Sakuya Lecarde's Story

Suddenly, Miranda snarled, the sound canine and feral, as she felt a jolt of pain run up her arm without any prior warning. Her eyes snapped open; she was awake now. Looking at her arm, she shook it out, and her attention was then captured by the lack of sound usually made by Yohan as the boy moved around. This was weird. Her nostrils flared as she picked up the scent if everything in the House. There of course was the blood, now cleaned, what's left of Rina's body in the back yard, Taja, Sienna's fading scent, God knows what coming from Yohan's room, and then... ah there he was. Turning, Miranda stared at Yohan as he walked past, thinking that he was invisible because he wasn't making noise. She sensed the innate fear in him from his body-language, and let him be, knowing full well that people with power in corners often lash out. Her glowing amber eye followed the boy, but she did not for a while, letting him have a sort of head start. She blinked, and then looked to the clock on the wall. The Cops aught to be there any moment. She'd go out and meet them.

After a few minutes, the sound of cars traveling up the street with their sirens blaring caught her ear, and she made to walk out to the front porch. She crossed her arms as she stood on the porch and she looked down at the first man to step out and up towards her. Her cousin, Anthony Wallace.

"Miranda."

"Cousin. Body is in the back. Ghost in the kitchen." Her cousin pulled out a notepad and sighed jotting things down. He was much larger than Miranda was, a sergeant by the look of his uniform. However he was not as pure-blooded as Miranda, and thus never made eye contact with her to prevent a dominance struggle.

"I will handle the Body, you said the mess was already cleaned in the kitchen?" At her nod he nodded and sighed. "Still smells of blood, doesn't it?" At her not he groaned and turned to the other cops arriving.

"Alright, the body is in the backyard, my contact here said she was bashing her own head against the counter, mess is cleaned up, but to be sure, ask the others in the house." Anthony commanded, "Get the body bag ready, let's go see the extent of the damage, her father will want to see her I think. Let's move! Lunch is in an hour and if I miss more than thirty seconds of what my girlfriend made for me I'm skinning you all."

"Speaking of her father...he aught to be here soon...." he said under his breath, a half groan of annoyance. He didn't want to deal with an angry officer today, but it seems he drew the short straw.

Cops ran around then, also notifying that the people who had been filed as missing were found while they were at it. An officer, female and gentle in her tone, went over to Taja and Frederick, unable to see Rina's ghost, and began asking him simple questions. "Did you see what happened? Describe what happened. Take your time if you need it, where are the others who saw it?" And so on and so forth.

Pictures were taken, statements reported, the body bagged up and taken to the vehicle that would take it to the morgue, and the deal closed within forty-five minutes. Officially, anyway. Anthony returned to Miranda, nodding. It was done. Miranda smiled and nodded, commending her cousin for his swift and excellent work, he smiled sheepishly in thanks and she patted his shoulder, nodding to his car. She wanted a ride back to the gym, and he paused, grunting softly; Rina's dad was nearby.

The Black

The light, he thought he would never see it again. After last night, he was kind of still in doubt that he was even alive. What was being alive at this point?! He was overthinking it again though, he had to stop for now, everything would be answered tonight. But now new questions were rising, and he couldn't entirely suppress them, but at the same time, he could just save them up for tonight and such. What could he really do in this situation?

As his mind went on another ramble, something unusual came about. BOOM! His body collided with another person's, causing both of them to collapse. Yohan rose a hand up to his head and rubbed it, even though she hadn't hit it. As he looked over to see who exactly hit him, his eyes spotted, uh, well... Someone he knew, kinda? "Oh, you're uh... The girl who always sat next to me last year." Oh boy, suddenly things came back that he had tried to repress and his mind felt like it had just exploded over it.

Sakuya Lecarde. For whatever reason, she was the one person who always took notice of him and made him feel like he was a god damn person. She was nice, from what he could remember, and seeing her talk right now made him, well, remember that. "She's a cutie, ain't she?" A voice crept into his mind, which he promptly shut down. Now was not the time! He rubbed the back of his head as she tried to make herself out to have been the problem of the current situation.

"No, no, it's... It's fine. I wasn't really, uh... Paying attention anyway." He tried to make himself seem as natural as possible, but he just... Ugh, he really had sunken to the lowest point, hadn't he?

"It doesn't help that I'm here, ain't it? Well, that's okay, at least I can play around with your mind." Wait, what did it mean by that? "Oh Yohan, you haven't realized yet, have you? I can alter what your mind perceives~" He shook his head real quick, that was not going to happen, not now! This is when he also realized that he felt fatigued mentally, perhaps it was from using his power earlier? Could be why he was hearing the voice right in the middle of a conversation like this!



It wasn't all that bad to think over now, he felt his power growing inside of him as time passed by today. It had not been long since Ricky had been given the ring, but in that short time, he had been through quite an experience. He had taken them all out, all the traitor's who had once accepted him as part of the group, now the only ones who had survived were his loyal dogs. He felt great, greater than he had ever in his entire frikking life!

How long had it been, since his father had first introduced him to this dark world? When his father opened those doors and showed him that simple little gun, a real gun mind you, he knew there was more he could do. Even at a young age, his father had him practice how to shoot a person and where to shoot them in order to get the most damage. Was it really no secret when Ricky kept getting thrown behind bars, only for his father to bail him out and scold him, only to secretly give him a pat on the back? This was different though, this wasn't the same feeling his family could give, this was... something greater than anything.

"Hey Rick!" One of the five called out to him, catching him off guard as he had been distracted. He turned to the man running over with a grumpy expression.

"What is it?"

"Someone's calling you... I tried to answer, but I can't understand a word they are saying!" He saw the phone in the man's hands, taking it from him as he opened it and looked at the number. His eyes went wide as he pushed aside the man and quickly walked his way to the center of the room before answering the phone.

"Uh, hey there, boss! Ricky here, sorry for the confusion if there was any, I lent one of my phone to one of my new... Co-workers, shall we say?" The five new servants of Ricky tried to listen in to what the other person was saying, but they couldn't understand a word of it.

["So how are things going? Did you take care of what you had to?"]

"Yes indeedy! I took care of it all, and with relative ease too! They were no match for the power of my hands!"

["I don't need to know any further details. Just tell me if you have all the required info or not."]

"I do so have all the info I need on these little people. The exploration tonight will go as smooth as butter. Once I have the location of the problem down, we'll capture whoever is behind this and I will give them the most horrible beat-down they ever done experienced!" Ricky couldn't help but grin after saying all of this.

["... Uh, what are you sounding like that for?"] Ricky was caught off guard for a minute by this.

"I-It's just a little thing I wanted to do for some time, y-ya know? Like, I, uh... Hoo boy." Silence came from the phone for a few minutes. "U-uh, h-hello?"

["Ricky. Richard. Do us all a favor in the near future."]

"Y-yes sir. Anything for you, sir."

["Don't. Ever. Speak to me. That way. Ever again. Understood?"] Ricky reluctantly swallows as he felt an unknown feeling creep up behind him.

"... Y-yes sir."

["Don't make tonight as stupid as this just was."] Then, the phone hung up, and he closed it. His body shivered as he looked over his shoulder to the others with a zombie-like look on his face.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE CHA DOING?! GET BACK TO SETTING UP CRAP FOR TONIGHT!" This caused the others to scatter in a panic! "... Tch. It's not dumb how I speak. It's not!"

Despite the rather depressing atmosphere, Frederick regained his rather cheerful self thanks to the combined effort of his willpower...and the constant comments of his ghostly neighbor in his head. Of course breakfast was long since ruined and most of his food was about to go to waste so he decided to do the reasonable thing. Wrap them all up and stuff them in the icebox.

Whenever someone got hungry they could just heat it up...or eat it cold if that's their deal. Honestly, after a day like this he just wanted to just relax a bit. Maybe read his books, but of course he left them all at home. The first thing he should do however is get his coat cleaned. It had blood on it and well...walking around covered in blood was just asking for trouble.

