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Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/campfires/item_id/346665-Creatures-of-the-Night
Rated: 13+ · Campfire Creative · Fiction · Horror/Scary · #346665
they are not ordinary, you better watch out or you very well may be their next victim
[Introduction]
One stormy night on planet Earth, Dr. Retsnom created 5 unearthly creatures. He wanted 5 males, but he only found four, so he had 1 female, and the rest male. The female: A vampire who seemed to have control over the male creatures with her enhansing beauty and extraordinary powers. The shapeshifter: the vampires sidekick, whom she secretly loves. The werewolf: an silvery animal who will always help a friend in need. The werecat: best friend of the werewolf. The wizard: he seems to be the loner of the group, but provides helpful information seeing his only powers are having the abiity to see the future and travel into the past. He thinks, and says, he can do other things with his hands like do spells and cures, but really cannot. By day these creatures are normal humans, but at night...
Okay, first the rules...

1. Each character cannot excede its powers. Example.) The wizard cannot read minds, he can only see the future and the past.

2. You cannot change a character that was already named. Example.) The only characters are the vampire, the shapeshifter, the werewolf, the werecat, and the wizard.

3. When you name the character, dont name it something ordinary like 'Dan' or, somthing that is wild and you cant pronounce like 'prkeatyuiz'

4. The werewolf or werecat don't really have any specific powers yet. So if you choose one of them you can make up thier power, but it can't be anything drastic like having the ability control a variety of different things. Maybe you could make one of them able to shoot lasers out of their eyes, or have the power of teleportation, or be able to control an element such as water, fire, etc. But remember, just pick one thing.

(hint: There is a little twist to the Dr.'s name, if you can figure it out!)

Ok, now lets start off with a description of the character.



Character: Vampire
Name: Zalyana (Pronounced: Za lee ah na)
Age:17
Gender: female
Hair: Long and Golden
Eye color: Violet
Height: 5'6" (But still the shortest of all of the creatures in human form).
Power: Vampire powers; sucking blood from victims, reading minds, having exceptional strength, being able to move faster than light, and being immortal. (I think we should make all of the characters immortal).
Traits: A leader by nature, a bit of a temper when she doesn't get her way, evil.
A Non-Existent User
Character: Shape-shifter
Name: Mrphius (pronounced Mer-if-e-us)
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Hair: usually black and short
Eye color: usually bright red
Height: usually 5'10''
Power: Can alter his entire form or parts of his form to anything imaginable, animate or inanimate objects; may also increase or decrease his size by about 95% if he needs to, and his hands and feet adhere to most surfaces, such as walls, ceilings, etc; immortal.
Traits: very quiet, private, and patient; kind of like a serial killer; ruthless and vicious, with a bit of a sadistic streak.
Character: Werecat
Name: Leo
Age:16
Gender:Male
Hair: Tawny gold and shaggy, always in his eyes
Eye color: A liquid brown
Height: 6'3
Power: Can turn into a humongous lion at will, but must turn into a simple housecat every full moon.
Traits: Likes turning into a lion, but the fact that he is reduced to a simple housecat once or twice a month has rendered him quiet, and unobtrusive, and takes any slightly derogative comment personally.
Shoddy Wizard! Shoddy Wizard! Okay, I'll calm down. I't been a freaky night.

Character: Wizard
Name: Gandalf J/K! Uhh, HEATH! J/K again. Harry! Okay, I'm really settling down now. His name will be Avery.
Gender: Male (DUH)
Hair: Short, black, with tips blue.
Eye Color: Black, completely black. (He's sort of a dark wizard)
Height: I don't know, typical male height. (What can I say, I'm a short female with two super tall males in my family). I guess, 5'11.
Power: Typical magical powers. Can use just hands for magic, not powerful enough for anything else yet. Can disappear, do spells, curses, and scare people out of their wits by threatening to turn them into frogs.
Traits: Is actually fairly out-spoken, VERY cynical, and likes to wise-crack to the point of annoyance.
A Non-Existent User
Character: A Werewolf
Name: Jeckle
Gender: male
Hair: blood red "dreds"
Eye Color: red
Height: 6'
Power: He has the powers of the dark carnival on his side.
Traits: He doesnt care what anyone thinks. He'll come in completely naked and you'll have to live with it.
"See? I told you this would be fun!" laughed Zalyana. She and her four friends, Mrphius, Leo, Avery, and Jeckle had all piled into Mrphius's car and were riding up a steep mountain road. The clouds were very thick and it looked like a bad storm was comming.
"I still don't think this is a good idea." Jeckle growled.
"What, is Jeckle scared?" teased Avery.
"Yeah, I'm really scared. No I'm not scared you idiot! What, are you crazy?" Jeckle turned and punched Avery in the arm.
"What was that for?!" Avery punched him back.
"You asked for it!" Jeckle was on top of Avery pounding him up and down. Avery was throwing just as many punches.
"C'mon guys, quit it!" Leo yelled and tried to pull them apart. He was punched in the face. He joined in the fight. Zalyana turned around from the front seat.
"Could you guys act your age for once???"
"Join in Zalyana! Its fun!" Avery reached out and pulled her hair.
"Owwwwwwwww!"
"Don't touch her!" bellowed Mrphius. He looked over his shoulder. The fighting stopped. Mrphius was usually so quiet, so everyone stopped to listen to what he had to say.
"All I wanted to say..."
"MRPHIUS!!! LOOK OUT!!!" screamed Zalyana. But it was too late. Mrphius cranked the wheel hard to the right but the back end of the car slid off the edge of the cliff.
"Oh God no!!!!!!" panicked Leo. The car hit the ground hard. The momentum propelled it farther down the cliff. When it finally stopped the car burst into flames.

************************************************

"Hmmmm, I guess you'll have to do." Was what Zalyana woke up to.
"What?" a groggy Zalyana looked around. What she saw was unreal. It was a lab. A mad scientists lab. Test tubes everywhere. Cages with white lab rats. She looked around. What she saw made her laugh. The guys were half naked! All they had on was their boxers. Well except Jeckle, he had on plain underwear. What she didn't notice was that they were attached to bedlike boards standing on end. Their arms and legs were stretched out completely. They were knocked out, or just sleeping, she wasn't sure. She looked at herself and almost screamed. She was in her undergarments too! The only difference was that she had on a bra and a white tank top. She tried to move her arms, but to her horror her arms were attached with handcuffs to the bedlike board.
"Mrphius! Mrphius!" cried Zalyana "Mrphius, wake up!" no response. She searched his face. He was out cold. "Leo? Avery? Jeckle? Anybody?"
"What is it that you want?" A little short white haired man answered.
"Who are you?" Zalyana demanded.
"You are in no position to demand anything."
"Will you let me go!"
"You are not even supposed to be awake. Oh well, more pain for you!"
"Can I please have some answers?"
"Okay, I don't know what it can hurt. I was out last night looking for little creatures to test my expirments on and I came across a burning car. Luckly the storm had very strong rain and that put the fire out very quickly. I looked in the car and found five unconscious teenagers. I pulled them out and brought them into my lab. And here you are!"
"But you had to undress us??? You pervert!!!"
"I can do what I want with you now, you are all mine."
"No we arn't. Now let us go!"
"I will do no such thing. I will now expirment on you, you have become my 'lab rats'."
He laughed evily.
"Who are you?"
"Dr.Retsnom." Zalyana searched her brain, that name sounded familiar! Who could it be, a teacher? No. Then it hit her. Monster spelled backwards! Dr. Retsnom walked away and came back with five test tubes and five syringes. "I think I will start with your beloved black haired beauty. What was it you called him? Ah yes, Mrphius." Dr. Retsnom walked up to Mrphius. He stuck the syringe into a test tube and sucked up a red liquid. Then he looked for the biggest vein in Mrphius's neck that he could find and pumped the liquid into it.
Mrphius's eyes flew open. He looked like he didn't know what hit him. His body started to shake. And his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Then he went limp. Dr. Retsnom stared at him in delight. Then he did the same thing to Leo, Avery and Jeckle. Their bodies reacted the same way. Next he came to Zalyana. She stared in horror.
"No." her lips mouthed as the evil Dr. came to her with a syringe filled with black liquid. "No, don't!" she pleaded.
"You know, I really didn't want a girl, but I guess you'll have to do." His finger searched her neck tenderly for the biggest vein he could find. "Once I'm done with you, finding the juiciest veins won't be a problem for you." He hissed into her ear. He found the vein with most diffuculty and stuck the syringe into it. The pain was immense! The prick wasn't bad, it was the liquid being forced into her that killed. Her body convulsed. Then just as suddenly as it started, it went limp. She couldn't move if she wanted to. She couldn't even open her eyes. "In just one hour my test will be complete!" roared Dr. Retsnom.
One by one, the Dr. carried the limp bodies to a jail cell and lay them down. After the last body was in, he locked the door. Zalyana just lay there. Even though it was only an hour, it seemed like eternity. When the clock struck 12:00, Zalyana could feel some changes taking place. For one, she could actually move. The weird thing that she felt was her canine teeth protruding to a point. She got up and discovered she could move faster than the speed of light. She looked around. Even her eyesight was better. To be exact, about ten times better! She could see a flea in Leos fur. Wait, Leo's fur? Leo had turned into a great lion. There was a ring of fire circling him. He apparantly had control over the element of fire. (((DDQ didn't specify any power for Leo besides turning into a lion, so i made him able to control the element of fire.))) Zalyana turned her eyes to Jeckle. He had turned into a giant wolf. When she looked at Mrphius he was changing shape rapidly. She guessed he was a shape-shifter. When she turned to Avery, he seemed to be normal. But that was corrected right away. Dr. Retsnom was looking in the cage.
"Your friend Avery here has the ability to see the future and travel back into time. Leo is a werecat, having the ability to change into a lion at will, but every full moon, he changes into a house cat. He can also control the element of fire. Jeckle is a werewolf. He has the powers of the dark carnival. Mrphius is, as you have guessed, a shape-shifter. He can change into animate as well as non-animate shapes. His hands and feet can adhere to most surfaces. A ceiling, for example. And Zalyana here is a Vampire. She can read minds, speak with her mind, see a great deal better, move faster than the speed of light and of course, normal vampire things. You are all immortal. Nothing, I repeat nothing, can kill you."
Mrphius kept changing shape rapidly. "Concentrate on one form and you will stop changing." commanded Dr. Retsnom. Mrphius did and remained in his human form. "By day you will all be normal human beings. But at night you will roam the darkness, taking any unsuspecting victim. You will remain in your Colorado High School. If you tell anyone what you really are, then at night, whether you like it or not, you will take them as your victim. Now go, I will call you back with this chip I installed in your back if I ever need you. Now go enjoy your first hunt!"

Just as suddenly as they were in Dr. Retsnoms lab, they were out of it. They were in the forest. Mrphius cried out "MY CAR!!!" His 1970 mustang cobra was just a burnt out shell. He ran over to it and started stroking it. "My poor baby!" He turned around. "This is all your fault!" he raged a Jeckle. "If you and Avery hadn't been fighting this wouldnt have happened!" He noticed Zalyana and stopped dead in his tracks. She was the most beautiful thing he ever saw! Her long gold hair shined and her violet eyes sparkled. She was dressed in all black leather. He searched up and down her perfect figure. Then he noticed the twin fangs growing out of her top lip. "Oh my God! I thought it was all a dream."
Zalyana felt a pang of hunger. Blood lust maybe. "Uh guys, I'm going hunting. Why don't we all hunt right now. We'll meet back here." She took off at a run. She was searching for the warm scent of blood. Then she saw it. Campers! "I'll take one of them!" she thought evily. She waited behind a tree until one of the campers came her way. Then she pounced. The camper was a boy about her age. She didn't recognize him though.
"Hi." she said. "I'm lost, do you think you could help me?" she asked sweetly. No way he could refuse her beauty.
"Uh, yeah." said the boy, staring at her perfect face. He pulled out a map. "We are right here." He pointed to a secluded spot in the Colorado Mountains. She grabbed him like she was going to kiss him.
"Thank you, I think I can find my way home from here." She smiled at him. Then sunk her fangs into the flesh of his neck and felt his warm blood flow into her. Ahhhh! It tasted so good! Pity she had killed him. She pulled out her teeth and licked the spot where a bit of blood spilled out onto his neck. She picked up his dead body and threw it into the fast moving river. She loved how strong she had become. She hiked back to the spot where she left her friends. Her hunger gone.
"So guys, how was your hunt?" She asked while she licked the blood off her perfect lips.
A Non-Existent User
Mrphius stood around for a second as his friends split up. He could have sworn Zalyana said something about hunting, but she was never exactly the redneck type--far from it. Something wasn’t right with her. That doctor must have done something...

