Thorns and Roses Chpt60

     IT paused as a tear ran down Amy's cheek. Shadow was nothing less of drained. The tall creature let its arm down, and didn't move. Amy wondered what it was doing as she felt a drop of cold blood run down her bare back from her cut. Before Amy could do anything furthermore, IT struck like a flash of lightening and grabbed Amy's throat. IT's long, slender fingers stuck out from behind Amy's head, being so long. Shadow tried to move, until he felt a sharp, stinging pain in his side and threw his hand over it. When he looked, the palm of his hand was completely covered in blood.
     Amy grabbed at IT's wrists, but she could not pull IT's overwhelming, strongly-gripped hand off of her neck. IT truly was merciless. It chuckled under its breath.

"My dear girl, my strength is far too powerful for such a small being such as you to overtake."

Amy tried to breath, but got little if no oxygen every time she gasped. Shadow got on his knee and prepared to leap.

"It's humorous. You small, inferior creatures think you can defeat me." IT continued, "Child, no matter where you go, no matter how you think you may have defeated me, I will always return."

Amy smiled and struggled to speak, "You mean you're—like a bad rash—that won't—go away!"

IT snarled at Amy and pulled its arm back, ready to stab Amy's face with its knife-like fingers, until Shadow shot a bolt of Chaos Spear at it, causing IT to release Amy, and fall to the ground. Amy laid still on the ground, breathing slightly heavy, but normal. Shadow fell on his knee again and could feel himself gaining strength.  IT started to disappear in smoke, as it laughed once more.

"Inferior pests! I will be back!" IT shouted.

Shadow stood normally and walked over to Amy, who was awake, staring at the sky. Amy stood before Shadow reached her and faced him with a smile. Shadow, on the other hand, wasn't happy at all. He grabbed Amy's arms tightly out of anger.

"What were you thinking?" Shadow shouted loudly.

Amy's smile dropped immediately, "What?"

"That was childish, reckless, and completely irresponsible!" Shadow jerked Amy a little and gripped her arms even tighter, bringing much pain to her.

"Shadow I…" Amy tried to respond, but got interrupted by Shadow.

"You were very stupid, Amy!" Shadow snapped, still gripping tighter.

Amy whimpered a little and Shadow spoke again, "Don't you ever do that again!" Shadow paused, "Ever! I don't know what I would've done if you had gotten yourself…" Shadow's voice got shaken before he could finish the sentence. He closed his eyes tightly and turned his face away from Amy's, then to the ground.

"Don't do that again!" Shadow snapped.

Amy's eyes got full of tears as she frowned at Shadow out of anger and of hurt feelings. She didn't bother saying anything to Shadow-Amy just jerked her arms free from Shadow's grasp and ran the opposite direction, which was home. Shadow stood there and watched Amy until she ran out of sight. He held his hand out to Amy, as if he was trying to stop her, but the guilt immediately took its toll, as Amy was too far away to even bother trying to catch up to. Shadow looked down… Blood.It was everywhere! His wound wasn't big. Not even big enough to need bandages, but it did need to be cleansed. Without anything more to do, Shadow turned to the direction Amy's house was in, and began to walk.
     Meanwhile, Amy had reached her house. She ran upstairs to her bedroom and slammed the door behind herself. She plopped down onto her bed and buried her face into her pillow. Amy felt pain in both of her arms and looked—Shadow had squeezed her so hard, that it had brought her blood to the surface and made red marks in the shape of fingerprints. She rubbed them slowly, and softly, and then she heard the front door open. She ran to the stairs and saw Shadow, one step from the top of the staircase. Amy snarled angrily at Shadow, and opened her mouth to speak, but in a blink of an eye, Shadow was face-to-face with Amy. He put his finger on her lips.

"I'm sorry."  Shadow interrupted the argument they were about to have.

Amy didn't move. It was obvious she was still angry with him, but the anger was leaving fast. Shadow and Amy looked into each other's eyes, and were silent for a short time until Amy spoke,

"You should be! I was only trying to help!" She snapped.

After a long pause, Shadow replied, "I know."

Soon enough, Shadow's deep ruby red eyes that were staring into Amy's emerald green eyes had won her over. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Shadow stood there, not being one to show his emotions, and allowed her to hug him. Though, Amy felt a weak feeling hit her legs and it bounced up to neck, and boomeranged back down. The muscles in her legs gave way, as did the muscles in her arms, causing her to slide down Shadow until she hit the ground. Shadow got on one knee, feeling panic hit him.

"Amy? Are you alright?" Shadow spoke quickly.

Amy was on her knees, rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands, "Y-yea, I think I am."

Shadow smiled slightly, "Okay."

Amy smiled also. Shadow grabbed the stairs banister and tried to pull himself up; Amy did the same, but got too close to Shadow. She got five inches from his face, and then stood the rest of the way. Shadow smelled Amy's blood and fell forward, unconscious. As soon as Shadow hit the ground, he opened his eyes.

