Darkness Rising (fanfic) (4th book in Destiny series)

Chapter 9: The Calling

"So, how do you know this is going to work?" The large Shape shifter asked the smaller one.

"Well Inferno, I know it will work because the Shadow Riders have a very keen sense of smell, they can see heat and they can also see scents." The small one informed.

"I guess that could work." Inferno said as they walked up to a stone wall. Inferno pushed a part of the jagged wall, it was a hidden passage. It and the ten others walked into it. The passage sloped sheerly downward and they slid down and into the large cavern. The shape shifter with the mouth was waiting in the middle of the cavern and looked over at them as they walked in. "Well did you get them or not?" It asked.

"We didn't get them Fury." Inferno said, avoiding eye contact.

"Your useless." Fury snarled at Inferno. Fury walked stiffly away into the back of the cave. Inferno and the others followed it to the drop off and saw hundreds of other Shape shifters in rows, waiting for an order. "Why did you come back so early?" Fury asked Inferno.

"Well Scratch had an idea of how to find them." Inferno replied.

"Really?" Fury said, looking at the small Shapeshifter.

"I thought we could use the Shadow Riders." Scratch said. Fury looked at a nearby opening in the cavern wall and beckoned for Scratch to follow. It was completely dark in the tunnel, but when the turned, the whole top of the tunnel had been destroyed. They saw five tiger looking creatures in front of them. But these creatures were about two times the size of a normal tiger, the were covered in the exact same black goop the Shape shifters were covered in, and there heads were a little more square shaped than a normal tiger. Fury touched one of the Shadow Riders and it's large red eyes opened and it stood up. The black liquid on it rippled like the water on a lake when the wind gently blowed. It looked down at them and bent it's head down for Fury to pet it.

"They haven't been trained yet to follow your every command yet." Fury said to Scratch.

"They'll do." Scratch said, walking up to the huge beast. "Wake up your companions." Scratch commanded the Shadow Rider. It nodded and woke up the others.

"Now you have to give it something that has their sent on it." Fury instructed Scratch.

"This fell off of one of them." Scratch said revealing that he had Ericka's little spider ring, Tey, and he was shaking with fear. "We're not going to hurt you." Scratch said to him, but i don't think he could understand what it was saying. Scratch showed the ring to the Shadow Rider and even though it had no nose, it could still smell it. Then Inferno walked in on them with the Shadow Riders. "Well Inferno, choose your ride." Scratch said to Inferno. Inferno looked at the four leftover Shadow Riders and chose the one on the far left. Now Scratch's Rider had caught the scent.

"Now just walk into it." Fury told Scratch.

"He's too small to control one of these things." Inferno said.

"I can so." Scratch said, right before walking into the Shadow Rider. It closed its eyes, and when it opened them again they had pupils. "Why do i see a blue trail above?" It asked.

"Scratch can you hear me?" Inferno asked.

"Loud and clear," It said, "so am i the Shadow Rider now?"

"Basically," Fury said, "you can see through its eyes, hear through its ears and control its body."

"So the blue line is the sent?" Scratch asked.

"That's what your going to want to follow." Inferno said, stepping into his Rider. It blinked and it looked around and saw the blue line as well.

"How can I see if I haven't smelled the thing with the scent on it?" Inferno asked.

"Because the Riders are connected," Fury explained, "now go pick three others to go with you." The Riders padded out and back into the main cavern.

"Ummm, you, you, and you." Inferno said, pointing his claw at three of the Shape shifters. They walked into the tunnel and came out in Shadow Riders. "We will return soon." Inferno said, trodding out the entrance tunnel. They all saw the blue line and ran along it. They ran for a while and noticed that the line was getting thicker as they went along.

"Must be getting closer." Scratch said to Inferno excitedly.

"Good," Inferno said, "and this time...were not going to mess up."

(Over to the good guys)

They had just made it back to the hotel and they were now sitting in the lobby, Ericka had fetched Nicholas from his room and he was now sleeping in her arms. He was almost too big for her to pick him up. "Who knew there were more than one Darkness's." Drac said.

"But there can't be," Atom said, "there is only one, those are probably his minions."

"So are the eyes-clawed-out people." Drac responded.

"They need a name." Ericka said as she put on her thinking face.

"Oh! i got it!" Atom said, "how about, 'The Marked'."

"Sounds menacing." She said.

"Guuys, this is no time to be messing around." Drac said with a serious tone. They all fell silent.

"I just..." Ericka started, looking down at Nicholas and stroking his hair. "i-i don't want anything to happen to him." They heard her start to sniffle, and small tears started to slide down her face.

"Hey don't cry." Drac said softly, scooting over next to her and cuddling up to her. She leaned into him and he drew her closer. This woke Nicholas up,

"Hey! you're squishing me alive!" He complained. He pushed his way out from between them. Ericka made a effort to stop crying, but Nicholas still saw her red eyes. "What's wrong?"He asked.

"It's nothing." She said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

"You were crying," Nicholas said, "why?"

"No really it-its nothing." She said. He crawled up onto her chest and put a hand on her shoulder. He looked at her with his dark red, sad eyes.

"You are scared," He said, "of monsters." He took his hand off of her shoulder and looked at her with a sad and a confused expression. "But we're monsters," He said, "does that mean we're bad?"

"No we're not the bad ones," Drac said to Nicholas, "we're the...um, the good guys."

"Like superheros?" Nicholas asked.

"Pretty close." Ericka said.

"And your going to take down the bad guys!" Drac, Ericka and Atom cast each other worried glances.

"Could you go to your room for a second?" Ericka asked Nicholas sweetly.

"Sure mom." Nicholas said, kissing her on the nose and teleporting to his room.

"We can't take down a army of shapeshifters by ourselves." Ericka said.

"That's why we're going to get help." Drac said.

"Besides everyone here." She said.

He thought for a minute, "Phone." He said. She picked her phone off of a nearby table and handed it to him. He scrolled through her photos and found the one they took about a year ago. He showed it to her.

"You want to drag them into this too?" Atom asked.

"It's our only chance of survival." Drac said.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Atom asked, "let's go get Comet and Poisontail!"