Snippet #2474776

Arey was immensely grateful that she’s gone with the running shoes. Not that she’d foreseen this kind of ending to the evening, but life sucks like that she thought bitterly. She was breathing hard, partly because of the prolonged sprint, and partly because she was fighting back the looming presence she’d felt earlier in the back off her mind, the one that for some reason didn’t want her to run.

Arey felt like she was going crazy. Maybe it was contagious she thought humorously, a fresh stab of pain ripping into her gut. How had she been so stupid? She’d known this guy for less than a day, hadn’t even bothered to do a background check, and had gone off with him as her only transportation to a club far out from where she lived, all of which was insanely stupid. She’d been blind, blind and high off the feeling of familiarity and comfort his presence presented. She’d over looked her good sense and trusted him without a second thought. God, she knew better she KNEW!

No one was following her she realized, slowing her pace until she came to a stop to catch her breath. It was dark and she didn’t know where she was, both of which was a bad combination. Pulling out her phone, she saw a missed call from Amanda, and dialed it without a second thought. She needed to hear a friends voice right now, hear from someone who was real.

"Hey blondey, where are you?!" Amanda chipped after two clicks. Arey could hear thumping music still in the background. "Say you and sexy bartender dancing a while ago, and then you just disappeared. Where you guys at?" Arey could practically hear the pout in her friend's voice, and the mention of Arin sent another stab at her chest.

"Date's over, it's not gonna work out." Arey choked, refusing to give into the temptation to cry.

"What?! But you were both-!" Amanda protested.

"I don't really want to talk about it right now ok? Can we just table this until tommorrow?" Arey asked cutting her off.

"Yeah, sure thing." Amanda said softly. "You got a ride home?"

"I'm gonna call Keily." Arey replied, referring to their teammate with a minivan and even less of a social life than Arey.

"Ok, be safe alright." Amanda replied, obviously worried.

"Yeah ok. Have fun for me ok." Arey said back with some severely forced cheer before hanging up. She needed to find a main road before calling Keily, this alley didn't even looked like it had a name, much less a discernable path for a car to come pick her up. Turning around, she stuffed her phone into her pocket and began rubbing her arms. The temperature had seemed to drop drastically in the past couple minutes, and it just felt strange. Was it just her coming off the adrenaline?

Arey looked up startled when she almost bumped into another figure. "Sorry." She mumbled before looking up, and for the second time that night, it felt like the world had just fallen out from under her.

"Mum?" Soft blue eyes looked down at her, framed with oval shaped glasses that always somehow seemed to compliment her face. She was wearing a lavender cardigan and smelled like peaches, just like every memory Arey had of her. Moisture welled up in her eyes, to shocked and confused to say anything but "How...?"

Irene Trescott had been dead for five years, she was buried in a country cemetery in Cornwall, and out of one of the few good will moves, usually motivated by guilt, her father voluntarily offered, and she drove there every year to place roses on her grave. This wasn't possible, it couldn't be her rational mind screamed. Tentatively, Arey reached out her hand, as if her mother might disappear if she moved too quickly and repeated herself.

Her mother didn't say a word, just ushered her closer gently pulling her into a hug. Arey felt cold, but she didn't care. She never wanted to let go, and she clung on tightly as if she was drowning. And then she started crying, and didn't think she'd ever stop.

Arin raced down a few streets, circling back and forth, covering a few blocks. He knew she couldn't have gone far. Still, he didn't want to stray from where she initially headed. He was hoping he'd get lucky and stumble on her early. After a few minutes he stopped at the side of the road and just concentrated. Viv had taught him some techniques to focus and tune in on the other world they all had connections to. He closed his eyes, ignoring the traffic and the rumble of the bike beneath him and just focused on thoughts of Arthur. He tried to keep Arey out of his mind as he sought a more ancient connection. After a few seconds he opened his eyes and started moving on the bike again. Not thinking about the turns he took, just following instincts. After a few turns he suddenly felt like he needed to get off the bike. He pulled over and shut it down. He pulled his helmet off as he walked toward an alley. He could see a shadowy figure just inside the alley. A dark shape, barely discernable from the shadows thrown by the streetlights. As he approached the shadow did not become clearer. Yet, he could see an odd form of an middle aged woman clouded by the shadow. It looked like this woman was hugging someone. Yet, the dark aura around her looked grasping and clawing.

