Secrets

Part 19: The last monkey.

"The party was not the same without you, you know. I really want to go visit you right now," Marc told Nathaniel on the phone.
"Thanks, but I don't want you to catch the flu too. Don't worry, I'll be like new in a couple of days," Nathaniel said.
Marc's phone beeped.

"I'm sorry. I need to hang up. The battery is about to die," Marc said.
"Didn't you leave your phone charging last night?" Nathaniel said.
"Yeah, but after the update my battery is draining way faster," Marc said.

Marc stopped walking when he heard a branch snapping somewhere at his right. He tried to find the source of the noise, but the usually well-lit park was extremely dark at that moment and he couldn't see more than vague shapes.
His heart started beating faster when he heard the faint sound of growling. He looked around but it seemed like there was no one around to ask for help. Then there was some rustling behind him. Hastily he turned to look, but saw nothing. Trying to see more, he stared into the darkness. From the shadows he thought he was beginning to make out the shape of people, their faces seemed deformed, like they weren't entirely human. Was his imagination playing games on him or was someone staring right into his eyes? Was that person smiling? He felt his fingers go numb at the same time coldness washed all over him.

Marc felt like running, but he wasn't sure his legs were going to respond. He gulped. "Na-Nathaniel,"—he coughed—"There's someone here. At the park. Th-the one near the school. I'm scared. I don't see other people around. I'll try just walking out of here. Ca-Call the police please," Marc whispered urgently. There was no reply.
"Nathaniel?!" Marc said. He checked his phone, but it was off. He pushed over and over the power button hoping for a miracle.

"Excuse me, do you need help?" someone said behind him.

Marc yelped and turned around. A girl dressed up as tinker bell was staring at him. She looked like she was a few years older than him.
"Oh my goodness," he said covering his face for a second.

"Are you ok?" she asked.
"We need to get out of here. Fast," Marc said.

"What? Why? What do yo- Wait! Shut... UP! Is this a prank!? O. M. G. I'm at the Eartha Show, right!? I'm such a BIG fan of hers!" she said raising her voice and rapidly stamping her feet on the floor.

Scared he looked around. Some feet away there was the silhouette of a man who was slowly walking towards them. Marc didn't know what it was, but there was something in that man that made his mouth go dry with fear.
Marc grabbed the girl's wrist and tried walking away with her.

"Oh, you are so good," she said, lightly hitting him with the wand on her hand. "I'm almost buying it. Where's the camera?" she added, looking around.

"This is no prank. I think we're in real danger. We need to... yell or something. Attract people," Marc said.

The girl giggled excitedly. "Oh, ok. All right, I can play along."
She cleared her throat, then in an exaggerated acting voice she added, "But it's way past trick-or-treat time. Streets are now totally empty. And the adults nearby are in their parties with such loud music. They're never gonna hear us. What are we gonna dooo?"

"Stop that! This isn't a joke. We- We have to try! Someone must be around!" Marc said, beginning to panic again.
"No one. I double checked before heading here," a man behind Marc said.

Marc could hear his heartbeat in his ears as he slowly turned to look.
The girl was the first one to see the vampire's face. She took a deep breath before screaming her lungs out. Hastily taking a step back she bumped against something. Turning around she saw a man. He smiled at her in an eerie way. In an instant his face morphed and looked horrendous. Two long fangs protruded from the rest of his teeth.
Marc opened his mouth to scream, but no sound came out. He felt tears building in his eyes.

The first vampire smirked at him, delighted to see the panic in Marc's face. He looked up. "Get rid of her," he said to the other vampire.
Looking back at Marc he added, "Time for you to meet your fate, little energizer."

Suddenly the vampire looked up. Next thing Marc knew was seeing him flying away after having received a blow with a long brown and gold staff.
The other vampire turned to look and was barely able to move away in time to prevent receiving a blow himself. He snarled, but then received a blow he wasn't expecting from a different direction.

Scared, Marc took the girl's wrist and they began to run but skidded to a stop when they saw more vampires ahead. They screamed when suddenly two people landed at both of their sides.

"You are safe now," Bernadette said. She was using the peacock miraculous.
"Shelter!" Carapace yelled and a green protective shield formed around them.
"This will protect us until the rest of the team makes it safe for us to get you out," Bernadette said.

Marc exhaled and crouched. He covered his face with both hands to hide the tears. The girl looked scared at both Bernadette and Carapace. Gingerly she took a crucifix Bernadette handed her.

"Vampires cannot look directly at crucifixes and their skin gets burnt by them," Bernadette told her.
"Why can't we just use the horse miraculous to get away?" Carapace said.

"He cannot keep running all his life. This is a threat we have to face. And the sooner the better for problems tend to grow in time," Bernardette said.

Discreetly Marc whipped away tears and looked up.
Ladybug, Rena Rouge, Gabriel and Tom where on one side of the shield.
Tom was wearing the snake miraculous while Gabriel was using the monkey one.
On the other side there was Chat Noir, Alyssa and Eva. Alyssa was wearing the mouse miraculous and there were four little clones of her, each one with a stake in her hands. Eva was using the bee miraculous.
Marc looked curiously at Eva's wings and Tom's dragon tail.

The horde of vampires ran towards them from both sides.
"Protect The Source! We mustn't loose him!" a vampire yelled.

The vampires clashed forcefully against the heroes. Their strength was greater than what they had anticipated. Seeing this, Carapace left his protective shield to join the fight.

Ladybug kept throwing her yo-yo towards the vampires, mainly hitting them on their faces. She was trying to knock them unconscious, but it seemed only to infuriate them more.
On his side, each blow that Chat Noir delivered was charged with his bad luck curse. He was sending a limited amount of energy so he could deliver his power against as many vampires as he could. So, it only made the vampires a little bit clumsy, which was something Alyssa was very grateful for since she wasn't an experienced vampire slayer.

"Sorry! Sorry! Oh, sorry!" each clone of Alyssa kept saying as they were staking vampires. Guilt and worry clearly written in her face.
"Alyssa, my dearest friend..." Eva said panting.
"Yeah?" Alyssa said the clone closest to Eva.

"I know you're new on this job, but... Why are you apologizing to them?? They're the enemy and would gladly have any of us for supper!"
"Ohhhh... Ok," Alyssa said.

Suddenly they heard the Tinker Bell girl yell. The heroes turned to look.
Inside the protective shield was a man wearing a weird-looking vest, full of glowing buttons of different sizes. He was standing in front of Marc and had a weird looking knife in his right hand. Bernardette projected into him all the fear she was feeling but it wasn't enough to stop the man.
As if in slow motion they saw the man stabbing Marc on his chest.

"NOOOO!" Gabriel yelled.

The knife and Marc's wound started to glow. They heard rumbling coming from everywhere as they saw the intensity of the glow rapidly increasing.

"SECOND CHANCE!" Tom yelled.
Marc's attacker turned to look and smirked at Tom right before time got reset.