The room I entered was filled with boxes and metal crates. It was a plain storage room in my opinion. I put my ear to the door and listen, but suddenly hear a large group of footsteps walking towards the door. look around and find a large stack of crates which I can hide behind and jump behind them, using shadow manipulation to make the area I am in to look darker than before, making me barely noticeable.
I suddenly hear the door open followed by a thud and a very high yelp. I suddenly hear a very snobby voice. "You dare to hang out with my crush again and the punishment your about to get is going to make this look like child's play."
I then hear another pair of voices, "Yeah, leave her crush alone you filth!"
"You aren't even worthy to look at her crush."
'Seriously, this trope?'
I then hear a slightly high pitched voice, "I am not going to stop hanging out with my best friend just because you say so! Who says you have the right to control others?!"
I turn to look at the corner and see a trio of pale colored girls and a girl with brown hair, and a round face, but the most eye catching thing is the white, fluffy tail and peeled back ears. They all look around 13-14. I watch as the pale woman in the front steps forward, and her hands grow slightly larger, before shining and slashing at the wolf girl's arm.
"I have the most vampire genetics here! So what's a runt like you going to do?!"
I see the wolf girl grab her arm and hold it, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. 'I can't just stand by and watch this. But I need to wait for an opportunity to arise.' I watch as the middle girl raises her hand again, before suddenly, an arm appears from the wolf girl's shadow which was cast behind her. Her eyes go wide as a yelp of surprise escapes her mouth.
Another hand grabs at the edge of the wolf girl's shadow and pulls itself up ethereal smoke flowing off of the shadow that is now pulling itself up out of the wolf girl's shadow. A black shadow soldier now standing at a whopping 6 feet has this girl's arm in his grasp.
She tries to pull, grunting as she does, which just results in the soldier gripping stronger. She screams in pain as she looks over to her two friends for help, but all they do is stand there, shocked by the moving shadow.
One of them takes a step back, resulting in the shadow soldier to stare at her, his purple pupils piercing her soul. She immediately stops moving. 'Fuck, where the hell did you come from?!' I think as I stare at my shadow soldier with shocked eyes.
I suddenly feel an urge from the shadow soldier, as if it's requesting something. I shake my head causing the shadow soldier to glance into the shadow before staring back at the trio who are now too shocked to do anything. The wolf girl is shivering in fear as she is so close to the shadow she can feel it's ethereal smoke.
I realize I need to do something before anything else happens. I think for a moment before using shadow manipulation to cover myself in a cloud of smoke as I walk out, obscuring their vision of my body.
I try to lower my voice so that I sound more intimidating as I speak three words, "Leave her alone."
One of the girl's collapse as they hear this word while the other runs right out the door. I watch as the third one is still in the shadow soldier's hand as he refuses to let go. I think for a moment before I use shadow weapon and create a gauntlet with curved talons as its fingers.
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." I say as I scratch her arm with the gauntlets, leaving a slightly deeper gash than the wolf girl has.
She screams as dark blood flows from her arm and her eyes turn red as the wound heals right before my eyes. "I forgot vampires can heal at abnormal rates. Throw her and her friend out." I command the shadow soldier, hoping he follows orders. I watch as he picks her up by her arm and grabs the other girl's unconscious body and throws them into the hallway, a loud bang reverberating throughout the hall.
"Now my cover is blown." I sigh while I look at the shivering girl, her face covered in snot and tears. I see the cut is halfway healed, 'Guess werewolves heal slower than vampires.'
I crouch down and look at her in the eyes, slowly receding the shadows on my body till they are gone completely, and I just look like a semi regular 10 year old. I try to say as gently as I can, "Are you okay?"
She looks up at me and sees my draconic pupils, purple hair, and strong physic. She stops shivering as much as she was and looks at me, confusion in her eyes. "Wh-who are you? And why d-did you help me?" I hear a fear that is tangible in her voice. I scratch the back of my head as I stand up, "I don't like watching people being punished for no reason. And me....I'm Kurayami."
I watch as she looks me over and slowly looks over at the moving shadow which is now blocking her one exit. "C-can you control that t-thing?" I nod and sit down now across from her. "Listen, now that I have been exposed, I am running out of options. I either have to have you convince them that I should stay here, or that I should at least be listened to. Or I need help navigating to escape."
She stops shivering for a second and looks up at me, "What do you mean escape, and why would anyone listen to a runt like me?" I pause for a second before thinking of something. "Why did they call you a runt, I don't understand that." She looks at me with sadness slowly overtaking the fear in her eyes.
"A runt is someone who can't control their ability to transform, it is usually caused by low genetic traits of their species." She wipes the tears and snot off her face with her shirt, trying to make herself look somewhat presentable. "That is a runt, and just like a runt, I can't control my transformation abilities."
'That's unfair, but why can't they just be taught?' I sit down and cross my legs, trying to look friendlier. "Why can't you guys be taught? Isn't it like that girl's nail ability just now?"
She shakes her head and explains, "It's something to do with how runts transform, they usually get a different feeling than regular transformations and we just can't control that feeling because no runt has figured out how."
"And that nail ability is unique to vampires, just like how our stunning howl ability is."
'Unique abilities? Like my ability of super hard skin?' I hear her start crying again and as I look over she continues to talk, her voice now sad, no hint of fear. "I am a runt, that is all I will ever be, nothing! Runts are practically useless when it comes to the tournaments! I will never be of use to anything except cannon fodder. Maybe a shield at best!"
'Wow, that's a lot, and tournament? But first things first.' "It doesn't matter if your a runt, it doesn't matter if your black, white, red, blue, have three legs, can't read, or smell odd. Your value as a person is determined by who you are on the inside. Your personality, your likes and dislikes, your hobbies, who you really are. And from what I have seen so far, you seem like a decent and loyal person."
She looks over at me with a shocked expression, "Do you really mean that?" I nod silently, assuring her I do. She smiles while a few more tears come out, "Thank you." I smile while scratching the back of my head, "Now about convincing them or escaping, would you be willing to help?"
She jumps a bit, "I will try to convince them, I don't know where you came from Kurayami, but those words were something that I needed to hear. So again, thank you."
'If I can stay, then I can learn more about Earth's past and maybe....maybe find out who I was exactly. But I highly doubt it.'