The girl Lyssa lay on the bed, her face smooth and unblemished, her eyes closed in sleep; deep sleep evidently. The man standing watch over her bed fished out a coin from the depths of his trenchcoat. The coin was gleaming as if it were newly minted. An unfamiliar face and an odd language was printed on it and the man flipped it over and over about his fingers. He reached forward and put it into the girl's open palm, closing her hand into a fist around it. He stroked her long silver hair and took a step back. He walked to the window and looked out. Almost a full moon, but not quite then. Not that he needed to check. He could feel it in his blood. Just a day or two more to the full bloom of the moon. The Flowering Night, as his people called it, or the Night of Nights. He smiled slightly and lifted up the window quietly and jumped out, trenchcoat flaring behind as he fell to the ground, seven floors below. He landed with little more than a thud and he quickly made his way into the night after dusting himself.
“Hey, Lyssa! Wait up!” Tessil gulped heavy breaths after chasing the hooded girl. Lyssa only nodded to acknowledge her friend's presence and adjusted her bag and carried on walking.
“You don't look too well, Lyss.” Tessil commented, looking at Lyssa's deep eye bags. Lyssa just shrugged and kept walking.
“I'm okay.” She coughed out hoarsely.
“No, you're not, Lyss, you should stay at home.”
Lyssa shook her head and muttered, “I'm fine.”
“Your eyes are bloodshot, Lyss, you really should go and rest.”
“I said I'm fine, Tess!” Lyssa flared up suddenly, her pale skin radiating anger rather than illness and weakness.
“Chill, Lyss, I'm sorry, okay? You really scared me there for a moment. Your eyes even went all red for a second. Wow.” Tessil shrank back from her. The pair continued walking towards their class in silence.
As they took their seats, Tessil heard Lyssa murmur to herself, “Full moon up tonight, full moon up tonight.' over and over again.
“What do you mean, Lyss?”
“Huh?” Lyssa looked up distractedly. “What do I mean?”
“Yeah, you were saying 'Full moon up tonight' over and over again. Full moon important to you?”
“I was?” Lyssa appeared genuinely surprised. She shivered slightly and pulled her hoodie closer about her. “I didn't realise.”
“Oh.” Tessil looked over at her friend worriedly, even as Lyssa's gaze started going unfocused again and she started muttering things to herself. Suddenly, Lyssa snapped out of her reverie and looked at Tessil with an intense urgency.
“Tess, tonight we've got night class, don't we?”
“Uh, yeah. What's got you so worked up, Lyss?”
“Nothing. Nothing. It's nothing. Night class...” Lyssa stared around distractedly, “Okay. Right. Right. I think you're right. I should be home. I'll see you for night class then. Bye.” She stood up, grabbed her bag and just left the classroom abruptly as the bell signaling the start of lessons rang, leaving her friend staring after her, concerned for her odd behaviour.
“Lyssa! You look like you've been crying! And are these cuts? You weren't cutting yourself, were you? What happened?”
“Tess, I know what it looks like, but I'm fine now. Really, I am. Don't worry for me, Tess.”
“Yeah... You do look much better.”
Lyssa's complexion was less pale and more radiant; she seemed as if she were glowing. Her eyes were still somewhat bloodshot, though they appeared more alert and less distracted. There were cuts on her arms though, fresh new cuts just scabbing over beside her old scars. She had even pulled back her hood, revealing her long, beautiful mercury-coloured hair.
“The full moon sure is pretty, isn't it?” Lyssa commented, looking directly upwards at the full round silvery orb, a colour not too different from her hair.
“Yeah.” Tessil wondered what time exactly the moon would be full as she stared up into the night.
“It was full since seven. Seven thirty-eight. And it'll end in twenty-two more minutes.” Lyssa switched her gaze to Tessil, her eyes wide open and her mouth spread wide in an open grin. Tessil's blood ran cold.