"Shadow? Shadow!" Amy bent down and put one hand on Shadow's cheek.

"What just…?" Shadow sat up.

"What just happened? I'm asking you that." Amy said confusingly.

"I—I'm fine. " Shadow shoved Amy's hand to the side and tried to stand again.

"You know I know you better than that. There's no sense in trying to make me think that there's nothing wrong with you." Amy smiled deviously.

Shadow sighed and helped Amy up.

"It's…. Remember when IT pierced the skin on your neck?" Shadow paused and Amy nodded, "Well, he filled your bloodstream with a poison called Vulxin."

Amy grabbed her neck immediately with her hand and didn't take her eyes off of Shadow, "What?"

"You don't need to worry. It doesn't affect mortals. It affects all kinds of immortals that may be around the creature with this poison in its bloodstream. IT knew that I would be around you every day: that's why he injected Vulxin into you." Shadow looked at Amy's neck.

"So, what will it do to you?" Amy backed up a few steps, as if she was hesitant about something.

"It will kill us… Slowly… Silently… Harmlessly…"

Amy's heart dropped, "S-so… You're going to die?"

"No, no, Amy." Shadow stepped closer to her, "It'll cause me to be a bit drowsy if I smell your blood. If I drink your blood, I will die. What just happened to me was a small side effect… I fell asleep."

"Does this mean you're going to leave again?" Amy put her fist up to her chest.

"Amy. Now, you need me more than you ever did. I brought you directly into the center of my world. There is no leaving now."

Amy stepped forward once, "Good. I'm going to help you."

Shadow looked up, surprised that Amy would say that, and smiled.

"I'll be resting in the other room." Shadow walked across the hall to his room, and Amy walked to hers.

After a short time, Shadow dozed off. Amy was in her room, picking the barbs out of her chest from the scratch that one of the black creatures given her. She heard something beating around downstairs. Thinking it was Shadow; Amy walked to the stairs banister and looked over it. There were three black creatures in her kitchen and they looked as though they were searching for something. Amy's eyes widened as she scurried to find a hiding spot before they saw her. The closest place to hide was in Shadow's room. She twisted the doorknob and sighed in relief that Shadow didn't lock it. She shut the door as quietly as she could, and then pressed the back of her body up against the wall, watching the doorknob. Suddenly, Amy thought of something. Shadow! She thought to herself. Shadow turned over in his bed and looked confusingly at Amy.

"Wha--?" Shadow couldn't finish his sentence before Amy jumped onto the bed, on her hands and knees, and put her finger over his mouth, shushing him.

"There're black creatures downstairs!" She whispered in a loud tone.

Shadow looked tiredly at Amy, who had just moved her finger. He flung the thin sheet that was on top of him back and threw his legs over the side of the bed. As he stood and walked to the door, Amy was very close behind: about five inches from Shadow. When Shadow reached the door and slowly grabbed the doorknob, Amy got nervous. Shadow got annoyed because Amy was practically leached onto him. When he opened the door, a black creature was standing right in the doorway, hissing. Amy balled her fists up and covered her mouth in shock. Shadow, on the other hand, stayed surprisingly calm. He stepped back once and the creature got halfway inside Shadow's room. Amy stepped back rather quickly until she fell back onto Shadow's bed. The creature unhinged its jawbone and stretched its mouth open to an unbelievable size. Shadow simply pulled the door back shut quickly, slamming the creatures head in while doing so. When he opened the door back, the creature looked up at him and hissed again. Shadow, once more, slammed the door back, but multiple times in a fast motion. After this, the creature's head bled in different patches all around it and it disappeared into its usual puff of smoke.
      For an unknown reason, this amused Shadow. He gave a small grin and turned to look at Amy, who was looking down where the creature had left a small bloodstain on the carpet. Her pupils were small as she was in shock… and disgust. Shadow stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.

"Stay in here." He said.

Amy couldn't tell his emotion because the door was already halfway shut. She sat on the bed for only about a minute when she heard many thuds and bangs from downstairs. She stood and ran to the door, slowly opening it about three inches; she saw nothing—strange? Amy felt something grab the doorknob and pull the door open. She stood up straight and backed up quickly, but saw that it was only Shadow with some blood on him. Amy smiled. The blood on Shadow wasn't his own, but was the creatures' that were downstairs.

"You alright?" Amy grinned softly.

Shadow nodded and walked into his room as Amy walked out.

"Uh, Shadow?" Amy caught the door before it shut, "Cream and I are going on a picnic tomorrow. I wanted to try again because the last time we had a picnic, it went terribly wrong." Amy smiled with guilt.

Shadow remembered what happened. He ruined the picnic they had last time.

"Alright." He shut the door again out of embarrassment.

Amy smiled and went to her room to try and finish cleaning off the blood on her back and chest.