“My God, will you look at that?”

“How could anyone have survived that?”

Voices. Cops. Two of them. Mrphius instinctively altered his shape to that of a damaged tire. He had no clue why he wanted to do such a thing. It seemed right, somehow.

Even in his current form, he could still hear the officers as they surveyed the wreckage.

“A lot of blood, but where are the bodies? No way anyone could’ve walked away from something like this. Or if they could, they wouldn’t have gotten very far.

While their attention was focused on the car, Mrphius manipulated his shape once again. Now he was a snake, and he slithered his way towards the officers’ car, climbed up to the roof, and returned to his original. That is, his original form with a few modifications. His hands were nowhere to be seen, but in their place were two long swords. All along his body was a coat of metal armor, and his eyes took on a bright, red hue. He waited, perfectly still, for the two officers to return.

They soon did.

“What the hell?”

“What do you think you’re doing? Get down there, and put your hands I can--”

The officer shone his flashlight upon the altered Mrphius, and his heart froze.

Mrphius pounced, flinging himself at the cops and shredding their bodies to pieces in a slow, methodical, very painful manner. He enjoyed the music of their screams for a full five minutes before he finally elected to put them of their misery.

“Hm,” he muttered. “Fun.”

He returned to his true form when he saw the others returning.

Zalyana asked, “So, guys, how was your hunting?”
Leo bared his teeth, and he smelled a small creature, and heard the blood running through it's frightened veins. Leo grinned ferociously and felt his bones and muscles stretch and tear painfully and deliciously, and reform into a longer, stronger, more dangerous body. He felt the final click and roared as he pounced after the deer. He caught up to it and snapped it's sleek neck in his powerful jaws. he drank the wonderfully warm blood flowing over his muzzle. He roared and pounced back into their clearing, the wonderful blood and meat running through his body like a wonderful elixer, bringing him life. He saw the others and made himself change back to his human form. He felt the click and was nowhere near as satisfied as he was in his lion form. He shook out his hair and howled at the moon.
Then he heard Zalyana, "So, guys, how was your hunting?"
Avery watched as each person departed.
"Hunt, yea right." He muttered. He watched as each person departed. They were all crazy, he thought. "What are you, cannabel's?" He called after the dissappearing figures. He turned at the sound of voices. Cop's. "Crap!" He muttered. "I'm not going to the police station again. My parents will kill me." He leapt off into the woods. "Hunt, hunt hunt. Huh. Fat chance. Idiots." Suddenly a sort of convulsion took over his body. He slid to his knees. The forest around him was spinning, ever spinning. But it was doing something else. The trees started shrinking. Seasons passed in seconds, snow falling, melting, then leaves bursting out to fall seconds later. It all stopped so suddenly Avery fell over. Someone was calling him.
"Hey, stranger! It tain't good tah wander round these woods alone when thur's so many savage animals about!" Avery stared up at two cowboys. Wide brimmed hats and old, old guns were slung over their shoulders. And two rabbits were hanging at each of their sides. His eyes got wider as his stomach rumbled. "Sounds like yer hungry! Come on home ta muh missus and she'll cook ye up a fine dinna." Avery nodded mutely as his stomach took control of his brain(as usual). He stumbled along behind the two men as they whispered fervently to each other. "Ya suppos he's one o' them injun friends? Or some sorta secret tribe?" Avery blocked out their chattering and glanced around him. The stark beauty of Colorado in the 19th century slowly took ahold of him. He quickly interuppted the two men.
"S-so, you're cowboys, and this is what, 1890's or something?" Both men started laughing.
"You must be off your rocker! This is only 1827! I hain't never heard o' no cowboy." Avery stumbled.
"I have to get back." He said to no one inparticular. "I'm not going to live in 1827! I am going back to 2002 right now!" Suddenly the mens faces in front of him grew older. Then their bodies crumbled to a pile on the ground. Animals spen around their bodies as they rotted and decayed before his very eyes. Seasons raced by, things died, things grew, the trees got bigger, the bodies slowly disapeared and Avery stood up in 2002. He glanced down where his feet were, where the men had fallen. His nose wrinkled and he leapt away and started walking anywhere, just to get away from them. Suddenly he heard Zalyana say, "So, guys, how was your hunting?" Avery threw up.
A Non-Existent User
Jeckle was cold and tired. He trudged up the drive way to the house but soon made a detour. Life didn't seem to be going right for him anymore. His wife and children had been murdered by a radical group that called themselves the "Black Draculas", and his house had been reposessed due to his lack of payments. His new friends had helped him get back on his feet, but he had grown tired of there ways.

He had reached the hill that overlooked a beautiful valley, and it was there where he took his life.
Zalyana walked up to Mrphius, put her arms around his neck and kissed him. "Lets go home." she whispered.

"All right."

Something occured to Zalyana. They had no car. It was burnt to a crisp. "Mrphius, how are we going to get home? Its like 20 miles away."

"Don't worry, I'll get us home."

"Uh, guys? Look!" Leo's gaze was on Mrphius's red mustang. It was slowly returning to the way it was before it fell off the cliff. It looked as if it was on rewind. The car was going up the cliff exactly the way it had fallen. It was lifted all the way up the cliff.

"Lets follow it!" cried Mrphius. He turned his shape into that of a red tailed hawk and flew after it. Zalyana looked around. Jeckle was nowhere to be seen. Where was he? He wasn't back from his hunt. But something told her that he wasn't comming back. She started after Mrphius. Leo and Avery were at her heels. She outran them with great ease. She jumped nimbly from rock to rock, and grabbed onto tree branches that helped her climb the cliff. She reached the top in half the time it would have taken her if she didn't have her powers. She saw Mrphius sitting behind the wheel of his car. It looked as good as new. Mrphius looked as if he couldn't have been happier. Zalyana climbed in the passenger side. Mrphius put the car into drive and started to pull away. Leo and Avery had just reached the top. Mrphius didn't notice them and would have just left them there if it wasn't for Zalyana.

"Stop! We have to get Leo and Avery!"

Mrphius stuck his head out the window and yelled; "Hurry up!"

"Gee, we would, but you keep driving away!" shouted Avery angrily. Avery opened the car door and got in behind Mrphius. Leo got in on the other side. Mrphius sped away.

"Wait, where's Jeckle?" Mrphius asked.

"At home." replied Zalyana. She didn't know how she knew that. It just sorta popped into her head. "Let's go see him." she said. "I think he needs our help."



Mrphius pulled into Jeckles driveway. Jeckle was only about 8 years older than Zalyana and the others, but he was already married and had kids. But his wife and kids were murdered. He mentioned that some group called the "Black Draculas" had killed them. His house was all boarded up.

"He's not here. Let's go." Mrphius started pulling out of the driveway.

"No, wait!" It had just rained and there was mud covering Jeckles driveway. There were fresh footprints in the mud. They couldn't have been more than an hour old. Zalyana got out of the car and beckoned for the others to follow. She followed the footprints into the backyard where they went up to the door. The ground was all dirt because Jeckle had ripped it up and planned to put sod down. But he hadn't done that yet. The boards had been ripped off and the backdoor was left open. The footprints went back out of the house and into the woods. She didn't know why Jeckle went into the house, but that didn't matter. She followed the footprints into the woods. The others just behind her. The woods were full of leaves and the footprints stopped.

"Uh, oh. We're never going to find him now!"

"Wait, I have and idea." Leo said and changed into a lion. He put his nose to the ground and sniffed around. He caught on to Jeckles scent. Then broke out into a run. Zalyana, Mrphius and Avery followed. He stopped when he came to a hill that overlooked a giant valley. Leo change back. Zalyana stared in horror. Jeckle lay at the bottom of the hill with a bullet through his head. The gun was in his hand. Zalyana carefully made her way to the bottom of the hill. Mrphius, Leo and Avery right behind her. Zalyana knelt beside Jeckle. She put her hand on his arm. Then, just like what happened to the car, the bullet went in slow motion rewind, and back into the gun. The hole in Jeckles head disappeared. Zalyana watched in amazement.

Then Avery said; "We are immortal. We cannot die."
Zalyana looked up at him. Avery shrugged at her questioning glance and spun back around. "Let's go get a burger, I'm hungry." Zalyana quickly caught up with him while Leo and Mrphius helped up Jeckle. "I thought I told you to hunt! What were you doing?" She asked, flipping her long hair over her shoulder. Avery stared at her, pursed his lips and looked up at the cloudy sky. The clouds skittered along hiding the moon. Zalyana continued to look at him sardonically. "I spent my time watching two men rot in front of me. And you SHOULD remember that not all of us are vamp's, lions, or werewolves." He turned to Mrphius. "Aren't you hungry?" He asked emphatically. Mrphius shook his head, "Not really, no". Avery rolled his eyes, knowing he was probably trying not to get Zalyana angry. "Well, I am, so let's just congregate THIS way, towards the car." Everyone glared at him, he who valued his stomach over his older friend Jeckle. "Ooookkkaaay, I will go, on my own then. Mrphius, the keys please." "Heck no!" Mrphius replied laconically about his precious car. "Fine, fine, don't get belligerent." He muttered and started walking towards the road. Zalyana quickly caught up with him using her lightning fast speed. "What is with you tonight?" She asked. "Back off, bitch." He turned, facing her. Her eyes widened. No one in their group had ever really gotten mad at each other. They were all fairly well-tempered. "You great Behemoth, why don't you just back off for a little while instead of being so damn intrusive on everyone's lives? 'K?" He started to walk away when she grabbed his arm. "How dare," He tried to yank his arm, but her hold continued to tighten. Her strength was immense. The pained expression on his face made her stop talking, but she couldn't realease her hold. Suddenly he shouted, "Don't be so infantile, you dumb blonde! I wish I was somewhere else in some other time to get away from you and all your stupid adulating, drooling followers!" Suddenly time stopped. Neither could feel pain, nor anger, nor any feeling at all. Then time spun faster and faster backwards. "Crap!" Yelled Avery over the deafening roar of time screaming back. "Look what you made me do!" A look of dread was fixated on Zalyana's face. "What's going on!?" She cried. Instantly everything stopped. "Where are we?" Zalyana said breathlessly as she looked around. Cars were all around them. They could see figures in the back seats kissing and doing other, ahem, things. "Can't you recognize it? It's Jeckle's backyard. Congratulations, you got us right to the 60's." Avery decried. Zalyana glared at Avery. "I can see where we are, thank you." "Okay, that's good, 'cause for a minute there I thought I would have to be the imperious person of our little, well, now it's a pair." Zalyana glared at him again, this time for his verbiage. "Why don't you stop talking like a professor and start acting like a teen." She muttered as she walked towards the cars. "You know, if you keep glaring like that your face will stick that way. I think you should keep it up, it would be a big improvment." He followed her through the maze of cars. "So how do we get back." Zalyana asked, trying not to look at the figures inside the cars. Avery stopped at one car, cocked an eyebrow and watched a couple avidly. Zalyana noticed him and yanked him away. "You guys are such sicko's." She muttered. "Ha ha, don't tell me you don't like this. I'm sure you're thinking this would be a perfect thing to do with MRPHIUS right now. I've always wondered, did his parents leave a letter out or something? I mean, who names their kid Mrphius anyway? Which brings up another good point. Who names their kids Zalyana, too? I'm guessing your parents were on crack at the time, right?" Zalyana glared at him, yet again and continued to pull him rapidly through the cars, thinking that the enormous amount of opprobrium in his mind was incredible. "Uh, Zalyana, do you have any idea where we're going, or would you like to continue to walk until we hit the drive in screen? I could always try to get back before we walk into another state in our own decade." Zalyana turned angrily to him. "You, you, ignoramus!" She yelled, and quickly turned around and started walking back to where they had come from. "Oooo, big word for such a little girl! I'm guessing you heard that on that 70's show or something, right?" Zalyana refused to say anything until they got back to the top of the hill. "Now take us back. Right now." "PMS, it's the curse of both sexes." Avery murmured. "NOW!" Zalyana screamed. "Watch it, I might just leave you behind." "Yea, well, I bet you don't even know how to get back." Zalyana replied flamboyantly. Avery looked at her pitiously, then flashed out of sight. He only went forward a year, but he could tell it was enough. Going back he dropped right in front of her, wide-eyed and helpless looking. Her look of disbelief was quickly replaced by relief, but then was checked and was replaced by anger. Her hand flew out and slapped Avery hard across the cheek. He looked on insouciantly, then turned to gaze at her. "Do you want to go or not." He said quietly. That seemed to be some turning point for him. He was now, truly the loner. Slapped, shunned and overall disliked by the group, he decided to tag along for the ride and the food, but not the company. Zalyana looked at him, anger, then meekness seeping in her eyes. "Uh, yea, let's go back." He grabbed her upper arm tightly, a little more tightly than necessary, but Zalyana didn't object. Soon they landed in front of their amazed friends, where almost no time had lapsed. Mrphius was instantly on Zalyana, asking her if she was okay. Leo and Jeckle glared at Avery, still angry about his indifference towards Jeckle. Avery slowly wandered back to the car where an overwhelming feeling of ennui and exhaustion overcame him and he fell asleep.
A Non-Existent User
Mrphius attended to his rattled friend.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Just fine," Zalyana replied, none too happy.