Heading to the laundry room, she stuffed his coat inside the washer, but some cleaning detergent inside and fiddling with a few dials began to wash it. Well that was done...now what? He had to wait until his coat was cleaned. He decided to sit on the couch and lean back on it.

"What is going on now? I feel like we are like soldiers drafted into the army about to fight some evil threat to save all of humanity...I might be overthinking it really..." Frederick spoke to himself with a sigh as he turned on the television and turned that on before switching to the cartoon channel. Something about a mouse and cat...it was a great and funny show which already made him smile and laugh at the antics.

Relax

Well, that was unexpected. Between dealing with the voice constantly bugging him in his head and talking about his life to a person he barely knew from school hadn't been exactly on his list of things to-do in his life. What had he even originally come out here to do, get some food and stuff so that he wouldn't go hungry? Had he just assumed at the time of leaving that people would of just eaten up all of the food he had there? Not like he had anything that might appeal to their tastes, although that janitor somehow made food... Food he realized he should of grabbed on the way out. Well, that's what he gets for leaving in a rush.

For now, it seemed like he was staying. She just seemed happy to have some company... Maybe that whole talk earlier was getting to him. From what he could gather, they were in a similar position and she hadn't really made any close friends in her time here. It got to him, thinking about how alone one could be without having anyone to really talk to about how you feel or just to share how the day went. It didn't help that he felt like she was the one listening to him, when really he should be the one listening to her. He could always try to change that, why not try now?

He took about two steps when he was bumped into by a rather annoyed looking man. Stopping to look over, the man glared at him with the meanest look in his eyes. "Hey, kid." He started, turning to fully face Yohan. "Watch where you're going!" Yohan couldn't help but turn over and bow his head lightly, it was what he was used to doing after all. "... Hmph. You think that's enough? I'm going to need more than just --" The man stopped when his eyes glanced down to notice Yohan's right hand. When Yohan looked up, he saw that the man's face had gone pale and the angry had been replaced with a strange fear.

"Something wrong?" Yohan asked the man. The man took a step back, swallowing nervously as he tried to find the courage to speak up.

"Ah, it's, uh... F-forget it. I'll accept that apology." The man quickly opened the door with a forced smile, sweat already forming on his face as the uncertain fear of what he just saw struck many emotions off in his head. Without another word, the man quickly turned and fled, running into his car as Yohan could see it speed up and away as fast as it could go. Blinking in confusion, he turned to look at the others there besides Sakuya, but everyone had already drawn their attention from him by the time he looked.

Well, whatever. That guy was clearly having a rough day anyway, why should he let it bother him now? Moving over to have a seat, he let out a sigh in relief as he shook his head before putting his hands on his head and closing his eyes. Everything was still just a little hard to comprehend, why did he have to get thrown in the middle of it all? Being forced around from one place to another really left him feeling drained mentally, not to mention the sudden death of someone right then and there kind of killed any chains he may have put up to try and hold himself together. If he had to see any of those people again anytime soon, he may very well lose his mind. Stress was a cruel mistress after all!

That's when he noticed a funny feeling on his body, had he forgot about something until now? Looking over at his right hand, suddenly, everything dawned upon him about last night. There was that whole deal thing and such, perhaps it was the stress and confusion he felt right now, perhaps it was the strain of what that place had done to him... Either way, it turned out that crazy arm thing had become true and now he was left with scaly looking hand, coming equipped with claws as well. If he had been in any other mood, he would of called himself looking a bit edgy right now. That's when it dawned on him that he had been walking around like this the entire time... Oops?! Guess he would have to make up an excuse for this and cover it up if he planned on going to school like this.



Ricky didn't really know how to handle boredom that well. Upon reflection, he realized he had been too quick with the slaughter of his now old group of criminals. He wanted to take his sweet time with things, wanted to enjoy every second of pain and destruction he spread across them... But in the heat of the moment, instinct took over and made him do it at the pace he had done. It upset him now, to know that he wasn't fully in control of whatever was within him and that there was more potential that could be brought out of him that could help in making things easier or more enjoyable for himself. Regret was a word Ricky had not thought of in a long time now.

"Yo, Ricky!" One of the boys called out, as his eyes shifted lazily over to the screaming man down below. "We're almost ready to make the transfer!" Ricky gave up a lazy thumbs up with his now demonic left hand, watching the man walk away with half closed eyes before laying down on one of the couches and fully closing his eyes. Ricky, Ricky...

"Ricky!" His brother called out, as a much younger Ricky jolted awake and looked over at his brother. "Finally. Anyway, father called for you." His brother gave him a quick expression of worry at him. "You know what that means." Ricky gave a nod before standing up and walking past his older brother. Ricky knew all too well what that meant, and he hated to think what his father would think up of next. After making his way up a long set of stairs, he came upon his father's door and saw it sightly opened. Deciding he would rather not keep his father waiting, he opened the door just enough to poke his head in when he saw his father's back as he stood looking out over the city Ricky used to live in.

Walter Leonard, a powerful man in the public eye who had worked to the bone to get to where he stood now. Although Ricky couldn't see his father's features due to standing in the darker half of the room, he felt a shiver go down his back just from looking at the outline of his own father. "Yes, the deal went off more smoothly than expected. He should be proud of the progress we are making over here on Gaia." Walter spoke up over the phone, oblivious to the fact his own son was listening in. Then again, to Ricky, he may just not have cared.

"I've checked the data on our progress. We should have just enough positions now to make it even. I already got in touch with the others, they all said everything was going good as well. Tonight is the usual picking night... Let us hope it does not go like last week, where a certain coward dared to try and back out now." Walter couldn't help but chuckle, raising a cigarette to his mouth as his head turned to look over in Ricky's direction. Frozen with fear, he could only watch as his father pulled the cigarette away, slowly blowing smoke out of his mouth as his eyes watched Ricky like a bird would upon finding it's next prey.

"Apologies, but family matters just came up." Walter turned away, walking over to his seat as he began nodding. "Yes, I know, but I have something important to do. I'll call you back. Goodbye." Hanging up the phone and putting it down on his desk, he slips into his chair and turns to face Ricky, motioning for him to enter the room. Swallowing, Ricky walked in and closed the door behind him, making his way to stand in front of the desk.

"S-sorry, I know... I should of knocked." Ricky couldn't make eye contact with his father as he spoke.

"We can talk about manners later, Richard." Walter spoke up, surprising Ricky as he looked in his father's general direction now. "For now... I have something I need to talk to you about. It's very important you remember this, got it?" Ricky nodded in response. "I think you're old enough now to start what your brother started a few years ago." Ricky's eyes lit up at these words. "I only hope you can survive like he did..." Walter pulled out a vial and placed it slowly on the desk for Ricky to see. Ricky couldn't help but smile as he saw what was swirling around inside the vial.

"Hey Little Ricky, you coming down here?!" Ricky's eyes shot open as he looked around for a minute before rising up to his feet and letting out another sigh. He looked over at his left hand again, seeing it shaking while he couldn't get the feeling of doubt fully out of his mind. Relaxing his arm, he began to head down to see how progress went. Hopefully it would take his mind off of the conflicting emotions he was going through right now.

Everything seemed quiet so far. You know, what with everyone avoiding him and all due to how his arm looked right now. It didn't really bother him at this point, he was used to being different by now anyway and everyone avoiding him. Could he really just throw this off as some little thing he made up, though? He didn't know how to get it to turn off, if there was even an off switch for whatever the heck his arm was right now. He didn't know what to do at the moment besides sit there... Until Sakuya came over to talk to him.

He felt her pat his arm lightly, causing him to look over. But when he did, she kind of cocked his head towards the door, getting her point across very quickly. Well, he didn't like sitting here anyway, around these jerks. He would go on to open his own store, with... Ah, he couldn't bring himself to finish the joke, just deciding to quickly follow her out before he made things more awkward for himself. They arrived at the side of the building, which was alright with him, as he saw her taking in a deep breath suddenly. Oh boy, here we go.

