Shadow

Um... How much is it again?" Stupid Stefan asks. The counter lady flashes him a contempt smile, revealing perfectly white teeth.

"For six sweetie pies?That'll be $999.99 for two nights, dearie," she says. I suck in a breath. Expensive. But there isn't another hotel for miles... I don't want to sleep outside. Again. Sure, I chose this, but is it too much to ask for? I only chose it because, before, it was safer! It's not my fault it isn't anymore! "That includes one bathroom and three bunkbeds, sweet pea." Stefan glances at me for confirmation, and I nod. He unzips his bright red school bag and fishes out some sparkling bills. Whoa, and a credit card. 

I've always wanted one, and his seems to be loaded. He hands it over, and after claiming the money, the counter lady begins to type furiously on her laptop. "Room 33, dearies, second floor. Have a darling stay!" She says in a very irritating sing-song voice. I hate how she's being all: "Oh darling, darling, sweet pea, you're so cute!" Stefan thanks the counter lady (and she fake smiles at him) and we follow him to our room. Dracoponian, of course, is too big not to be noticed, so he's hiding behind the hotel, where everyone throws their trash. They'll just think he's a big piece of dirty metal or something and leave him alone.

Once we find out that there is an emergency doctor -and people for surgeries and x-rays- department on the fourth floor, we decide to go up there and take a look. After all, we booked two nights, which means we can sit back and relax for a while. The gunshots in my wings are complicated to explain- but luckily, there are more Vamcorl in the human world than you would think. I see an elf, fumbling to disguise her ears, and edge over to her. She looks scared, until I explain, "I'm an elf. Me and my friends got attacked; can you help us?"

"Oh... Yes, I have no appointments until tomorrow... I'm a Healor, so I can help. Come, I'm room 67." I tell the others, and we head over to room 67.

************************

"So, what'll we do tomorrow?" Athena asks. I yawn. It's late, and I really don't think I have the energy to speak, unlike Athena and Stefan. With great difficulty, I open my mouth.

"At noon, Vapor will leap us to the elf capital city," I mumble groggily.

"Leap?" Athena and Stefan gasp in unison. I yawn once more, and collapse onto a bunkbed. Athena and Stefan continue talking. "Whaaaa?" They say. Vapor smiles.

"I'm a Leapor, so I can teleport to any destination, as long as I know what it looks like. I'm also a Gale. I'm fifteen, the normal age to get abilities." Athena looks shocked.

"So we're all fifteen!" She says. Stefan blushes.

"Except me. I'm only fourteen," He practically whispers. "But fifteen tomorrow!"

Pustyn grins. "Durpner and I are both twenty-five!" She boasts. Of course, being vampires with an infinite life, they look about nineteen.

"Fifteen," I murmur as everyone turns to look at me. I yawn loudly. "Let's... sleep. Oh, and happy almost-birthday, Stefan," I say groggily, getting under my blankets. Everyone nods and pairs of two climb onto each of the six bunk beds. Athena is on the top bunk of mine, and mine is closest to the largest window. Through it, I can see the starry night sky. A memory suddenly hits me. My parents and I are staring at a sky identical to this night's. As soon as the memory hits me, it's gone. I blink in confusion, and shake my head. Weird. As soon as my head hits my pillow, I fall into a deep sleep.

...

I am falling. Through time. Through space. Through the world and universe itself. As I fall, everything around me turns to pleasant shades of azure and amethyst. I feel floaty, light as a feather. Peaceful. I feel like I ca- Without warning, I plummet straight down, leaving my stomach behind me. The azure and amethyst tones have vanished, and in its place is nothing but cold, harsh black nothingness. I finally stop plummeting, and land on hard concrete. I look around and find myself in a dark and gloomy dungeon. An elf is bound to a glowing gold throne. As I watch, he slowly narrows his violet eyes, which have a hard touch to them. His matted and dirty blonde hair probably used to look like spun gold, as I can still see little gold strands of hair hidden by the newfound ugliness. As he screams and writhes in his chair, his galactic blue spectacles slip off his ears and clatter to the floor with a loud "Crash!" He screams things I don't understand, like: "I KNOW THE TRUTH!" or,

"YOU CAN'T HIDE IT FROM ME!" and, "LET HER BE! LEAVE HER ALONE, JUST TAKE ME!!!" His coral lips are suddenly shut, without anyone or anything touching them. "Mmphhh! Mmmmmmphhhhhhh!!!!!" He tries to talk, but his lips are still locked shut, and someone else has the key to open them. The helpless elf attempts to spread his amethyst and ink black wings and fly away, but a pale skinned hand reaches out from the side of my vision and punches him in the face. I cannot move. I cannot turn. I am helpless. I watch as the hand punches him again and again, until I awake in a pool of sweat, my breathing choppy and short.

...

"The throne was gold?" Vapor gasps.

"Yeah." I answer. I have just told the team about my strange dream. Athena and Stefan stare at Vapor in bewilderment, then stare at each other, seeming relieved when they see that they were both confused.

