did not want to burn Drake out.
 
Fabius could hear all the noise that came from Bob's office.
He was relaxed over his plain dark bed.
His only hopes were for the others to get some rest.

Or who is going to wake up tomorrow? Shall we have another shameful sleep-in day?


It would not be the first time such thing happened. Fabius crossed his arms under his head, and dozed off for a while. He would usually stay awake at night, alert in case of any danger. But tonight it was obviously unnecessary.