"Uh, well, I mean..." Yohan decided to shrug. "He was a jerk anyway, didn't appreciate the whole work I put into the arm and such. Look at it, it's so sparkly and... Oh, right, I have claws. Those don't look fake." Yohan looked around before looking back at her. "I, uh... I can explain." However, it appeared he didn't need to explain. Her next statement confused him, she could of been meaning anything at this point. It wouldn't surprise him either, though he had a feeling deep down he knew what she was really hinting at.

That's when she asked about it, a deal. This confirmed any doubt he had in his mind: She knew. She knew about things he did not, and he could see the look in her eyes... Wow, she had really pretty eyes -- Uh! Damn, he felt himself lose his train of thought for a moment, gripping his head slightly out of embarrassment as he took in a deep breath before letting it out. Back to the topic, come on, back to the topic... Alright, he found his thoughts again and looked back with a serious expression. She could obviously tell he was straining himself to put it on though, to distract his thoughts or something.

"... I don't know how much you know, or why you were sent here. It doesn't really matter to me all that much, I have questions, sure, but I'm not going to force them on you. Let's see, how to put this right..." He closed his eyes briefly as he thought over how to word his next words carefully. "I don't know who I am. I'm Yohan Belmont, but I feel like I'm... Someone else sometimes. Almost as if I have a different personality altogether that I didn't even consider before."

Yohan took in a breath and let it out slowly before continuing. "It's... Almost pathetic, really. I made a deal just to keep myself alive, when I don't even care about myself anymore. I've heard myself say I want to kill someone before, I've heard myself say I want to just lie down and forget everything. When I was brought over to that other town, I... Felt something pop inside of me. I felt excited, a rushing feeling... Finally, my life could finally get interesting. I could finally be a hero... I pushed it off as a dream at first. But when I woke up, I had... This." He gestured toward his arm, forcing a smile.

"I... I'm sorry. I never meant to break any rules by going over there, really. I don't know what you intend to do to me now, but well, I can't exactly hide this well. Heh. I just felt like I should share that with someone, in case you have to take me away now." He hadn't really had the chance to express his feelings about the matter, and well, now he found someone who he could. She felt the threatening feeling inside of her slowly fading away, Yohan no longer presented himself as a stranger. Somehow, by opening up about his own confusion and feelings, the magic within them had changed in response.



Ricky stared up at the sky from where he sat outside on the end of one of the trucks they had under their possession now. Everything had been loaded onto and set upon each one, they were just waiting now for the right moment to begin execution of the plan. Oh, yes, he could only imagine the looks those idiots he had to chase down would get when they realized everything. Ricky grinned to himself, raising up his left arm and looking upon how it all looked black now, except for the middle finger which was dark red thanks to the fusion of that ring. As Ricky almost lost himself in his own thoughts, one of the others called out to him.

"We're all set to go, Ricky!" He turned his head to look over, a sinister grin spreading across his face as he hopped off the back of the truck and chuckled. He rose his arms upward as the others all shifted their attention over to him now.

"We all have our orders, remember that. The punks who went missing last night might all have turned back up now, and whether they stay or not doesn't matter to us. They are all to die, every last one of them! And should they survive tonight's little planned party event we have set up for just them, well... We always have the back-up plan." Ricky couldn't help but chuckle gleefully at his own words.

"Well done, Ricky. You've made a full transition to the typical bad guy you see in those kid's television shows!" The Djinn couldn't help but mockingly clap at Ricky. "Bravo, bravo! Now, get serious for a bloody second and tell them the rest!" Ricky glared over briefly at the Djinn before shrugging and smirking.

"Yo, Franky! That's what I'm calling ya now!" Ricky pointed at one of the guys. "How are the little "pets" we got doing?"

"Uhm..." The man who was now being called Franky shivered for a minute, peeking over inside the back of the truck at the cages before slipping out and looking over at Ricky. "T-they seem to be doing just fine. I-I don't even think they look like normal dogs though..."

"AH, WHO CARES!" Ricky's sudden shout caught the man he called Franky off guard. "Those mutts will sniff 'em out. But remember, if you see any idiot with blue hair, keep 'em alive! I got plans for that dude or dudette, either way, they going to get it good soon!" Ricky placed his hands on his hips as he looked over at all of them. "It's getting close to being dark now... It'll take us half an hour to drive all the way back to town. Stick to the damn plan, or lose your head." He saw all of them nod as he couldn't help but grin again.

"So, the mutts are all prepared, the special delivery's we have set up are all prepared to go... That being said, what will you do Ricky?" The Djinn crossed it's arms over it's chest. "Ya never told me what you planned to do in the middle of all this."

"Oh, about that..." Ricky looked over to the Djinn and grinned. "Come here for a minute or two. I got a wonderful idea to discuss with you." The Djinn's eyes lit up suddenly, glowing yellow for just a moment before he too gave a big grin on both ends.

"Oh-ho-ho, you better not let me down on this idea of yours, Rick." The Djinn hovered over next to Ricky. "Well, what's the plan then for us?"

"Well, here's what we're going to do..." Ricky began walking back inside as The Djinn floated with him.

Sakuya listened as Yohan awkwardly explained what had happened. It seemed he didn't understand everything that was going on. The feeling deep down within her subsided as he was clearly not a threat to her. He was worried she was going to take him away? The girl couldn't help but chuckle at him. "I don't have the authority of taking you to someplace dark and scary, Yohan." Sakuya sighed. "I wasn't sent after you. However, I was sent here..." She gestured to the area in general. "Look, it's probably not a good idea to show that around. Most people from Gaia....don't understand that sort of thing." Sakuya pushed them back a bit farther away from the public eye. "Does anyone else know?"

Yohan blinked as she began to explain things, she could see a more innocent expression coming across his face now as he looked at her. If she thought he was cute before, well... Opinions might change now that she got to see more of the "real" him coming through now. "Uhm... Me and five others were sent to this weird looking town with this big Hellhound. A girl among us committed suicide, so I think that leaves four others. I have no idea where they currently are though."

The girl nodded. "Five others? That's..fairly unheard of. Maybe this place really is..." Her voice trailed off. "Regardless, you need to hide that arm of yours. I don't have the power to conceal it." Suddenly, something felt wrong between the two of them. There was a huge and menacing presence that seemed to overtake the town. "Oh no..." Sakuya whispered, hiding them both behind a dumpster. "We need to be careful..."

Yohan couldn't help but be pulled along, though he did feel a shiver run down his spine. He never felt anything like this... This feeling of fear was gripping him tightly. Even worse, it reminded him of those years ago... He had to worry about Sakuya right now. "What's going on?" He asked, she seemed to know more than he did right now, so there was that. He couldn't help but swallow quietly out of nervousness, He worried for his own life, but protecting others was his top priority always.

"Shhh!" Sakuya said suddenly, covering Yohan's mouth. They felt the pressure coming towards them and faint barking. Sakuya didn't quite know what they were, but for her to feel this much fear, there must be something up with them. Speaking out from the other side of the dumpster, she could see the head of a hound sniffing around. The almost lizard like skin and blue flames almost made Sakuya gasp aloud. Keeping her fear down, she pulled her head back quickly and held her breath. However, she could hear the hound coming closer to them. Her magic was hidden...Yohan must be too new to realize what he can and cannot do. Sakuya started to panic. In a last ditch effort, she uncovered Yohan's mouth and pressed her lips against his. 'Please work, please work!' Sakuya whispered in her mind. She held on for about a minute. In those long 60 seconds, she could hear the dog walk away from them and a horrifying growl as they left. She broke the kiss immediately and ran out towards the road, watching them head down towards town. "Yohan, you said you didn't know where your friends are, right? I got a feeling that they know and it won't be pretty if they get a hold of them."