"Oh shit," Arin mumbled and ran toward the figure, helmet still in hand. "Arey! Get away from it."

Arin raised his helmet in front of himself as he ran into the shade that had encompassed Arey. He was hoping to get enough leverage to break the grasp and push Arey away. He struggled with the zipper on his jacket pocket that held the iron rings he needed.

There was a sound, it was difficult to hear, but it was there. She didn't want to move, never wanted to move again, and vaguely her mind wondered why that was. There was movement, and something was pushing her, trying to dislodge her from the comfort of her mother's arms. NO! She though franticly. I can't loose her again!

Arin finally extricated the iron and slipped his fingers through the rings. The heavy feeling was comforting as he curled his fingers and locked his wrist. He spun around and threw a left cross directly into the face of the shade. Though the feeling wasn't the same as hitting a corporeal body there was still a feeling of contact as the cold iron did it's job. With some quick footwork he placed himself between Arey and the shade.

"Arey! You once said I was a man of my word. If you really believed that than please trust me when I say this thing is not what you think it is. Look past the woman. Let that sense in the back of your head out and you'll see what you really face," Arin pleaded. He knew he would not be able to fight them both. He knew that Arey would be seeing something she wanted to see and if he couldn't get her on his side it would be bad.

The voice was getting stronger. It was familiar. It was good and it was bad. Arey was torn, half of her wanting to reach out to it, and the other half to shrink away. Wake up little one. A voice coaxed softly, almost sadly. I can not shield you any longer... The half the wished to reach out won out, her hand moving out toward the voice that had invaded her comforting darkness. And there he was. Arey looked up disoriented, but her hand leaned on him for support. And like that she was no longer seeing her mother, but a withering black mass with a soulless looking face, and it was like the pain of losing her mother was as fresh as if it had happened yesterday. She yearned to return to the darkness, where there wasn't any more pain, but she held herself back from it, instead trying to furiously wipe away her tears.

"Wh-what is that th-thing?" Arey asked shakily, coming back to a semblance of herself.

Finally, something in my favor. Arin saw the shape of the woman waver and blend into the mass of black. He heard Arey's voice questioning and felt her leaning on him as she regained her awareness. Arin swung another left hook into the beast, driving it back further and gaining some space to maneuver.

"Hello again Arey. Happy you're back, really. This? It's a shade. Bad times. Not something you want to be close with," Arin explained quickly. "It's really all part of the crazy crap we were telling you about? You know, that part where I said 'don't run away.'"

He said the last bit with more ferocity than he intended, but he really couldn't help himself as he was fending off counter attacks from the thing they faced.

There was still a part of Arey that wanted to scream and call him crazy. She didn't want to believe anything he had to say, but how could she deny what was right in front of her face. She didn't know what a 'Shade' was, didn't know why he knew. Nothing made sense and she was definitely going crazy, if she wasn't already there. This certainly seemed like a foray into insanity.

"I thought you were a bartender." She blurted stupidly as she watched him fight off the mass with the all the athletic grace of a lion. His form really was perfect, as she watched his muscles ripple from exerted himself. Yup definitely insane if she was still bloody attracted to him! The angry thought made her push away slightly, but not to run.

"How do we fight it? Like you are I mean." Arey asked ignoring the dig, voice a bit less shaky now.

Arin had to hold back laughter, "Not the best time to ask for tips and techniques. Tell you what, if I can get us out of this I'll give you lessons. But you have to come home with me."

