City of Fog

12 The Headless Horseman and More...

"Is it still after us!?" Aine shouted, though she dare not turn back once.

"Save your breath and keep running!" I yelled in reply. Well the truth is, none of us dared to glance back, but I could still hooves pounding behind us. So I wasn't taking any chances looking back and get my head chopped off.

"Aurora QUICK! Use your ability!" I cried desperately.

"Understood!" I watch as she turn her head around for the briefest moment and fire an ice bolt towards the horseman. I doubt it hit, judging from the sound of the hooves the headless horseman was still on us.

"It's no use." Aurora called, voice still calmly despite the dire situation. Now that's a quality I truly admire.

"I've got a plan!" I shouted nearly tripping.

"Why didn't you say it earlier? Quickly say it NOW!" Aine scolded loudly at me. A quick glance told me everything. In her eyes I saw the same desperation I possessed. So she's a mortal who has fears after all...

"Well it's not exactly a plan, and personally don't like the idea myself either!" I yelled back.

"I don't CARE! JUST SAY IT!" Aine screamed, sounding twice as desperate as last time.

"I recall there being a fork in the road ahead. We split up from there, and will meet each other back at the mansion!"

"Ha!? Seriously? That's your plan?" Aine cried, her voice full with bile. I was actually quite impressed that Aine could still detest me in this sort of situation. Please somebody give her an Oscar for being the most annoying loud bitch, I swear she's a natural.

"Unless you got a better plan..."

"None! I guess we will just go with your plan!" Aine cut me off.

"Alright you take the right, I'll take the left. I'll see you back at the mansion!" I yelled over the wind. Then, without a glance at the twins I made a sharp turn for the left then sprinted down the road with every ounce of my strength and ended up tripping and falling into a bush. Upside of it was I no longer had to run, because I feel like my heart was going to explode if I took another step. The downside was I couldn't move. If the headless horseman saw me going into this bush then I'm basically chopped liver. I let myself catch my breath, then with great personal risk, I poked my head out of the bush to check if the coast is clear. Darkness, nothing but darkness, no glowing red horse eyes what so ever. I am safe...for now.

WTF a headless horseman? Shit just got real! I screamed inside my head. I don't recall hearing a rumour about a headless horseman on this island. And I know almost all the rumours and conspiracy theories about this place. Both the big and the little: minor as a humanoid bat like creature that can be seen crawling on apartment walls, or large as in the entire island is under the control of an extremely powerful cult that had the potential to cast the world into doom if they wanted. And after several minutes of resting and going through the rumours I knew, I suddenly remembered that I made the promise to meet the twins back at the mansion. Must have been the exhaustion, made me forget all about it. I thought, as I got up and begin to pick up the pace.

Hopefully I am not too late...yet a gut feeling told me; it's all over already.

***

"Aine! Aurora!" I cried out. I was on mansion grounds yet there were no signs of either the headless horseman or the twins. To be honest I was starting to worry, yes you heard me, worried about what might happened to the twins because...we're teammates? Well not really. They treated me like a lowly servant for too long. I would say my relationship with the twins was that of partners with a mutual need. They need me to do their chores and I need their ability to cover my ass. To be completely honest I need them now more than ever. If they are more Yoshino's out there I need them bad. A piercing scream rings out from the distance. I quickly run to the scene only to find myself staring in the midst of supernatural chaos.

Bats, so many bats. They eclipsed the moon spilling across the sky. Below them were two familiar figures back to back, fending off incoming bats with storms of fire and havoc of ice. On seeing them, I wanted to run towards and scream for them to run away, but as soon as I had one foot forward, a swarm of bats lance themselves at me in a perfect aerial formation. I crossed my arms over my head and charged towards the twins. Strangely when the bats ran into me I didn't feel a single scratch of pain, probably because I was running so fast, or perhaps the bats decided to go easy on me. I couldn't which one was true because my vision was blocked at that time, but either way I felt unharmed. Feeling I was close to reaching the twins, I looked up and caught a glimpse of something dark and big rapidly descending from above. I quickly skidded to a stop, as a giant cluster of bats slammed onto the ground before me like a an enormous pillar, which soon evaporated and revealed a human shaped figure...but I wasn't human. It was over 6ft tall and had two pointy fangs instead of regular human teeth, its skin was pale as snow and its eyes were glowing red. The hair was black and slicked backward with what seem like an excessive amount of hair jell. He wore a black valet dress and pants which seemed to be the only normal thing about him. He was a god damn vampire. As soon as he saw me he turned away with an uninterested expression and began making his way towards the twins. Aine is looking at some other direction and continuing to blast incoming bat waves with fireballs, but as soon as Aurora saw the new enemy her expression went from battle hardened to the dreamy slobber you get when the 2nd season of your favorite anime is out. That's only if you are an anime lover of course. It only took me a moment to realize what was happening. Aurora had a vampire fetish Honestly, I should have seen this coming earlier, teenage girls who can't think better for themselves and want to be punctured in the neck by some pale skinny Goth looking guy with two snakelike fangs. Wow, just wow. All I could do is stand there and watch helplessly as the vampire approaches the desperate to have her 'neck punched and blood sucked' Aurora.

"Aine! Quick your sister is about to..." Before she could turn and give me her attention, A massive dragon, yes you heard me right, a f**king dragon, the one with two wings and farts fire, landed on top of the mansion and let out a deafening roar. I started at it, and was going to start shitting bricks, but Aine was a different story. Her eyes went from shock to bewilderment, flashing with energy, her body trembling with battle frenzy.

"Just watch it Ying, I am going to become a DRAGON SLAYER!!!" Aine shouted on the top of her lungs, in correspond the dragon snorted flare out of its nostrils and huffed out a cone of fire at us. It just happened all too quick no time to even respond, as a sea of fire wash over me. I closed my eyes to embrace for the heat and the burn, and somehow I didn't feel anything. Something was wrong, everything I just saw and witnessed, yet it felt like nothing...I thought. Aine who is now fighting the dragon fire with fire back and forth, Aurora who is now being enticed in the arms of vampire and about to get her neck punctured is making suggestive moans that sound like mouse chipping, and her expression shows that she is quite enjoying it. No, this can't be happening...this is all wrong...this must be a dream...no maybe it's all an illusion...That's it! Nothing is real! The bats weren't real, the flames weren't real! That explains for the past 15 minutes, I barely got a couple scratches, rather than dying at least half a hundred times, then that means...

"Aine! STOP IT! The dragon isn't real, none of this is real! You're going to burn your house down!" I turn and scream at the top of my lungs, Aine look at me confusedly for a moment, then shouted back at me:

"Ha? You're just jealous because you don't get to slay a dragon like I do..." Aine puffed.

"When the dragon spat fire at me, I was directly standing inside, but as you can see I am perfectly fine, and I don't have fire immunity like you do, so how else do you think I could survive?"

"...so what now?" At least Aine had stopped throwing fireballs at the house, but the fire was already starting to spread from the rooftops.

"Is there any way somehow you could reverse your fire?" I ask as I helplessly watch the house catch on fire.

"...No..."

"Then could you please talk some sense into your sister, because it doesn't seem like I could say anything to pull her out of the mood." I jabbed my thumb backwards pointing at Aurora, who was in her own little universe.

"Fine...and who is that guy? Her boyfriend?" Aine asked quizzically.

"You better hurry, or else the whole house is going to burn down..."

"FINE! I am on it!"

Ah great...I have a feeling this is going to be a very long night.