TEEN: - Ongoing Split (Non-Pokemon)

[Sarcastically Insane]

This is a story that popped into my head, and I HAD to write it. It leans toward my usual sword-and-sorcery writing that I do (Pokemon fics excluded), and I want some feedback on whether it's really good or not. I'm also thinking of quitting Five-Region Rush completely if this is good enough. I'm also going to post two chapters at first to get more feedback.

***

Alaois Cody Finn was an Irish teenager that never dreamed he would be hunting down the Vampire King. Not Dracula, but his son, Virgiliu Nicu. As he crept through the underground passage that he was hiding in, Alaois thought about how this had happened.

(Three months earlier)
Alaois walked into the second-to-last week of school with the rest of the track team’s better members. He was officially ranked seventh of the top twenty, but he thought there were some people ranked below him that could easily beat him in a race. As they jostled and joked in the hallway, the first bell rang and Alaois walked to his locker to lock up his backpack.
He was a sophomore at O’Byrne High School and one of the “popular” kids. He stood around 5’9’’ and had dirty blonde hair, mismatched light blue and dark green eyes, and a clean, white smile. He had a light tan and was also well-muscled.

He grabbed his books for first period and jogged down the hall to his first class. He halfway listened through his first three classes until gym class, where he was at home. He got high enough grades in his other classes, but gym was always an “A” for him. It let him think while he did what he did before every track meet and over every weekend. But the teacher, Mr. Martin, was out apparently, because there was a substitute. He was relatively small, and Alaois was taller and probably stronger than him.

“I’m Mr. Achille, your substitute for the day,” he explained. “Mr. Martin is sick.”

He started the class on the usual warm-up, but afterwards he brought out body pads and floor mats.

“Today, we’re going to spar,” he said. “All contact must be upper-body, and try to avoid the head. No kicking, only punching and elbows. And yes, this class has been approved by the principal and Mr. Martin.”

The first two kids up did well against each other, equally matched. The second, third, and fourth went this way, too. Nobody was getting hurt until Jacob, a big kid with a bigger attitude, was matched up against Anthony, a computer geek. Jacob beat the kid senseless before Mr. Achille could stop him and was going to give him detention when he was hurled across the floor.

“You think you could beat me?” Jacob yelled, his neck bulging. Mr. Achille looked at him with death in his eyes before he blinked and put his hand to his radio, ready to call in to the other teachers.

Alaois was incredulous. Jacob had attacked a teacher! He was going to get expelled! But when Mr. Achille touched his radio, nothing happened. It was broken.

Jacob turned to the other kids. “Who else thinks they can take me?” he yelled. “I can beat the pulp out of all of you!”

Anthony had scuttled away, holding his injuries, when Jacob turned to Alaois.

“You! Ala or whatever. You think you can take me?”

Apparently Alaois’s answer didn’t matter, because Jacob charged at him. Alaois dodged by jumping to the left and turned around to throw a punch, but Jacob caught it and, hoping to make Alaois scream, twisted his wrist 180 degrees.

Jacob reeled back and swore. Alaois’s skin just sloughed off, leaving a pitch-black, armored hand with skin peeling back where it met with the rest of Alaois’s arm.

“What is that thing?” he yelled. “You’re a freak, Ala, a freak!”

All the while Alaois stared at his hand. Mr. Achille stood up and everyone else froze, literally. Nobody moved a muscle, and nobody seemed to be breathing. Alaois looked at Mr. Achille and saw that he was becoming blurry, and all of a sudden his skin became like a fog and blew away, revealing a taller, more muscular man with an angular face dressed in a black robe. He had hair as black as Alaois’s hand, dark green eyes, and a sword’s sheath on his hip.

“We seem to have a Vampire Halfling,” he said as he drew his sword. It resembled a katana with a pitch-black blade. “I’ll fix that.”

 

[Sarcastically Insane]

Luciano and Sotiris were finishing off some Halfling Vampires that were acting up behind a convenience store when the call came in. A Hunter had found a Halfling that didn’t know what it was. They looked at each other and knew that had to save the Halfling.

Sotiris opened his armored wings and jumped for a good liftoff while Luciano just ran for it. He knew he couldn’t keep up with the Half-Angel, but he could still help if he got there in time.

***

Alaois knew he was going to die. This guy had some weird power and a katana that looked like it could kill someone that looked at it wrong.

“Where’d Mr. Achille go?” he asked.

“There never was a ‘Mr. Achille’. He was a guise while an acquaintance of mine exposed of the informant we found here.”

