Silver seren/Friends No More
Moar info: Silver Seren.
Friends No More by ~silver-seren
Chapter 3 Friends No More By Silver Seren
Darkness covered everything, the only islands of light emanating from the solitary street lights on every corner. The back streets of LA were badly lit compared to the downtown district, where the majority of the population spent their time. The silence in the back streets was almost deafening and only the far-off hum of cars could be heard. In this part of the city shadows always reign and people know to stay away. This makes it a prime area for battles that have been going on for centuries and surely show no sign of stopping anything soon…
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In an alleyway in an undisclosed street, a shadow within a shadow crept forward. Slow, cautious footsteps could be heard as the shadow stepped out of the alleyway. The corner light was too far away to shed sufficient radiance, but there was just enough to show that the shadow was wearing some sort of clothing that didn’t reflect light, for there just seemed to be an utter hole within the darkness
The figure looked down the street and stood still for a moment, before heading across. It was when the figure had reached about halfway that a whistling sound was heard in the stillness. The figure took a swift motion backward, narrowly avoiding a small object that flashed past where the figure had been standing. The knife wedged itself by the tip in the concrete of the street.
Glancing in the direction from whence the knife had come, the figure stepped back towards the alleyway, probably hoping to utilize the darker shadows therein. “Well, I was never that good at throwing knives anyways,” a voice said, issuing from the alleyway. Spinning around, the figure lashed out with a knife of its own, but hit nothing at all. A chuckle came from a man standing off to the right wearing a black cloak and hood, “I suppose you’re not such a good aim yourself.”
The figure hissed at the words and made a threatening motion to step forward, but didn’t, “Tell me your name, dog, and I’ll tell you mine.” The man just smiled and shrugged, “My name is Silver, ironic I know. Though I already know your name, Elien, and I would assume that you already knew mine.”
Elien seemed a little surprised, but it didn’t last long. He threw back his own hood, his surprise having been replaced with annoyance. Red eyes peered form his face and seemed to glow in the shadows, while his black hair seemed to be trying to meld with them instead.
“Ah, Silver, I didn’t recognize you. I suppose…you are here to kill me then, am I right?” Silver also threw back his hood, a rather cold expression on his face. His silver eyes and long silver hair seemed to be a strict counterpart to Elien. Silver nodded slowly, “Yes, I’m afraid I am. We both knew…that it would come to this eventually, though I had hoped otherwise. I must say…I’m surprised that you aren’t angry with me. I expected you to be because of…” his sentence trailed away and he didn’t finish it.
A sad look crossed Elien’s face for a moment and he took his time before saying something, “My brother, you mean…It would be a downright lie to say that his death hasn’t affected me, but I also know that his life was his own responsibility. I’m not really the revengeful type however, but,” Hardness shone in his eyes for a split-second, “As the circumstances are, I might fight harder than I would have otherwise.”
Silver had been twirling a knife in one hand and he stared at it for a moment. The knife clicked as it was slid back into its sheath, “I would much rather prefer to do this the old-fashioned way…for old-times sake.” Elien smiled a little at this statement and nodded as he put away his own knife.
Silver sighed deeply before raising his hands out in front of him. Concentrating on them and only them, they began to tremble slightly as the fingernails lengthened. Patches of silver fur sprouted here and there, finally covering the entire length and conforming into claws. “You ready?” Silver growled, his voice becoming lower as his eyes began to shine slightly. Elien answered just by smiling, revealing elongating front canine teeth.
A hiss escaped from Elien’s lips as he vaulted forward at the same instant as Silver. As they came together, Elien ducked under the claws and slashed upward with his smaller ones, but Silver had already jumped to the side and out of harm’s way. Both of them knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses, including the attacks that their opponents would use, making it rather hard for either to obtain the advantage. Still…they knew that only one would win.
Silver came at Elien again, this time with a pinscher movement to nullify any defensive counter. Even this move didn’t faze Elien, for he responded by meeting Silver claw for claw. Silver’s were considerably bigger and he was considerably stronger, so Elien was the one pushed back when their claws clanged together. Foot by foot, he was pushed closer and closer to the alley wall.
