Yahktarin leaped from building to building with great ease as his speed carried his weight forward. He was told to shadow but Yahktarin was several blocks ahead of Gallus. It was only a few minutes earlier that he had changed his tactics. This was because he had found out what Gallus was running after. It was a man in black moving swiftly from one place to another, luring the Demigod, with incredible speed. “What is this?” Yahktarin said to himself. He had never seen such type of movement before. When he had joined Arcadeus’s forces he had the pleasure of meeting several others who had the powers he had. Those with the power of speed were called Dashers because they had the ability to move from one place to another with tremendous speed. However, many of them differed from one another. There were some who could run for longer amounts of time but slower and those who could run shorter but faster. Yahktarin was one who could do the latter and Arcadeus chose him for the job just for that. He needed a bodyguard for his son that was fast enough to react to threats, not chase down enemies.
Gallus was foolishly led into a small alleyway. Yahktarin shook his head in disappointment. “Not smart Mr. Mara, even for a Demigod. It is good that I have your back.” Gallus was steaming as he jogged past the narrow passage. He knew he was going to be attacked but he had already survived once and he was going to risk it again to grab the man who was taunting him. Flashes of Marceus in pain drove him forward. He didn’t want to lose him, not after losing their mother. He was still in grief and in awe that she no longer existed. They had spent a lifetime together which would have been the case for mortals but having spent that much time meant the pain was greater. A single teardrop tried to form but Gallus brushed it away. “Not now.” He grunted. “No one from my family dies today.” His eyes reddened with fury, trying to hold back tears. He hated being the emotional one but it also meant he could get very angry which he could use to power himself up.
He arrived at a small crossroads between buildings. The sunlight could not breach the darkness this place held. There was a bent bicycle next to a green dumpster. Several crushed cans in the next street and some sort of gooey fluid on the other. Gallus approached the fluid. He briefly lit his palm on fire and illuminated the area. The dark fluid glowed a strong red. Blood, Gallus thought to himself. But there were no bodies in sight. Then the green dumpster caught his attention. He walked over to it and slid its black lid open. Gallus immediately retreated with his arm covering his face. There was a body in there with its arms and legs positioned horribly. The body had been completely broken. Gallus mustered his strength and took another look to examine it closely. There were four holes along with several bruises on the neck of the body. Upon further examination, Gallus realized they were teeth marks. He leaned into the dumpster and lightly brushed his fingers across the wound.
“What the hell did this?” he worried as he continued to look at the crippled body.
“A creature of the night.” The man Gallus had been after appeared in front of him on the other side of the street. Gallus looked at him and then the body. “A creature of the night?” he asked. “A creature... of the night...” the man took a step forward, “cursed and betrothed to darkness...” he took another step, “a living entity of sin...” He took one more step and hissed, showing off fangs that had taken Gallus aback. “Followers of the true God, he who rebelled and fought for the righteous, the one who...” In a major twist of events, a hand thrust through the man’s chest, revealing a bloody heart in its grasp. “Fuck!” Gallus fired up his fists in defense. The man was kicked to the ground revealing the killer behind him. It was the leader of the three and he wasn’t looking happy. “You were not supposed to hear any of that. Now you must die.” He snarled.
Gallus jumped high into the air planning to come hammering down with a ground shattering attack with his fists up behind his head. The plan was immediately foiled as the man smoothly ran up the side of the building to meet him mid-air and delivered a kick to Gallus’ chest. The Demigod landed spiralling onto his side. He was quickly picked up and started receiving the same punches that were previously landed on Marceus. Roaring like a madman, Gallus set fire to his fists once more and grabbed hold of his assailants’ face. The punches stopped as the man tried to claw off the Demigod. Gallus took this chance to hold him behind his neck and force it down to meet his powerful knee.
The man was knocked away but darted right back, slamming Gallus’ head into the wall behind him and then sweeping him off his feet with a low kick. As an attempt to get away from the man, Gallus pushed himself hard off the floor, taking air, before pushing himself off the closest wall when he was two floors up into the next building. He suddenly found himself in a beige bedroom with a television mounted opposite the bed. Dust settled in with his arrival but the place looked deserted anyways. Gallus was quickly pursued as the man came running up the wall and into the hole that he had created but found himself in a burning room. Gallus had immediately lit the entire place on fire. “This won’t stop me!” roared the man. “No, it’ll slow you down!” Gallus roared back. The man suddenly shouldered him, covering the distance of a few meters between them faster than the blink of an eye, and held around him as he kept running past the living room and into the bathroom. The two crashed into the white ceramic wall, sending cracks in every direction.