Alaois was about to ask if this was Mr. Martin when the man shot forward, faster than he should have been able to, and swung his sword. The deadly edge should have cut right through Alaois, but it just sliced of his clothes and skin, leaving the same black armor that appeared before.

“You aren’t just any Halfling,” the man said as he swung again, but Alaois caught the sword and threw him over his shoulder.

Thinking of how that shouldn’t have been possible, the killer turned around, more careful than before. Now Alaois could see things he hadn’t seen before; imperfections in the killer’s defensive stance where he could easily get a punch through, then quickly jab again while he grabbed the sword…

Then he thought of how he would know this, and the killer looked at him strangely.

“You… you have the Occhio di Guerra, the Eye of War. But how did a Halfling get that power?”

Alaois didn’t have time to answer, because something swooped down and landed on the killer, before jumping and flipping though the air and landing besides Alaois.

“Hello, my name is Sotiris Clan, Half-Angel and the guy that gets to save your life today, free of charge.”

The newcomer, Sotiris, had light blue eyes to match Alaois’s eye, blonde hair, baggy pants and a tee shirt that had two large wings protruding from the back. The wings had some sort of metal on the outside, where there weren’t any feathers, and seemed to have certain feathers made of the same material. Alaois wondered why he had metal on his wings, or even why he had wings in the first place, until a black beam shot at them. Sotiris crossed his wings in front of him, and the beam didn’t penetrate the shield.

“Are you just going to sit there while I get the pulp beat out of me?” Sotiris asked, obviously strained from the beam. Alaois realized he was being told to attack the killer and he shot forward, as fast as the killer had been. He saw that the killer was now firing the beam from his hands, and he recognized it as Magic. He didn’t know why, he just knew.

As he closed in on the killer, things seemed to slow down. The killer noticed him and stopped the beam to protect himself, but not before putting a strong blast at the end to knock down Sotiris. His stance left him open for an uppercut, though. The punch knocked the air out of his lungs, and he dropped his sword to the ground with a clatter. Alaois followed up with more punched and threw in a few kicks for good measure. Within a minute, the man was barely able to move.

“Why did you come here?” Alaois asked.

“I already told you. My acquaintance was disposing of a certain Mr. Martin. He had found out about the Hidden Ones and was helping my enemies.”

“What are the Hidden Ones?”

“Hah! You are a Hidden One, boy. Hidden ones are those that have enough Magical blood in their veins that powers manifest in them. It doesn’t matter if they’re Half-Angel, -Demon, -Vampire, or –Elf, when they have Magical powers, they are Hidden Ones. The boy was right. You’re a freak!” He cackled.

Alaois let go of him, realizing he had been holding him by the neck, and began to pace, wondering what that meant. The killer saw a chance and grabbed his sword as he attempted to cut off Alaois’s head, but a claw erupted from his chest. He was obviously dead, and fell forward with a thud. Behind him stood a man that might have resembled Alaois had he been younger. He had black hair, a few scars, and he was more muscular, but he had the same green eyes that Alaois had in his right eye, the same coarse hair, and the same smile. They might have been cousins.

But what stuck out most about the man were his claws. They looked similar to Alaois’s armored hands, but more wicked and sharper.

“Sotiris might have said ‘free of charge’,” he said sarcastically, “but that’ll be extra for climactic entrance and total asskicking.”

 

[Pastellorama]

=3 and still absolutely marvelous!

 

[woops]

I realy do like this, but it's a bit confusing on who's turning into or where's people coming from and tuff like that. It's a bit confusing, but other than that, it's great.

Also, I hope that because people like this doesn't mean you'll drop Five Region Rush...

 

[Sarcastically Insane]

Yeah, that's what my mom said. I'm rewriting the one scene in chapter 1 right now, and I'm working on chapter three. And next Saturday I'll post to both this and FRR

 

[Sarcastically Insane]

The man picked up the body and slung it over his shoulder before yelling over to Sotiris.

“We need to get going before time restarts here. One Hidden One is bad enough, but three would mean serious problems.”

Sotiris stood up weakly and nodded, but Alaois stopped them.

“Wait, you’re just going to leave me? What’s happening? Who are you?”

“One question at a time, kid,” the man that resembled Alaois said. “No, we’re not leaving you; you can come with us if you like. I’m Luciano, a Hidden One with Demon and Vampire blood. If you come with us, we’ll help you understand what’s happening.”