He hissed in Silver’s face, showing his fangs, but neither of them allowed the other to get close enough to bite. As Elien’s back approached the wall, he did the completely unexpected by jumping and placing his feet upon it. With his body parallel to the ground, he could hold off Silver by combining the strength in his arms with the solid strength in his legs.
“Give up, Elien, and accept your death. I am stronger than you by far, even in this position.,” Silver said, leaning his head forward. Snarling in Elien’s face, sharp wolf teeth were shown to be growing in his mouth.
For several long moments, Elien didn’t say a word, then he looked sharply at Silver, “I believe I have changed my mind on my feelings. Vengeance seems to suit me quite well and, if I am to die, then I will die knowing I tried to take revenge for my brother.” Silver seemed shocked and even hurt by the statement.
In a sudden rush of power, Elien pushed back far enough on Silver’s claws to allow him to twirl out of the way. Lost of the opposing force against him, Silver stumbled against the brick wall, his claws easily penetrating the stone. Elien reversed direction immediately after breaking out of the stalemate back towards Silver and slashed him across the face.
The three deep cuts ran blood down Silver’s cheek, which dripped onto his black cloak and stained it crimson. A small groan of pain escaped from his lips, but he kept a hard gaze at Elien. The gaze was also tinted with a deep sadness that went straight from Silver to Elien.
Elien had just been about to slash Silver’s throat when he was caught by the gaze and hesitated, “Silver, I…” He didn’t finish what he was going to say, or maybe he just couldn’t.
Silver just shook his head gently, “I don’t want any mercy or charity from you. At the very least, you are giving me an advantage that is of no benefit to you. And don’t think I won’t use it.” With a sharp tug, Silver wrenched his claws from the brick and swung them at Elien’s side.
Elien didn’t react quickly enough and gave a yelp as the claws bit deeply. Silver used the momentum of the slash to swing Elien around and smash him against the wall. Chunks of brick went flying in all directions from the force of the impact. Silver’s claws sank slightly deeper into Elien’s side, causing a sharp hiss to escape from Elien. This hiss became much higher pitched when Silver ripped his claws back out, blood splattering against the pavement.
Claws pressed lightly against Elien’s throat a second later, but didn’t go any farther than that. Elien looked down at the claw tips and began to laugh, “How quickly things turn around! I guess I expected this outcome in the end. I’m…I’m sorry I said that about vengeance. Even if it is true, please don’t let it trouble your mind. We both knew that an ending such as this had to occur.”
Silver’s face had clouded over while Elien was talking and he avoided looking directly at Elien as well. A few long seconds passed with no apparent movement from either of them. Confusion passed over Elien’s face and he reached up to the claws at his throat. A drop of blood flowed down Elien’s neck as he pulled the hand closer, “You have no choice. I don’t wish for the both of us to get into trouble. This is the only way!” A fierceness was in his voice that would brook no argument against his words.
Another second passed and Silver shook his head ever so slowly. Anger rushed into Elien’s face and it seemed like he was going to say something scathing, when he paused. One lone, solitary tear had run down Silver’s cheek and dropped onto his cloak, mingling with the blood splashed there already. It left a shining line in its wake that the moonlight reflected from.
Elien swallowed what he was going to say and his expression calmed, “I understand. It’s the same for the both of us, it seems.” Silver’s claws receded until it was merely his hand resting on Elien’s shoulder. A shudder ran through Elien’s body, for he was still quite wounded, and Silver moved to support him.
Another moment passed before Silver spoke, “I’ll drop you off outside of Night’s Embrace and they’ll be able to help you. Then, we’ll pretend that we never ran into each other. Things should turn out alright.” He lifted slightly on Elien’s arm, hoisting him into the air so it was easier to walk.
Underway, Silver still took every precaution while traversing the street, for there could still be others around that would cause them both harm.
Neither side had any use for those that befriended their enemies.
A noise sent him scurrying for the shadows, dragging Elien right along with him. Both of them slowed their breathing as they peered for where the noise had come from.