"What hap--"

"Nothing. Nothing important," she said, more somberly, her eyes fixed on him.

That said, Mrphius merely got up and walked over to his car. "Alright then. Jeckle, you okay?"

"Aside from the fact I just died and came back to life not that long ago, not too bad."

"Right, you tried to kill yourself. Any particular reason?"

"Like you can't guess."

"You couldn't handle the pain you were dealing with. Well, guess what?"

Mrphius' hand transformed into a small ball of spikes. Enlongating his arm, he rammed it into Jeckle's heart and withdrew his hand a few seconds later. For a moment, the depressed soul was unable to breath. The agony was surreal. But he would not die. There was nothing he wanted more, but he would not. Gradually, the wound healed, but the pain would last for a few more hours at least.

"You're immortal," Mrphius stated. "All you're capable of feeling is everlasting pain with no release. Enjoy." A grin appeared on his face for just a second. It soon vanished, replaced by a look of shame. He got into his car. "I'm going home. Not feeling too well. Anyone need a ride?"
Leo scowled at Mrphius, disgusted with him, and himself. "No thanks, I think I'll walk."

"I'll get a ride with more civilized people," Avery spat as he started to walk down the road, his thumb hitched out.

"I'm going to stay here for a while," Jeckle muttered.

Mrphius shrugged and he and Zalyana drove off into the night, and the two werepeople left behind heard them start to argue after a few feet.
"We've got to tell someone! A doctor or somebody!" argued Mrphius.

"Yeah, okay, if you want them to DIE! You heard what the evil dude said. Anyone we tell will die because we will hunt them." Zalyana argued back.

"You actually believe that crazy bitch?" Mrphius screamed.

"I think I would have reason to! I mean look at us! We are...not human." Zalyana sighed.

"Hey, since we're cannibals, lets test this on somebody. Like our enemies! Hah! Who cares if they die." Mrphius exclaimed.

Zalyana took her eyes off the dash of the car and looked up at Mrphius. A smile slowly crept over her face. "Lets go to school."

Mrphius first took Zalyana home to get ready for school. The sun was just rising and Zalyana could feel the changes taking place. Her fangs had retracted back into her mouth and she felt somewhat slower and clumsier. Zalyana jumped in the shower for five minutes, got dressed, then did her hair and her makeup. She grabbed her things and ran out to the car. Mrphius had changed his clothes. "Did I take that long?" Zalyana asked.

"No, I had a change of clothes in the back. Actually, I'm surprised at how fast you were." Mrphius pulled out and drove to Mountain Trail High School.

They arrived at the school early. That was fine, since they had to find two people in a very large school.

"Do May and Nick even get here this early?" Zalyana asked.

"Oh yeah, their favorite thing to do in the morning is make out."
"Really? Then I know where they are." Zalyana led Mrphius to the girls bathroom on the third floor. Nobody ever used that bathroom. The school had turned off the water. The doors were locked, but they were broken by people who wanted privacy. Zalyana walked in the bathroom. Mrphius followed. Zalyana stared in horror. They were doing homework! She couldn't believe her eyes. May Lafyet and Nick Sky were doing homework in the bathroom!

"Wow! You guys are pathetic." Zalyana said.

Nick looked up from his reading glasses and grinned. "You expected us to be doing something else?" May started laughing.

"You make me sick." spat Mrphius.

"Listen, we came to tell you something important." Zalyana said with a straight face.
"Yeah? What's so important that trash like you need to say to jocks like us?" May was in her cheerleading uniform and Nick was in his football jersey.

"You really don't want to mess with us." Mrphius gritted his teeth. His fists clenched. Zalyana put a hand up on his chest to hold him back.

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do Mrphius? Fight me?" Nick stood up. His big muscles rippled under his shirt.

"I'm a Vampire." Zalyana burst out.
"That a pathetic attempt at a joke if I ever did hear one." May stood up and hooked her arm in Nicks. "And what are you Mrphius? A zombie?"

"A shapeshifter."

Both May and Nick burst out laughing. "Lets go! These two need to see a psychiatrist." They gathered up their things and left Zalyana and Mrphius standing furious.

Zalyana suffered through the rest of her classes. Sleeping through some and listening to teachers lecture in the others. She met Mrphius out by the car. "Just take me home. I'm too tired to do anything else."

"All right." Mrphius started the car and drove Zalyana home.

"Maybe I'll see you tonight." Zalyana walked up the driveway to her house. She lived in a little suburban neighborhood. Her house wasn't huge, but it wasn't tiny either. She unlocked the door and started climbing the stairs.

"Zalyana?" called her mother.

"Yeah?"

"Where were you last night? Her mother walked into the foyer. She had an apron on and her brown hair was pulled back. She was wiping her hands on a dishtowel.

"With Mrphius, Leo, Jeckle and Avery. Why?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You didn't do anything stupid did you."

Zalyana remembered the Dr. and how she killed that boy. "No. I thought you knew me better than that." She walked up the stairs to her room. She laid on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

Zalyana awoke when the moon came out. She was fully rested. She could feel her fangs growing again. She stood up. What a great night for a hunt! She yawned. Zalyana looked at her clock. Midnight. She didn't want to wake her parents up so she opened her window. Then she jumped out of it. She landed nimbly on her feet.

"I thought you were never going to wake up." sounded Mrphius. He was leaning up against a tree. "You know what we have to do, don't you?"

"What?"

"Get May and Nick."

"I don't really want to..." Suddenly Mrphius changed into a horse. He picked her up with his supernatural teeth and set her on his back. He galloped for a while, then stopped. He sniffed at the air, changed direction and took off again. "Mrphius! Please stop!"

"I...I can't! I have no control over my body!"

He stopped when he got to the cinema. His body went back to normal. Zalyana found she had no control over her body either. It was like both of them were on autopilot. Zalyana watched in horror as her body broke into the cinema. It threw guards to the side with its extraordinary strength. She watched her body go into the show "Queen of the Damned". How ironic. May and Nick were watching a movie about vampires. The movie had just ended and everyone was filing out. Zalyana and Mrphius went in and stopped May and Nick from coming out. They waited until they were the last one in the theater.

"What are you doing? Just leave us alone!" cried May.

Zalyana ignored her. "Do these look familiar?" She bared her fangs at May.

"Those aren't real!" May managed to get out just before Zalyana sunk her fangs into her neck.

A Non-Existent User
Zalyana feasted on May while Nick stood nearby, too stunned and horrified to do anything other than watch.

Mrphius casually put an arm on his shoulder. "Will you look at that? Freaky, isn't it?"

Nick backed away. "Don't--Don't bite me, too!"

Mrphius approached him, taking his time. "Don't bite? Alright."

He leapt at Nick, his form expanding. Not only was he expanding, but his molecular structure was changing. Mrphius became a sealed tank of water, with Nick trapped inside. If he still had a mouth, Mrphius would have smiled as he felt Nick's breath--and his life--slipping away.

A few minutes later, he reverted to his human form. Nick's limp, deceased body dropped to the floor.

"There," he said to the body, "I didn't bite."

Zalyana, with her blood-caked mouth, put an arm around Mrphius.

"Cool," she said, with a laugh.
Leo sighed and skipped a stone across the lake. He looked over his shoulder at Jeckle, "You okay?"

Jeckle sighed and gave him a despaired look, "What do you think?"

Leo shrugged and replied, "Good point." Then he looked up at the sky and frowned. The sun was setting. "Full moon tonight," He muttered casually.

Jeckle scowled and threw a stone into the lake, "I know."

Leo frowned and murmured, "Meet you here at dawn?"

Jeckle stood up and wiped off his pants, "Deal." Then the two friends parted ways, to deal with their oncoming full orb of despair alone.
A Non-Existent User
Another suicide attempt would do no good, he realized that now. The only thing left to do was so dangerous, so drastic, that he shuddered at the thought of it. He sat up-right against a tree, closed his eyes, and began forming his plan...
A Non-Existent User
The sight of the dead bodies made Mrphius begin to feel ill.

"I need some air," he told Zalyana. Without even giving her the opportunity to respond, he transformed into a dragonfly and flew out of the theatre.

After slipping outside and landing a good distance away from the cinema, he returned to his true form and cried. A surge of emotion swept over him, effectively paralyzing him.

He just killed without giving it a second thought. He never would have done this before...before the accident...

That mad scientist turned him into a soulless monster...Well, he wasn't quite soulless yet. His tears told him that much. But his humanity was slipping. He could feel the savage impulses growing stronger with each passing moment.

Mrphius knew what had to be done. He had to return to Dr. Retsnom.
Zalyana followed Mrphius out of the theater. He was looking depressed. She exercised her powers and read his thoughts.

"I've been turned into a soulless monster. I have to return to Dr. Retsnom."

"Why would he want to go back to normal?" Zalyana wondered. "I love this! I have more freedom then I could ever ask for! And I like Mrphius the way he is too. I don't want him to go back to being...human." She trailed off. "I'm going to stop him."

Mrphius changed into a hawk and flew away. Just before he took off, she caught where he was going. Zalyana had no idea how she was going to stop him now. He would get there first. She thought of running. She would have to run for 20 miles, but that didn't matter. She would never get tired, and she could run like lightning. But that idea didn't sound very good. She looked around the parking lot. She grinned. There, in the front spot was a black Viper. She looked to see if anyone was looking and broke in. Mrphius had taught her how to hot wire a car. She did that in five minutes. Then she was out of there. She pulled out and almost hit someone. But she didn't care, she had things to do. She drove out to the mountain road and floored it. She took it to 120 mph, but had to be careful because of all the ridges and turns. She made it to Dr. Retsnoms in ten minutes. But Mrphius had gotten there first. She got out of the car to see what he was looking at. His gaze was fixed on a body. There was an animal hovering over it. The animal stood up and changed forms. It was Jeckle.

"What did you do?!" cried Mrphius. "I needed him to change me back!"

"Yeah, I needed him too, but he was no help. I asked him to kill me. But he refused. I know he could have done it. I saw it in his eyes. When he didn't do what I asked, I killed him." Mrphius lunged at Jeckle and started pounding his face in.

Zalyana knew she couldn't do anything to stop Mrphius. She looked around. She could sense someone watching them. She looked into the woods. Yellow eyes glowered back at her. Then it jumped at her. It was a little striped tiger cat.