“How did you know I was-”
“Thinking that? I don't know. I just know. It's amazing. The moon is amazing. The night is amazing. I feel odd. I'm getting this really strong pressure building up in me, you know? It's just building up, building up, building up, building up and I have to release it!” The last syllable left Lyssa's mouth with a scream as the lights of the classroom blew, plunging the classroom into utter darkness as an even deeper shadow pulsated from Lyssa and blasted across the room, black on black, throwing tables and chairs to the sides, throwing her classmates against the walls with bone-shattering cracks. The darkness picked up speed and the class was a whirlwind of shadow and blood, as the impacts left the stains of various people on the walls. All the while, Lyssa laughed maniacally, reveling in the sheer frenzy and adrenaline rush of the moment, soaking in the death like some deity having sacrifices offered to her. As the room started to settle and the unnatural dark receded into Lyssa, night reclaimed the room.
Barely realising the fact that the darkness had shredded away her attire, she picked her way through the splinters of glass and wood to the mangled heap of her friend. Somehow, she could see clearly in the night, even clearer than as if it were day.
“Tessil?” Lyssa called out in a singsong voice. She knelt down behind Tessil's broken and crushed body. “You're all snapped.”
Lyssa stood and straightened and skipped towards the exit, her feet somehow being simultaneously cut by the broken tables and yet mysteriously healing over with darkness shrouding over it. Humming a repetitive tune, Lyssa made her way home.
Heaving the body of her father into the chute, Lyssa found herself singing an old rhyme.
“Lizzie Borden took an axe
and gave her father forty whacks
And when she saw what she had done
She gave her mother forty-one.”
Repeating the same words with a little smile, she threw her mother in as well and started cleaning the bloodstains on the floor. Lyssa decided to leave the blood on the wall. It made for nice décor, she thought.
After she mopped up the blood, she finally went to get dressed. She pulled on a plain white shirt and some jeans before fishing another hoodie from the wash. As she took out the strange coin she had woken up with, the day's events caught up with her and she collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
“I may have a reputation for being an odd one, but I'm telling you, Ren, that girl is cra-zee! She's mad! She's touched in the brain, Ren! I don't even want to go near her!”
“Oh, calm down, Psycho. Granted, the way she awoke, taking out a whole class and going home to kill her parents, that's pretty unbalanced, but-”
“Pretty unbalanced? And you guys think the way I awoke was weird? Please, torturing that kid to death, I've got nothing on this girl, Ren, nothing at all. Don't send me in there, Ren, please don't. I know you've got a heart, I've saved it enough times.”
“Quiet Psycho. She's one of us, all the same. She's still a Daughter of the Moon, even as we didn't decide to leave you to die, you a Son of the Moon even though some of us were hesitant about you. You turned out nice enough.”
“But this girl's insane!”
“Enough, Psycho. I'll go in with you, if that will stop you complaining.”
“It's not going to stop me from complaining.”
“Just shut up, okay?”
The willowy Oriental woman pushed the taller man into the room, both adorned in a white medical gown.
Lyssa looked up from the white bed, a drip inserted in her right arm. She smiled a little.
“Oh hello, doctors. Which hospital am I in?”
“Good morning. Before you say anything else, know that we are the same as you.”
“What do you mean?”
The tall silver-haired woman raised both hands and Lyssa watched in fascination as shadows started congealing about her palms and then dripping onto the floor. The dripping increased in frequency until the dark puddle on the floor suddenly rose and formed a pitch-black split-image of the woman. The shadow-woman went to check on Lyssa's blood pressure and pulse as the woman herself took Lyssa's fever.
“This is what I mean.” The woman told her, after making sure that she was alright. “Now, child, tell us who you are.”
“I'm Lyssa.”
“No last name?” The shadow-woman dissipated after writing something on a clipboard hanging on the bedside table.
“I don't remember.”
“Well, that's alright. We'll be faking identities anyway.”
“So I can make my own name?”
“Essentially yes, but we'd like to know your real name.”
“You know I'm Lyssa. Could I go by Lizzie Borden?”
The man standing at the side flinched slightly and started muttering under his breath.
“Psycho.” The woman said firmly. “Control yourself.”
“So can I?” Lyssa asked again.
“Lizzie is close enough to Lyssa.” The woman conceded.
“Then who are you?”
The Chinese woman smiled. “I'm the one asking questions here. But I'll tell you. I'm Ren.”
“Pleased to meet you.”
“Lyssa, how old are you?”
“How.. old I am?” She hesitated. “I don't remember.” She whispered.