The crash revealed something about the man as he came off Gallus sweating and huffing for breath. The fires were killing off the oxygen in the area. Gallus had figured out that he must be using a lot of oxygen to keep running like that so he had to somehow take it away. The man’s knees buckled as he tried to regain strength. Gallus towered over him and began beating down with fiery fists, each hit further exhausting him and fuelling Gallus. He wasn’t affected by the fires that now surrounded them. They were almost covered by them, their clothes starting to burn, the man moaning in agony and Gallus unaffected, continuously pounding on.
The Demigod suddenly saw the life of the man almost leaving him and halted. He still had questions that needed answering. Concentrating on the flames, feeling them with his mind and body, he drained its power and consumed it, leaving a horribly charred apartment in smoke. Gallus and the man had turned completely black. Their clothes no longer what they used to be. Gallus took off his jacket and shirt and tossed them on the ground. He was still covered in soot and dust. He looked at the man who was dozing off. Gallus picked him up and gave him a soft punch from his right, causing several lines of blood to spray across his left arm. “I’m not letting you die you piece of shit.” He whispered into the man’s ear. “What is your name!?” The man smiled, revealing bloody teeth. “I...” he began to cough blood onto Gallus. “I never thought a Demigod could beat me. How the mighty have fallen.” “What’s that supposed to mean? Aren’t you a Demigod?” The man laughed at the question. “I suppose I was... once.” “Who do you work for? What is it you’re searching for?” “You’re a little slow, aren’t you, kid?” “I’m not a kid. I’m over a hundred years old.” “Yes but you age a hundred times slower. In Demigod terms, you’ve only aged ten years. You’re still an immature child.” Gallus elbowed him hard on his jaw. “Speak to me as if I were a man who has your life in the palm of his hands.” “Hahahaha, my life? You think you’ve beaten me?” “Perhaps the lack of oxygen has deluded you. I had to stop myself from killing you.” “I am quite confident that I am not the delusional one, kid.” “Who do you work for!?” Gallus roared, pushing the man harder against the ceramic wall. “I am allowing you to live.” He whispered with a smile. “You live because I allow it.” “What are you on about?” “You think your brother and you have beaten us? We have specific instructions to let you guys be. You’re the untouchables. We can put you in a coma at most, tihihihi.” He laughed. “Whose instructions? Tell me!” “You don’t threaten me and you can’t kill me.” He smirked. Gallus was angry, thinking of ways to make the man talk. “I don’t scare you at all?” The man only smiled in reply. “Fine, I’ll take you to someone who will.” “What, your father?” he laughed. “Arcadeus Mara is a hothead with a loudmouth. He does not scare me.” Gallus frowned, he just realized that his phone had been damaged during the fight and had no way to call for reinforcements. “Fuck.” He hissed. “No way to call daddy?” the man mocked.
Something suddenly creaked back in the living room and both men stood still. They locked eyes, each trying to figure out whether the other got back up. “Mister Mara?” Gallus’ eyes darted towards the door as someone called out his name. “Who’s there?” he asked clearly. “My name is Yahktarin, sir. One of Juleus’s bodyguards. He sent me to check up on you.” “Juleus should have left the city by now. Why would he send you?” “Because you were acting suspicious, sir. We had not yet left when we saw you running down the street.” “Is my brother still in the city then?” “Yes, sir. He shouldn’t be too far.” “How many men does he have with him?” “Fourteen, sir.” The smoke had cleared by now as Gallus poked his head out the doorway to check out this Yahktarin. “Right, I recognize you. Come help me with this. I need to bring him back to the fort.”
Yahktarin made his way into the bathroom and checked on the man Gallus had taken down. “Impressive catch, sir.” The man looked at the newcomer and smiled. “He is not on the list.” He smirked. “What list?” Gallus asked. “The no-kill list.” The man whispered. With what sounded like the cracking of a whip, the man shot himself towards Gallus with tremendous speed, pushing him through the wall of the bathroom and out of the building altogether before attacking Yahktarin. The two battled it out with fast punches, each of them landing a hit but Yahktarin couldn’t match the speed of his opponent. In an effort to get a breather Yahktarin dashed into the living room for more space but the man followed and delivered a pushing kick to his pelvis. The bone cracked and Yahktarin stumbled to the floor. The man grabbed him by the neck and forced Yahktarin’s gaze to him. “You Demigods will never match the power of vampires,” he whispered, “especially of one former Archdemon.” Yahktarin was confused but scared. He was just given vital information but at a dire cost. The man laughed, his smile cutting across half his face. Yahktarin looked at the hole in the bedroom. That was his exit. But it was too late to execute as the man stomped on his knees with ungodly power, crushing them to a mere slush. Yahktarin screamed and he roared until he no longer could.
Comments