Leo meowed piteously and rubbed up against her leg.

Zalyana sighed and picked him up, "What do you want?"

Leo climbed onto her shoulder and looked around. From his new vantage point he saw the best way to get between his two friends. He hissed, arched his back, puffed out his fur and leaped for all he was worth at the two men/animals that were fighting with all they had. He bit Mrphius and scratched Jeckles face. This brought them back to reality as they watched the wounds on eachother fade. Then they turned on Leo.

"What was that for, you stupid cat?" Mrphius demanded his face turning into a snake as he spoke.

"You're gonna die, Leo..." Jeckle warned as he flexed his muscles, preparing to change.

Leo hissed at them and ran back into the woods, right into the arms of someone else. Zalyana recognized him. She swallowed and murmured, "Avery...."
A Non-Existent User
OT: Im really busy working on my sitcom and I cant contribute anymore. My apologies.
Avery slowly walked out of the woods, holding a struggling Leo. "Well, well, well. We ARE hungry, aren't we?" he murmured as he walked around the still, limp figure of Dr. Retsnom. "Well, no difference, I suppose. I can still find out a little information, no thanks to you Jeckle." Jeckle growled slightly, turning into a wolf, his heckles raiseing. "Don't you dare threaten me, you son of a bitch." Avery said, pointing to Jeckle.Leo leapt fearfully from Avery's arms. Avery laughed unhumorously at his joke. "I'm worth mare than your whole hide." Jeckle sprung at Avery, but with a lick of his fingers, Avery disappeared. Moments after Jeckle landed with a yelp where Avery had been standing, he returned, in exactly the same place. "Well," he said, sighing, "we're screwed." Mrphius rolled his eyes and snorted."Since when did you become the drama queen around here?"he asked. Avery turned to him, about to say something, but stopped. He sat down on a stump so hard Zalyana winced, "What, gonna cry?" asked Mrphius, tightening his arm around Zalyan's waist. Zalyana watched Avery silently with her cold violet eyes. Suddenly she gave a strangled cry and lurched forward to kneel in front of Avery. His eyes, instead of being that piercing black, had slowly become gray, then white. His pupil was black, but had changed it's shape into horizontal cat-like slits. The iris was a strange white, shot with streaks of glittering silver. It made the rest of the eye around it look a dullish gray. Avery was sitting stock still, unnaturally straight. Mrphius suddenly wrenched Zalyana away from him. "Hey!" she cried. "What's he doing?" Leo asked cautiously, back in his human form. A slight breeze swept through the mountain pass, ruffling Zalyana's golden hair. But Avery remained unmoved, not even his hair twitching with the breeze. Then Jeckle suddenly shouted. "His hair! Look at his hair!" The blue on the tips of his hair seemed to be climbing towards his scalp. His fingers were turning white, the skin fading slowly up his arm, then turning a light blue. "I-Is he cold?" asked Leo quietly. Zalyana made to walk forward, but Mrphius flung out his arm, stopping her. "I-I'll do it." he said, with a slight quiver in his voice. Zalyana rolled her eyes and sighed. "Relax, he won't kill us." she muttered. "And you know that...how?" Jeckle murmured sarcastically. She slowly walked up to him, the blue now climbing his arms and seeping down onto his forhead. All his hair was now bright electric blue. Zalyana stretched out a shaky hand and touched a blue finger. Avery roared, leaping up, lunging at Zalyana. She screamed, tripping as she tried to get away. Avery suddenly gave a half smile, looking completely normal, all the blue now gone, his hair back to normal. He sauntered away, towards the car Zalyana had stolen. Everyone was too shocked to say or do anything. Avery took advantage of this, hopped in the front seat and quickly put it in reverse and floored the car out of there. Everyone seemed to come back at the same time. "That stupid son of a bitch!" Mrphius screamed after the retreating car. "He scared the shit out of everyone, all for his own freakin' entertainment!" "No." Zalyana said dazedly. "No, he wasn't pretending." Everyone stared at her. "I felt his skin. That's what made me jump. Instead of being cold, it felt like his skin was cooking. It was so hot." She looked at the hand that had touched his skin. Small welts had already risen to the surface of her creamy skin. "He snapped out of it just as I touched him, or just before. The blue was already receding. He jumped just to freak us out." She suddenly stood up. "We should probably go find him. He's probably got some information for us." Jeckle snorted. "I don't think he can really go back in time." He muttered. "I mean really. He should be able to do spells and stuff. Not this crap." Zalyana shook her head vehmenently. "He really can. I went with him to the '60's." Jeckle looked like like he was trying to explain something to a 3 year old. "Maybe, just maybe, he cast a spell on you. Ever think about that?" Suddenly Mrphius straightened indignantly. "Don't insult my girl man!" He yelled. "Girl? I'm no one's girl!" Zalyana said suddenly. "Where'd you pull that from?" She asked. "You're ass." Mrphius muttered in undertones. "Errgh!" She yelled indignantly, slapped him, than stomped off. She could feel his eyes burning into her back. Suddenly she turned around. "Sorry." She said simply. "We probably shouldn't fight if we're going to find Avery." "Somehow," Mrphius said, the sting from the slap not yet having left his face. "I get the feeling that Avery means a little more to this group than anyone else." Zalyana spluttered angrily. "Well, he CAN go into the past and talk to Dr. Retsnom." She pointed out. "So? We don't even know if he can go into the past. It's just your word and his, and we know how he is." "Yea?" Zalyana said, "And what about me, huh? What about my word, huh? Am I crazy too? Y-You know what, this is a pile of bull-shit. I'm going to find Avery." She stalked off angrily. Mrphius looked between Leo and Jeckle, and Zalyana. He'd rather have one angry girlfriend over two furious friends any day. He took off after her.
A Non-Existent User
At least, he began to follow her, until he started feeling sick to his stomach, like his insides were all being twisted inside-out. He glanced at his arms. There was a waxy substance dripping from them. He could feel his face losing cohesion, deforming into all kinds of grotesqueries. His body was literally falling apart, as if he was melting.

Concentrate...Concentrate... Through sheer strength of will, Mrphius was able to pull himself together. This time.

But what if it happened again? And what if the others began to lose control of their abilities as well?

Looked like Retsnom did a sloppy job. He didn't finish the conversion process. Mrphius, at least, was left half-baked. But maybe it was better this way. After all, if the process was only halway completed, that meant he still had some of his soul.
Leo growled in the back of his throat and turned to Jeckle, scowling at him, "What's the big idea?"

"What do you mean?" Jeckle retorted innocently.

Leo bit back a hiss and shoved Jeckle, "You killed the only way of us ever being able to get back to normal, dumbass!"

"Who are you calling a dumbass?" Jeckle asked, as he transformed his hand into a paw, and scratched Leo's shoulder with his claws.

Leo lurched back, angry red welts growing on his arms, as he roared in anger, "I don't have to put up with you! I'm going to find Avery!" He shook out his hair and roared as he transformed into the humongous tawny lion he was, and with a look that shot flames at Jeckle (literally) He pounded out after Avery.

Jeckle was left behind, alone once more,trying to get rid of the fire still left on his clothes, scorching his skin, hurting him, but with no hope of ever killing him.
Zalyana didn't know why she blew up at Mrphius like that. Of course she was his girl. She set off to find him. She was pissed at Avery for stealing her stolen car. Now she had to travel on foot. She left Jeckle and Leo to sort things out on their own.
Avery smiled as the wind blew through his hair. He flipped on the radio, Likin Park screaming out at top volume. He tapped his free foot while accelerating. He was flying down the mountain road at 90 mph. He thought back to Retsnom. He had talked to him, gone into the past, but he was hard-pressed to remember anything. He just liked pissing everyone off. He thought hard, and slowly it came back to him.
~*~*~*~*~
"So, you've come back to find out how to save yourselves, eh?" Dr. Retsnom said.
"You screwed us over!" Avery had yelled.
"It's true, well, I only screwed Zalyana, but yes, I messed up your chances at EVER becoming human again." Avery started pleading.
"Come on, there's got to be a way out of this! You must have left a loophole, of something, 'cause I just turned white and freaked everyone out. That was definately not going into the past. I saw something wierd, two people kissing, and then, one went inside and came out a couple seconds later, with blood on their face. They had killed someone." Dr. Retsnom nodded.
"Yes, actually that was one of your powers, to see the future. But I won't spoil it for you. But something did go wrong. You didn't all turn out like I wanted you to. I wanted you to be stuck as vamp's, lion's, and wolves forever. Every day for the rest of your life. But you only get this way at night. I think I figured it out though, I think I gave you too much Barium oxide. I might test it out on some other teen's later." Avery glared at him.
"Why teen's? Why not ex-convicts or something?" He said angrily.
"Because, ex-convicts would enjoy the gift. I've found most teens hate to be different in an abnormal way. They would rather be freaks or fit in." Avery sighed.
"So you didn't give us enough Bariu- whatever. Is there any way we can get out of this?" He asked impatiently. He could feel his powers straining to hold him back any longer. Dr. Retsnom smiled evilly.
"Power's getting tired?" He asked innocently. Avery groaned. "Yes, there is one way to get back. You have to..."
~*~*~*~*~
Avery rubbed his chest. All he could remember after that was being pulled violently back to the present. He had been pulled so hard that he had sort of, left over inertia, and had gone into the future. Or at least, seen the future. He had seen two people, they were kissing on a porch. The light was off, and so he couldn't see their faces, but- he hated to admit it- from the body of one he could tell it was Zalyana. She had raced inside suddenly, then came out moments later, and he could see the moonlight reflecting on blood, dripping down her chin. And he remembered something else. He couldn't quite place it. Words or something had passed between the two people. Something like, "There, I killed them both. Avery'll listen to us now." Avery bit his lip in concentration. Suddenly something bowled into the side of the car. Something big. Avery slammed on the brakes. He looked back with wide eyes. Leo sat smugly on the side of the road. Avery looked at the car.
"Leo! You practically killed me!" He yelled back at the shadow of the lion. "Look at this dent!"
"Actually, if what everyone's saying, I couldn't kill you." Leo stalked closer. "So, can you really go into the past?" He asked, doubt filling his voice.
"Yes." Avery growled, still angry about the dent in the car.
"I don't believe it, I think you can tele-transport or something." Leo walked around Avery expectantly. Avery sighed.
"Fine, who do you want me to bring back?" He asked tiredly. He still felt tired from his last trip into the past. Leo's look got smugger.
"I want you to bring back...hm, it's quite an offer. I think I want you to bring back Legolas from Lord of the Rings." Avery rolled his eyes.
"That's just a story, stupid." Leo gave a warning hiss.
"Just do it. Oh, and bring back...Obi-Wan too." Avery snorted in disgust.
"I'll try." He muttered. He quickly dissappeared. Leo paced impatiently. He knew both were fictional characters, but if Avery could tele-transport, then he'd just leave. Suddenly Avery popped right back into the same spot he had left, a very tall blond guy standing behind him. Leo's eyes widened. Legolas' attire consisted of dark greens and gray's, sort of like what he thought Robin Hood would look like. A bow and arrows were slung across his back. Suddenly he whipped around. The car was still running.
"Demon! Demon machine! A work of Sauron! A work of Saruman!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. Leo burst out laughing. Legolas whipped out his bow and strung three consecutive arrow's in it before Avery managed to stop him. Each found it's mark in the car's headlight. Both guys were laughing as Legolas looked indignantly at them.
"I'm taking you back right now before you damage anything else." Avery disappeared and re-appeared moments later. "Convinced?" He asked Leo. Leo looked at Avery sideways, then said,
"No, bring back...Henry Ford." Avery groaned.
"When Zalyana finds this car she's going to kill me." Seconds later he reappeared holding George Washington's elbow. Leo looked at him condecendingly. "I said Henry Ford you idiot." He shook his head.
"Oh, whoops." He disappeared and returned with Henry Ford. Ford leapt at the sight of Leo transforming into a human, but turned around instead at the sound of the car's engine.
"Oh! Baby, my baby, all grown up and evolved! I never thought you would ever look like this! Look at you, all your parts hidden and everything! How nice you look!" Ford procceeded to try and yank up the hood of the car.
"No, I'd better take you back too." Avery murmured. Just as he was disappearing he saw Zalyana come around the bend and start to scream, "My car! My beautiful car!" Avery snorted, putting him off by a few years. Once he returned he found Zalyana touching her stolen car in anguish, reminding both Leo and Avery of Henry Ford. Both started laughing. Zalyana glared angrily at them, then noticed Avery.
"You jerks! You stupid total idiots!" Suddenly Jeckle came around the corner and Leo stopped laughing and walked over to catch up Jeckle on what happened. Avery could hear Jeckle snorting every once in awhile, most likely at what Legolas and Henry Ford had done. Avery shrugged and looked up at Zalyana, while leaning on her car.
"It was stolen, right? So it doesn't matter. Besides, your boyfriend can turn into anything and then you can actually RIDE him. You know, free of any...consequences." He jumped out of the way, just as Zalyana was about to slap him. "You know, that's about my third time getting slapped lately! I should get insurance on that sort of thing." He walked away before she could retort.
"Wait, Avery! Have you seen Mrphius?"
"The one and only? No. And I don't plan to." He continued to walk down the steep slope.
"What did you see, when you turned blue?" She called, trying to get him to talk to her.
"Eifel 65!" He retorted, still walking.
"Damn it Avery, get back here and tell me the truth! You saw into the future, didn't you?"
"No shit!" He called back, and in the lightening shadows she could see him flicking her off.
"Damn it!" She whispered. "He won't tell me anything!" She yelled back to his disappearing shadow, "Find! Go pout like a three year old! I don't care!" Avery suddenly turned around and jogged up the slope.
"You want to know what I saw? I saw you and Mrphius getting revenge on me somehow. Okay? You happy you spoiled brat? You got your information." He paused and looked past her. "And here's the man of the hour now! Mrphius! The dumbest named person of us all! Now were one big happy family again! Oh look, there's the sun." He murmured. Mrphius ignored Avery's outburst, it seemed to happen alot.
"Listen, you guys, something wierd happened to me, I gotta talk to you."
A Non-Existent User
"Well? What is it?" Avery asked.

