Shadow Runners

He walked through alleyways in a hood looking for someone anyone. He felt an uneasiness inside himself like he's being watched. He continued walking through alleyway through alleyway. Hearing people walk behind him but when he turned no one was to be found. He then felt a jolt of pain in his heart and everything went black.


Nograd was going from area to area looking for a host. No one could see him so it was easier to posses a human. He found a lone human walking through alleyways, he snickered. He began to follow this human closesly every so often he turned and looked but saw nothing. This made nograd laugh. Then he rushed into the human and made him his host. He used the humans body and roared.
 
After launching the dark magic ball at his uncle, Drake fell on his knees exausted.
Bob came closer to him.
"Well done boy, you keep this up and I won't have to push you so hard. You know this is for your own sake, I don't want you to end up like your parents, it's a dangerous job we do here!"
Drake grinned slightly - "I really managed to pull out dark magic energy..."
"I knew you had it in you, or I wouldn't demand it, go to bed, tomorrow we train more, the first time is the hardest."

​Bob said and then exited the room.
 
In Rhea's room, the girl let her Chimera Snake roamed on the floor. N followed her just to make sure that the Protection Charm worked. Rhea plopped down her bed, still feeling guilty. As if feeling its owner's distress, Josephine crawled onto the bed and let her cold bloody wrapped around Rhea. "I'm okay Jo..." She whispered softly.
N frowned and sat on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry Rhea..."
"Huh?"

"I'm supposed to be the leader, but I failed to detect a demon until its too late." The shape-shifter said, trying not to sound too pathetic.
Rhea jolted up, almost smashing Josephine in the process. "You are just tired!"
"Not just tired Rhea, I'm also getting old." N smiled ruefully. "Do you know that I am old enough to be your ancestor?"
"Eww, that's not something that I like to think about."
N chuckled at Rhea's reaction. "That's what I like abut you, always so honest." He ruffled the girl's hair. "Go to bed now."
"You too N, you need sleep."

N smiled and closed Rhea's door. He then turned around and his face turned grim. He needed to talk to Bob about something.
 
A low growl that was almost inaudible was heard from the depths of Xu Cheng's throat. Bob approved of Drake using dark magic? That was ridiculous. Dark magic corrupted whatever and whoever used it, that much he knew. He shook his head with an annoyed look on his face as he turned around, a single click of his fingers dissipating the magical fire that had encircled Drake's body like a snake.

Xu Cheng spoke in his usual nonchalant tone, though an edge of concern and anxiety had crept into it.

"That kind of magic shouldn't be used. No matter how powerful it is, it corrupts whatever you attain at the very end of it."

Still seething with simmering anger, the Chinese man turned around and pulled the door open, exiting the office of Bob and out into the corridor. A single eyebrow was raised as he saw N stand right outside the girl's door. He should be resting, from what they saw just now.

"You should be resting, N. The people that are still awake here is more than enough to hold off any attack whilst you rest, I'm sure."
 
Bob turned to Xu.
"I am your superior and Drake is my student, I shall decide what's best for him to do, if you have sugestions you talk to me alone, not in front of the boy!" Bob scolded Xu.
He then turned his attenction to N.
"You need to speak with me?"
Meanwhile Drake took the path back to his room, he was tired as hell.
 
O'Brien looked at Bria for a moment after she asked him to train her. It seemed like he was trying to comprehend it completely, as if it was quantum physics... Not just hitting an object to make it work. Then again he was a bit smart... He sighed. "Bria. Remind me again what you power is." That was the thing. He couldn't train her in any meaningful way here, and he couldn't do it elsewhere just in case she had a sudden outbreak of her power and making her hurt others.

"I can't train you until after your power shows itself. If I do train you and it goes off with the people who I train with around, it won't be pretty." He sighed. "You get the feeling that your not able to protect others? That every shadow hides a demon like the one that attacked you and that people around you will get hurt as well as you? Right?" He knew where she was coming from, hell, his first Grendel that he fought made him ruin his pants. If she just overcame her fear and learned to rely on others... Well, then life would be a tad easier for her.
 