Yohan's eyes widened when he saw her clap a hand over his mouth. He grew nervous all of a sudden, swallowing nervously until his eyes shifted over and saw... The damn hound! That bloody grin on it's face, the desire to devour it's prey... He could sense it, clear as daylight, he remembered! The Hellhound's gaze, it's crazy grin and the way it almost found them and was ready to attack at a moment's notice. He could sense the same thing off of this creature, his body starting to shake as he saw it approach. Why him? Why was it coming here?! What did it want?!? That's when she pulled him over and... Oh dear, his face went red and his eyes widened as she did this. A minute long kiss?! His mind couldn't handle it, yet he didn't resist... For whatever reason, he couldn't tell you. Once she saw the beast walk away, she broke it and he was dropped to the floor with a dazed looked in his eyes. "Did you get the number of that donkey cart?" He mumbled, shaking his head as he regained himself and stood up to his feet, looking over at her, his face still blushing madly. "... Shoot. I have a feeling I know what you are talking about. Alright, let's go!"



The clocks all read 11 PM in the police station now, the sun no longer visible as the night had taken over the sky. It wasn't known for how much longer Abe would be keeping them there, nevertheless, they had already been there for a long time. However, a familiar figure suddenly appeared before all of them, and as the white haired boy looked out to each of them, a red shine would flash over his eyes before reverting to normal. "Hello everybody!" He said, giving a quick little bow from the waist in a mocking gesture, rising up to look over at Abe with a smug look.

"You've been hanging out with this old fart instead of me?" He pretended to look hurt, putting an arm over his face as he leaned back while faking some sniffling. "I'm offended. You left hanging out with me on The Other Side to try to repay a debt to some dead girl." The white haired boy couldn't help but smirk now, shifting his form suddenly to resemble how Rina's inner demon had appeared. This... Was certainly new! "That's silly." The voice came out, sounding way more aggressive and twisted than Rina's inner demon would normally sound like. "You can't run from your problems forever. Hiding like little cowards..." The inner demon began to spread it's arms out to the sides, all of them would begin to see the room forming cracks and gaining a menacing red color to it.

"You think you can ignore me?!" The inner demon's voice suddenly grew louder, becoming more aggressive, more twisted, the room beginning to violently shake, making them all feel threatened while also giving them some motion sickness. "You think you can deny what I want, DO YA?!" The room would be shaking now, pieces of it breaking off to them as the inner demon slowly began to approach them, each step growing louder with each stomp, causing twisted cracks to spread wherever it stepped. "I WILL NOT BE DENIED!!!!!"

Everything returned to normal in an instant, Rina's inner demon suddenly gone and the white haired boy having returned with a mocking little grin on his face, once again, his eyes glowed red. "Another time, perhaps." He licked his lips as he walked over to Abe. "Well, no one better to replace her with than family, right?!" The white haired boy grinned to them all, smacking Abe's back without hesitation, although Abe wouldn't feel a thing as his hand passed right through Abe's body. However, Abe would feel a strange sensation coursing through his body, and as the white haired boy walked towards the entrance, Abe could suddenly see him now.

"We can save introductions for later." The white haired boy leaned on a wall near the entrance to the police station, looking down casually at his hand. "You've got bigger fish to worry about." As he said this, the five hounds from before began to enter into the building... But not in the way you would expect. They were walking right through it?! They looked like ghostly dogs, so maybe they were... But it was highly doubtful. Something was off about these dogs, and despite them having entered into the building, none of the officers around them were panicking. Each of them covered in blue flames, having blue flames in their eye sockets and a deadly grin resembling the Hellhound's across each of their twisted mugs.

Yohan and Sakuya arrived too late, only able to watch as the dogs entered into the building, Yohan's eyes widening as he saw the dogs just... Phase through inside?! "Ah dang it!" He couldn't help but state, looking around as he saw no one around, but he couldn't shake off the feeling of being watched right now, by someone... Or something. "They have to get out of there! This isn't good, I can't use my power from out here without drawing attention to us!" To say the least, they were in a tight situation!

Meanwhile, the hounds began to move slowly towards the group, as officers began to walk around near the hounds, they would simply walk through them, the hounds not even bothered by any of what was going on right now. The white haired boy couldn't help but let out a delightful little chuckle, Yohan was right outside, yet he couldn't even see the white haired boy in here? Things just weren't adding up right now, but again, they had bigger fish to fry right now. "Well I would love to stay and help you all, but it looks like two of you have some opening of the eyes to do!" His eye shifted to Abe and Frederick with a twisted grin on his face. "See ya, if you make it out alive of here that is." He let out one more mocking laugh before fading away completely, leaving them with the hounds slowly getting closer to them!

Despite the attempts of the White haired boy and his little demonic friend to frighten everyone present, Miranda would only slowly open her eyes, the different colored orbs filled with annoyance. Speaking of demons. She glanced to the side, where her Demon was staring at her, a sadistic smile on its face as both of its eyes glowed amber. Thinking for a moment, she supposed the imagery there was that so long as she had both of her eyes, one Sapphire and the other now permanently Amber and glowing, her Demon would be sticking around.

Flaring her nostrils, the werewolf stood quickly as the five hounds entered the building. "Such Insolent Dogs..." Miranda's Demon growled. Miranda agreed, lowering her chin and growling, her growl not one of a human imitating a wolf, but of a feral wolf itself. Slowly the girl's lips peeled back, exposing her savagely long teeth as she stared down the five hounds; knowing full well that she'd be unable to harm them physically with her body. She only hoped the others didn't bolt like scared children. "What if they do run? Hm? Leave you to fight for yourself against five hungry mutts? Like cowards; they want you to die. They want your power for themselves. Our power....for themselves!" her demon growled.

Miranda snarled loudly, her throat rumbling with the feral sound and the sound echoing in the halls of the police station. Miranda's demon became more bestial with each passing second and Miranda lowered into a stance that would allow her to move in any direction at any moment without any hesitation or pre-warning. But suddenly she blinked; she had no room to fight here...she needed to leave. Narrowing her eyes she took a step back, hoping the humans with the White could see what she could see, and knew to run. Slowly the werewolf kept eye contact on the hounds, but moved towards the back of the police station. She knew there was a back door; there had to be; for safety reasons, right?

Snarling, the Werewolf's Amber eye began to glow brightly and she reached out her hand towards the hounds, attempting to grab them with her powers of mutation and at the very least, make their legs snap to slow them down. At the most, to make their organs rupture and make them die quickly and painfully. If it didn't work, she'd try again, if only to cause pain at the very least.

Things were now looking dangerious, not only did some white haired kid who had transformed into some kind of demon suddenly appeared. There was some...demon dogs! And thay phased through the walls and the officers could not even see them. They also looked angry! He knew a scenario like this, it was like murderious ghosts! Since these officers could not see them nor touch them they could kill them and no one woukd know their sudden cause of death.

They were getting closer to each of them! In response Frederick jumped up from seat. He was not a fighter, he was just a simple nice guy so he could not fight much. What was he supposed to do? Especially againt a foe where video game and comic dictates that he cant harm them unless he was a mage...or at least an epic demonslayer...

As he seemed to focus more on how to beat those demon dogs, and not his current saftey one of the dogs would lunge for him going in for the kill! It even phased right through a cop to get at him. He let out a girl scream as it was ready to bite him. "Bad demon dog!"

However as he closed his eyes the bite did not come, in fact he something hit his head instead along with a small ring. Letting out a pained 'ow' he rubbed his head as he oppened his eyes. A figure stood in front of him. It was a little bit shorter than him, maybe five inches shorter however...it looked feminine, on her back was a white feathery wing and a bone like wing from her back. Silver like hair which reached to her back and one of her face....one side had a bandage covering one of her eyes and a broken white mask covering the other side to reveal only a purple like iris.

Her long white dress adorned her body, one of her arms was covered with some sort of big arm glove while her other arm was bangaged. In her hand, was some sort of sheperds staff, wooden and bell included. This...woman had forced the demon dog back from her presence. Of course....he had a sneaking suspicion who this person was.

"Alright moocher...You saved my life! Thanks!" Frederick gave a thumbs up and the figure hit him over the head with her staff as the little bell rang. "Ow! Was it because I called you a mo---" Frederick was interupted again as he was hit over his head again. A jingle following it once more.

"Be quiet my dear lamb for this moment. This moment will pass, but they have made their move it seems...It is time my lamb to finnaly awaken to your fate. I ask that you offer up a part of your body to me." She spoke, however her request was more akin to giving out an order.