"I almost melted!"

Everyone stared at him for a second. At the conclusion of that second, they laughed...everyone except for Zalyana, the only one to show any concern at all.

"Melted? What?" she asked.

"I was just walking, and all of a sudden, my skin started dripping, and I almost couldn't keep myself together, and--"

"Stop being so hysterical. The sun's out, so you won't have to worry about it for the rest of the day at lea--" She noticed how ill Mrphius appeared. "Mrphius?"

Without another word, Mrphius collapsed to the ground, and a strange liquid began seeping from where he lay...
A Non-Existent User
...And that uncanny liquid continued to seep out some more...He was definitely not looking too great there...
Leo frowned and sniffed.....something was very wrong. He turned into a lion and walked over to the oozing puddle that was Mrphius. He sniffed it again. This was definitely Mrphius
Jeckel peered over the others as they gathered around Mrphius' oozing body.
That was certainly odd, now maybe if he could just become a puddle of ooze he wouldn't have to deal with his life any more. Mrphius may be getting a blessing.
Though as they all stood there so confused as to what was happening Mrphius he slowly was turning more and more into a puddle of ooze.
“Pull yourself together!” Jeckel stated meaning it literally.
“Mrphius!” Zalyana screamed as more of him turned to ooze.
Before long Mrphius was nothing more then a puddle on the side of the road.
Interesting. Jeckel thought, Guess that’s what happens when he looses control over his power, makes sense that a shape shifter tuns into a puddle of goo.
“What do we do!” Zalyana screamed.
Jeckel sighed, “Stop screaming Zalyana!”
She turned to him angrily but Jeckel’s eyes remained on the puddle, “If you hadn’t…” she began.
“Shut up and keep watching.” Jeckel told her.
She glared at him, “What!”
Jeckel said nothing, but moved over to her and made her turn to face the puddle that was congealing. Slowly it reformed into Mrphius.
“All I was…”
“Mrphius!” Zalyana rushed to him.
I wonder if that means Mrphius can shape shift in the daytime. If it does then we’ll all become monsters for good. Jeckel thought with a sigh and walked away.
As if his life wasn’t horrible enough already, this was just dandy to add to it.
Though I could be wrong. he thought hopefully, not that it really mattered, he was still immortal either way.
He headed down the road a slow pace having no where to be and not caring where he went.

********************


That night Jeckel sat under some trees, he had no idea where he was nor did he care. He had wondered around all day trying to think of a way to be rid of the horrid memories of his family. His friends didn’t understand.
That doctor wasn’t going to tell them anything more then what he already had and if he would tell them how to get back it would have required his help. That man had no thoughts of ever bringing them back to normal, if he had Jeckel wouldn’t have killed him. It would have been a reason to remain as he is, so he could eventually be able to die and be rid of his emotional pain.
They didn’t understand- they couldn’t fully understand how he felt. They’re never been through the trauma of finding your family brutally murdered in your own home. Why he went back there so much he didn’t know, though it did give him both horrible and pleasant memories when he went there. If only he could focus on the good memories, not the last ones he saw.
Jeckel sighed and rose, beginning to walk aimlessly once again. He just kept walking not caring what happened to him or where he ended up. As he passed by a liquor store he stopped and stared at it.
Well I have eternity to deal with my pain, this could only help drown it out! he rationalized as he entered the store.
Casually he stopped his back to the door as her locked it and put up the CLOSED sign. He then walked up to the man behind the counter, he stood there looking at the man for a moment as his hand turned into a clawed paw. Rising the arm he moved it swiftly, cutting the man’s throat.
Jeckel shivered at the pleasure that seemed to bring him.
What that G**D***** doctor turn us into! he thought as he looked over the counter at the man who’s blood was oozing from his neck. Heartless, no not heartless, I feel bad for what I did, I only wish that could have been me. he sighed, All that D***** doctor did to us was make us need to kill, it was a need. We craved it, what ever it was we needed to kill. No matter how we felt about it.
Sighing again Jeckel sat once he grabbed a bottle of Vodka and Whisky, then started to drink trying to drown out the memories, the images of his family as he’d found them that night.
As he sat there Jeckel realized something and began to laugh demonically, a deranged smile upon his face.
”I’m in hell.”

He laughed hysterically, red eyes blazing demonically.
"Mrphius!" Zalyana cried hugging him. "You're okay!

"No, no I'm not okay." Mrphius said pushing Zalyana away. "I don't know what's happening. I just want to go back to being normal."

What? How could he? Zalyana loved her new form. It was so exhilarating! Her new strength and speed! Her new senses! She had never felt more alive in her entire life!

Just then hunger hit. It hit her like lightning. Blood, she needed blood! There were no little creatures in which she could feed from. But why go for little creatures when she could have something more delicious. She turned to Mrphius. Her eyes glowing devilishly. Her fangs protruded out of her mouth and she licked her lips. Mrphius wouldn't know what hit him! While his back was turned, she leaped. Mrphius was already weak and couldn't throw her. She sank her teeth into his neck. Oh his blood! She couldn't describe it, but it was so much better than anything else she had ever tasted in her life! It flowed like silk over her lips. She was careful not to let any spill on the ground. She drained him. He didn't have a drop left in his body. She had become a monster! And she didn't care. Zalyana had killed her boyfriend without giving it a second thought. No, she hadn't killed him, he couldn't die, he was immortal. Mrphius slipped back down into a puddle of goo. She looked into Leo and Avery's horrified eyes. She smiled. "Who's next?"

Both Leo and Avery took off running. Fun, fun! Zalyana thought. A game. Leo turned himself into a lion and Avery just disappeared into time. Damn you Avery! Oh well, I guess I'll just catch the kitty. Zalyana broke into a run after Leo. Then a sensation came over her body. She watched her skin grow furry. Her ears moved to the top of her head and she grew a tail. When it was over she realized that she had transformed into a cheetah. What was happening? Then it hit her, she had acquired Mrphius's power from his blood! Oh, this just made things more delightful. She continued her pursuit on Leo. "Oh Leo!" she called. "I want your firepower!" Cheetahs were much faster than lions, so she caught Leo with ease. Her powerful jaws clamped down on his throat. Slowly, Zalyana turned back into a girl, her teeth still fixed on Leo. He couldn't move. His lion form slipped away until he turned back into a kid. His blood tasted exactly the same as Mrphius's. And just like Mrphius, she drained him to where he had no blood left. His body dropped limply to the ground. Of course he wasn't dead, but he was as good as it. Zalyana turned her glowing eyes towards the moon. Search and destroy. Look out Jeckle and Avery. You can run, but you can't hide! Zalyana laughed and ran off into the night.
Avery landed with a thud a year before. He leaned over, gasping for air. The awful sight came back to him.
"How-how could Zalyana DO that?" He whispered to the night air. "Girls. You piss 'em off once and they screw you over." He murmured. He was very glad Zalyana couldn't hear him. He started feeling the strain of his powers. He carefully stepped back into his time. The first thing he saw was a small trail of blood going back up the mountain. He quietly followed it back down. There lay Leo, struggling to sit up. Avery struggled internally for a second, but felt no grudge was big enough to keep him from helping someone back from the point of death. He sprinted ddown towards Leo, calling as he went, where'd she go? Where'd that fucking bitch go?" Leo feebly pointed up the mountain. Avery skidded to a stop next to him and hauled him to his feet. "You okay? You'll live." He muttered. Already the pink was returning to his face and arms. Leo cleared his throat a few times.
"You're right, she is a bitch." Avery smiled, feeling much better about Leo.
"I'll be back." He said in a mock-Arnold S.'s voice. "Don't go dying on me, 'cause then Jeckle'll force me to find out how you did it. Leo laughed quietly. Avery turned quickly, adrenaline pumping through his veins. "Get up, get up, put your body in motion, get up get up put your body in motion, get up get up get up." He hummed to himself, smiling. "Run Zalyana, run. I'll find you, make no mistake. And I'm not stupid, I won't fall to any of your traps." He jogged along, the sun breaking over the mountains as he ran. Suddenly the blood stopped. "Crap." He murmured. "I should have paid attention in Boy Scouts." Suddenly he noticed a shriveled bush next to him. It had been fried to a crisp. "Well, I see you were trying out your new powers. A little cocky? Thought you could control them first time around? Obviously not." All around the bush was smoking slightly. "Your not God Zalyana, don't act like it." He pushed out into the woods.
A Non-Existent User
Mrphius had a bit of trouble pulling himself back together. At the moment, his mind was about as coherent as his body was, so concentrating proved to be a difficult task.

As he lay there, immobile, his thoughts wandered from one memory to the next. All his life, he had tried to be different. That was why he started calling himself Mrphius. That, and the fact that he absolutely hated the name Murphy. As both Murphy and Mrphius, he never was one to follow the crowd. He yearned to be an individual, one completely unlike everyone else. Thanks to that mad scientist, he got his wish, and he was now reduced to little more than a sentient pile of goo thanks to a girl he thought cared for him. Things had gotten out of control until now...but his misfortune was all about to end...