N smiled apologetically at Xu, "Sorry XC, can you leave us alone? This is kinda private." The Chinese man just nodded and walked away. After making sure that no one would hear them by locking the door and casting a simple illusion spell, N didn't beat around the bush. "Bob, what do you think about Drake being the new leader?"
 
Bria sighed. She new that O'Brien was right. She just hated to admit it. Plus, she hated feeling so useless all the time. She looked up from the floor and looked at him. She would not show how disappointed she was. Not in front of him. Not if front of anybody for that matter but definitely not in front of Conners O'Brien. She set her jaw and stood up.

"Sure. I'm going to bed though. So good night. Thanks for the help." She turned on her heel and stalked away from him. Her pride was hurt and that was just how she dealt with it; through fake smiles or cold shoulders. She opened her door to her room and walked in, shutting it a little harder than was really necessary.

Once inside her room, she flopped onto the bed and looked up at the ceiling. She thought about everything that had happened to her in the past week. It had been rough but she got through it. Yet she still didn't understand how she fit in. Sure, she was a good fighter but not better than O'Brien. And she couldn't use any magic she knew about. She was the misfit. The pet.

Her eyes swam with tears as she curled into a ball on the bed. She cried until she felt empty. Then she cried even more. This wasn't anything she wanted. Nobody really liked her. They all thought she was a mistake. And she was. She had to be. She just wasn't Runner material.

She fell asleep like that; curled into a ball in the middle of her bed with tear stains streaking her face. As she was just about to fall asleep, she remembered she hadn't locked her door and hoped that nobody would come in to find her in such a vulnerable position.
 
Nograd began to take full control of the body of this human. At first he had some problems but after a while he found it easy with this human. He began running down alleyways his energy freely getting released. He didnt care, he wanted a fight, he wanted someone to find him and maybe even kill this body. He roared once more sending a large amount of power out in all directions.
 
The Chinese man was just walking away before it hit him - dark energy. Massive amounts of it being released and he knew he had to investigate. He wasn't sure who else qas still awake at this point of time, so he decided to go alone. The others who were still awake should be able to sense the dark energy and investigate, too. XC proceeded to swiftly run out of the building, the door slamming shut silently behind him. Once he was outside, he shut his eyes and began to search for the source of the energy in his head again.

Once he locked onto the signal mentally, he ran in a straight line towards it, climbing over buildings athletically and basically ignoring any obstacle in his path. Landing on the balls of his feet as he leapt in front of the demon, from the second floor of a building he stopped and brandished the large, half moon blade that he wielded before he said in soft, yet heard voice.

"Name your business, demon. And just a polite question - Do you rely on magic?"
 
Nograd chuckled mockingly. "Do you really think a being of my power can only rely on magic?" He said baring his fangs on the humans body. He jumped back onto a wall just hanging there by a hand and one foot. "You really want to pick a fight with someone like me?" He chuckled. "Im sure you dont want to hurt this human's body . . . otherwise you'll have to deal with killing a human," He laughed.
 
It has been a nice long trip, a relaxing trip some might say, but it was all the same, all work. Outside of the restaurant a beat up old pickup-truck parked and the man inside of it double checked the address scrawled upon a simple piece of notebook paper “Well this looks like the place” he mutters taking a nice drag off the cigar between his teeth before putting it out in the trucks ashtray “Might as well say hello". He moved over and grabbed the things out of the bed of the truck, a pair of rifle cases one much larger than the other, and a top loading duffel bag which he slung over his shoulder. The bell on the door jingled as he stepped inside the empty restaurant and looked around “hello? I am looking for Robert….anyone around?” he asked before sitting his things at a booth and leaning against the table “Crappy service here” he mumbled under his breath, pulling out another cigar and beginning to light it with a silver zippo unless anyone objected.
 
O'Brien sighed as Bria walked away. "Could have handled that better..." He grumbled, of course he could have. He wasn't gifted with a light tounge nor the gift of tounges. Blunt as a bat... or his fist...

He heard the bell of the restrant ring. "Great, forgot to close up for the night." He quickly walked out of the back and spotted the man pretty damn quickly. "Excuse me sir, but your going to have to come back later. We're closed." Forgot to lock up... Ow, really bad of him.