Luciano and Alaois turned and set off at a quick jog, and Sotiris took off through the air.
“He isn’t just any ordinary Halfling,” Luciano thought as he watched Alaois.

---

Soon the three had arrived at a gas station.

“Welcome to our super-top-secret base,” Luciano said sarcastically.

“Luke, stop it,” Sotiris said. “The kid just found out he isn’t human. Don’t you remember what it was like?”

“It was a relief to me, and don’t lecture me on that. You always knew you weren’t human. You had wings.”

“Can you please tell me what’s happening?” Alaois asked.

Luciano turned around to face him. “You’re a Halfling, someone who’s part human and part Hidden One, in you’re case, Vampire. You have basic magic…” he stopped. “You’re eye. I didn’t see it before. The Occhio di Guerra. You aren’t just any Halfling.”

“That’s what that crazy guy said. He said that no Halfling could have it. Could you tell me what it is?” Alaois said, his voice breaking.

“The Occhio di Guerra is a power that is supposed to be unique to full-blooded Vampires, usually direct descendants of Dracula. It allows the user insight on everything they see related to battle.” Luciano grabbed a small mirror and showed Alaois his reflection.

“Is that… me?” Alaois said, shocked. The figure reflected in the mirror didn’t look anything like him. His hair was darker, his skin paler… and his right eye was black around the iris and its pupil was red. The iris was still dark green, though.

“Alaois, if you think that’s bad, you should see the rest of you. Come inside,” Sotiris said. He guided Alaois to a room with a full-body mirror, and Alaois braced himself.

The mirror showed the same features Alaois had seen in the hand mirror, but it allowed him to see the black, spiked armor that covered most of his upper body. This didn’t shock him too bad, though; he had seen this in the fight. What shocked him was that skin and clothes were dangling off of his chest, and there wasn’t a single drop of blood. The change in his form was unbelievable. He was more muscular, slightly taller, and stood straighter. Then something happened that shocked him; the black around his iris receded slowly, and his pupil faded from red to black, returning it to normal.

“H-how?” he stammered.

“You’re a Vampire, kid,” Sotiris said. “To put it bluntly, you’re going to have no idea what’s going on for a long time.”

“So explain to me what’s happening now.”

Sotiris sighed. “Either your mother or father was a Vampire. Did you know your parents?”

“No, I’m an orphan, but none of my friends know. My foster parents look like me and do a good job of hiding I’m not their real son- they had their reasons for adopting me, after all.”

“So either of your real parents could be a Vampire, or both could be Half-Vampire. Maybe you’re more than Half-Vampire, but it doesn’t matter- that’s what partly-blooded Hidden Ones are referred to. By the looks of it, you’re probably more than half. Almost definitely a descendant of Dracula, even without the Occhio di Guerra to back the claim up- your Pelle Ferro, or Iron Skin, gives that away.”

“What? How? I’m not a professor on Dracula’s powers and crap, I’M JUST A GUY THAT TURNED INTO A FREAK!”

Luciano was unfazed by Alaois’s outburst. “For reasons nobody really knows, all of Dracula’s sons and daughters that aren’t fully vampiric develop iron hard skin similar to the Angel’s organic Unobtanium.”

“Hey!” Sotiris yelled. “It’s not called Unobtanium! Stop reading TV Tropes! It’s called-“

“It has twenty-five frickin’ syllables, I’ll call it something pronounceable, thank you,” Luciano cut in, before continuing. “The “metal” is actually some evolutionary trait that the Angels developed over the course of a couple millennia. Halfling descendants of Dracula have it as well. What amazes me is that you are completely covered by it, or at least seem to be. I’m a great-grandson of Dracula, and only my hands are like that.” He held up his two wickedly sharp hands. “Of course, my Demonic ancestry seems to affect it; mine are much sharper than yours.”

“Who was the guy that tried to kill me?” Alaois asked, wanting to get off the topic of how he was a freak.

“He was a grandson of Dracula, I’m guessing. Fully vampiric, since he didn’t have Pelle Ferro, and wasn’t blessed with the Occhio di Guerra. He seemed to be a magician, but he had a nice sword,” Luciano said as he hefted the sword he had taken. “It has a nice Magical wavelength so it can be imbued easily.”

“You took a dead guys sword?!” Sotiris said.

