Shadowheart

Chapter 16

Nighttime falls in downtown Saint León. Dahlia, wearing a scarf to cover her face has been following two men... Well... Monsters. The monsters have been going to town hall. Dahlia figured they must be there to steal city documents, such as blueprints, finances, or anything in between. One of the monsters apparently had pikes in his arms that allowed it to climb the walls while the other wrapped its tentacular arms around the other monster. Both scaled the buildings walls and breached the roof. Dahlia couldn't resist to figure out what they were up to, so she summoned out a blade to cut the front doors latches. She walked inside the town hall, quietly. She jumps as she finds a security guard in the front desk, but luckily he's asleep. The mayor never really seemed concerned about the hall's security. Dahlia took a breath of relief and scanned put her hood up. She went through the halls and reached the public records room which was next to city development. She heard voices... Disrupted sounding voices.

-"So this is how the new museum would look like?"

-"Yesh, but the mayor reshected that proshect chew yearsh ago.

-"So what was it that Lord Volgath wanted us to find?"

-"The shity bank plansh. The blueprintsh, the locashion of the vaulch."

-Bank robbing monsters? Huh... That's new.

-"Where the bluepritsh!?" The toothed tentacle monster was throwing papers aside.

-"Hey, I think I found them! "Municipal bank renovations"... It has blueprints of the current bank. The vault is underground on the East wing."

The latcher snatches the prints out of the climbers hand.

-"Good! Lord Volgath will be pleashed! We'll warn the othersh abouth-"

-"The fact that you'll be buried 6 feet under?" Dahlia steps in close before the two monsters.

-"Well lookie here. The half-breed. I guess he wasn't wrong about you after all."

-"About how I killed one of your friends?"

-"Well yeah, that... But how big of a wuss you are. How afraid you are... They told us you were shaking when you killed him. None of us shook when we did our first."

-"You musht get beaten in shchool a lot. They shee how shcared you are they acshually chake advantashe."

-"You're wrong!" Dahlia stomps her foot on the ground. -"You both are!"

-"Really? Wonder if you'll shake if you kill either of us!"

The latcher throws himself unto Dahlia, wrapping her with his tentacles, squeezing her. Dahlia summoned her blade and cut one of his arms off. The latchet pulls back, screaming in pain.

-"Oh, now you're gonna get it, kid!"

The climber jumps in and summons his pikes, coming directly out of his arms. Dahlia summons her second blade and both clash, swinging and parrying each others blades. Dahlia manages to cut the cheek of the climber, but he swings back, Dahlia crouches and the pike gets stuck on a wall. The latcher grabs Dahlia with one of its legs and drags her across the floor while he crawls away. He then throws her to a shelf of archives, knocking it over onto another one, creating a domino effect on a third shelf. Dahlia gets up covered in papers as the latcher wraps its tentacles on her neck.

-"Pike her! Pike her in the head, now!"

Dahlia remembers her strength. She grabs its tentacles, stands up and slams the latcher onto the ground. The latcher didn't let go so she slammed him again and threw the weakened latcher away. The climber comes back swinging its pikes. Dahlia dodges them as she swings her blade back. The climber hook grabs her blade and puts Dahlia against a wall. He retracted his other pike and punches Dahlia in the face. She stumbles and the climber kicks the back of the knee. Preparing for the kill, the climber pulls his pike back, giving Dahlia a chance to swing her blade at his exposed leg, cutting it. The climber falls to his knee and Dahlia kicks him in the head, her foot going straight into his face, smashing his nose.

-"AGH! MY GODDAMN NOSE!"

-"Now you! Talk! What are you!?" Dahlia held her blade at the climbers neck, with him having a smile as his nose was bleeding black blood.

-"You really haven't figured out, don't you? Like monsters suddenly popping up in the streets in the middle of night... Like boogeymen maybe pop up under your bed or your closet."

-"What are you!?"

-"We're interdimensional beings... We come from the netherworld. And you and I we're alike."

-"Demons... And how are we alike? I'm not like you!"

-"Look at your arms... Look at mine. How do you think you got your powers, half-breed?"

-"Half breed? What the hell does that even mean!?"

-"Guess... Look at our arms... And look at your ankle."

Dahlia looks down and a tentacle was wrapped around her ankle. The latcher threw Dahlia through a wall, falling into the lobby, alerting the security guard. Both are looking at each other with wide eyes.

-"Ummm... Hi..." She shyly waves at the guard.

He quickly grabs his phone and calls 911. The latcher crawls out of the hole and jumps to Dahlia. They wrestle, and the latcher wraps its tentacle on Dahlia's neck, choking her. The climber runs to the stairs amd shouts out.

-"Hey! Don't kill her! Lord Volgath wants her alive!"

-"I might ash well break her lishle neck!"

Police sirens are heard as the guard runs away.

-"We got the prints! Leave her!"

The latcher growls, but Dahlia wouldn't let up. She replaced her left blade with a tentacle and lasso'd the climbers leg as he was going down the stairs, tripping him and making him drop the blueprints. The latcher angrily looks at Dahlia and leans down to her, loosening his tentacles wrap.

-"You are really fushin lucky that our leader wantsh you alive. That meansh he will find you, and he will do what he doesh to every half breed he findsh..."

-"And what does he do to half breeds?"

-"You'll shee... Caushe even I don'ch know."

The latcher lets Dahlia go. He helps the climber up as the police sirens get louder. The climber goes to pick up the prints, but the latcher pulls him away.

-"Forget the printsh, the copsh are here!"

-"Volgath's gonna be pissed..."

-"Volgath'll undeshtand ash long ash we mention her!"

They escape, and the cops arrive at the destroyed hall. They see the dusty concrete wall and the fallen bank blueprints. They notice few drops of human blood, but no person was there... At least... Not anymore.

Dahlia quickly runs back home. Taking off her dusty coat and scarf and throws them into her hamper. She lays on her bed, scared, and worried.

Half breed... They said that... What does it mean? And the climber said that his arms and hers are alike. Unlike her, his pikes were directly attached to his arms while hers come out from the aura. Demons... Half breed... Blades... She can't make much of it. Maybe she needs to rest. Maybe she needs to take some time off from the world to find out more about herself. More about her powers.... More about them...