"Kind of forward for the first date." Arey remarked, fighting the urge to find him charming, even under these bizarre circumstances.

Arin realized what he'd said seconds after it left his mouth, "Not like that... Jeeze... Just... move to the bike okay? I'll try and keep this thing at bay. We have to get out of here."

"What about you? Won't it just try to get you then?" Arey asked, reluctant to leave his side. What she wanted was a sword. The sudden longing came from out of the blue. She'd never even touched a real sword before, why would she want one now?

Arin continued his attempts to keep the shade at bay. He couldn't go for a full attack while he tried to protect his position, "Should I be worried about you running off with my bike next? The idea is, you get ready so when I put this thing down for a few moments we can take off. If you aren't ready to jump on the bike then it's not really worth my time to attack it. I have no plans to let this kind of thing get me in the near future, but thank you for your concern. I thought you might not care at this point."

"What the sodding hell did you expect!" Arey nearly exploded, pent up frustration and confusion that had been building for weeks finally finding a target to vent. "I'm supposed to be charmed and by you locking me in a bathroom while you swoon over the girl I accidentally snogged and then you all begin raving about monsters and fairytales then?!" She just wanted some semblance of control back, because right now everything felt like it was spinning out of control. It had felt that way for a while if she was being honest with herself, with all the dreams and random memories flooding back that made no sense. It was just harder to ignore now. "I'm bloody well pissed, but that doesn't mean I want to see you get eaten by a monster!"

"First, I didn't lock the door. No one did. Second, I wasn't swooning over anyone. Really, I was in a bit of a state of shock myself. And you did what now?" Arin turned to look at her at the mention of snogging another girl. He quickly returned his attention to the shade just as it tried to close in on him. A half second further delay and he would have been encompassed like Arey was.

"Goddammit. Stop distracting me."

Arin tried to recover his superior position he had managed to take. The thought of Arey and Deirdre snogging, as Arey put it, was entirely too interesting for the moment.

"Look, you want to be pissed at me? I don't really blame you. All I can say in my defense is... I was just as shocked as you. I honestly was enjoying our date. I really didn't want it to end this way. But, seriously, is this the best time to debate this?" Arin barely ducked under another counter attack from the shade. He was hard pressed now, having given up his advantage. It was taking noticeably larger parts of his attention to stay out of the grasp of this thing.

"So was I." Arey replied, a bitterness creeping up that she didn't really understand, but she moved reluctantly toward the bike. "If that thing eats you, I will not be happy with you." She warned, a feeling inside rebelling against the idea of leaving him to fight the thing off alone.

"Trust me, making you more unhappy with me is the last thing on my mind at the moment," Arin replied as he finally had the ability to press.

Now that Arey was safely behind the bike he could move freely. With a feint to the right he made the shade open up for yet another left hook. Being a left handed fighter had its advantages, even against supernatural opponents. He followed by shifting and forcing his opponent away from the bike. A few jabs with his right, while ineffective, allowed him to regain his advantage and he renewed his forceful attacks. With a few more crosses, the contact with cold iron pushed the mass of black backward, shrinking into the natural darkness. Arin pounded away, trying to stun it, or hurt it in way to give him enough time to jump on the bike. Finally, when it seemed almost lost in the natural shadow he sprinted to the bike. He didn't waste time putting his helmet back on. Rather, he started it up and sped off. Barely giving Arey enough time to grab onto him so she wasn't tumbling from the seat.

After a few blocks of full speed he slowed again. Pulling over he turned to her, "Are you okay? Did it manage to actually hurt you?"

Arey's arms circled Arin once again, though this time the ride seemed to lack the distinct butterflies from earlier that evening. "Not physically..." Arey replied taking stock of herself. "Why did it look like my mother?" She asked quietly. The adrenaline had helped to push back the pain of seeing that thing impersonate her mother, but it was still a dull ache in her chest.