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A burst of light and fire emanated from across the street, aiming right for them. Silver leaped to the side to avoid it and collided with some trash cans, tipping them over and causing the noise to reverberate across a large area. Gingerly getting to his feet, he turned back around, ”Elien, are you alr-“ His breath caught in his throat and his chest locked up.
The bullet had pierced right above Elien’s left eye and exploded out the back of his head, taking much of his skull with it. Blackness within the hole seemed to taunt Silver and he collapsed to his knees, unable to support his own weight.
“That was easier than I thought it would be. I suppose you injured him enough that he couldn’t avoid it. Nice job…I expected on having to use almost all of my ammunition on him,” Darius said as he stepped away from the cover of the shadows and put a still smoking gun back on his belt.
Only sparing a single glance at Elien’s body, one that was filled with contempt, Darius walked over and placed a hand on Silver’s shoulder, “It was the only way. There is a band of vampires down this street; you would have run right into them. Besides, this will make sure you don’t get into trouble with Strye. I promise I won’t tell.”
Underlying his words was a pervading disgust about the whole ordeal, something that would have been obvious to anyone listening.
“Get your hand off me,” Silver whispered in an incredibly low voice. He was on his feet a second later and his gaze slowly rose to look at Darius. The pupils of his eyes had narrowed down to small points and they seemed to penetrate whatever they glanced upon.
“Die,” Silver said as he swung a hand-suddenly-turned-claw at Darius. The claws missed, however, because Darius had leaped backward with a superhuman agility. A smirk crossed Darius’s features as he looked at Silver,
“You know, I was fully ready to let you get away, scot-free and all. But you couldn’t let me do that, could you? Now the gloves are completely off and I can do whatever I want.”
Silver didn’t seem to be listening at all to what Darius was saying, merely waiting for him to stop speaking. The instant that Darius closed his mouth, Silver attacked him with a horizontal slash. A metallic clang cut through the air as Silver’s claws met the knives that Darius had drawn. They stayed locked together for only a second before Silver stepped back and attacked again.
The clanging constantly rent the air as they fought back and forth across the street, with neither obtaining any sort of advantage. “I’m just as strong as you, Silver. You won’t beat me.” No reply other than a snarl came from Silver and a slightly harder push with his claws.
Silver seemed to be becoming more and more feral as the fight progressed, for his eyes were becoming slits and fur was beginning to grow all across his body. This change was quite noticeable to Darius, as was the increasing pressure against him, “I suppose I should finish this quickly then,” he whispered.
With a savage push, Darius forced Silver’s arms up and kicked him in the stomach. Silver fell back from the force of the blow and didn’t notice anything until Darius had plunged a knife into the exact spot he had kicked. Immediately withdrawing the knife, a torrent of blood splattered all across the pavement.
Even with the intense anger he was feeling, Silver also felt his strength drain away. Falling to one knee, he put a hand on the ground to steady himself.
Darius stood over him, completely triumphant, and held a knife in a position to drive into the back of Silver’s neck, “Not feeling too well, are we? Don’t worry, i’ll help. You might have had a chance to defeat me if we fought when you were fresh, but that vampire wore you down quite a bit. Oh well, you win some and you lose some. This time you lost. Have fun in hell!”
This mocking voice would have been the last thing Silver heard if not for another voice speaking up, “Stay your hand Darius or you’ll find yourself in a punishment more painful than you can imagine.”
Darius looked up and past Silver with a dumbfounded expression, the knife dropping from his hand and clattering on the ground, “Sir?! I’m sorry, I was only trying to follow you –“ The other voice cut him off before he could finish his sentence, “Orders, you were going to say? Its funny, but I don’t remember my orders saying you were allowed to kill Silver. You don’t have the right to do something like that anyways.”
Strye Whitefang’s hand came down and clasped Silver’s shoulder, “This fight is over.”
At these words, Silver came back to himself and whirled around to look at Strye, the wolven teeth in his mouth fully formed, “No! This fight is mine! He must die!” The fur was continuing to spread across his body and was now creeping up his chest.
Strye sighed and his hand clenched tighter, “I’m sorry about this Silver, but you leave me no choice.”
A sharp pain struck the back of Silver’s neck and any conscious thought fled. Silver cried out as darkness covered his eyes and he fell to the ground.