“It's okay. Memory loss is to be expected after such a violent and traumatic awakening. You're lucky our people picked you up quickly. The dramatic way you awoke sent the Guardians coming after you much quicker than they had spotted awakenings before.”
“The Guardians?”
“Bunch of madmen who seek to exterminate our kind and supposedly protect humankind from us.”
Lyssa groaned a little and brought a palm to her head.
“Are you okay?”
“A little headache.”
“I'll administer painkillers through the IV drip, if you don't mind.”
“No... I don't mind.. No. I don't feel so good suddenly.”
“That's normal, Lyssa. The rush of the power within you is very intoxicating, but it doesn't make up for proper nourishment. I don't believe you've eaten much or drank much for a while.”
“No. Isn't that the point of the drip?”
“It's to keep you hydrated, yes, but it cannot sustain you for long. Your lunch will be coming soon.”
“Lunch huh. How long have I been out?”
“Three days.”
Lyssa blinked twice. “Three days. No wonder I feel ravenous. What are we anyway?”
“Now Lyssa, you'll concentrate on regaining your strength. You are no good to anyone, least of all yourself in this state.”
Lyssa nodded and then turned to the nervous man.
“Who are you?”
He flinched when he realised she was talking to him, but he managed to keep under control as he hurriedly replied, “Psycho.”
“Lyssa, are you comfortable in your clothing?”
“Yeah, I'm fine, but can I have my clothing back? I don't feel safe without my wallet-”
“Don't worry, we've got your coin.”
“How did you know?”
“One of our people gave it to you. We give it to those who will awaken within the next day or two.”
“You knew what was going to happen?”
“Not so spectacularly, no.” Ren shook her head. “You are distinctly stronger than many others, but you need to exercise control.”
Lyssa gave a non-committal half-sigh. She drew a deep breath and exhaled. “I'm bored.”
“Try exercising your power, but slowly. We don't want you to wreck our equipment.”
“And how do I start exercising my power?”
“Simply. Start with attempting to draw shadows to you, or exude shadows if that's how you do it. It's a mental exercise, but it will tax you physically so be wary of overdoing it.”
“But how? You haven't answered me.”
“Feel the shadow. It will have a distinctive feel in your mind, unique to each of us. Grasp onto the feel, your impression of shadow and bring it forth.”
Ren headed out of the room, followed by Psycho but she took a step back and then told Lyssa, “If you need anything, we're around. I'll be right back with your lunch.”
Lyssa nodded and closed her eyes, thinking. What was her impression of shadow? Comfort. Where she could rest in peace. Slight cold, comforting cold. She imagined the cold misting around her hands and she opened her eyes to see the pores of her skin exuding an inky black fog. She lost her concentration with surprise, but somehow the shadows continued to seep out from her hands. She let it envelop her arms and then she pulled it towards her with a thought. She inhaled some of the darkness; the frost had a slight bite to it, but it was still extremely soothing. The thick fog of black quickly covered much of the room.
Lyssa started drawing shapes in the mist, pulling strands of fog here and there. Gradually, of its own volition, a face formed in the depths of black. Its features were barely discerned, but its shape was clear. The face, masculine in form, floated just in front of Lyssa, another patch of black among black.
Just then, Lyssa heard the door swing open and she heard a Chinese curse as the black fog started to spill out of the room.
“Lyssa! Call back your shadow! Now.”
Lyssa started and the face dissipated. She concentrated, concentrated on pulling all the frost through her skin into her blood, turning it black as sin, black blood coursing through her veins-
She gasped as the shock of all the cold shadow quickly entering her hit her sharply and she almost let loose the fog once more. She shivered uncontrollably, teeth chattering as her blood ran as cold as the mist had been and her bones felt as if they had been lined with hoarfrost.
Ren sighed as she pushed a trolley within Lyssa's view.
“I knew I shouldn't have told you to practice now. My mistake. I knew you were strong, but to release so much and then to take it back in so quickly, that's not good.” Ren took her temperature again and sighed. “You're too cold. It's due to the shadow, isn't it?”
Lyssa nodded numbly as she tried to pull the blankets tighter around her.
“At any rate, you'll recover quickly enough. I've brought your lunch.” Ren looked closer at Lyssa. “Girl, you look like you've seen a ghost. Are you alright?”
