Fan Fiction ❯ ShadowBaby ❯ A Promise is a Promise ( Chapter 11 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Anna ran through the dense woods. Several people chased after her. They were the fellow psychics that had hunted them down form the very beginning. She panted with every breath she took in. Her whole body was drenched with sweat. Both of her hands clamped onto her baggage that she nearly lost.
“Hell’s Fire!” John shouted as a series of flames erupted form the ground.
It wasn’t much, but it slowed the psychics down for a little while. Anna continued to pant as John let out another series of flames.
“Keep running,” he ordered.
“What,” Anna panted, “does it look like I’m doing.”
“Don’t you dare slow down,” John ordered as he tried another attack, “damn them.”
“Master,” Andrea shouted as she flew threw the air, “lady Anna can’t hold up much longer.”
John looked over and saw her eyes were clenching form the pain that coursed throughout her body. ‘I have to do something,’ he thought as he ran beside Anna. “Anna,” he whispered to her, “I’m going to possess your body. It is the only way to escape these persistent bastards.”
Anna nodded and said, “Well hurry up, my body is about to collapse.”
John swept inside her body, while Anna continued to run. Suddenly her eyes reopened and were a different color. Over the months John had perfected the art of possessing Anna were he can completely control her mind, without her having to be unconscious. Anna, or rather John, jumped up into the air and ran amongst the tree branches. The group of psychics soon became the size of ants as her, or rather his, feet soon became the speed of the wind. They seemed to cut through the very fabric of time as he carried Anna off into safety.
The group of psychics stopped their chase as they fell to the ground and began to curse themselves for not being quick enough.
“Next time,” Holly panted, “we’ll get them next time.”
When he reached safety John stopped running and merged out of Anna’s body. Anna, in return, fell to the ground and began to whine. “I can’t feel my legs,” she cried as she began to rub them. Her baggage was thrown down beside her.
John scoffed and said, “They nearly had us that time. They’ve been practicing over these last two months.”
“Uh huh,” Anna huffed as the feeling slowly came back into her legs.
“We have to up your training.” John stated as he paced back in forth.
“WHAT!” Anna yelped as she pasted out onto the soft cushioning grass. She used her baggage as a hard lumpy pillow, so that grass wouldn’t entwine with her already tangled up hair.
“If we don’t,” John snarled, “they’ll be sure to catch you next time.”
“But you already have me training from dawn to dusk.” Anna whined as she closed her eyes.
“So,” John snapped, “I use to train ten times harder then that when I was alive.”
“But I’m not you,” Anna whined again.
John was losing his temper. “As long as I’m inside you, you are me!” he snapped.
“Stop yelling,” Anna whined, “I have a headache.”
John cooled himself down and asked, “How bad does it hurt this time?”
“A lot,” she whined as her hands shielded her eyes. John walked over to her and placed his hands on her heads.
“Nasty little side effect,” he muttered, “seems to happen every time I possess you.”
“It hurts,” she whispered as she felt John’s healing powers take effect.
“I know,” he muttered as he healed the last of her pain. Anna was about to fall asleep when John said, “You can’t sleep here. You need to continue on towards the road.”
“But,” Anna whined, “I’m tired.”
John huffed as he used his mental powers to make her stand up. “Hold on,” he said as he vanished.
Anna rested underneath a shaggy pine tree. The heavenly aroma was thick enough to make her want to puke. John had been gone for over an hour now. Anna began to worry that the group of psychics might discover her before he got back.
“Don’t worry,” Andrea would whisper to her, “I’m sure he’ll be back any minute now.”
Any minute now was like twenty minutes ago. Anna began to get even more worried when she heard a twig snap. Anna clenched her baggage to her for dear life. It was like a protective forcefeild or something.
Andrea was instantly alerted and took on a defensive stance in front of Anna. Anna was in no condition to defend herself yet.
A young looking teenage boy appeared out of nowhere. He had a goofy smile on his face and he was wearing skater clothes. Andrea was about to attack him when the boy suddenly said, “Whoa, Andrea it’s me.”
“Master,” she stuttered.
“The one and only,” he said as he walked over to Anna, “alright now, upsy daisy.” Then he picked up Anna bridal style and began to carry her. Anna was still in shock as she glanced around at the trees they were passing by. When they reached the highway John laid Anna down under a bridge they came across. “There,” he said, “now all we have to do is highjack someone’s vehicle and we’re good.”
Anna sighed with annoyance as John looked around at every car that passed by. Again she threw her baggage down beside her and placed her head on her knees.
“Nope,” he stated, “no motorcycles yet.”
