shadow 8
#8 of shadow
Shadow 8
Vincent sat on the ground leaning against a log while Shadow sat between his legs as they stared into the campfire listening to the sounds of the crackling fire.
Shadow sighed as Vincent wrapped his arms around him and began to kiss his neck. He reached his paw up and placed it on Vincent's face as he turned to kiss the stallion. As they kissed he closed his eyes allowing the images from that night to seep into his mind. Breaking away from the kiss he opened his eyes to find himself back in the underground of the club.
Shadow turned to strike as a paw touched his arm, but stopped short seeing his mother standing there. He retracted his claws and relaxed as she smiled and reached up to pull his head down to kiss his forehead. They remained still for a moment before she gestured towards a hooded priest that emerged from a side entrance to the room and moved to where Shadow and Vincent lay.
The priest knelt beside Vincent placing a paw on the stallion's head and the other on his side and began to chant. Shadow moved closer to try to see under the hood but as he drew near voices echoed from the main entrance causing the priest to turn away.
As the voices drew nearer the priest quickly slipped back out before Nathan and Jess entered, followed by a medical crew. The medical crew quickly began their work, pulling Shadow off Vincent and tried to stop the bleeding. To his surprise Vincent let out a faint moan as the crew members began bandaging him before trying to move him.
Shadow turned as his mother grabbed his arm. She smiled as she wrapped her arms around him. He closed his eyes as tears began to form and her voice gently said that it was time to awaken.
In Vincent's room Shadow opened his eyes to find Jess lying beside him on the bed. It had been two months since that incident and neither of them had gotten over it. Shadow wanting to have done more and Jess wanting to have seen it sooner.
Shadow had spent a short time in the hospital before being released, and both he and Jess spent most of their time with Vincent who remained in a coma. Shadow would lock himself away in Vincent's house when not at the stallion's side. Jess was the only one he would let get close, but still they would just sit in silence not wanting to be alone but not wanting the pitied looks or small talk from the others.
They had spent the night laying on either side of the bed facing away from each other, wanting to be comforted but each blaming themselves for what happened. Neither felt that they deserved any comforting so they took solace in each others misery. Though now Shadow felt a new hope. If he could find the priest maybe Vincent could be healed out of the coma and they could continue on with their lives.
Shadow wrapped his arm around Jess and pulled her close kissing her forehead as he closed his eyes. She slid her paws to his chest adjusting to the new position as she woke. They laid there for sometime finally allowing themselves to comfort each other in their silent way.
Meanwhile at Von Horn Enterprises, Mr. Von Horn set at his desk reading through the newspaper. All the media was still covering the murder of Seth Hollander the owner of the Hollander Corporation. While Mr. Von Horn was able to pull some strings to keep Vincent and Shadow out of the media as much as possible, his lawsuits against the Hollander Corporation wasn't as easy to cover-up causing the media to have a field day pondering his involvement.
The lawsuits ranged from fraud, to assault and battery, espionage, kidnapping and a variety of other charges. The merger of the two companies, while put on hold, still was left open to Mr. von Horn to take control of after the proceedings were completed.
Mr. Von Horn put down his paper as the intercom buzzed. He answered and the secretary informed him that Mr. Collins was there to see him. "Show him in please." he replied before getting up and moving to the seating area of his office.
As Mr. Von Horn got to the seating area the door opened and his secretary introduced the fox that followed as Mr. Collins. Mr. Von Horn reached out a hand and greeted the fox as Mark before gesturing to him to sit.
As they sat the Mark placed a briefcase on his lap and opened it pulling out several documents. "These are the files you were interested in Sir."
"Good the last time we spoke you were telling me that Mr. Holland was experimenting on people, trying to create a super soldier." Mr. Von Horn skimmed through the files that were filled with various statistics, equations and formulas to mutate a persons DNA.
"These were all the files I could get before the police showed up and closed the company down." Mark slid the briefcase beside him and crossed his arms as Mr. Von Horn mumbled to himself as he read through the files.
"There isn't anything in here about the natural abilities. Where are the files on that?"
Mark frowned as he looked down. "There were no files on anyone with natural abilities. Mr. Holland never kept any."
"How did he keep track of them? There has to be a record somewhere right?" Mr. Von Horn put the files down as he eyed the fox. "Look there's a reason that I'm interested in this. I know there are others out there with these abilities. I know that Mr. Holland was using them to create more. I also know that He wasn't merely someone with abilities. He was something far worse." Mr. Von Horn rose and made his way to a bookshelf retrieving a book.
Mark watched as the stallion made his way back asking "How do you know this?"
Mr. Von Horn handed the book to Mark. "I belong to a group that finds and helps people with abilities." He continued as Mark flipped through the book which listed various abilities including naturally occurring, artifact that grant power as well as a section of demonically gained powers. "Mr. Holland did not come by his powers naturally. We have been watching him for years."
Mark looked up at the stallion, "Wait, how did I not know that you knew. I mean..."
"Well your boss wasn't the only one that kept close company with powerful people. We have someone that can sense power on staff and they can also prevent others from using theirs."
"So what about the information I was able to get from getting inside your head?" Mark asked with a confused look on his face.
"Only what we wanted you to know." Mr. Von Horn replied turning to look at what caught his eye at the window only to see a body crash through the glass.
The stallion turned away covering his face from the flying glass as Mark scrambled to his feet. As he turned back he saw the armored figure of a large feline getting to their feet.
The feline reached out a paw towards the Mr. Von Horn as two pins flew from the armguard hitting the stallion in the chest sending an electric current into him knocking him out. The feline the moved towards Mark who tried to get to the door but fell limp as the feline covered his mouth with a chloroform filled rag.
Mr. Von Horn began to wake as the feline pulled a crystal from a side pocket of the amour. The crystal began to glow as the feline said a chant. The light grew stronger and in a flash a portal opened. The feline took Mark through glancing back at the stallion. Mr. Von Horn struggled to get to his feet and barely made it through the portal before it closed. The trip made him quite ill and caused him to black out once more only catching a glimpse of what appeared to be a dungeon.
Back at his office several security workers searched through the room to find any evidence of where they might have been taken. The panther that was in charge was talking to Arron, who was dressed in a suit. Arron told everyone to leave before he reached out his paw and began scanning the room to see what powers were used so he could track it. Although he could not place the source he did locate where the portal was, and he knew it was created from an artifact. Though he could not track the artifact he began trying to track Mr. Von Horn but something was blocking his power. Something very powerful.