...Well, it would end as soon as he could get his concentration back, anyway...
Leo hissed slightly at pulled his teeth partway off his teeth. His neck hurt like a mother. He felt his sharp teeth began to bite into his thinning lip as he felt his bones crunch slightly. He yowled in pain as he felt himself take over the painful transformation. He began to lose himself in his pain, it was so powerful. He had nothing left, but he was still changing! He dropped to the ground, and curled up in a ball. It felt like there was a slow, roasting fire burning him alive. His eyes began to glow like slowly roasting embers, and he felt his body shudder into place, but the burning continued. He studied his body and shuttered. Something had gone wrong. Something had gone horribly wrong. He wasn't a lion or a man, but he was some sort of horror story made of all the most powerful parts of a lion- it's teeth, powerful arms and legs, and it's sharp claws. But she was also part man- the power to stand erect, his strong forelegs ended in powerful hands. And somehow- he had also managed to merge himself with fire. He studied his hands that ended in claws curiously as he watched the flames slowly eat at the skin, but it healed back simultaneously. If he had been able to look into his eyes he would have seen a fire eating away in there, but it was an inner fire. But he didn't care soon anyway. He soon was overcome with an urge to feed, to leave away human thoughts as the lion and fire inside him begged to be fed. He roared and shot a huge pillar of flame into the air as he dropped to his arms and legs and bounded into the forest, searching to feed.
food,hunger,feed,that Bitch,crazy doctor,no! feed, hunger, food, need....need....kill... The insatiable force inside him took over, and the human inside him demanded to retalliate against the one that had forced him to do this. He was torn between revenge and to feed, but then a fiery smile over came his too sharp-too white teeth. Maybe he could do both.
Jeckel still sat against the front of the counter, though by this time he'd compiled a fair sized pile of empty bottles. As her sat there the silence was broken by a laguhing hiss.
Darkness, darkness!
Jeckel looked around for the source of the voice.
Damn! I've really gone off the deep end. he thought seeing no signs of anyone with in the store but him.
Though after a few moments of silence the hiss came again.
Darkness! You wish to live in darkness for eternity!
This time Jeckel pinpointed the location of the hiss and launched one of the bottles in that direction. He stared in amazement as it hung motionless in the air.
Now I've really had too much, but this insanity is better then that which the pian brought on. he reasoned.
Darkness, darkness. the hiss came again, We are all part of the darkness.
"What the hell does that mean!" Jeckel yelled, "Who's we!"
Those of the dark carnival. the hiss informed, We have granted you our power, you are filled with us, our darkness now and forever! the hiss laughed.
"You're just a damed hillusinaion!"
Am I? the hiss insisted as a small furry creature jumped out from behind the stack of bottles.
Jeckel yelled and rose shakely as the creature landed in front of him, "I really am in hell."
No, this is much more fun then hell. the crature stated.I am Blaze.
"Blaze?"
The creauter nodded and demenstrated his fire ability by making a flame hover over his palm.
Though before Jeckel could react to this creatures abitlty Zalyana's voice could be heard.
"There you are!"
Jeckel turned to see the girl walking toward him.
"I've been looking for you Jeckel." she said.
"Why?"
"I'm hungery."
Not good for her, not good! Blaze stated, Your blood is filled with the tain of the dark carnvel, she can not drink it without dieing.
"But she's immortal." Jeckel stated.
"What?" Zalyana stated, "Jeckel did you dirnk all of that yourself!"
Jeckel ignored her as Blaze spoke to him.
The dark carnvel can destroy anything, even immortal soles.
"Jeackel! Answer me!" Zalyana yelled.
Jeckel looked at her, "Didn't you hear what he said!"
Zalyana looked confused, "Jeckel we're the only ones here."
Jeckel looked at Blaze then to Zalyana, she could not see this creature from the dark carnival - only he could.
"Well well." Jeckel stated, "This is quict interesting, if I wasn't so piss ass drunk I might not believe this, but my friend Blaze here just told me something you might want to know before you go and bite me."
"Jeckel..."
"Shut up! Let me tell you!" Jeckel yelled, Zalyana looked annoyed, but let him speak, "You see Blaze is from the dark carnival. They have filled me with their power, their essence you could say. That makes me deadly to you, so I wouldn't go biteing me if I were you."
Zalyana lauged, "You're just scared, Jeckel."
Jeckel glared, "Scared is the last feeling I've had for a long time." he walked toward her, "If you don't belive me, then go ahead and bite me."
Jeckel stood there before Zalyana waiting her to bite his neck, but she hesitated.
HE smiled, "See, you're not sure anymore are you. Well that's good for you..."
Zalyana swiped at him, but Jeckel managed to move away her long nails srapeing his skin causeing it to bleed slighting.
The blood oozed black and Jeckel looked at it in awe sticking his fingers in it and looking at it closer.
"Cool." he said then turned to Zalyana, "Want some?"
He said wipeing it on her face. She screamed and stepped back, the place where the blood had touched her forming blisters from the buring it had caused.
Jeckel laughed, "Well Balze." he said, "Seems you were right!"
He looked at the creature who was still there.
Look out! he said.
Jeckel turned to see Zalyana chargeing at him, but he became surrounded by fire drawing her back, he looked over at Balze and smiled.
"Thank you my firend. Now we have to pay my friends the Black Draculas a visit."
Blaze nodded, Very well.
Jeckel looked at Zalyana, "Want to follow along? I won't bleed on you. This way you can fill your hunger while I get revenge for my family."
Zalyana nodded, but a bit hesitently and followed Jeckel with Blaze (whoms she could not see) upon his shoulder.

Zalyana narrowed her eyes as she followed Jeckle. She couldn't... feed off him. Oh well, she would find a way to get his powers. She looked back at him and ran in the other direction. Right now she focused her thoughts on Avery. Once she had him, she would be in control. His ability to travel into time and change it would serve her well. Now, to find him...

**********


Avery was lounging about by the nightclub. That was just so him. He was too young to get in, but he could if he really wanted to. Using Mrphius's power, she transformed herself into Jeckle. Jeckle himself wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Zalyana took to it and ran to Avery.

"Oh my God! Avery! Did you see what happened to Leo and Mrphius? Zalyana, she's... evil! We've got to stop her!" Zalyana said in Jeckles voice. "If we're not careful, she'll get us to!"

"Oh, she's not going to get me. Right before she touches me, I can travel back a year. So you see, I'm safe from her. But you on the other hand..." Avery trailed off.

"Don't worry about me. I've got the dark carnival on my side."

"The what?"

"Long story. I can't really explain it right now, but if she drinks my blood she will die. Don't ask. But what I'm worried about is stopping her so she doesn't harm innocent people."

Avery snorted. "Since when?"

Zalyana/Jeckle growled. "Come on, I saw her last on her way up the mountain." She grabbed Avery and started pulling him towards the road.

Avery stopped her. "Wait." He grabbed her wrist and transported a year back. "Hold on." Avery transported back into the present and they dropped into a desolate spot in the mountain woods.

"How'd you-"

"Don't ask. Now, Jeckle, where did you see her last?"

Zalyana smiled. "Right here." Mrphius's power served her well. She transformed her self into a big metal box and trapped Avery inside. Her hands changed into handcuffs, which locked themselves around Avery’s wrists. Avery was trapped. He couldn't escape her. If he went into the past, she would go with him because she was touching him. Her head was the only thing that she left unchanged. "Oh Avery, I'm not going to get you am I? Well, I just did!" Zalyana sunk her fangs into Averys flesh. She tasted his sweet blood. Ah, just like the other two. And just like Mrphius and Leo, she drained him until he had no blood left. Avery fell limp, only Zalyanas handcuffs were holding him up. "Hah Avery! That’s what you get for dising bowling! (sorry guys! inside joke!) Look out Jeckle. Zalyanas in town! Oh, and don't worry, I'll find a way to get you."

Zalyana exercised her new power and went back to when Dr. Retsnom made them.

**********


"Oh hello Z! May I call you that?" Laughed the doctor.

"I don't care." Zalyana answered. "Listen. I need to change a few things. Can I do that?" She looked around at the five unconscious bodies. One of them being her.

"Of course! You were always my favorite, even though I didn't want you at first. Now, what is it that you need to change?"

"Okay, first, I want to make sure Avery can't change the past. I don't want him able to travel back and make sure that I don't get his powers, or any of the others for that matter."

"You do understand, If I do that to him, you won't be able to change anything either."

"Yeah, but its worth it. I would forever possess his powers, and there would be nothing Avery could do about it." Zalyana laughed.

"That is true. Alright, It will be done." Dr. Retsnom walked over to his test tubes. He mixed up a solution and put it into one of his long syringes. He walked over to Avery's body and squirted the liquid into him.

"Okay, next, I don't want Mrphius to turn into a puddle of goo. He said something about having a sloppy job. Finish the job well, so he doesn't fall apart."

"Yes, I kind of messed up on him. But now I have the chance to correct it." He mixed up a solution for Mrphius and injected it into him. "Done."

"Leo, I don't want to change anything about him, but Jeckle... I can't get his powers. The dark carnival is stopping me."

"I can fix that easily. I’ll just change his blood so it can’t kill you. Easy enough." Dr. Retsnom did the same thing he did with the other two. He mixed up the solution and put it into Jeckle.

"Now, can you enhance my powers? I should like to be unstoppable! And, I would like to have my powers in the day also, not only at night."

"I’ll see what I cant do." Dr. Retsnom walked to his table and started mixing. It took him an unusually long time. But finally he finished. The liquid was a blackish purple. Before he injected it into her, he spoke. "One of your new powers is the ability to raise the dead. You see, I am dead, and I don’t wish to stay dead. So if I give you these new powers, you have to promise to raise me."

"I promise. Now, what are my new powers?"

"Including the ones you have already, I have given you the power to control all elements. And the ability to emit high power lasers from your eyes."

"You didn’t change the others immortality, did you? I should like them to play with." Zalyana grinned devilishly.

"No, they are still immortal. And Jeckles blood cannot kill them."

"Thanks for all your help Dr."

"Any time. But remember…"

"I will." With that, Zalyana found herself in the present.


**********



Zalyana stared out at Jeckle hunting the Black Draculas. Once he had killed them, she called him over to her.

"Jeckle, I should like to try and bite you." She called.

He trotted on over to her. "Go ahead and try." He grinned and lay his head on her lap, exposing his neck.

Zalyana glared at it hungrily and bit. She started drinking. And just like the Dr. said, he had changed his blood so it wouldn’t hurt her. Jeckle was stunned and tried to pull away, but Zalyana held on tight. She drained him of all his blood and left him to ponder his mistake. She sighed. If hunting was going to be so easy, what fun would it be? She laughed and ran off into the night. Zalyana had conquered all of her friends.
Slowly Avery came-to. He groaned and sat up. He was in the middle of the road again. "Oh shit, I'm here again! How the hell...Ergg!" He yelled at the night air as he remembered what had happened. "Fuck you Zalyana! Fuck you!" He yelled. Suddenly he saw a car whip around the corner, the head lights blazing out, and blinding him. Putting a hand in front of his face, he tried to move, but he felt like a deer stuck in head lights. Brakes squealed, horns honked, and Avery found himself flying through the air, pain searing his body. Rolling over, he leapt up. A girl was in the car, head in hand, screaming. Next to her was a guy, and they had obviously not been paying attention to the road, hint hint. The guy looked scared stiff. "This is possibly the worst fuckin' day of my whole fuckin' life." Avery muttered. The girl heard him and looked over, eyes as large as quarter dollars.
"Oh my God, oh my God!" She whispered. "How'd you, how're you...alive?" She said. Avery suddenly gave a wry smile.
"What distracted you from the road? I'd like a re-enactment please." Both boy and girl blushed bright shades of red. He laughed, and started walking. Both people leapt out of the car, chasing him down.
"Are you sure you're okay! Are you alright? You're not in shock are you?" Avery pointed his hand at them, about to tell them to get back in the car, when a tiny flame shot out of it. His eyes widened slightly, then he smiled. "It's not nice to backwash Zalyana." He murmured. Then he smiled again. He may not have his power's, but he had a tiny bit of everyone else's.
A Non-Existent User
"Hot damn, I'm solid."

Mrphius finally regained a humanoid form, as well as his mind. His thoughts were focused now. He was going to get Zalyana.

He transformed himself into a huge army tank and followed the sounds of chaos...
Leo carefully edged around the water and turned his face to the sky. He growled softly. The moon was beginning to turn, it would set in but a few hours. His red glowing eyes turned to the woods and he smelled the air for Zalyana. He dropped his mouth open into a toothy grin as he began to lope after the scent. He would have to be quick, his powers would disappear with the sun and so would he if he didn't change back before then. He roared and continued on his path.
"She does not have all that she believes she does." Blaze stated from upon Jekcel's shoulder.

Jeckel couldn't help but smile as Blaze's meaning hit him. Zalyana didn't have the power of the Dark Carnivel within her.