“You owe me a sword anyway, since you broke my last one, so consider it paid if you shut up,” Luciano said back, before turning to Alaois. “Something I find weird about Hidden Ones is that when we hold a sword, its blade changes color to reflect our heritage; black means Vampire, red means Demon, gold means Elf, and a blinding white means Angel.” He drew the katana and it changed from solid black to black and red. “It only reflects Hidden One ancestry; the no matter how human you are, it shows you why you have magic in your blood. If the rare human that does have magic holds a sword, it will simply glow blue; the blade will not change.”

The ground suddenly shook, and Sotiris covered himself with his wings.

“Attack!” Sotiris yelled. “We’re under attack! They found us!”

 

[woops]

This seems much better. Plot thickens, stuff is explained, and other stuff goes on. Though my only problem is that Alaois left his school and parents just to come with a random person who is part-demon and another who is part-angel.

Also, Unobtanium made me laugh. Who DOESN'T read TV Tropes?

 

[Sarcastically Insane]

The parents thing I've been wrestling with on EXACTLY how to explain. I have a rough idea... and the school thing I know what I'm going to do.

And overly obvious lampshade hanging FTW.

 

[Sarcastically Insane]

The man picked up the body and slung it over his shoulder before yelling over to Sotiris.

“We need to get going before time restarts here. One Hidden One is bad enough, but three would mean serious problems.”

Sotiris stood up weakly and nodded, but Alaois stopped them.

“Wait, you’re just going to leave me? What’s happening? Who are you?”

“One question at a time, kid,” the man that resembled Alaois said. “No, we’re not leaving you; you can come with us if you like. I’m Luciano, a Hidden One with Demon and Vampire blood. If you come with us, we’ll help you understand what’s happening.”

Luciano and Alaois turned and set off at a quick jog, and Sotiris took off through the air.
“He isn’t just any ordinary Halfling,” Luciano thought as he watched Alaois.

---

Soon the three had arrived at a gas station.

“Welcome to our super-top-secret base,” Luciano said sarcastically.

“Luke, stop it,” Sotiris said. “The kid just found out he isn’t human. Don’t you remember what it was like?”

“It was a relief to me, and don’t lecture me on that. You always knew you weren’t human. You had wings.”

“Can you please tell me what’s happening?” Alaois asked.

Luciano turned around to face him. “You’re a Halfling, someone who’s part human and part Hidden One, in you’re case, Vampire. You have basic magic…” he stopped. “You’re eye. I didn’t see it before. The Occhio di Guerra. You aren’t just any Halfling.”

“That’s what that crazy guy said. He said that no Halfling could have it. Could you tell me what it is?” Alaois said, his voice breaking.

“The Occhio di Guerra is a power that is supposed to be unique to full-blooded Vampires, usually direct descendants of Dracula. It allows the user insight on everything they see related to battle.” Luciano grabbed a small mirror and showed Alaois his reflection.

“Is that… me?” Alaois said, shocked. The figure reflected in the mirror didn’t look anything like him. His hair was darker, his skin paler… and his right eye was black around the iris and its pupil was red. The iris was still dark green, though.

“Alaois, if you think that’s bad, you should see the rest of you. Come inside,” Sotiris said. He guided Alaois to a room with a full-body mirror, and Alaois braced himself.

The mirror showed the same features Alaois had seen in the hand mirror, but it allowed him to see the black, spiked armor that covered most of his upper body. This didn’t shock him too bad, though; he had seen this in the fight. What shocked him was that skin and clothes were dangling off of his chest, were the black armor was, and there wasn’t a single drop of blood. The change in his form was unbelievable. He was more muscular, slightly taller, and stood straighter. Then something happened that shocked him; the black around his iris receded slowly, and his pupil faded from red to black, returning it to normal.

“H-how?” he stammered.

“You’re a Vampire, kid,” Sotiris said. “To put it bluntly, you’re going to have no idea what’s going on for a long time.”

“So explain to me what’s happening now.”

Sotiris sighed. “Either your mother or father was a Vampire. Did you know your parents?”

“No, I’m an orphan, but none of my friends know. My foster parents look like me and do a good job of hiding I’m not their real son- they had their reasons for adopting me, after all.”

“So either of your real parents could be a Vampire, or both could be Half-Vampire. Maybe you’re more than Half-Vampire, but it doesn’t matter- that’s what partly-blooded Hidden Ones are referred to, as “Halflings”. By the looks of it, you’re probably more than half. Almost definitely a descendant of Dracula, even without the Occhio di Guerra to back the claim up- your Pelle Ferro, or Iron Skin, gives that away.”