“There was a face in the shadow...”
“Of course. Was it fully formed?”
“N-No... The face was still forming when I called it back.”
“You're much stronger than we expected. Still, that is a matter for another time.” Ren lifted the tray of food and placed it on the bed table, then shifted the table so that Lyssa could reach it easily. “For now, eat and rest. The food may not be to your liking, I'm sorry about that, but we have no idea what you can or cannot take.”
Lyssa shivered some more and then slowly sat up to eat. Her appetite was ravenous and she quickly devoured the noodles and drank the thick soup with gusto.
“Eat slowly. I know you haven't eaten for days, but slow down.”
“It's delicious.” Lyssa commented as she finished the last few drops.
“I know, I cooked it. But still. You watch out for any signs of your stomach feeling upset. Toilet's over there, if you need to go, push your drip along or call me if you really feel too weak.”
“Okay.” Lyssa sighed contentedly and snuggled deeper within the blanket.
“I'll leave first. Anything you need, that button over there will alert me.”
Outside of the room, the nervous man approached Ren.
“I told you, Ren, she's mad!”
“She seems perfectly fine to me, albeit a little on the girlish side.”
“She's an actor, I swear! She's crazy!”
“I think, even though you represent a professional opinion, I think we ought to seek a third, unbiased opinion.”
“'Unbiased'? Look, she killed a whole classroom of her acquaintances, got up, went home and killed her parents for no discernible reason with a ceremonial knife, which I have no idea where she got that from. Who's the one being biased here?”
“I admit, I am being more lenient in my judgement to her, but as of now, she appears fully balanced.”
“I still remember when I was brought in. None of you trusted me for weeks. Is this gender discrimination?”
“Calm down, Psycho. Look, I'm sorry for what happened, but you did torture that little girl unto death.”
“And I admitted it. I never shirk from my deeds.” Psycho threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. “But this...”
“Okay, Psycho, calm down. How about you go in there and have a chat with her and psychoanalyse her? It's what you do for a living after all, isn't it?”
“I'm too jumpy right now. Chances are I'd try to kill her first as a preemptive action to protect my own life.” Psycho shuddered and took a pill from a bottle and promptly swallowed it. “I have got to remember to take my own self-prescribed medication. Anyway,” He glanced through the one-way window at Lyssa dreamily lying on the bed, “She finished eating quickly. Aren't you going to clear the tray?”
“I'll send in Aco. Lyssa should probably get to know everyone of our little family.”
“Family. I never understood your obsession with that concept.”
“It's a Chinese thing.” Ren smiled and called out. “Aco!”
“Coming!” A responding shout came from the other side of the hall. The hall was not particularly spacious, but had a homely atmosphere. It was surprisingly different from the medical feel of Lyssa's room, mahogany walls and a polished floor instead of a sterile tiled white room. A Chinese boy, not much older than sixteen quickly emerged from a side room and stopped in front of Ren.
“Yes, Mother?” The boy had lively eyes that seemed to dance with a certain light in them. His onyx hair was a tad bit too long and was being held to the side by a hair clip.
“The girl in that room is Lyssa, a new addition to our family. Go and greet her, have a talk with her. Attend to any needs she might have and once you're done, take out the tray to the kitchen.”
“Yes, Mother.” The boy shifted his shoulders and headed in to do as he was told.
Psycho looked on with interest. “Explain to me again how you managed to get him to call you Mother after you killed his biological parents.”
“I was honour-bound to take him in. It wasn't a bad choice.”
“Funny. You just evaded my question. Never mind. Go do your paperwork. I'll watch them from here.”
“Alright.”
The youth Aco tidied himself nervously and opened the door; he hadn't had much contact with girls. Not that he had much contact with people in general, for that matter. But if, as Ren had said, this girl was to be a part of his family, then it only made sense for him to get to know her. He saw from the outside that the girl had nice silver hair, just like Ren and Psycho. She was probably one of them, with their dark powers.
He stepped in and closed the door behind him gingerly, feeling uncomfortable under the girl's gaze. He bowed, went to sit at the bedside chair and he looked at her.
“Uh... Hi. I'm Aco.”
“Hello. Do you also have shadow powers?” Lyssa asked, suprisingly straightforward.