"Wait...What do you mean by that? A part of my body?...does that mean that you!---" Frederick was about to say as he was whacked over the head once more. The bell ringing once again. "A part of your body you care for...We have no time for jokes my lamb unless you care to be torn apart like a wolf who has found a defensless sheep..." She spoke clearly hiving him one last chance to decide before the offer ends.

"Alright then, my hands. There happy? A janitor, writer---" Frederick was about to give his speech again about his occupations before she grabbed his hands with her own. As suddenly as she did his hands caught on fire. Pain sirged through his hands as she let go. "Why!? My hands are litteraly on fire! Spirit fire probaly but fire!" Frederick called out no doubt causing some officers to look at him...and question his state of mind...

Once the fire stopped, he noticed he had kept his hands. However they seemed off...like these hands were like copies of his old hand. "The pact is made...Your fate is now set in stone until the end...Now, be a nice lamb and eliminate these dogs." Her form suddenly faded away as Frederick had one question.

How was he supposed to do that!?

Laying on her back, Saiph had fallen asleep on the roof, surrounded by various wrappers of food strewn about messily from staying camped out up there. She had lost track of time in her slumber, the sun had fallen, but in her helmet a blip kept tabs on her... little investment.

Maddy sat down the cup of tea onto a saucer, creating a clatter, Maddy's ears stand erect and wiggle, stirring from her slumber.

"Oh dear, it seems little Frederick has run into a round of rotten luck," Maddy spoke in that warped voice.

Abruptly, a hole opens up under Saiph, dropping her onto a roof close to the police department, rather gracelessly onto her back. She then grabs her feet and rolls over to the edge, flopping onto her stomach to get the best overlook possible. Maddy materializes beside her, presence denoted by four yellow eyes glowing in the dark, the glimmer of teeth, and the steam off of tea.

"Wuh-oh," Saiph says, as her lenses zoom in on the chaos that was unfolding in the police station. Several scaly dog things covered in blue flames had infiltrated the place. Oh dear, dear, dear..! There's five Hounds of Despair now? Wasn't there just... one? she ponders. How odd it was in the first place to see such things in the world of norms. Ohohoho, someone's been naughty! The lenses shift color from red to green, and she then starts to see through the station. Specifically, she focused on Fred, being pathetically harassed by one of the beasties. "Oh dear! My investment is gonna be doggy chow!"

"The time has come," Maddy says, creepily cryptic as it were. "To talk of many things."

Saiph stands up, raising her hands into the air and begins doing a series of stretches to limber up, making quite the racket. The few people still outside would hear strange sounds, looking up only to see nothing there.

"Of shoes, and ships, and sealing-wax, of cabbages, and kings," Saiph sings joyfully, opening a portal above her. She then raises both her arms into the air, her mechanical claws with palms facing upwards. "And why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have..."

Her claws launch off into the portal, still attached by segmented mechanical cables to devices under her sleeves. Out the other end of the portal, opening a little ways to the side from poor Frederick. The claws shoot through, each one on each side of the beast, each claw digging into a wall, anchoring tightly into it, and then with a loud whir, out, in dramatic form, Saiph launches through slamming head first into the hound, with just enough force to send it sliding away. Rebounding from the force, she backflips into the air, dislodging her claws and retracting them with a zip, then landing on her feet!

"...wings!" she shouts, holding her arms out with theatrical flair, swinging her hair in the air. Looking to Frederick, she reaches out, grabbing onto the collar of his shirt. She takes a moment to look down at his hands, noting that a change has occurred with him, something awakened, but given his state, he seemed not yet sure. The modulation of her voice suddenly deepens, one of her lenses blinking a red color as she looks back at his face. "Come with me if you want to live."

As Frederik was busy waving his hands as the threat of death loomed over his head, something came to his aid. Not his...Spirit...angel...demon...He would figure out a name for her eventually. For now someone else came to his aid. It was someone...or something that looked kinda like a rabbit. Now this was weird, but what was weirder was that she grabbed him by the collar and pretty much told him to come wit her or die. Of course he nodded his approval. "Of course! I wanna live!"

"I've always wanted to say that," she says with a chuckle, voice returning to a shrill playful tone. She then raises the volume on her helmet's audio then turns away from Frederick. "Hey, noobs! Lets try taking this outside! That means you too, Ms. Bark N. Bite!"

After that she creates another portal and pulls Frederick in with her, for him, space warps around him briefly, before suddenly the rush of the cool night air wafts over them. The two were outside in the station parking lot.

"Wha? Huh? D-Did we just like warp like...Wha?" Frederick spoke as he looked around. They were outside the station. Of course it looks like they would have to fight outside. But wait...why would she help him unless...To test his theory he pulled out his phone and replied to B.Rabbit with the letter 'a' and waited.

Surely enough, Saiph's phone dings a cheerful little tune and she looks down at it then at Frederick, letting go of him finally. "Bingo, you got me, Freddie, the mysterious Black Rabbit, also known as Saiph Grimms, at your service!" she says, holding up the phone to confirm his suspicion, then bowing. Putting one hand on her hip, she leans back up slightly, tolting her head. Holding up a metallic index finger to his face with her other arm, then turns it downward, pointing down at his hands. "Now about this, any idea what your power is yet, hmmmm? Suppose not, otherwise you'd've used it against them nasties, must be something to do with your talents though... huh... well, oof, now I'm tingling with anticipation! What could the Frederick Bell's newfound super powers be!?"

Despair: Act 2!

Well, events were just happening now, weren't they? One after the other, Yohan could only watch as they unfolded right in the Police Station itself. First, it looked as if Frederick got his deal made, he could see the Familiar clear as daylight in there with them. That was good at the least. He noticed the officers and a couple of others weren't noticing the Hounds now. What was going on? It felt like he had lost some connections... It didn't matter right now. Some crazy rabbit girl suddenly came in and took Frederick and Sienna out of there, well, Sienna took the opportunity to go in with them. That was good, now all that was left was Miranda. But where were the others? As soon as he thought this in his head, he saw them appear right in the parking lot!

Back inside, the Hounds of Despair had all been attacked in one way or another. Two of them had been hit by Miranda's mutation powers and were being torn to shreds right now. Three of them had taken note of Saiph and noticed Yohan and Sakuya outside. That's when one of them noticed Yohan's slight change in expression and looking away. Just as Yohan was going to say something, he could feel an ominous chill run down his spine, causing him to have a horrified expression now. Three of the Hounds came rushing out of the Police Station, one of them looked to have strangely almost recovered fully from the attack before by the rabbit girl!

As the two poor Hounds were being torn to shreds, suddenly, they began to quickly stand right back up on all fours. Their bodies both regenerating and healing at a rapidly fast rate! Yohan could see the changes happening to the three outside as well, right before they charged in towards the others and one of them began to attack Sienna! What was that? It was quick, but he saw it! The Hounds inside and the Hounds outside had... Undergone the same recovery process? That shouldn't be happening! Miranda's powers had hit them dead on, and yet here they all were, recovering as if... No, it couldn't be!

Yohan could only look inside as one of the Hounds jumped up into the air at crazy speeds, moving quickly past Miranda herself and landing right in front of the emergency exit! The other one made it's way over to the front door where they all were and began to open it's mouth to reveal it now glowing with the same blue flames! This was bad, they were trapping Miranda inside and attacking the others on the outside! These Hounds were intelligent, too intelligent! The rate at which they were recovering, adapting and making strategies in response to each of their actions was insane! Yohan had to force himself to look away as the Hound inside unleashed a multitude of small blue fire balls for Miranda, each of them deadly fast and moving in to strike fatal blows if she wasn't careful!

Yohan panicked, in the heat of the moment his brain switched to overload mode and for a second it felt like everything had frozen around him. These hounds... What's with them? They weren't even coming for him, yet Sienna and Miranda were being hunted down like top priority? The recovery rate at which they can heal from even the strange mutation powers Miranda had, the way Sienna's fire wasn't even leaving a single burn on them. That's when it clicked to him, they were only targeting the people who had shown up on the news today! No, it couldn't be, he had dismissed it as just random chance! But now, he stood here, the evidence clear in front of them... "We were set up..." The others could hear him speak out, a hand reaching up to grab his face lightly as his hand started to rapidly shake.