"Our power can only be given by us, never taken." Blaze said as Jeckel rubbed his neck and begun to walk.

"Too bad we can't even be killed by another immortal." he stated.

"So intent on dieing young one."

Jeckel sniffed, "Why shouldn't I be. My life is gone."

"Ah, the ones you lost."

Jeckel nodded soberly as he rememberd his family, at least now they had been avenged with the death of the Black Dracula's.

Zalyana, I won't allow you to kill innocent people and put others into my place. Jeckel thought,If I am to live forever, I will forever try to keep others from my pain.

"A noble, but impossible cause." Blaze stated.

"I know I can't save everyone from it, but I could save some."

"You could, yes you could."

Jeckel kept walking, trying to find some hint as to where Zalyana was.
Zalyana climbed to the top of the tallest mountain in her little Colorado town. She smiled. Hmmmmm, let's see. It's 80 degrees out... I think I'll make it snow. Zalyana closed her eyes and raised her hands. All of the clouds concentrated in one area. Then at once, at Zalyana's command, a blizzard started raging. It hit everything except her. She loved what she was. Finally, she stopped the snow. That was getting boring. She looked around the horizon. Jeckle was climbing the mountain! She growled, I'll take care of him. She pointed her finger at him and a bolt of lightning hit him directly in the forehead. He fell off the mountain and was knocked unconscious. Hah! Not even the dark carnival could arise him. Zalyana lept off the top of the mountain and transformed herself into a legendary golden Phonix.
A Non-Existent User
Mrhpius had been stalking out Zalyana for quite a while now, transforming from shape to shape, whatever it took to stay around, unnoticed, whether it be an anonymous person or a flea or in her.

After witnessing this latest transformation of hers, he decided it was time to act. He turned himself into an anvil and dropped on her head.

After getting her attention, he morphed into a winged angel so that he could fly alongside her.

"Alright, Zalyana...We have to talk..."
Blaze stood next to his fallen friend and smiled as he thought.

Can't get much closer to dead can you my friend? At least not in your predicament.

Blaze saw Zalyanna fly off as Phonix then looked back down at his unconcious friend.

Off to you're new home my freind! Blaze decalred and with a ring of fire Jeckel was gone.

Take good care of him my comrads Blaze spoke to the others of the Dark Carnival - he just sent Jeckel there- He's finaly away from his pain.

He looked off in the direction Zalyanna had gone, located her then transported himself to her.

Now for some fun. he thought as he disapeared, reapearing on the back of the Phonix that was Zalyanna.

Mrhpius was there trying to reason with the girl. Neither of them could see Blaze, he was still only visable to Jeckel at this time, he would reveal himself when he deemed it the right time.

For now he would sit here and watch what happened.
Just before Mrphius dropped himself on Zalyana, she felt something tickle her back. Just like a soft thud. She craned her neck back, but couldn't see anything. "Oh well, probably just the wind." she thought. That was when a large anvil hit her in the head. Barely controlling her anger, she transformed into a little blue jay. As she did that, the tickling on her back stopped. It seemed to have fallen off, whatever it was.

"Yes Mrphius?" she sent silently because birds cannot talk. Mrphius also, turned himself into a blue jay.

"We need to talk."

"Actually, I have a proposal to make."

"Okay, shoot."

"Having all of these powers by myself is no fun at all. You all are hunting me down. I was wondering if you would like to share my powers with me. We would be a team, an all-powerful team. What do you say."

"I have to say that I'm a little shocked that you would even ask me. I thought you hated me."

"No! I didn't hate you at all! And I'm sorry for what I did to you. I...I missed you."

Mrphius didn't say anything for a couple of minutes. Then, "You missed me? I thought you had lost your soul and were incapable of anything human."

"These new powers helped me realize this. They showed me that I am utterly alone, and that I am still capable of love. Yes, love. That's what I felt for you, until I went crazy. I feel that if we are equals, then we can go back to the way things were, before... the accident. What do you say?"

"If it means that we can get back together, then yes. I will do what you say. I will become Zalyana. Well, you know what I mean."

Zalyana laughed. She hadn't laughed in a long time, and it felt good. Yes, this was a good change for her. "We will be forever a team. We will become the good and fight the forces of evil. Like the dark carnival. Jeckle is trapped within it. We must save him."

Mrphius smiled. "I like this new change in you."

Zalyana and Mrphius landed in a densely packed forest, and reformed into their original shape. Then, Zalyana thought of something. "Mrphius, I still have to kill." she whispered.

"What? Why?" he asked.

"My true form is a vampire. I need human blood."

"Oh." his face fell.

"We can get through it. I'll kill only bad people. Like humans who have killed, or have committed some horrible crime. Never the innocent."

"That makes me feel better. I hate the idea of killing innocent people." Mrphius let out a sigh of relief.

"Ok, let's get started with the process. You need to transform your self into a vampire. Then you can drink my blood, obtaining my powers. Even if we wanted to give our powers to Leo and Avery, we couldn't. The only reason you are able to get them is because you have the ability to change into a vampire. They do not. Besides, our blood would most likely kill them." Mrphius did as she said.

"Are you serious about all you said? Are you really going to change?" he asked hesitantly.

"Would I be offering you all of my powers if I wasn't?" she replied patiently. She began pulling her shirt down off her neck. "Now, break the skin on my neck with your long canine teeth and drink."

"What teeth....Ohhhh, okay." When he walked towards her, the vampire instincts kicked in. He grabbed and held her tiny body against his big one. He wrapped his arms around her to hold her tight. "I like this." he whispered in her ear, obviously impressed. He buried his face in her hair, and started stroking her head. He pulled her shirt down a little more and started licking her neck. Zalyana closed her eyes, liking what Mrphius was doing. Then, he went to bite her. He was met with a shock of electricity when his tongue touched her blood. He jumped back, startled.

"What the hell?"

Zalyana too, was surprised. "Mrphius, I had no idea. It has to be something in my blood. Here," she used her teeth to slit her wrist. "Drink from here." She held out her wrist to him. Slowly, he grabbed for it, and brought it carefully up to his lips. There was no shock this time, and he drank her blood eagerly.

He felt her warm blood course down his throat. The blood was sour, but sweet at the same time. It was better than anything he had ever tasted in his entire life. Zalyana motioned for him to stop, but he didn't. When she tried to pull away, he held on to her wrist tighter.

"Mrphius! Please!" she pleaded with him. He ignored her. "Mrphi-" Zalyana fainted.

<*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*>


When Zalyana woke up, she found she was in Mrphius's strong arms. He looked down at her lovingly. "I'm so sorry. I was just so content with getting as much as I could. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I think so." Mrphius helped her to her feet. "I know what that shock was."

"What?" Mrphius asked quickly. "It doesn't mean that I don't have your powers does it?"

"No, you have them, but they are not as strong as mine. When my blood shocked you, it was shocking your blood making it incapable of holding more power than I have, because mine was the original. Don't get me wrong, you have more power than Leo and Avery combined. It is just a precaution so that if you get out of hand, I still have a way of stopping you."

"Oh, but then why weren’t you able to pull away from me?"

"I had lost so much blood I lost all of my strength."

"Oh. So if you and I were to go into a wrestling match, you would win?" Mrphius asked grinning.

"Well yeah, but I'd let you win."

"Oh, okay."

"Now, let's go fight evil together!" Zalyana cried.

Mrphius put his arm around her and they walked through the forest together. "It's so good to have you back." he whispered.
Avery observed all of this from a small hunting blind unused at the time(obviously). He sat there, thinking over thing. So Jeckle was with the "dark carnival" whatever that was, and Zalyana and 'Mrphi' were going to fight crime, side-by-side, having sex on their days off. Avery sighed. This turn of events was far from unexpected, but still interesting. He sat cross-legged on the wooden planks of the blind. Taking several deep breaths he focused his energy to the future. The world started spinning very fast, as if he was a top and the world was the...well, world. He could feel his hair getting warm, then hot, then his fingertips and toes, slowly creeping up his arms. He stopped suddenly. The same scene kept coming back to him, Zalyana kissing someone on the porch, (Mrphius, he'd decerned) Zalyana jogging inside, then coming out with blood on her chin, glinting eerily in the moonlight. "There, now Avery'll listen to us," continued to ring in his ears. He recognized the place this time. It was his home. Actually, he preferred 'foster home'. He hated where he lived, hated his foster parents and wished they would die, but there's something about a family that wants you to live with them, wants to love you and give you anything, that leaves a lasting mark on you, whether you like it or not. He sighed, looking down at his now healthy looking hands. He should probably go back there and see that they're okay. He had to admit, they weren't all bad. But he hated people knowing that he got passed from house to house because of his rebellious and sarcastic nature. He couldn't wait until he was 18. He slowly stood, allowing for the blood to rush to his head, then climbed down.
~*~*~*~*~
Zalyana was hungry again. She needed something after Mrphius had drained her. She sighed. "Mrphius, I'm hungry." She whined. Mrphius morphed from the motorcycle into human again. "What do you want, a hamburger or something?" He asked, blissfully unaware that she needed blood. "I need a convict or bank robber or something." She muttered, rubbing her stomach. Mrphius suddenly understood. "Oh, uh, okay, well, you wanna visit the jail or something?" He asked, looking around to count how many ways he'd have to grab Zalyana from running in to get a meal. An idea suddenly washed over him. "Zalyana, we want Avery and Leo help us get Jeckle back, right?" He asked, watching her carefully. "Yea, sure, whatever." She said shrugging, eyeing two kids hungrily. "Zalyana, listen. I know a way to make Avery listen. You know he'll be the hardest to convince." He had Zalyana's attention now. "He lives with these really awful people. They beat him us all the time and I think they take in foster kids just for, like, child pornagraphy (or Hentai ;)so we could, ah, take them and, ah, Zalyana, ZALYANA!" Zalyana's attention had faded and she was now eyeing a particularly fat woman. Her head jerked back to Mrphius. "Wh-what'd you say?" "I said we could kill Avery's 'parents' and he'll listen to us. They're really awful people." He finished with vehmenence. "And they pushed us off our land and screwed my dad over. We needed that land to pay for his hospital bill." He whispered to himself. He actually wasn't sure about everything he had said, but they had certainly fucked up his life after they brought a lawsuit to court about the land lines. Mrphius' family owned that land they were living on now, but that son-of-a-bitch judge couldn't see that. Now the farm crop they had planned on turning this year to pay for the time his dad had spent in the hospital, was gone. They were really big assholes. Mrphius quickly told Zalyana to get in his now sport's car shaped and drove off towards Avery's house.
~*~*~*~*~
Avery was having fun experimenting with his new found, albeit slight, powers. He concentrated on shooting a column of flame at a tree and got a flame no bigger than a match's. He sighed. Oh well, so he didn't have great powers. He could still go to the past and see the future. Though his all-seeing eye seemed limited to Zalyana killing someone. He sighed and started attacking the 'invisible' ninjas attacking from all sides, wielding only a long stick he had found on the way out here, when he was attacked by cannabalistic indians. Avery had always had a very big imagination.
As he finally rounded the corner where his house was, he paused. It had gotten dark unnaturally fast for a summer evening. Perhaps he had taken longer getting back then he thought. He heard a car tear down the road. "Typically drunken fools." Avery murmured to himself. "I hope you shoke on a beer bottle cap!" He yelled after them, his rage at being trapped as a freak was slowly getting to him. He shrugged off his temper-tantrum and walked in the house. "Hey! I'm home!" He yelled loudly, more loudly than need be, but that was one of Jenny's pet peeves: unneeded loudness. Avery glanced at himself in the mirror. "I wonder," He whispered, "Will I always stay this good-lookin'?" He smiled at himself and laughed, walking into the kitchen for a snack. He stopped dead in his tracks. There lay Jeeny and her husband Will. Both of them lay, side-by-side, almost as if they were posed. Their eyes lay open, staring at the patched ceiling. One bite mark was on each neck. Avery balled his hands into fists. So Zalyana thought she could hurt him this way, huh? No, he wouldn't let it effect him. They were just dumb foster parents. Suddenly he thought of the other foster child they had. Her name was Liren, she was Irish and could take care of herself, but she was only thirteen. Avery jogged upstairs, and looked into her room. Rock star's posters were scattered on the wall. Pictures of past friends were everywhere. Liren never seemed to get past leaving her friends in Ireland. But something was missing. All her favorite pictures were gone. Her favorite posters had been torn down. He quickly opened a drawer in her dresser. There were no clothes left. So she had run away. Smart girl. He spun around at the sound of a creak downstairs. Grabbing up a baseball bat leaning against the wall he hoisted it to his shoulder and listened. More creaking, and softened voices. "Avery, we know you're in here! Just come out, please. We know they usde to beat you and pose you and..uh...crap. Just come out, okay?" It was Zalyana. Avery liked her voice. It was soothing and quiet. Avery leaned against the door jam, listening. Then he heard Mrphius' voice. "Come on man, We know you're in here. Just come out and we can help each other out." Avery sighed and tiptoed to the top of the stairs, missing all the squeaky spots. He crept down them, and snuck up behind the wandering Zalyana. Grabbing her from behind, he smothered her scream with his hand and dragged her backwards to into the living room. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" She hissed at him. Avery quickly shooshed her, poking his head out the door to look at Mrphius. He slowly snuck up behind him, and said, grabbing his neck, "Hey Mrphi! Waz up? Thought you'd kill my parents to get me to fight evil with you? No thanks Batman, I prefer the lone free ranger route, so why don't you get the hell out of my house, and fuck your girl like your supposed to." Zalyana glared at Avery and stood up defiently. "Excuse me, but I think-" "Shut the fuck up Zalyana. You have no clue what you're doing, so you can just, like I've already said, get the fuck out of my house and go live your own shitty superhero lives! NOW!" He screamed. He threw Mrphius out the door and shoved Zalyana after him. Zalyana turned quickly. "Avery, you don't know...what you're doing." She finished in a whisper after Avery slammed the door.
A Non-Existent User
"Okay, so that didn't go exactly as planned," Mrphius commented, as he and Zalyana brushed themselves off.