“What? How? I’m not a professor on Dracula’s powers and crap, I’M JUST A GUY THAT TURNED INTO A FREAK!”

Luciano was unfazed by Alaois’s outburst. “For reasons nobody really knows, all of Dracula’s sons and daughters that aren’t fully vampiric develop iron hard skin similar to the Angel’s organic Unobtanium.”

“Hey!” Sotiris yelled. “It’s not called Unobtanium! Stop reading internet jokes! It’s called-“

“It has twenty-five frickin’ syllables, I’ll call it something pronounceable, thank you,” Luciano cut in, before continuing. “The “metal” is actually some evolutionary skin and feather trait that the Angels developed over the course of a couple millennia. Halfling descendants of Dracula have it as well. What amazes me is that you are completely covered by it, or at least seem to be. I’m a great-grandson of Dracula, and only my hands are like that.” He held up his two wickedly sharp hands. “Of course, my Demonic ancestry seems to affect it; mine are much sharper than yours.”

“Who was the guy that tried to kill me?” Alaois asked, wanting to get off the topic of how he was a freak.

“He was a grandson of Dracula, I’m guessing. Fully vampiric, since he didn’t have Pelle Ferro, but wasn’t blessed with the Occhio di Guerra. He seemed to be a magician, but he had a nice sword,” Luciano said as he hefted the sword he had taken. “It has a nice Magical wavelength so it can be imbued easily.”

“You took a dead guys sword?!” Sotiris said.

“You owe me a sword anyway, since you broke my last one, so consider it paid if you shut up,” Luciano said back, before turning to Alaois. “Something I find weird about Hidden Ones is that when we hold a sword, its blade changes color to reflect our heritage; black means Vampire, red means Demon, gold means Elf, and a blinding white means Angel.” He drew the katana and it changed from solid black to black and red. “It only reflects Hidden One ancestry; the no matter how human you are, it shows you why you have magic in your blood. If the rare human that does have magic holds a sword, it will simply glow blue; the blade will not change.”

The ground suddenly shook, and Sotiris covered himself with his wings.

“Attack!” Sotiris yelled. “We’re under attack! They found us!”

---

That's chapter 3. Meme-er, I'm hoping to get time to work on FRR tomorrow.

 

[Sarcastically Insane]

Sotiris turned around and pulled out a broadsword from a sheath that Alaois hadn’t noticed before. It must have been behind Sotiris’s wings earlier. He ran up some stairs and disappeared from Alaois’s sight.

“He’s going to the roof for an easy takeoff,” Luciano said. “C’mon, kid, me and you are going to fight out front. Have you ever fought before today?”

Alaois shook his head no.

“Then this is going to be interesting.”

Luciano suddenly ducked, and a hole appeared in the wall. Alaois peered out and saw four people that looked similar to the killer at the school. The one in front, apparently the leader, had his sword drawn.

“Come on out, and we won’t torture you before we kill you,” the apparent leader said.

“Not exactly the friendliest of Hunters,” Luciano said sarcastically.

After about a minute, the Hunters’ leader sighed, and whispered to the person next to him, a woman. She nodded and pulled a bow out from behind her back and drew it to its full pull with a solid black arrow. She released it, and it flew into the center of the room Luciano and Alaois were in and exploded in a dark, magical eruption.

The two were thrown backwards against the walls, and Alaois hit his head and couldn’t see straight. Luciano flipped backward and landed on the wall horizontally before he jumped back towards the center of the room. As if on queue, a third Hunter appeared, lightning-fast, before getting punched in the gut by Luciano. The Hunter survived, but was definitely knocked out for a long time. Alaois turned his aching head to see the other three Hunters, and Sotiris seemed to fall out of the sky on one of them, slashing and beating him with his wings. The leader turned and slashed once at Sotiris, but a great black wave was released from the small black katana, knocking Sotiris backward.

Luciano ran forward, but raised his hands to protect himself from the sudden rain of arrows from the female archer. None of the arrows hit anything vital, but Luciano was stuck with about seven of the painful missiles.

Alaois suddenly felt an odd sensation, one that he had felt in the battle against the last Hunter. He stood up, his head cleared, and turned to fight the Hunters. Instantly he realized that the Occhio di Guerra had returned; he saw his opponents’ strike areas, attack range, and how hard and fast he should attack, all in slow motion. He rushed forward, faster than ever before, and punched at the leader. The Hunter didn’t seem to react, but Alaois’s fist passed right through him. His brain didn’t comprehend this, but his eye did; the Hunter must have moved faster than Alaois could perceive. One thought went through his head; “Bad.”