“Don't I wish.” He blushed slightly at his admission. “No, but I've got something other.”
“Oh? What do you mean?”
“I inject myself with Mother's liquid shadow. It's given me... some poison abilities.”
“Oh cool.” Lyssa slowly sat up and grinned. “You look about my age. I don't remember my age. What's your age?”
“Uh, I'm not too sure either. Never kept track. Maybe sixteen or seventeen?”
“I see. Maybe I'm seventeen too. I can't remember. Are you Chinese? I remember something about Chinese friends in my school.”
He nodded in response, self-consciously brushing a hand through his hair.
“We're pretty similar.” Lyssa stared at him with an odd look in her eyes that made him feel even more uncomfortable. “You're cute.”
“Wha- I, uh, I-” He stammered, unsure of how to respond and blushed.
“Yeah, you're really cute.” She giggled slightly.
“Uh.. Okay... Thanks, I guess.. I don't know your name.”
“I'm Lyssa. You can call me Lyss or Lizzie if you want.”
“Alright. Lyssa. Uh, nice name.”
“Thank you. Aco's a nice name too.”
“Thanks. You're a Child of the Moon as well, aren't you?”
“What's that?”
Aco stared at her, eyes wide. “You don't know?”
“Nope. What's that?”
“It's people like you and Ren and Psycho. People who have the dark powers, like Ren's shadow and Psycho's blood. Children of the Moon.”
“Oh. I guess I am.”
“What's your power then?”
“Shadow too. Wanna see?” Lyssa asked, her voice lilting playfully.
“Umm... Okay. Don't tax yourself though. Mother would kill me.”
“Mother?”
“Ren. I call her my mother. But she's not my biological mother. It's complicated.”
“Oh, okay.”
Lyssa closed her eyes and a blissful blank smile came across her features. Slowly, oily, misty darkness began to pour from her once more. Then she opened her eyes and twirled her fingers in the mist; the mist was not as thick as it had been, nor as dark.
The mist slowly enveloped Aco, who inhaled as much of the slightly sweet smoke as he could. As his muscles relaxed and he slumped in his seat, he closed his eyes in complete comfort. While the dark mist was a little cold, it was just the way he liked it and he almost fell asleep.
“Like it?”
He jolted upright, remembering that there was still this strange, yet not unappealing girl by his side, sitting on the bed.
Lyssa giggled slightly at his reaction. “You sure looked like you were enjoying it.”
“I, uh, yeah. Reminds me a little of Mother's opium.” Aco continued soaking in the misty darkness, which started to intensify in its thickness.
“You look really blissful. Ah...” She sighed pleasantly.
Aco opened his eyes and looked straight at the girl emitting the slightly sweet smoke. “Did anyone tell you you're beautiful, Lyssa?”
“You don't look like someone who usually compliments people, so I'm honoured that you think so. I think you're rather handsome as well.” Lyssa pushed aside her blankets but Aco quickly stood up to stop her.
“Hey, Mother would most definitely kill me if I let you get up. I, uh, I'll clear the tray and then go for now.”
“Oh.” Lyssa's tone was crestfallen. “Could you come back later? You're really good company.”
“I wouldn't know about that, I don't socialise much.” Aco replied bluntly as he efficiently cleaned the table and maneuvered it back to its position in front of her bed.
“You can see so well in the shadow?”
“Yeah. I'm used to it, I guess. Uh, see you later.” He opened the door with one hand, balancing the tray with the other and exited, wisps of black smoke following him.
“Aco, boy, you'd best be wary of her.”
“Why, Uncle Psycho?”
“She's mad.” He whispered to the youth as if confiding a secret.
“She seemed perfectly fine to me. She's quite a nice person, though I don't have that much experience with people. Certainly, she doesn't seem mad to me.”
“What's wrong with you people?” Psycho exclaimed. “You all think she's perfectly fine and that I'm mad?”
“Well..” Aco shrugged uncomfortably. “You are mad.”
“Yes, yes, I admit that, my mind is not as properly structured as it should be, but you all think she's fine? This is ridiculous!”
“If you say so, Uncle Psycho. Now, I need to wash this or Mother will have a fit.” Aco politely sidestepped the older man who stared into Lyssa's room with wide, wild eyes and carried his tray, headed for the kitchen.