Arin sighed, "Let me guess, your mother means something quite special to you? From what Viv told me, shades draw on intense emotional memories. They try to emulate those memories to entice closeness. Then they feed by drawing those feelings out of their victims. I'm sorry I didn't get there sooner to stop it, but it looked like it had you quite enveloped. If something didn't break its grasp they would have been declaring you a victim of 'exposure.'"

He knew he had to get her back to Viv and convince her to stay, but given the recent history of their 'relationship' there was no way he could just ask her to come with him, "Look, my offer to train you stands. There are others that are not me that can answer your questions about the conflicting voices in your head. I know you don't feel especially enticed by me. Why would you? But I will offer you a ride back to the place that will answer all your questions. Or, if you really don't trust me, I will bring you back home. Your call."

"That's sick." Arey said horrified, the very thought of some monster using people's painful memories to lure them to their deaths making her stomach roll. "She died a long time ago and I never got to properly say goodbye." Arey replied, trying not to think about her mother lieing in the hospital bed. When he asked where she'd rather go, Arey felt conflicted. What if one of those things followed her home, or worse, just showed up at school and attacked her friends. She needed to know how to fight back, regain control. "Where exactly is this place?" Arey asked slowly, resigned to the fact she was in for a weird night.

"The Round Tablet. It's an electronics store not far from here." Arin tried to resist any further comments, but the revelations of the night and the relief of finding her overwhelmed his better judgment, "Or, you know, my apartment just next door..." He finished with a goofy grin on his face.

"If this has all been an elaborate scheme to get me to shag with you, I will kick you." Arey replied with a snort, laughing despite herself.

"You'd be totally worth it. But I digress. Not a ploy. Honestly," Arin replied with sincerity.

"So...who were those other people then?" Arey asked reluctantly as they set off. "I know the one girl was your sister, but the others..." She trailed off, not even sure what it was she was asking.

Arin pulled his helmet on as she asked the question, "That might be best explained when we get where we're going." He revved the engine again and just before taking off, "You are safe with us. Probably more so than you've ever been. Please don't think I'm kidnapping you or anything. Viv and Kat are better at explaining it all, but I'll always be there to help. You'll understand why soon enough."

With that he flipped his visor closed and headed off toward the Round Tablet, home, and Vivienne. He hoped the others had made it by now.

"Why do you make it sound like I'm signing up for a cult?" Arey sighed, resigned as she circled her arms back around his middle, trying not to think too much until they arrived at the store. "Does your family own this place or something?" Arey asked when they arrived.

Arin dismounted and removed his helmet, "Yes, and or something." He grinned, sheepishly.

"Kat isn't technically family but I'll fight anyone who says otherwise. Viv is my mother. That is awesome and scary at the same time. Again, you, of all people, will see why. Look, for what it's worth, I don't envy you. I've known who I was all my life and it's not always been great. But the burden you're about to take is big. I just don't want you coming back to me and saying I didn't warn you. Not that it does any good. You can't walk, or even run through strange dark alleyways when people just told you not to because you'd be in danger if you did, away from this." Arin went to the door and slid his access card through the scanner, "C'mon. No cult, but it will be interesting."

"You're not doing a very good job of keeping me calm here." Arey complained lightly, but followed along anyway, despite the pounding dread in the back of her head. The store seemed normal enough, computers, electronic and game cards everywhere. The walked through the store until quietly until the came to stand in front of a full sized mirror and stopped. "Is it a trick door or something?" Arey asked, not sure why'd they'd stopped or where these other people he talked about were. Very cultish... She thought mulishly.

"Funny. It typically was the other way around," he grinned. "You seem pretty calm now though. At least enough to be curious again. If it helps and if you still trust me, I will promise you will come to no harm in the next room."

He paused, "Well, unless you really piss off Viv. All bets are off then."

He looked at the mirror, "This is one of those crazy, not crazy, things. It's a portal. Go on through and you'll come out into the main meeting room. I suspect the others are in there now."