Alaois went through the sensation of being punched, kicked, elbowed, and slashed at the same time; it happened too fast for him to tell what happened first. Oddly, all the attacks hit only his armored torso; none of them went for his exposed head.

He fell backwards. The leader of the Hunters came back into sight and held his katana to Alaois’s throat.

“You are an odd one, aren’t you?” he said, then continued, since Alaois couldn’t speak without cutting his throat. “The Occhio di Guerra in a Halfling. You look like you have some pretty tough Pelle Ferro, too.” He looked Alaois over. “You’re confused about how I’m so fast, right? I’ll tell you. It’s another one of those annoying powers that Vampire lords seem to hand out at random; this one from Carmilla, my grandmother. The Pugno Velocità, or Speed Fist. It allows you to move at extremely high speeds by sacrificing “fine” motor skills- in other words, you just move. You don’t really know what you’re doing, you’re just doing it. That’s why you still have a head.” He began the killing thrust into Alaois’s neck, but a black hand grabbed the blade. Alaois took a second to realize it was his hand.

“You can’t die now, Al,” a strange, maniacal voice said, coming from Alaois’s mouth. “If you die, I die. And I’m not going to die because of your incompetence in battle!”

The voice screeched, but the sound was so powerful it blasted the Hunter backwards. Alaois stood up, realizing he couldn’t control his own body, and suddenly had Luciano’s sword in his hands. The sword had gone back to solid black, but there was so much power in it that it was glowing black. All of the skin on Alaois’s chest and legs was also replaced by Pelle Ferro now; Alaois realized he had been moving faster than he could watch himself move. The air resistance must have torn off the rest of the dangling skin.

Then the fight started, and all Alaois could do was watch it in a dream-like state. Both he and the Hunter were amazingly fast, but Alaois could see a slash here, a block there. He realized that he wasn’t seeing things through the Occhio di Guerra, but that left his mind quickly. He began to react faster, and was able to see what was happening.

He saw the Hunter was telling the truth. For him to move quickly, he had a very limited strike range; he kept slashing back and forth in the same spot. However, Alaois was slashing and stabbing even faster, and was as coordinated as a machine. Soon, the Hunter was just a bloody robe. Alaois quickly disposed of the other male Hunter, slashing at three vital points. He turned to attack the woman, but when the blade passed through her, her form dissipated like smoke.

“More tricks from that witch, Carmilla,” the strange voice said. He slammed Luciano’s katana into the ground. “I think I’ll sleep now.”

Alaois suddenly felt tired, but it passed quickly. He suddenly realized he couldn’t move. About five seconds later, he fainted.

 

[Sarcastically Insane]

Luciano was slouched against a wall of the broken-down gas station with his katana sheathed and leaning on his shoulder. Alaois lie before him, all but his head covered by Pelle Ferro. Sotiris was upstairs talking to the captured Hunter.

Luciano took out what looked like part of a mask. He had found it over Alaois’s right eye. It was V-shaped, going from the edge of the nose to around his head, with an eyehole roughly positioned over where Alaois’s eye would be if he was wearing it.

Luciano looked at Alaois again, to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. There was a small cut underneath his cheek. Luciano thought about what he knew of the intricacies of Vampire Magic. When it first surfaced, Pelle Ferro would cover any part of the body that was attacked in such a way that the body would be harmed greatly. However, it only covered parts of the body. In Alaois’s case, this seemed to be his entire body save his head. But he had been cut on his face, and he had Pelle Ferro on his face… Luciano didn’t know what to make of it. And his sword had disappeared from his hand, only to be used by Alaois to fight off two of the Hunters.

Sotiris walked down the stairs, apparently rested.

“The Hunter’s asleep and bound. How’s Alaois?” he asked.

“Still breathing,” was Luciano’s answer. “Did you see what the kid did? Two professional Hunters dropped like flies. And his incredible speed… I’ve never seen anything like it; not even Pugno Velocità came close to matching him. One second, the Hunter is an inch from killing him, the next, two Hunters resemble shredded wheat. And then there’s this.” He showed Sotiris the fragment. “Sotiris, we thought this kid was a descendant of Dracula. I think we may be dealing with one of his sons.”

“But this kid can’t be over fifteen. Dracula was killed in the World War I! You know, the war between Were-beasts and Vampires that got so out of hand, humans were dragged in?”

“Yeah, but so was Hitler, and that particular Demon came back after the war.”