Anna turned her head away with embarrassment. She still couldn’t believe what happened to her last one. Everything seemed to be going fine. She was traveling up to Nashville when suddenly she came across those blasted psychics. There was a high speed chase on the highway and toward the end of it, she kind of wrecked it. Well she more then wrecked it. Her thoughts began to reminisce the scene.
Anna was riding her motorcycle down the main interstate. All was calm and peaceful, minus the loud engine of her hog. Anna was asking John a question as they passed by a local diner. She happened to glance over and see six people starring over at her with disbelief. Instantly she recognized them and picked up the speed. When she noticed no one was tailgating her, she sighed with relief. ‘Looks like I’m in the clear,’ she thought. That’s when she heard a loud noise trying to speed up behind her. Anna glanced back and gasped as she saw a red van try to catch up to her speed. Anna immediately sped up. Her speed was now a good ways over 120. Anna had never drove this fast before on her motorcycle. Nor did she plan to. Everything was a blur to her as she swerved left and right to dodge cars that were in front of her. Soon the minivan closed in and was pulling up beside her. The windows on it rolled down and three heads popped out. One of them was trying to tell her something. She couldn’t hear them though, due to her motorcycle’s loud engine.
John was panicking at this point. “Speed up.” he demanded, “Speed it the hell up.”
Anna revved her engines again as she sped it up to 180. That’s when everything really started to heat up. The sliding door on the red van flew open and revealed a man holding a sacred sutra. He yelled something at her. Anna still couldn’t hear them. She glanced over every so often to see what they were about to do. The young man threw the sutra at her. It barely missed her and landed on the back of her motorcycle. Anna began to panic as she tried to ditch them. He pulled out another one from his sleeve and said something else. Still Anna couldn’t hear him. Again he threw one. This time it landed on her left arm. Anna screamed out in pain as a small crackle of light blue energy emerged. She lost her grip on her motorcycle and it began to swerve out of control. The man who had thrown the sutra began to panic. He yelled something to the driver. Soon the van was right next to Anna. Anna was trying her hardest to drive and pull the sutra off. Her eyes darted over towards John. He too was experiencing pain in his left arm.
“Watch out,” John screamed as the man reached out for Anna.
Anna swerved away to escape his hands. The man looked pissed and yelled something at her. Well Anna still couldn’t hear him so she tried her hardest to ditch him one more time. That’s when a semi came into view. It was right in front of the two vehicles. Anna and the psychics weren’t paying attention. The van closed in one more time and this time they successfully grabbed Anna. Anna kicked and thrashed out at them man as he lifted her off of her motorcycle and halfway into the van. Anna’s left leg got hung on her bag. The man pulled harder. That’s when the motorcycle went berserk. It wobbled left and right before it did a poppa-willy and headed right into the semi truck’s back wheels. Before the whole thing erupted into flames the male psychic managed to grab Anna into their van, bag and all. Cars screeched to a halt as the semi lost control of itself and twisted itself around the entire road. It was like a blockade for cars. The entire back of the semi was now engulfed with flames. The psychics van screeched to a stop, barely missing the front of the semi. Then a loud explosion commenced as the gas tank of the motorcycle was finally breached by the flames. The driver of the truck had already jumped out of it after he saw the red van about to hit him.
With all the commotion of the fire, the psychics forgot to re-shut the side door. Anna squirmed free when she noticed the grip of the man had loosened out of fear. That’s when she jumped out of the van and ran into the woods beside it. The six psychics took a moment to catch their breaths before they pursued her into the woods. They had pursued her up until now. It was relaxing to take a breather. After all that running her legs were tired.
The memory still shook her to her bones. She nearly died on that interstate. They nearly killed her, her. She hadn’t done a thing to them, well beside help out their mortal enemy. They were trying to kill her. Hell they almost succeeded. If they hadn’t of interfered she would still be riding her motorcycle to Nashville. Hell she would already be in Nashville. Her venting soon came to a stop when John shouted with glee, “Ding, ding, ding we have a winner!”
Anna peered up and saw a rough looking biker come into view riding a Harley Davidson bike. It was the typical black color with skulls painted on the gas tank. Anna smiled as John swiftly released the boy he was possessing and repossessed the biker. From Anna’s point of view the rough looking biker nearly wrecked his bike as John entered his body. He swiftly gained control over it though and came to a stop in front of Anna.
John decided to tease her a little. “Well,” the biker, or rather John, said, “well, well, what have we have here?”
Anna scoffed to herself, “Idiot.”
“What’s a pretty young thing like you doing out in these here part?” he asked with a smile.
“I’m sorry,” Anna stated, “but my mother taught me not to talk to strangers.”