"He was right... We're being targeted." Yohan felt like breaking down right now, but something in him pushed him to keep standing. He had to do something... He had to confirm it, there was no other choice. He also couldn't just let the others just be attacked while he stood here and did nothing! What kind of coward would he be if he just kept being an observer! Did the Hounds see no threat in him, did they think his power was weak?! It was now or never, the Hounds were completely distracted from him, and he had already started to charge up sound in his hand the moment he started to talk out loud. A little ruse right in front of everyone, and it was too late to stop the trap!

Quickly striking his hand outward in the direction of the others and the Hounds, he yelled out slightly as he unleashed a sound blast straight for them! It seemed like he was aiming for it to hit all of them, but that's when Saiph, Frederick and Sienna would all notice they couldn't hear a thing. But the three Hounds all could hear something painful, something like a dog whistle had just been set off in a very painful way as a strange liquid shoots out from the holes where the ears would be on the Hounds. He got them, even if they just for a minute, his attack had gotten through! If they weren't fighting for their lives, he would of taken the moment to smile.

There was no time to feel safe, however, when all three Hounds twitched briefly before the sounds of bones shifting could be hear within them. Yohan couldn't help but feel a chill again, his eyes shifted to the one Hound guarding the entrance to the station and see the same twitch happen with it's head. His eyes widen at the conclusion he made and turned to the others, his mouth opening to shout, when he saw one of the Hounds give him a death glare. It's mouth opened, and in an instant, something shot out of it's mouth someone just shot an arrow at him! It was coming straight for his head, and he barely had enough time to move just enough for the strange arrow-like tongue that the Hound had shot out of it's mouth to pierce itself right through his right shoulder!

He tried to tell them what he had learned, but nothing came out of his mouth, the pain was too much to allow him to speak right now. He fell to his knees and looked over at them, now only seeing two Hounds with them. He looked quickly over to his left to see the Hound that had shot at him with that weird tongue move, these things had more to them than just fire! The dog was now giving him a serious look, the flames in it's eyes gave it the look of a killer ready to finish it's prey. It's mouth opens and it's new tongue it had formed quickly shoots out to start forming a sword. Biting it off without hesitation, a human arm forms out of it's back and grabs hold of the handle of the tongue sword thing that was still morphing even though it had bit it off!

"So... You are the one." The Hound spoke without moving it's mouth, only opening it to allow the eerie, whispering voice to come out. "It looks like whatever pain you feel, my targets will feel as well. Perfect." The Hound began to raise up it's blade, Yohan's body beginning to shake now as he could only watch the Hound prepare to chop his head off. "It looks like if you die, so do my targets. I will make this quick and painless."

"Fuck!" Miranda snarled as the hounds healed themselves and then trapped her inside. Snarling, the werewolf dropped to hands and feet, dodging the first wave of fire-balls with ease before the next one came. Grunting, she leaped into the air and dodged the second wave. Spinning, in the air she landed just as Yohan got himself shot in the shoulder with the arrow. A loud, pained yelp echoed through the station as the sympathetic pain raced through Miranda's body. Snarling, she gritted her teeth and got moving again, adrenaline kicking in as she darted for the wall, her feet slamming into it before she bounced off of it towards the hound that was initially in front of her.

She aimed to grab it by the scruff of the neck with one hand, and hook her other arm around it's neck to get it in a sort of rear-naked choke used by many MMA fighters. The only reason she was doing this was due to the fact that if her mutation powers, which tore these things apart like they were nothing, did nothing to them, they wouldn't work again. She figured she'd find a new way to slaughter them, even it if meant with her bare hands. She wouldn't hold onto it for very long, however, straddling the back of the creature with her legs and pinching with her knees, she'd take both hands and place them on the snout before using all of her body strength, which was enough to lift a small car by itself, to press the snout down and into the neck, effectively trying to break the neck and tear off the head in the process.

If Miranda found herself on the ground with nothing in her hands, the werewolf would twist her body and aim to kick out the hound's legs before standing and aiming to grab it by the neck regardless if it fell or not, her right hand cocked back into a claw position. Her body would immediately begin to painfully morph into that of her werewolf form, the hands becoming twice the size and forming into sharp, deadly claws that would be able to easily tear into the body of the hound and tear out vital organs with one thrust of the hand.

Regardless of whether any of that worked, when she was done she'd bolt for the front door of the station, her strong, powerful legs propelling her at the speed of an Olympic sprinter at the least as she wound her way through the station for the front door, aiming to slam through the door with brute force if necessary, ignoring the pain in her shoulder as best she could.

"You could end it all now, you know. Shift into your true form, show those mutts who the real Alpha here is. Show everyone who the true leader and Alpha is." her Demon growled in her ear. Miranda huffed, ignoring the thing. "You know I'm right! Don't deny your gift! Your power! Your birth-right! Werewolves were born to rule over humans! You know this to be true! DO IT!"

Miranda shook her head and rounded a corner. With the front door now in sight, she took in a deep breath and began to run even faster and harder; it'd be nearly impossible to stop her at this point; she was simply running to fast to slow down or stop. As she neared the door, she raised her arms over her face and chest, and lowered her head: She was going to get out of here if it was the last thing she did in this life.

"Yes, yes, answers later," the rabbit girl responds hurriedly to Sienna, shifting away from Frederick. Her eyes now fixating on the hounds rushing them now, prioritizing particular targets over others. She shifts to the ones chasing after the werewolf, then quickly across to the one now threatening the life of the now wounded Yohan. She saw it in his eyes, he had realized it too, the trick behind their seeming immortality. There was no room for error, this had to be quick and precise.

As Miranda slammed her way through the doors, hounds at her heels, it was now or never. With a swift fluid motion she swings her right arm in a circle in the air above her like a cowboy out to rustle some cattle, extending the arm and building momentum, a whirring filling the air, then with a twirl, flings it out towards the the two in closest proximity, snagging them together and lassoing them together with a loud snap. Then like a sling, tosses them into Miranda's direction.

With that in motion, she had little time for the second part, snapping back her claw, she creates a portal underneath herself dropping down, the other end above the one near seconds away from claiming Yohan's life, landing on its back with her feet, leaning over towards the blue haired boy. "Daaaamn son, you better have that looked a- owowowow! hot foot, hot foot!" Broken from her though, she began dancing frantically as even her insulated suit didn't stop the heat. Flopping down, she creates one more portal under the creature, intent on dropping it on the set convergence point of the four other hounds.

C'mon, work, she thinks, as she drops down along with the last hound.

Yohan's heart felt like it had stopped for just a moment, seeing the Hound about to strike down upon him with that blade! That's when the rabbit girl appeared and appeared to be silly, but in caught the Hound off guard and that's when it just sunk down and was gone! At least, that's how it looked from his viewpoint anyway. With the two Hounds Miranda was facing, one of them had it's head viciously torn off, only for the head to have reattached itself as though the injury never happened. The two Hounds quickly moved after Miranda, but as they did, all the other Hounds suddenly came flying in towards them until...

BAM!

In a flash, the Hounds seemed to have vanished. It was strange, Yohan looked over and could no longer make out five Hounds. He couldn't help but growl slightly and grab hold of the weird tongue thing that had stabbed through him, pulling it out without another thought as some of the scales fell as well. He couldn't help but be thankful it was the right arm and not the left it had aimed for. That's when black flames suddenly burst forth, forming a ring now among all of them as there stood a Hound! But the Hound looked different now, maybe it was just the black flames covering over it's body instead of blue. Yohan watched as the Hound opened it's mouth and released some black flames temporarily before they stopped being emitted and that voice whispered out again.

"Well done. Had that rabbit girl not come here, the boy would of arrived to see his friends all die." The Hound of Despair cracked it's neck to the left and then to the right before staring at them all coldly. "I am the Hound of Despair. I have survived many battles, and my body has been pushed to the absolute limit. I too have a power similar to all of yours. You have what is called The White, while I have what is called The Black. The powers you are using now are Dominion's. I, too, have a Dominion. My Dominion's name is Despair." Yohan was surprised by this information.