“Yeah, but Demons are weird like that-”

“And one of the four Vampire Ancients, or any of the Hidden One Ancients, isn’t? Sotiris, this kid fought like they describe Dracula and Alucard did in the Civil War. It was like a tornado of blades, but this time, the two were on different sides.”

“So you think he’s also related to Alucard now?”

“If he’s Dracula’s son, he’s Alucard’s nephew-”

“No, I mean like he’s a descendant!”

“Maybe,” Luciano said sarcastically. “Or maybe he’s actually Dracula. You never know.”

“No, nobody ever knows. The Ancients have family trees like the Greek gods!”

Alaois moaned and rolled over.

“Is he okay?” Sotiris asked.

“Yeah, but he needs training. And his armor needs a seal. If he’s ever seen by a human like that, it better be Halloween.”

“I’ll work on one as soon as he’s up. You know the drill of questions, right? I did it for you.”

“Which reminds me…” Luciano picked up an overcoat and put it on over his clothes, then surrounded his claws with Magic. When the Magic receded, his claws were gone, and hands were covered with swirling designs that followed where his claws were. He then put on gloves to hide the tribal tattoo-looking patterns. “Do you have any new ideas on my Perfect Binding? I still need it. I promised her…”

“Don’t worry, Luke. I’m working on it. I’m still trying.”

***

So there's the next chapter. I realized that I haven't described their clothes at ALL, and thought that might be a snag soon. But all is well right now, and Luciano needed a past, if it was impromtu for me (he was the only one that I didn't have an extensive plan for his past :O)

 

[Pastellorama]

Still great ^_^- I like your footnotes, because they show me that you know what's missing and what you want to fix.

 

[Sarcastically Insane]

Yeah... I had the seal thing in my head (after thinking about what the Meme-er said about him talking to his family, and I thought, "Yeah, a teenager in black armor that's actually part of his body and two guys in their twenties, one with demonic claws and a creepy demeanor and the other with freakin' WINGS are gonna waltz around and fight people. Crap. I need something to overcome this slightly obvious speedbump to avoid a horrible wall-banger." So I thought up a really cool seal, and I get to use my lucky number, 13, in insane amounts because of it (but I won't say why).

 

[woops]

I do find this very interesting. I do, also, fail at reviewing. In which, I am sorry to say that I leave you with:
"This is utterly and absolutely fantastic in every possibly way that I, in the universe, have ever had the luckiness to encounter".
Okay, that was a bit exaggerated, but this genre seems to flow through my mind a lot, I just never get a decent plot down.

 

[Sarcastically Insane]

Alaois woke with a start. He was lying in a muddy field, and there was junk everywhere. Old tires, mufflers, gas cans- it resembled a scrap heap. He sat up, and slowly rose to his feet, looking around. He didn’t see Luciano or Sotiris anywhere. He turned and saw a man dressed in soot-stained armor.

“Who are you?” he asked the strange figure.

“My name’s unimportant,” the figure said in a thick New York accent. “What matters is this; can ya fight?”

Alaois noticed the figure had a scabbard for a broadsword, but he didn’t see a pommel or hilt anywhere. His hands rose to his chest and he assumed a defensive stance anyway, just in case this man was a mage.

“Boy, ya aren’t going to beat me by defending. If I hit ‘cha, there won’t be much left to defend.”

And at that, a blackened broadsword appeared in his right hand. He swung it at Alaois’s head, but Alaois was able to duck right in time. Unfortunately, Alaois didn’t see the figure use the momentum from the swing to turn around completely and use the back of his foreleg to kick Alaois’s feet from under him. He then continued to turn and brought the tip of his blade to Alaois’s throat.

“Boy, ya need ta learn ta fight. People won’t always be around ta protect ya.”

---

“You awake yet, Al?” Sotiris asked as he knelt over Alaois’s sleeping form. When Alaois groaned, Sotiris took it as a “yes”. “I have a few questions for you. But first, breakfast.”

Alaois watched as the sun rose as he ate Wheaties. Sotiris had said, “They’re good for you. Try some.” And they weren’t half bad, either. Once you got past the taste, texture, and smell, they were like gifts from the gods. If only Alaois could get past them.

“So Al, what is your favorite thing in the world?” Sotiris asked after breakfast.

Alaois paused before answering. “I’m not sure. I like running, but that wouldn’t be it. I had a girlfriend, but she isn’t the center of my world or anything. My family is there to support me, but that isn’t it either…”

“I have a suggestion. Is it training?”