Psycho continued staring into the receding black fog of Lyssa's room. The girl was smiling dreamily to herself; quite obviously mad, he thought. She was most certainly insane to have decided to gone home and then kill her own parents after her powers surfaced. Most definitely insane. He decided to go in and analyse her, just as Ren had suggested. However, he couldn't go in in such a state. No matter, he simply ingested a couple of pills, calming himself down.
Lyssa cocked her head quizzically to a side as the door opened again, this time revealing that nervous American man who had came in with Ren just now. He looked much more controlled now though.
“Hello, Mr Psycho. It's nice to see another American.”
“This is America, Lyssa. It's not surprising to see other Americans.”
“Ren and Aco are both Chinese. I don't remember much of anything. I wouldn't be surprised if this were China.”
“Lyssa.” The man stared into her eyes as if searching her soul, making feel oddly exposed. “What was it like when your powers surfaced?”
“I felt full, overflowing with energy and I just had to release it. And then I did, of course.”
“You killed your classmates. Then you got up, went home and killed your parents. Why?”
“Why? My parents... were not the nicest people. I've thought of killing them for so long.”
“All children think of killing their parents at some point of anger. However, you obviously had no spur-of-the-moment hatred towards them. The long way home would have cooled you off either way. Why did you kill them?”
“I don't know. I don't remember. But,” She exhaled, “It felt great. Surely you'd understand. The killing. It's so.. exhilarating. I can feel the knife in my hand even now.”
“Yes, we retrieved your belongings, the knife included. Where did you get such a ritualistic dagger? It's too stylised to be anything else.”
“I took it.”
“Where from?”
“From someone. He didn't want to give it to me, but he let me hold it and then I stuck it in him.” She giggled softly. “It took me a while to find a good brand of soap that got rid of bloodstains.”
Psycho named a brand of bleach. “That's a good one to use. But back to the point. You enjoy killing, don't you?”
“Don't you?” Lyssa countered with a smile, her gaze just slightly off-centre but enough to be disconcerting.
“Do you? I'm the one asking questions here, Lyssa.” He pushed.
“Sure, why not.” Her mouth opened slightly as she smiled wider and Psycho caught sight of wisps of black smoke drifting out from her mouth, giving her a deranged appearance.
“You're insane.” He muttered to himself.
“Just like you.” She had heard him and she replied.
“Not like you.” He retorted. “I at least don't revel in murder for its own sake.”
“Neither do I. I like the feel of blood on my hands. You do, don't you?”
Psycho flinched as if he had been struck. “Insane, utterly insane.” He murmured again and made to leave the room.
“Wait, Mr Psycho, could you help me ask Aco to come back in when he can? I'm so lonely...” The longing in her tone sent shivers up his spine as he ignored her request and fled the room as quickly as he could without seeming as though he was afraid of her.
Heh. She starts laughing as he closes the door. I don't remember. What a lie, but only the crazy one suspected that something was out of sorts. So funny. Turns out the only one with common sense was the one who was mad. Ah, she remembered the slick blood on her knife and then her hands as she dug into the bodies of her parents. After a while, the blood turned sticky, but it was still a nice feeling. Then the blood caked and congealed, stiffening and then cracked when she flexed her hands. A nice topping to all those tears and pain she had endured. Mmm. Lyssa stretched, feeling completely at ease in the soft and comfortable bed. They didn't know, did they? That weird man Psycho might be out of the room, but she could still hear the strange tenor of his mind. It made her twitch a little.
She couldn't exactly tell what they were thinking, but she had a grasp of what they felt. And Psycho's subconscious was weird. It wasn't as straightforward as Aco's curiosity or even as Ren's mind, which admittedly was substantially more complex. Ren was curious too, but there was a whole host of other emotions that made it difficult for Lyssa to pick out how Ren felt. Psycho's mind though, the feel of his mind was just plain strange. It just seemed so jarring and unlinked, the undercurrents of his thoughts clashing against each other unlike the smooth flow of Ren's and Aco's. She couldn't hear their thoughts though, not like that night when she killed Tessil and the others. Even with her broken body, Tessil's thoughts had rang out loud and clear, expressing shock, disbelief and pleading for help. Desperate pleading, ah, how sweet it had seemed to Lyssa's ears, though it was all in her mind. It gave her a warm and fuzzy feeling deep in her stomach.