"Despair?" He couldn't help but ask. It could talk, so it must understand them as well. It was telling them this, why not ask questions? Though those black flames it had were too menacing for him to try to step in and try another attack, he didn't know how hot they even were!

"Despair is a unique Dominion, as I said before, I have survived many battles. But I have never truly died during any of them. My body was even modified so that I could harness the true power of my Dominion. With every battle I survived, my body adapted and grew in power, granting me an infinite amount of possibilities along with it. All of this, in order to ensure my survival and growth as a hunter. As long as I live, my body and Dominion will both continue to adapt and give me more things capable of surviving any situation. This is the first time in many years that I have been restored to my one, original body. Before, I was split up into five versions of myself, all of them connected, much like you and your friends here. The difference being that if you injured one, it would adapt and survive." The Hound of Despair turned it's eyes briefly to Saiph.

"She came fully prepared, knowing of my abilities. You, boy, managed to figure it out, I saw that as a problem in the heat of the moment. I honestly wasn't expecting much out of any of you, but here we are anyway. There is one thing I wish to tell you, however." It's eyes set upon Yohan as Yohan felt scared now. "The one who sent me here to kill you... He told me that should I be restored to my original true form, that you have been invited for a special duel." Yohan felt angry, but he continued to listen just to hear everything. "He is waiting for you to come personally. I hope you can survive what he has in store for you." The Hound of Despair let out a creepy cackle, Yohan had to restrain himself in order not to go in and give the Hound a punch to the face!

"Alright, what's the point in telling any of us this though?" Yohan raised his left brow at the Hound. "You could of just as easily used it to prepare some kind of attack." Yohan heard an unusual response in the form of another cackle, creepily coming out of the Hound as if it knew he was going to say that.

"I knew you were all stupid enough to listen to me, in order to try to gain any information about the one who sent me here. Now, it is too late." The Hound gave a small smirk as best as it could before the black flames began to gather within it's body. "These black flames are the only thing that are natural to me. They have been with me ever since I was born. I got my name originally for bringing terror upon my enemies with these very flames! While we have been talking, I have been concentrating and gathering them up within my very own body. Should you kill me recklessly, I will lose control and I will erupt like dynamite!" The Hound of Despair laughed in a high pitched tone now, the black flames in it's eye sockets running wild before being absorbed into it's body.

"Why don't you just blow up already then?!" Yohan called out the Hound, his eyes narrowing slightly as he pointed at the Hound. "You talk as if you are alright with dying here. So why not just do it? You were sent here to kill certain people, right? Wouldn't it be best to do that right now?"

"It would be, yes." The Hound of Despair grinned at Yohan. "But I want to play a little game first. To see who is better at being the prey. You see, I have always been the predator, but never the prey. In this case, I feel cornered, trapped, knowing full well that if I were to try to attack recklessly against you all, I would surely perish. This way, it gives us all a fighting chance! My game is simple: All of you have a choice. You can attack me, you can run away and go home, you can report me to the police, you can do whatever you want! You can even do nothing, it doesn't bother me." The Hound of Despair chuckled upon seeing Yohan's expression shift. "I know what you are thinking. There must be a catch to this, right? Well, there is!" The Hound's grin grew bigger. "Should I fail to die before my attack is fully charged, I will kill one of you!"

Yohan couldn't believe what he was hearing right now, this Hound was playing some sadistic little game in order to get out of a fight it knew it couldn't win! "You little...!" Yohan flinched as he felt the pain rising up again in his wound, his body shaking as the Hound gave a mocking laugh.

"Do you hate me? It doesn't matter to me, that's the fun part of this game. If you leave right now, I can't kill you. If all but a few leave, my choice is obvious! That is the offer, I ain't giving any of you a chance to reject it! I will do nothing while I wait for your decisions, but don't forget I'm still charging up my attack all the while! I look forward to seeing the choices you all make!" If Yohan's injury wasn't so serious right now, he would send a sound blast right now at it! He didn't know what to tell the others, he didn't have any control over what they said or did. But to kill one of them... Would any of them actually be willing to just leave and let the others be easy targets to choose? It... Couldn't be true, right? He could only wait and watch while the Hound just stood in it's ring of black flames.

As Miranda slammed through the doors, she tumbled and fell onto her front, skidding to a halt as the Hounds were hit launched into a single place, their bodies becoming one, larger and more intelligent hound. Miranda's Alpha-blood was screaming at this point, screaming at her to instill order, and discipline upon this hound that dared challenge her. Her Demon screamed the same thing, the thing slowly fading into her body as she rose onto her hands and knees, her body heaving as she breathed heavily. Adrenaline flooded her system, Endorphin's ran on over-drive, and she began to shake uncontrollably. Looking up would reveal that both of her eyes had turned completely Amber, and were wild with emotions. Opening her mouth would only allow her to vomit the contents of her stomach onto the pavement below her, followed by one of the most blood-curdling screams of pain one could ever imagine.



Another blood curdling scream erupted from Miranda's throat as she leaned back, this scream turning into an equally blood-curdling, bone-chilling howl as she fell backwards and began to seize, her body shaking as it grew in size and muscles expanded exponentially. Bones could be heard audibly snapping and rearranging themselves as she continued her transformation. Tendons likewise could be seen under the skin deforming and reforming as her body shifted. Perhaps most painful to watch was the reshaping of her skull, from the fair-faced, stern but beautiful girl known as Miranda Wallace, to a large, intimidating Wolf. Her jaw from the nose down began to expand, her skull began to flatten, and her ears moved up on her skull as it elongated. The rest of her body became much more broad and her legs became digitigrade, their transformation the most noisy of the lot. She rolled over onto her hands and what were now paws as her clothing tore from her body, the tearing of fabric obvious as she grew in size. From her tailbone grew a long, shaggy tail, and her body grew thick, shaggy Black Fur within a matter of seconds.

She froze.

For another few seconds, nothing was heard. One final snap of a bone falling into place and she began to breathe once more, each breath haunted by a sinister snarling growl. Hands twice the size of Yohan's head lifted off the ground as feet the size of Yohan's chest spread the weight over the paw-pads and claws. For a moment she was quiet again, sniffing the air and taking in the cool breeze of the night before she lifted her nose and her lips parted slightly. A deafening howl echoed over the landscape of Timberland, and in the distance, two other Werewolves snapped awake in their home at the sound of their daughter's howl.

She slammed back onto her large hands, turning around and looking at everyone around her. Yohan, Sienna, Frederick, Sakuya, Saiph...they all meant nothing. They were nothing to her. Both of her Amber Eyes glowed now; her power had enhanced with her physical strength, becoming ten times stronger than normal. As those Amber-colored orbs made their way to the confident hound, her lips peeled back, revealing her razor sharp, pointed teeth as her ears flattened against her skull and she let out a bone-rattling growl from deep within her throat. Compared to the growls of wolves or dogs that anyone in the current vicinity had heard before, this was like a freight train in terms of the difference in texture, volume, and dominance.

Size-wise, Miranda was now about the size of a minivan or SUV, and weight about as much as well. She was bristling with muscle and fur, yet still retained a feminine-esque figure for a werewolf. One could only imagine how large she would be if she were male, which are generally even larger than their female counterparts. Despite her size, Miranda retained her smarts, not blindly charging in, but instead analyzing the situation before her. She had allies in the form of the humans and...bunny creature person thing. Perhaps they would be of assistance. Slowly she began to circle the hound, her fur standing on end and making her seem twice as large as she was. After a few steps she raised onto her hind legs, standing at ten feet in height now as she paced around the hound building up its magic to attack. She was analyzing it for weaknesses, for any faults in its guard.

She was hunting it.