His eyes trailed to the cases and the duffle bag. Packing heat... Deffinately not a regular.
 
The man took a moment to glance over at the one coming out of the back, a strapping lad by the looks of him. He was not sure if this boy was a runner… maybe he was normal human help, to run the front shop… who knew, he had to keep it on the down low just to be safe. “I am looking for Robert, this is his place right? Tell him Benjamin Krieg is here to see him, he should know who you are talking about, me and him are old friends.” Granted the name was a lie but the connection was not… well it was a little shady but not all that untrue, he had met the man a few times but they were never really friends in any sense of the word. Ben took a puff on his cigar and watched the kid “Ya mind if I smoke in here?” he asked ready to stamp out the cigar.
 
A curled smile broke out on the side of Xu Cheng's lips as he heard the being confirm a slight reliance to magic. It was really, really cocky. Did he not think that this man, who faced the demon alone did not have something up his own sleeve? He looked at the demon perform all sorts of impossible acrobatics, just to show off. "You might find me quite hard to chew. But let's not spoil anything, shall we? My friends will be here soon. And well, they'll steal the limelight." the Chinese man said, before he advanced at the demon slowly, wanting the demon to take the first move at him.
 
"Oh by all means attack me boy," Nograd mocked. He was sure what this human was trying to do. This demon was around long enough just to know how to seem weak and kinda stupid. Mostly just cocky but that's another matter, but he knew how to fight. He knew many things. Ways to kill humans and pick every source of meat of their bones while they're still breathing. He tilted his to the side waiting . . .waiting for anything that might cause a fight and kill this host.
 
Xu Cheng's head cocked to the side, quite annoyed with the arrogance of the demon now. At the start it was amusing, then it just got tiresome. If the demon wanted him to take the first move, he will take the first move. He wasn't sure how powerful this demon was, but he believed that he could either take the demon out or hold out until his teammates arrived. The Chinese man broke into a charge at the demon, the whisper of a Chinese mantra on his lips.
 
Bria jerked awake, drenched in a cold sweat and breathing heavily. She didn't remember her dream but she knew that it was another night terror. She had been getting a lot of those lately. She sighed and walked got out of bed, putting on her slippers and walking to the bathroom to splash her face with some water. But as she was washing her face, her head started to pound and the vision sharpened. It was the same thing that happened earlier with the chimera. She gasped and ran out into the hallway. There was another demon.

She ran down the hall, trying to sense where the demon was and hoping that it wasn't attacking anybody yet. Following her mental signal of the demon energy, she ran out the door and down the street. She could sense she was getting closer.


Running down the street she could hear nothing but the pounding of her heart and her footsteps, light on the sidewalk. She smiled. If she wasn't running after some dark, demon energy, she would have enjoyed this. Then she heard voices. Slowing down, she turned the corner to see XC and a man circling each other and speaking in low voices. That couldn't be right. There were no demons here, just a man. She looked up and around but saw none. Then she remembered what N had once said; people can be possessed by certain demons. She figured that he must be possessed. Her eyes widened as XC ran at the demon, his half moon blade held high. She ran towards the two of them. Not quite sure what was going to happen but she wanted to be there just in case XC needed back up.
 
Nograd sensed another person near them so he looked to the left and saw someone running towards them. He smiled cockily and then he noticed the man swung his weapon at him. Nograd made his host's body move slightly to the left just enough so that the attacker would miss. He laughed as he swung hitting the man in the stomach. He then jumped back again watching and waiting for the attacker to either get back up or collapse. He hadn't used his full strength, he couldn't not yet. He had to be in this body a few more hours to use his full strength.
 
Seems the old guy can't take a damn hint. Swell, O'Brien thought, might have to do this the hard way.

"Sir. You are going to come back tomarrow if you want to ask about anyone here. It is late, and all the employees are home, asleep." And here he had to deliver the ultimatum. "Either you leave, or I will be forced to throw you out. This isn't a charitable society, not matter how low the price of white rice is."

He wasn't drunk... Maybe he would listen.

Then again, he could just try something and O'Brien would be forced to throw him out. Oh well.