"All Vamcorl, except for demons, are allergic to gold. It immediately drains our abilities and most of our strength," Vapor explains. Pustyn shivers.

She turns to me. "You said before you entered the dream, you fell through shades of azure and amethyst?"

I nod, concerned. "Is that normal?"

Pustyn shakes her head. "It's never happened to me," she continues, "Anyways, I'm sure we can look into it after. Right now, I'm hungry! Let's have some breakfast."

We could all use a break, so I order room service with Stefan's leftover money, and after twenty minutes, a delicious breakfast is brought straight to us. Platters filled with perfectly cooked pancakes, scrambled eggs, golden toast, and juicy sausages are held in our servers' hands. The scent of the food wafts towards us, and I hear Stefan's stomach growl loudly. The servers bring the food to our small coffee table, and swiftly exit the room. Immediately, I'm shocked by the amount of food, and the luxury of it. 

I was used to eating crap as a homeless person. 

We begin to stuff our faces, wide eyed and pleasantly surprised, but as I eat, I notice Stefan has only eaten a bite of a piece of pancake. "I don't feel so good... I'll just brush my teeth without eating, I guess," he mumbles. Stefan excuses himself from the table and heads to the washroom. Weird... but he can handle whatever problems he has.

"So, Athena," I start, distracting myself. "What made you..." I cut myself off, realizing that it probably wasn't very smart or polite to ask that.

"Hate my father?" she guesses correctly. "Think about it. He kills, tortures, and has never shown any love for me. He's full of rage, because the Vamcorl killed my mother. I don't know why. He's... He's actually cruel because of his love." She blinks hard, and Pustyn twins their fingers together. Athena squeezes her hand and smiles at her.

"It's alright to care, you know. You're allowed to love your father, however many flaws he has." Pustyn kindly reassures her.

"It's just... I've always been alone. In school, people just thought that my father was a police officer, and were scared of me. My mother died when I was very young, and my father never had time to stop and be with me. He's fixed on rage and revenge, but I know that he cares about me, at least a little. He rarely shows love, but I hope he still has some left for me." I nod.

"It's not weird, is it?" I look at her in confusion.

"To want my dad to love me, after everything he's done?"

"Not at all. He's your dad, so... some part of you is always going to want his affection." Pustyn answers, shrugging. We all sit there for a bit, letting that sink in. Suddenly, Stefan screams from the washroom.

"Is everything okay?!" Athena asks loudly. No response. We shrug at each other, and the team (not including Stefan) walk towards the bathroom to see what's wrong. The door is open a crack, and I peek through it. Athena gasps. "Who is that?!"

A stranger with fire for hair is sprawled across the floor. Slowly, his eyes flicker open. A demon! I pin him to the floor, and scream in his face, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH STEFAN?!?"

"It is m-" I punch him in the face, knocking him out. A few minutes later, he wakes up. Before I can kick him, the demon yells, "I'm STEFAN!!!" I pause. He does look awfully familiar. "Really?" I ask suspiciously.

"YES! CAN'T YOU TELL BY THE LOOKS-" I take his hand and pull him up to a standing position. He looks in the mirror and immediately faints again. I dunk his head in the sink and run water on him. He bolts awake. "Wh-wha?" He mumbles.

"St-Stefan..."

I stop, terrified. I don't like getting scared, but I don't know what else to feel. "Stefan- you're a demon!" I black out the second I blurt it out to him.

...

Daylight flashes in my eyes. A figure with black hair growls angrily.

"The traitor is here. Do not discuss our plans." Durpner says.

"Look," Pustyn whispers. I stand up to look properly at Stefan. His hair is literally hot, uncontrollable fire, with streaks of dark blue. His once normal human teeth are now fangs, like Pustyn and Durpner, But unlike them, only both top and bottom teeth are sharp. He has sharp blood red nails, and blood red spikes on his back. A deep anger bubbles up my throat, rising higher and higher as tears form in my eyes.

Arkera, run!

But it's not them. It's Stefan. Stupid Stefan.

"No!" I shout. "He's innocent! You have no proof of him being guilty!"

Durpner looks at me, and his expression softens. I sigh in relief, but then he shakes his head and snarls. "You're too soft, Shadow," He turns toward Stefan. "Stefan," Stefan looks up. "Do you want to prove yourself? Then be good. Otherwise, I'll kill you myself." When Stefan nods, Durpner unbinds him, and he stands up cautiously, raising his hands in the air in surrender, glancing nervously at Durpner.

When he catches sight of his sharp nails, he makes a small choking sound.

"Wait," I say, turning toward Durpner. "Durpner, you can't just punish him like this, he didn't know he was a demon until today!"

"I don't care!" he snaps suddenly.

I take a step backwards, stunned by his sudden temper. "Wh-what do you mean?"

He closes his eyes for a moment, then opens them. "It-it really doesn't matter," he says. "You know what? Fine," He looks Stefan in the eye. "Demon, you're off the hook. Let's just get going to the elf cities already."

Pustyn blinks rapidly, then sighs, and closes her eyes. "Come on, let's leap to Vlamkorlar."