With a flash of her eyes, Miranda launched all of her Mutating might upon the Hound at once, aiming to once more tear it apart at the most, mutating each body part until regeneration would be nigh impossible, or at the very least cause it to be locked in place as the legs became weak or began to physically melt into the pavement beneath it. After that, Miranda would turn towards the Hound, and prepare to charge it, and finish this the way her instincts were driving her to do so: With a very violent, bloody fight.

"Okay Frederick...let's recap here...We are outside in the parking lot. The others are following suite...The Rabbit Girl had helped them. The others were fighting the demon dogs, some leader of these demon dogs were here and speaking." Yeah, his experiance as a writer was helping him her. If Yohan died then they all died...Wait...What idiot designed this system? What was this chess? Yohan was like the king peice, if he got knocked out it was game over.

But that's dumb, that means if say he ate pufferfish sushi and the poison was not cleaned properly the rest of them would die. That ain't a smart system, it should be like a debuff at the very least. Whoever disigned this game of life and death sucked. He could write a better story than this."

Back at the moment at hand, as Frederick looked around him he watched as Miranda...Was changing into a werewolf!? That was cool, looks like she was indeed a werewolf. Strong, fast and deadly like the legends of old! And he saw this firsthand! That reminded him...what power did he have?

Waving his hands around in weird motions, he threw his hand forward expecting a fireball but nothing happened. Ok, he had no magic. Jumping forward he flopped on his face expecting to jump real good. Nope, nothing physical. The more he tried, the more he made a fool of himself. "Hey, you in my head! Where's my instruction manual to use my powers? We are in danger right now still!" Frederick spoke to himself as thankfully the woman spoke in his head.

"Ah, if you would have let me finished speaking before my time was up I would have explained something...but I will not let you have your answer easily my dear lamb. Your power is as white as a canvas. I hope even you can understand this very simple riddle."She spoke as her presence vanished once again.

Now he needed time to think! That hound was like a boss, probaly tricky and has hidden tricks under his fur! He had to hurry and think carefully. A challenging task.

Saiph rolled back on the impact upon the asphalt, springing up in a sitting position. Only a short distance she sat from the now rejoined hound, black flames flicking across her face. There was a nonchalance to her, just staring at the hound, like this was normal life for her... and it essentially was. She simply listened to the creature monologue about his power and life, it went on for a little while so she opted to lay over on her side, propping her head on her arm, choosing to remain silent. Sheesh, there was no mention that the Hound of Despair could be a bit of a windbag.

The beast presented something of an ultimatum to them, fight, leave, do nothing, the whole villain final showdown kinda shtick. To this she finally rolled around onto her back, kicking her self up onto her feet and dusting herself off.

"Woo boy, that was a mouthful, am I right?" she says to no one in particular, resting her claws on the back of her head, tilting to the side. "So really, what I get from all this is that in the end what you've truly adapted into, is being empty. I mean, is really the hunt all it boils down to? That is the true extent of your very existence? Despair really does suit you then, because, wow, that is... actually pretty sad.

With this she leans the other way, taking one step forward, not breaking eye contact with the hound.

"What of things of aspirations and dreams? Do you even have those, or were those deemed weaknesses that were adapted out?" she asks the hound, taking another step forward. "Seriously... is this really living? Honestly I'm starting to think you perished long ago, and this is what remains. My auntie once said that the greatest despair was being one of a kind. I-"

Before she could continue, from behind something charged forward freezing her in mid-step, her hair blown forward by the gust. What she saw was a massive hairy blur, headed straight for the hound. It took her only a second, however, to realize what it was, and a sudden shock jolts through her spine, realizing what is coming next. A werewolf on the rampage wasn't exactly her ideal solution to this particular problem.

"Oh, are you kidding me right now!?" she exclaims, slapping both hands on the sides of her head.

Sienna Cartlow

As the dog began making a run towards Sienna for the second time, seemingly shaking off the damage from the assaults from Yohan, Miranda and herself; the girl was a bit more prepared for the strike now. Whatever they were doing wasn’t harming them, so for now, her main problem was making sure she didn’t get murdered by the creatures. Somehow she felt that if she was violently attacked like these ones were, she wouldn’t come out nearly as well as they had. Hunching down and preparing to dodge until she could think of something better to do, Sienna was confident that as long as it was just one, she’d be able to survive.

Then, pain. Sharp, shooting pain from her shoulder that immediately sucked the air from her lungs as she fell back, crying out as she gripped hold of it and hunched over. It was completely unexpected and unwarranted; the thing hadn’t even touched her! Gritting her teeth, Sienna glanced up just in time for darkness to loom over her, the shadow of the beast closing over her as it leaped down towards her face, Sienna barely trying to get her arm up in the way to shield herself. Shit, she was so screwed! Clenching her eyes shut, the whipping sound and yelp of the hound broke her paralysis as she wildly opened her eyes, watching the dog ripped away through the air. Watching its trail, she followed the elasticised arms back to that crazed robo-rabbit thing. Jeez, that was so weird, but she wasn’t complaining about being saved!

Stretching her arm and hand a bit, it seemed whatever injury she sustained was no longer impairing her, giving her the chance to get back to her feet and take stock of the situation. The rabbit was zipping all over the place through those little holes and rounding up all the monster hounds to the one place. That was when something akin to a horror movie occurred, the beasts fusing together in some dark ritual of flesh and bones, snapping together into a giant, upright, more human but at the same time even more monstrous dog. At first, she thought its focus was on her, but turning back, she realised that Yohan and some other girl were behind her now, though she had no idea how long they’d been there. Frederick and the rabbit had also fallen into line nearby, and that was when the beast began to address them.

Then it began to monologue. Yohan kept provoking it, and although Sienna wanted to tell the stupid thing to shut up and go to hell, this was buying them time, and in all honesty, she had no idea how they were going to kill this thing. Briefly, she tried whispering to Sinopia for advice, but the feline simply smirked and stated that she ‘wasn’t in charge anymore, so it was up to her.’ Grumbling to herself, it was then that the Hound of Despair revealed its master plan. It’d been setting them up this whole time, somehow storing energy in a final suicide bomber attack. Sienna swore at the revelation, and had a feeling that the monster wasn’t bluffing to try and weasel its way out of the fight. Far from it, instead, it was trying to initiate some serial killer-esque mind games by putting them into a lose lose situation to test their humanity.

“Bastard…” Sienna swore as it laid out the options in front of them. Fight or flight, basically. Glancing about the others, she waited to see how they reacted to the options. They couldn’t just run and let this thing murder someone, but at the same time… Sienna made sure that no one seemed to be bailing just yet. With her own security confirmed, her hesitation to evaluate the situation gave others the chance to act, the bunny going into her own chatter with the monster in what Sienna hoped was her own attempt at stalling for time. It didn’t last particularly long however, before every one of Sienna’s natural instincts went on edge as a terrifying howl pierced the air. It was loud, guttural, and terrifying, and one look back towards the direction it came from was all Sienna needed for more fear to claw its way into her heart.

She was huge, dark and intimidating – Everything cruel and monstrous about Miranda magnified tenfold as she became a hulking abomination, a look of frenzied violence in her eyes that gave Sienna’s flashbacks to earlier. She had no idea if this was related to her demons or what, but the now gigantic werewolf rushed at the hound, seemingly uncaring for whatever danger that might present the group as it began tearing at the beast with a fury that screamed of bloodlust. It was insane, primal and vicious, Sienna unable to tear her eyes away as the gigantic beasts clashed, all the while, the smile on the hound of despair got wider, cracks of light forming in its body and leaking out pressurised flames of black heat. It was happening now, all the energy it built up was about to be unleashed! Sienna looked around wildly for cover, but they were completely exposed.

“Everyone, behind me!” Sienna managed to yell out just before the deafening sound and rush of flames burst out in all direction, the teen placing her hands in front of herself to shield from the coming onslaught. She prayed that this would work, or they were all toast! As the blast of fire reached them like an infernal tidal wave, suddenly it would begin parting around them, whipping out in a fan shape around Sienna before collapsing back down, engulfing everything but the small area directly behind her. Sienna couldn’t see Miranda anymore. Or whatever that thing she’d turned into was. All she could do was hope that she was okay.