Banquet of the Count

Chapter 3: Monster

'No,' Eli still couldn't give in to the fact that was truer than true. 

Eli and Fiona stood at the sides of a certain bed in the ER, their eyes not able to believe what they perceived. Right in front of them was Patricia, who coughed out blood almost every second. Her hands were sharpening into weird claws, her eyes releasing tears that were in the colour of blackish-red. 

'B-b-but how?!' Eli spluttered, his hidden eyes full of fear. 'T-t-the d-dark s-soul-' 

'Her darkness has spoken it herself,' Fiona struggled to keep her tone above that of a whisper. 'Though what danger or power does she possess, that is still locked away by the unknown. At least, for now.' 

'I-I'm f-fine, g-g-guys-' Patricia only managed to choke out those words before her hand fell to the bed, the blood from her mouth staining her face once again. 

Eli stared at the Enchantress, his heart full of unease. Halloween was approaching, alright. But could Halloween cause a Semi Hunter to arise, resulting in ultimate chaos and bloodbaths? 

The main question, though. 

Could he himself, the Dark Owl, be the reason why Patricia was suffering from this darkness? 

Too painful to think about. Yet it seems like the only possible reason for the pain that the Enchantress was currently enduring. 

'No,' Eli said once again as he ran his hands over Diamond's feathers over and over again, his horror in himself rising all too quickly. 'N-no- What- w-what if-' 

'Eli?' 

'I-I would like to g-go to the f-forest g-g-grounds for a w-while.' 

Before Fiona could ask him about what he meant, Eli had phased into the Dark Owl. His night-black wings picked up the powerful flow of the shadowy winds of the Shadow World, and he disappeared from the ER. 

______

'You know, you don't have to keep blaming yourself,' Fiona began, her Holy Key trembling in her grasp. 'Besides, we don't even know-' 

'This is all my fault!' Eli howled, his sword nearly embedding its deathly self in Fiona's flesh. He slammed the demonic weapon into the ground beneath him, his breathing uneven as he continued to hover in the air. His blue eyes were filled with self-hate and disgust, the thoughts in his mind all cluttered and tangled. 

'This. Is. All. My. Fault.' Eli spat the words one by one, his wings seeming to even tremble as he descended back to the ground. Standing right in front of the Priestess, he shouted, 'Can't you see?! The darkness that's rising inside of me- It's the reason why Patricia is infected! The monster I'd turned into in the match- No, the monster that I am RIGHT NOW-' 

Eli fell to the ground, his clawed hands grasping at his hair in frustration. His wings quivered as his whole body shuddered like an earthquake. 

'Leave me, Fiona,' The Dark Owl spoke in a deathly tone. 'Leave me to myself for a while. I- I need some time to myself.' 

Fiona, who was completely stunned by Eli's words, said nothing as she summoned a Global Portal and stepped through it, the portal closing off right behind her. 

Eli sighed as he looked up into the sky high above the tall evergreens. The gloomy clouds caused the pure-blue sky to be stained with splatters of black. Splatters of corruption. 

'Why me?' Eli's voice was shaky as he scratched the ground, his claws leaving a deadly mark across the charred earth. 

'Why me?!'