It was rather surprising to Lyssa, how easily she had figured out how it all worked. She felt someone else come within range of her mental hearing. To the best of Lyssa's knowledge, there were only three people in the house, Ren, Aco and Psycho. This mind was pretty colourful and held a certain care for people, evidently Ren. It wasn't that hard to distinguish minds and Lyssa tried to familiarise herself with the pattern of Ren's subconscious.
Psycho's twisted thought-flow approached Ren's. Oh, this would be useful, knowing the location of people through their minds. Nobody could surprise her now. She tried to concentrate on Ren, Psycho's mind a whirlwind of conflicting impulses. Surprise, Lyssa picked up, surprise and disbelief from Ren. Psycho must be telling her about Lyssa's own words. Heh. Ren wouldn't believe him. Not with the little fostering of a good impression that Lyssa had done on Ren's psyche anyway. Ah, but the subconscious was so easy to manipulate and change. It hadn't taken Lyssa that long to figure out what exactly she could do. If she could submerge herself in the undercurrents of the minds of other people, why couldn't she tweak it? And so she did, just because it seemed fun. And nobody suspected a thing except the crazy man, whose own mental instability perhaps protected him from her mind-warping power. Not that it mattered. It wasn't as if she was going to hurt any of them, was she? According to Ren, she was one of them. It would be nice to be among people who didn't dislike her. Or found her scary.
Hmm? What was that? A twinge of alarm from Ren. From Psycho too, the emotion strong enough to be sensed over all his disturbing thought-flows. Something was wrong. Slight panic from Ren, but tightly controlled. Something she knew would happen but dreaded, then. Ren was approaching.
Ren threw open the door, just stopping it from slamming against the wall.
“Lyssa. We have to leave now. Are you well enough or do we need to carry you?”
“I.. I don't know.”
“Aco!” She shouted out the door. “Quickly!”
“Yeah! Just finished packing!” The reply echoed back, his voice getting louder as Lyssa felt his mind come along. He was... quite fearful. Not exactly fearful, but worried. Yes. Worried and nervous. Ah, Lyssa reveled in the relative ease of comprehending him.
“Yes, Mother?” Aco's head came into the room, slightly breathless.
“Carry Lyssa out; we don't have much time.”
“Yes, Mother. The IV, I'll just bring along the bag then?” He asked as he stepped into the room and quickly pulled aside her blankets. He was carrying a backpack, rather large and bulky.
“Just take the bag.” Ren left the room with that final instruction.
Aco unhooked the IV bag from its stand and handed it to Lyssa, hefting her into his arms without much effort. His arms were warm to her touch and she took the opportunity to examine his face closer. Dark brown eyes, almost black, a rounder nose in contrast to her own hawk-like visage. A mouth curled in anxiety, he glanced down in askance as he caught her looking at him.
“Are you okay?”
She blinked sharply and averted her gaze.
“Yeah. I'm good.”
“Aco! Time?” Ren's query rang out.
“Daylight, Mother. Shall I cover Lyssa?”
“Yes, yes, we don't have much time, the Guardians will descend on us in less than ten minutes!”
Lyssa sensed the tension in the air and started to become nervous as well.
“Who are these Guardians?”
“Shh, I'm sorry Lyssa, but Aco will have to cover you for now.” Ren's face came into her view as she draped a dark blanket over her. Before her sight was completely obscured, Lyssa saw that Ren wore a cloak and hood with a cowl.
From under the dark cloth, Lyssa felt Aco moving, moving out of the room, going to somewhere which she could not see. She felt the odd mind of Psycho and Ren, following. Anxiety was the greatest emotion present- no, it had changed. Something nauseating. Fear. It made Lyssa feel sick.
“Shit!” Psycho started swearing. “They're here!”
“Go, Aco, take Lyssa and run!”
“But where-”
“Just run! We'll find you later!”
Lyssa felt Aco's pace quicken and within a few seconds, she could not feel Psycho or Ren's minds anymore. Then she felt someone else in front.
“Aco!” She yelled, the blanket muffling her voice. “There's somebody up ahead towards the right!”