"Mrphius...Look at that..." A burglar was prowling around Avery's house. "I think I'll go have a snack..."

The thief began to run off into the night. Zalyana took off after him in an instant, while Mrphius hung back. He decided to let her have this one.

He then noticed the small device attached to the side of Avery's house. It was ticking.

Apparently, that was more than a simple burglar...
Blaze chuckeled as his shadow moved away from the house of the one called Avery as Zalyanna went off after him.

Silly girl, silly girl. he laughed sitting on top of the next house over.

*****

Opening his eyes Jeckel could only see blackness around him.

What the hell. he thought then heard someone speak.

"So you wake." the squeeky voice said, "But do you know this, who am I? Who are you? Where are you and what are you?"

"Of course I..." Jekcel began then realized that he didn't know the answers to any of those questions.

He didn't know who was speaking to him, who he was, where he was or what he was...okay he knew what he was.

"I a human." he said.

The voice laughed, "Only half true, but that is of no use to you."

"What the hell are you talking about! Where the hell are you and where the hell am I!"

The voice laughed again, "I am talking about you, I am River and you are in the Dark Carninval."

"Dark Carnival..." Jeckel said then he remembered Blaze, he was a part of the Dark Carnival.

"Where's Blaze! I want..."

"He is having fun, not to be bothered, not to be bothered!"

Jeckel gritted his theeth then calmbed down, he didn't even know why he wanted to talk to the fire beast. Though maybe it was because he was the only one he remembered.

"Memories." said River, "Yes memories are the key."

"Where are my memories?"

"Gone, like you wanted. You are free from the tourment of your life."

Jeckel sat there in the darnkess, what River said sounded very familiar, as if he'd once said it himself.

"I am free of it aren't I?" Jeckel said knowing now that this was what he wasnted, he wanted to forget his life.

"Yes!" River said, "Now a name for you!"

"Name?"

"We must call you something my friend, but your old name shall not do! Shall not do!"

There was a silence as River thought of a new name for Jeckel.

"Asher." River said after a bit. "We shall call you Asher."

"Asher?" Jeckel said skepticly.

"Yes. It mean blessed and happy."

Jeckel, rather Asher, smiled, "Yes, that's a very good name for I am happy. Maybe not blessed, but I am happy."

River chuckeled with joy glad that their new found friend liked his name.

"Well then Asher, why don't we go see what the boss is up to!"

"Boss?"

"Blaze! He is our leader."

Asher rose and for the first time got to see what River looked like. He was a skinny wavy blue furry creature with lagre black eyes. He stared at the thing for a moment as it walked, rather slithered, away from him then followed along.

***

Blaze still sat upon the house across from Avery's home as Zalyanna came back, mad to have lost the burgeler. She walked up to Merphius who was looking at the device that the shadow had left attatched to the home.
"What are you looking for?" Zalyana asked.
Mrphius dived at her, knocking her to the ground as Avery's house blew up.

"What was that?" Zalyana asked, her and Mrphius's noes almost touching. She could smell his breath. Mrphius was laying on top of her and he rolled off.

"A bomb. Some one doesn't like us."
Avery awoke, a veil of blood shielding his eyes. He blinked the blood out of the way and glanced around. He stared at the ruined remains of the house. Half the house was gone, a mere crater was left. He laughed. Avery started laughing. It was one of the funniest things he had seen. Half a house blown apart and him, laying several yards from the house, the cuts on his head already slowly healing. He felt them. They would definitely need stitches, except that in about an hour they would be perfectly normal. It's not like he could die. He glanced past the house, and saw Mrphius and Zalyana laying on the ground. He marched over to them, blood still dribbling down the side of his face. He kicked Zalyana. Hard.
"What the hell were you thinking? You blew up my house? Honestly, that won't get me to help you! You should just back off! All my stuff was in there!" He aimed another kick, this time at a board. Zalyana winced and Mrphius stood up defiently.
"We didn't blow up your fuckin' house!" He yelled. "We saw someone put the bomb on the side of the house. We didn't touch it." Avery shook his head.
"You guys are freaks." He muttered, starting to walk away.
"You are just as much a freak as us, Avery. The only way you're going to survive this world is with us. We can stick by each other." Avery shook his head in wonder.
"You honestly think I'm going to join your little superhero gang? At the first sign of trouble you guys bolt, just like everyone else. You guys are no better than everyone else." He muttered, looking down at the ground.
"We're only human, Avery." Zalyana said gently, placing a hand on Avery's arm.
"No you're not! You're not human!" Avery yelled, jerking his arm away from her grasp. Mrphius quickly interuppted them,
"We better go, it's garunteed that someone else heard this. If we get caught here..." He trailed off, implying all sorts of bad things. He quickly transformed into a small Mazda Miata. Avery's eyebrow rose.
"I see you still manage to attract attention even when you're not sucking blood Zalyana." He murmured as he stepped into the car.
Leo whimpered and scooted away from the sunlight that was infiltrating his cave....the transformation. He could still feel the flmes inside of him, waiting for the night to come out....but until then, if he went out in the sun....it would destroy him....and thus he must wait to make his revenge.....his sweet revenge...
Asher and River appeared upon the roof of the house across from what was left of Avery's home. Blaze sat near the edge closer to Avery's home laughing histericly as Zalyana and Avery were driving off in a Mazda Miata.

None of them looked up at the house as sirens could be heard as some smoke from the burning home lifted into the air.

"What happened?" Asher asked, he knew that he knew this palce from somewhere and those people looked familiar and somehow so did the car, but not in a car way.

Asher shook his head, this was all too weird.

"Our boss was having fun!" River replied.

Asher raised an eyebrow, "Setting fires is fun to you?"

"Fire no it wasn't a fire." Blaze said chuckeling, "It was a bomb."

Asher looked shocked, these people thought that bombs were fun.

Blaze laughed, "Do not worry young one." he said, "No one was killed for the only one living excaped intact."

Asher looked slightly relieved at this but was still shocked that Blaze found this fun.

"Come now young friend." Blaze said, "We must have more fun."

"We're not going to blow up anything are we?" Asher asked not liking that idea.

"No, no. No more bombs." Blaze promised, "After all playing with the mind is much more fun!"

Asher didn't follow after Balze and River and the two creatures stopped.

"You worry if that is what we've done to you, young friend." River said.

Asher turned to look at the two creatres, one of water the other of fire and nodded.

"We only play with those who are not our friends, we help those we consider our friends." Blaze stated, "And my dear Asher, we consider you one of our greatest friends. We will do everything in our power to keep you safe and happy."

Asher looked at the small fire best and smiled, he knew that this wasn't any mind trick and that what Blaze had said were true.

"Thank you my friends, you are truely the best friends one could have." Asher said with a smile.

He finaly fit in, he was finaly happy and now he was off to have some fun with his friends. This was the best day of his life...no not the best day. There was a day somewhere that had been better then this one, but this was as close as he could get to that one. That he'd ever get to that one now, even if he didn't remember that day or what had made him unable to have days like it again. But now he was free to have fun and enjoy his life, something he knew he hadn't been able to do in a long time.

Asher followed after Blaze and Rive, "Let's go have some fun boys!"

The two creatures smiled and laughed joyfuly, happy that their new and good friend Asher was willing to have some fun with them.

"Now we find the ones who were here and the one that is missing." Blaze said, "For without them, we can have no fun!"


Zalyana stepped into the drivers seat of the Mazda Miata, which was Mrphius. Avery got in the passanger side, grumbling.

"I can't believe I've agreed to join you."

"Avery, it's for the best." Zalyana leaned back, for, she didn't have to drive, Mrphius was doing that. He sped off as Zalyana was closing her eyes. Then very quickly, he jamed the brakes, and the car came to a screeching halt. Two figures had appeared right in front of them. A little red fire creature, and a little blue water creature. Next to them stood Jeckle.

"Where is the third and fourth of your little group?" A small voice boomed to Avery and Zalyana.

Zalyana thought quick. Then silently to Mrphius she sent, "They don't know that you are the car! Do not change forms!"

Avery covered her. "We have no idea where Mrphius and Leo are."

"What do you want with us?" Zalyana demanded.
The small fire creature eyed Zalyana and Avery up and down.
"Come, come. We know Mrphius is the car." Avery jerked in suprise. "We would have liked you to admit it to us. Why are you scared? What is there to be scared of?" He asked quietly. Jeckle just grinned a slightly maniacal grin.
"What's wrong with Jeckle?" Asked Zalyana quietly.
"Nothing's wrong with him, persay. He's finally let go of his memeories and allowed himself to have unrestrainted fun."
"He looks high." Avery muttered. "What do you want?" He repeated.
"Patience, patience, young one. We mearly want you to have fun with us." Avery shook his head.
"Nah, that's okay, I think we'd rather continue on our way."
"Young you are." Murmured Blaze.
"Yoda you're not, now move!" Avery muttered, getting impatient. Blaze started to get angry.
"Patience is a virtue, I suggest you try it. Or you may come out like your parents." Avery shook his head.
"My parents are dead. I can't die." Blaze rose what Avery thought was an eyebrow.
"So cocky too. You're going to need to withold you're anger if you're to join us." Avery sighed.
"I already told you, we're not going to join you!" At this Avery slammed his foot on top of Zalyana's and made the car squel forward, fish-tailing. Blaze, River and Asher or Jeckle were forced to scramble out of the way. Blaze shook his head.
"We will not need that Atris to have fun. Perhaps we will make him our fun. But that is later. Now we will follow them. Zalyana will use her powers to find Leo to try and get him to join their superhero team. Then we will get them."
A Non-Existent User
Meanwhile...in what remained of Dr. Retsnom's lab...something stirred...

It wasn't a mouse. It wasn't even a rat. But it was something damn scary...and vicious...

The creature broke free from the lab and set out to explore this new world it had discovered...It had never seen life outside of the lab before, and it couldn't wait to get its claws on it...

© Copyright 2002 Shadow Vampire, xx-xx, da_ddq, Atris-chan, JayPhatBuds, Rose Grey, (known as GROUP).
All rights reserved.
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