"Who do we have here?" Gary couldn't help but shrink into his seat with the way Hiva was looking at him.
She licked her lips causing him to swallow. Why did he feel so edible right now?
"I'm G-Gary." The words tumbled out of his mouth.
Hiva licked her lips again,
"Gary, I like the sound of it."
"Don't scare him. He's our guest." Terra reproached. Hiva pursed her lips,
"We are just playing around, right?" She turned to Gary. He slowly nodded. He felt so inferior right now. Theses truly were the members of the Heptad
For the first time, Leonard sat down quietly without saying anything. Terra looked at him brooding on his seat. Her brows couldn't help but furrow.
Leo sat still untill his phone buzzed. He stared at the screen dully. It was a text from Alexander and it looked urgent.
'Come.' the text was attached with a location.
"What's wrong?" Terra asked when Leo stood up abruptly.
"It's Alexander." Everyone but the oblivious Gary, looked at Leonard with grave expressions on their faces.
"Do you think he...?" Cody trailed, his lips pursed when Leonard nodded.
"My keys?" Leonard asked turning to Terra. Terra tossed the keys to him.
"I'm going then." He took a step to leave.
"I'll come along." Cody said also standing up from his seat. Leonard seemed to think for a while before he nodded in agreement. He needed all the help he could get.
"Be careful you too." Terra said.
"Where do you think you are going?" Terra yeld when Hiva took her helmet from the table.
"Isn't it obvious?" She began, "I'm going to help."
Terra held Hiva's hand ian a tight grip,
"You're being unreasonable! You will only be a burden to them."
"But I have to at least help somehow."
"And what help can you offer them?" Terra's question made Hiva stop struggling. She couldn't think of a way she could be of help. She could only say,
"Becareful okay." To Leonard and Cody.
They both nodded, Cody even managed a grin. It didn't reach his eyes though.
"Don't be reckless!" Terra caution.
They both nodded before leaving.
Leonard regretted parking his Car outside. Fortunately for them, they were fast in their feet.
Leo tossed the car keys to Cody,
"You drive." He said with gritted teeth. Cody looked surprise, Leo liked this particular car so much that he had never permitted Cody to even hold the keys.
Leo was unhappy. He would have used his other cars but he had sent them to the wash this morning. The only car available was the one he purchased only last month.
"You better not scratch it."
Cody nodded, taking his seat at the driver's seat. The car hummed to life before it sped off.
"Will you really be needing those?" Cody was skeptical. Leo continues to load the gun in his hand with bullets.
"These won't harm him. At best, they can only slow him down." The bullets he was using weren't made of allum, so they posed no threat to the life of vampires. But they'd still hurt a lot.
The location Alexander had sent to him was a forest area. Covered with acres of greenery. People hardly went there that was probably why Alexander chose that place. This way he wouldn't hurt anybody.
Cody slowed down the car, he couldn't help but check his phone.
Was he still on the right path? If he was then where was the greenery he was so accustomed to?
The red car came to a complete stop. Cody got out, his mouth opened in utter disbelief.
Leonard also came out, his expression was more controlled than Cody's. He looked like he expected this.
A large portion of the land was now bare, with no trees or animals to be seen anywhere. The trees that were there were all on the ground. It looked like a tornado had hit the place. But this was not the work of any natural phenomenon, it was far from that!
At the center of all this chaos was a floating figure.
"Get ready!" Leo said to the stunned Cody. He gripped the pistol in his hand tightly. This could be harder that he thought.
The figure suddenly disappeared from the spot.
Cody looked around him,
"So you've come."
Cody turned behind him, but no one was there. The owner of the voice had already disappeared.
"Tsk! I couldn't stop him from sending you word." The figure materialised before them. He looked exactly like Alexander, except his eyes were pitch black with black veins scattered around his body. The darkness in Alexander had taken over him.
The person before them wasn't Alexander, it was just the cluster of dark emotions contained in a body, Alexander's body!
"Not to worry though," The thing said,"You don't look strong enough to cause me trouble. Even if I'm only half out." The thing stared at it's hands.
"Who are you and what do you intend to do to Alexander's body." Leo said, point his pistols at the creature before him. There was at least five metres between them. At this distance Leo was positive he would have enough time to react if the creature made a move.
The creature suddenly appeared in from of Cody, placing its hand on the pistol that was pointed at him. It happened so fast that neither Leo nor Cody had enough time to react.
"You insult me. You couldn't even use allum bullets." The creature said before it kicked Cody. The kick sent Cody flying.
Leonard quickly pointed the gun at the creature but it had disappeared again.
Deep lines formed on Leonard's forehead as his brows furrowed. The last times that Alexander had been taken over by the darkness in his heart, he had just been a powerful ball of rage and bloodlust. But now, this form of him was able to communicate and showed so much intelligence. What was going on?
"But you..."
Leonard swiftly turned to the left where he had heard the voice, but nothing was there.
"You look like you can hold your own against me. I'm not completely free yet but you should feel proud!"
Leo dived out of the way, his reaction time barely enough to save him from the claw attack that came his was. The ground had four deep claw marks in them and the grass around the mark looked dead.
Leonard could only guess that if he even got scratched by those he would rot like the plants.
Cody spat out the blood in his mouth, the impact from the kick was enough to break more than a few bones, bit he had swiftly reduced the impact with his gun. The gun wasn't in any working shape. He tossed it away.
A strange light lit up in his eyes and he smiled, revealing his bloodied teeth. He wasn't going to let that thing get away with kicking him. He was no football to be kicked around.
Leonard quickly rolled away, he was fighting a defensive battle here. The most annoying thing was that he couldn't even see his opponent. The attacks were coming from everywhere!
"Show yourself coward!" Leo could only draw the creature out.
"But I am." It said, sending another attack his way.
Leo clutched the gun in his hand. All this dodging had caused him to lose one of his pistols. They were useless either way. He couldn't shoot down something he couldn't see.
But Cody could. A loud shot was heard before the creature screamed in both rage and pain.
Cody twirled Leonard's gun in his hand, a smile dancing on his face. The creature was evading Leonard's sight by moving at his blind spots, but Cody could see his every move.
"I'll kill you!" The creature roared, "You insect!"
The smile on Cody's face dropped, who was he referring to as an insect?! He pressed the trigger, another shot was heard before another shrill growl.
"I'll wring your neck yo~" Leonard took the distraction Cody caused to send a kick towards the creature's back before it could complete its sentence.
"All that talk, I'm sick of it already." Leo snickered.
The creature stood up, not bothering to dust its clothes it glared at the duo. Its black eyes filled with blood lust.
Leonard's eyes turned bright red,
"I think I should take this more seriously. Here." He tossed his gun to Cody.
"I think I should too, enough games." The creature suddenly looked calmer. Was it just Leo it did it look like the creature was evolving the longer it stayed out?
Alexander must have entered the four stage of the darkened heart. Leo concluded. The last time Alexander was taken over by his darkness, he was only at the third stage. That was half of the six stages before he was consumed by his darkness. He would become a mindless killing machine with an abyss for a stomach if that happens.
"I underestimated you two." The calmness of his voice was unnerving. He had changed from that quick tempered creature to one that seemed to have everyone in his palm.
"I think we pissed him off."
"You think?" Leo glared at Cody.
The creature opened its mouth, the words it uttered were so calm and serene that Leonard and Cody couldn't help but take an involuntary step back,
"Dark-vampire state: Black abyss."