Enter the Shadows: Book One of the RTS Series (First Full Draft)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Leala

Leala found herself dreaming, oddly enough. Dreaming that she was on the train that one summer day. Sitting next to her was Robin, watching her draw in her sketchbook. She didn't really know what she was drawing, as she was more or less letting the pencil drag across the paper without any real direction.

The windows on the train were dark. Not like the night though, pitch black as if they were in some sort of empty space going in some unknown direction. Time stood still, the worries of Lady Midnight and her horrifying monsters were nothing but a distant memory. Here was safe, here things were normal again. No one could hurt them here.

Then it vanished. And Leala was in the dark again. As her mind came back to consciousness, she could hear Demarcus's voice.

"I'm getting really sick of this stupid kid, why can't we just kill them both and get it over with?!" Then he let out a wince of pain. "Damn brat, if I get hit by that bow one more time-"

"It's your own fault for being reckless." The voice of someone else was there. Someone Leala didn't recognize. They were male, young-sounding. Not Daniel though, someone else.

"Oh bite me, you stuck-up Esoteric bastard! It's not my fault that Mr. Grateful Dead put up more of a fight and they happened to show up! I'd love to see you get beat a few times with that bow!"

"I wouldn't have to. I would do it silently like I've done every other job. She'd never see me until it was too late."

"Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that whenever you look at the bruise on your face." Silence. Then a sigh and the sound of someone walking away. Demarcus laughed. "Yeah keep walking Esoteric bastard! Next time I'll complete the look with a bruise of my own!" Then a door shut, and Demarcus muttered, "Stupid Esoteric trash."

As much as Leala oddly wanted to laugh at this, she was overwhelmed with fear. She didn't dare move, but slowly and as subtly as she could she opened her eyes.

She could see Demarcus was standing with his back to her, stretching out his fingers seemingly bored. The floor was cold marble and patterned to look like a black and white checkerboard, and the more Leala woke up the more she registered how sore she felt. But that was all she could register before he turned around and forced Leala to shut her eyes again in an attempt to trick Demarcus.

He wasn't fooled, and walked to where Leala was on the floor and slammed his foot into her side. She couldn't help it, she let out a cry of pain at the sudden blow.

"Alright, enough messing around. Get up." Demarcus snapped at her.

Leala didn't move, both out of defiance and pain. He didn't kick her again, but he stood looking over at her with anger. When the pain subsided, she tried to get to her feet to run, but there was a sharp pain in her head that made her fall again. Demarcus, impatient, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her harshly. "Get up!" She lost it. She started screaming and flailing in his grip, trying to fight him as best she could with one free hand. Demarcus's grip didn't waver, but he tried to lean away from Leala's struggling. He shook her harshly. "Shut up!"

"Let me go!" Leala screamed, slamming her free hand into Demarcus's collarbone.

Demarcus snarled at her, and as swift as a flash of lightning, his hand struck against the side of Leala's face, forcing her to look to the left. All she saw was the brief movement, a flash of red, and then the moment she felt a burning pain in her face as she was nearly knocked to the ground. Leala stopped screaming suddenly, and felt angry tears welling in her eyes.

Suddenly, Demarcus let Leala's arm go. He inhaled a sharp breath, and grabbed his head in pain. He let out a howl and grabbed at the sides of his head in pain. Leala backed away from him, confused and unsure what she should do.