“Huh? Training? Why would that be it?”

“People like to learn new things and use them. They like to test their abilities. Isn’t that what sports are all about?”

“Yeah, I guess, but what does that have to do with anything?”

“Because if you don’t like training, soon you’ll hate me and Luke. Next question: are you a lucky person?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“It’s a simple question. Do you think you have good luck, bad luck, or average luck?”

Alaois was about to answer “average luck” when he thought for a second. He looked back on the big parts of his life, and realized that whenever he had thought something through, he had pretty good luck in the long run, but if he took something and ran with it, something would go wrong. He explained this to Sotiris.

“That is weird,” he replied. “But now I know your Seal.”

“Wait, wha-” Alaois was cut off by Sotiris, who began a chant.

“Thirteen black nights, released upon this boy, seal thine power within for protection.
Thirteen bleak days, hunting release from this boy, show thine shield of illusion!”

A black ball shot out of Sotiris’s palms and blasted Alaois backward, knocking the breath out of him. When he got up, the black armor was gone.

“What’d you do?!” Alaois asked, alarmed.

“Relax. Your power is just sealed so that you can fit in. If you need to release it, just wipe off your Physical Seal.”

“What’s that?”

“It depends on the person, but I think I see yours on the right side of your neck, unless you had a tattoo there before.”

Alaois stood up and checked the nearby mirror to see “13” written on his neck. Then, to check to see that what Sotiris said was true, he took his thumb and smeared it off, and his armor sprouted from beneath his skin, piercing it and shedding the current layer.

“Now what?” Alaois asked. “Do I have to repeat that chant again to seal it?”

“No, because now you know your Physical Seal, and, luckily, it is namable. Simply place your hand over the spot it was and say ‘thirteen, seal’.

“Thirteen, seal!” As soon as the words left Alaois’s mouth, the armor fell of and hit the ground before disintegrating. “That’s awesome.”

 

[woops]

That is interesting... Hideable armor via the number 13.

 

[Sarcastically Insane]

The 13 thing is exclusive to him. Like Luciano's was the wierd tribal thing on his hands (which I'll detail later) and Sotiris's is this spinny-ish pattern on his back, where the wings fold in. NOTE: That wasn't a spoiler at all. It happens next chapter, anyway, in the first couple sentences.

 

[woops]

I was aware of such already. Either way, I look forward to those next few sentences!

 

[Sarcastically Insane]

Alaois and Sotiris walked outside to the back of the gas station, or what was left of it. When Alaois saw it, he gasped. It was the same place from his dream-fight with the New York knight.

“This is where you’ll be training,” Sotiris said. “In the first part of your training, you won’t be able to access your Vampire powers. There are many ways to seal it away from you if it’s sealed, many of them discreet. None of them are permanent, as far as I know.”

Luciano walked out through the back of the gas station.

“Sotiris, he’s awake. If you’ve sealed Alaois’s powers yet, you can give him your sword and go question the prisoner. I’ll train him.”

Sotiris drew his broadsword and sent it through the air, spinning, to Alaois. Alaois caught it without a problem, but looked at it oddly.

“I thought that the blade changed to reflect Hidden One heritage? Why is it still white?”

“I sealed your Vampire blood,” Sotiris said, “and since you don’t have any other Magical blood in you, it stayed the same color, I guess. I personally wouldn’t know, since this is the first time I’ve trained someone this way.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Luciano said. “All you have to fight with is a sword, Alaois. Let’s see what you can do.”

"So I have to fight in my gym clothes?" Alaois asked, realizing he was still wearing them.

"Unless you can conjure something, yes," Luciano replied.

Alaois held his sword with both his hands, his right closer to the blade than his left.

“Wrong,” Luciano said, and as Alaois began to shift, he struck, knocking the sword out of his hands. “Never listen to your opponent. Their goal is to distract you. Instead, focus on their weapons and Magic.”

Alaois picked up the white broadsword again and held it in the same position as last time.

“Wrong.” Luciano swung again, but Alaois blocked and parried it, only to have Luciano dodge the stab by an inch and make a 360 degree slash at the back of Alaois’s kneecaps, hitting him with the blunt side of his katana to knock Alaois down.

“Again,” Luciano said.

***

I know that the chapter's really short, but I needed the training to start. I decided that Sotiris wouldn't do anything until next chapter with the prisoner, and then you get to see how scary an angel can be without me cutting some of it to fit it.