“How do you know?” He asked, voice strained as Lyssa felt him turn to a side.
“I'm not sure.” Then she felt a whole cacophony of minds, too many people, too many for her to think and she screamed with the confusion of so many thought-flows. The impulses bombarded her and she barely felt Aco stopping suddenly.
They were surrounded. Aco swore in his native tongue and concentrated deeply. The men around him him wore black masks, something that looked straight out of a science-fiction military game. Green goggles reminded him of night-vision goggles that were so common in movies and the rest of their outfit seemed similarly surreal. Most of the men held rods in their hands, rods that Aco recognised from Ren's teachings to be stun-rods similar in nature to cattle prods. Others held guns that accomplished the same purpose, tasers with electrical charges crackling as if in anticipation.
There was no way out. While Aco was not one of the Children of the Moon, he had abilities of his own, as he had told Lyssa.
“I'm sorry, Lyssa.” He told her as he laid her limp, seemingly unconscious form on the ground. “Don't take away the blanket or you'll get burnt.”
He straightened and reached into a side pocket of his backpack, removing a vial of murky brown liquid. The smell of the air changed, an odd sickly smell that seemed to be coming from Aco. His skin started to glisten with an oily substance and his eyes seemed to drip with it. His sharp fingernails seemed to turn black as if his fingers were diseased and he flexed his hands slightly.
“You Guardians won't take either of us.”
Suddenly, the lead Guardian raised an outstretched palm, stopping his men from advancing. The Guardian took a step forward and removed his mask, revealing a man in his mid-thirties with auburn hair.
“You.” He had a rich, baritone voice and he raised a finger to point at Aco. “You are not a Child of the Moon. But, there is one of the scum here.” The man looked down at the dark bundle that was Lyssa and smiled. “There, is it not? Vulnerable to sunlight, so you wrap it.” He lifted his stun-rod lazily. “Tell me, why do you aid these monsters? Do you even know what these filthy beasts are? They are enemies of humanity, young boy.”
“So that's your rationale?” Aco whispered. “That's what you Guardians think?”
Without warning, Aco threw the vial at the Guardian and ran forward. The Guardian raised his arms to ward off the vial which broke, spraying its odourless, foul-looking liquid over him. Aco reached him and slashed at him with fingernails that looked as if in a deep stage of decay and the Guardian flinched as Aco drew blood. Then the Guardian brought down his stun-rod and Aco was thrown to the ground, even as other Guardians closed it on them.
“Hmph.” The lead Guardian gave a sound of contempt as he eyed Aco, held to the ground by other stun-rods on him. Aco couldn't move. He looked towards the black blanket.
“The blanket has one of humanity's foes. Take it back, we have much work to do on it.”
The other Guardians heeded his command and one of them carried up the bundle, Lyssa not responding in the slightest to the movement, dead to the world.
“No!” Shadows emerged from a side corridor, harbingers of Ren's path.
“Leave the boy! He is not one of the beasts.” The lead Guardian commanded. “Take the scum and leave, we have what we came for.”
“No! Stay and face me, gutless fools!” Ren shouted as she ran out from the corridor with a shadowy doppelganger of herself and Psycho along with her.
“Any other time, I would gladly kill you, scum. But now is not the right time.” With which, the numerous Guardians quickly left, bringing Lyssa with them. But not before the lead Guardian dropped a small cuboid.
Ren cursed and grabbed Aco, dragging him away into the corridor with Psycho's help just as the explosive detonated, scorching the entire passageway. Ren looked Aco over as he slowly regained his motor skills. He got up slowly and yelled his frustration out to the whole world.
Lyssa was gone.
A/N: Ahh, I am so very sorry, people! I've been meaning to post this up, but stuff has been catching up with me, some really bad stuff. Been through a fair bit of emotional duress errr I think you could call it that. Having a bit of emotional turmoil etc, your regular wangsty shizz. So, uh, for the first time, I'm planning to write a story that will be continued and finished. I'm trying. And uh, sorry for the length, having copy-pasted from word document, it looks loooong. 11 pages on OpenOffice, with font size 12 Times New Roman. Bleh, I'm just bullshitting, aren't I? So uh, I apologise for the length again and please read and review! I would really appreciate feedback and criticisms. Really.
-CerebrateBen