The biker frowned, but inside his head John was laughing up a storm. “Well you’re a smart one,” the biker stated, “tell ya what. If you tell me where you’re heading, I might give you a lift.”
“Well,” Anna sighed, “you seem trustworthy. I’m heading up to Nashville to bail out a friend of mine. He’s really stupid in my opinion. He’s lazy and conceited, not to mention a total brat.”
The biker frowned. “Hey now,” he said, “no need to get harsh. I was only teasing you.”
Anna smirked and said, “Oh well in that case…he’s also a slob, but don’t tell him I said that.” Anna then giggled as the biker parked his bike and got off.
“Now Anna,” John’s voice cracked, “don’t be like that.”
Anna still continued to giggle as she tied her luggage down on the bike and saddled onto the bike. Then she kicked the kickstand up and revved the engine twice. “Going my way?” she asked in a seductive voice.
The biker shook his head three times before John exited his body. The biker’s eyes opened wide as he glanced around. “Where am I,” he asked as he happened to glance over at Anna. “Hey,” he snarled, “what are you doing on my bike?”
“You mean my bike,” Anna snapped as she drove off onto the interstate and left him in the dust. The man chased after her for a while before he gave up and threw a rock at her. Anna cackled with excitement. “On the road again,” she sang.
John shook his head with embarrassment as he thought, ‘And this is my vessel.’ They traveled down the road for a good hour before they finally reached the outer parts of Nashville. Anna was psyched to finally make it. They decided to pull off into a local diner when Anna’s stomach started growling like crazy.
Inside the diner was nearly empty. Only truck drivers were their. She ordered a BLT with extra bacon and some coffee to drink. John settled down in a chair next to her and began a chat with Anna inside her head.
‘So,’ he said, ‘I was thinking about that little request you asked me about two months ago.’
‘Yeah,’ Anna asked, ‘which one was that?’
John sighed, ‘The one about finding out about your family.’
‘Oh that one,’ she giggled.
‘Well I’ve asked around,’ John said, ‘and it turns out you use to live in this city.’
Anna nearly choked on her food. ‘What,’ she creamed to him inside her head, ‘well where is my family?’
‘Um,’ John muttered, ‘how can I put this delicately…you’re mom, grandmother, grandfather, and possible your father are all dead.’
Anna nearly choked again.
‘But,’ John said, ‘you have an uncle that’s still alive and you already know about your great-grandmother being dead.’
‘I thought Gran-Gran said he was dead.’
‘Um,’ John said, ‘I don’t think he is. If he was I would have contacted him by now. Now I promised you we would find out about your family, didn’t I?’
‘Yes,’ Anna said.
‘Good,’ he snapped, ‘now I plan to head to your old house and see if it will jog some of your dominant memories.’
When they were done talking they headed back onto the main road that went through Nashville. John disappeared twice on the way. He claimed he was trying to contact somebody. Well that somebody finally answered him back and joined up with them on the road.
“I’m sorry my lord,” an old feeble looking man stuttered as he flew beside him, “my thought’s weren’t tapped into the astral plane. I didn’t hear you calling out for me.”
John ignored his excuses and asked, “Which way do we turn?”
“When we reach the Shop Right turn right.” he stuttered.
Anna did such and came across a sea of elegant looking houses by a large pond. Then the elegant houses turned into regular houses as she went farther down the road.
“Turn left up here,” the old man stuttered.
Anna did such again and was soon on a gravel road that led up to an old abandoned looking house. The roof was about to cave in on it and weeds were growing everywhere. It reminded her of her old house that she grew up in. It was indeed shabby like it and spooky like it. She mounted off her bike when she erupted it to a stop. Then she walked over to a clearing that someone had made.
“I’m sorry that it’s a mess,” the old man stuttered, “but me being a ghost and all doesn’t seem to help on tidying it up.”
Anna didn’t seem to mind as she finally reached a door. She turned the knob, but the door would not budge. So she pushed against it. The front door fell off of its hinges and went crashing down into the floor. Anna jumped back with fright. Soon she clamed down and entered the house, one foot at a time. When she was finally fully inside she glanced around in amazement. It, even though had cobwebs and warped wood everywhere, still took her breath away.
The old man acted as a guide as she entered every room. She opened up a small bedroom that was in the back. It had a bed, that was neatly made, and some posters that barely hung up. A small pink basinet. When she peered inside of it she saw a small pink stuffed animal. It looked like a combination between a cat and a monkey. Anna couldn’t help but smile at it’s weirdness.
“This was your mother’s room,” the old man stated, “and that my dear is your old basinet.
Anna’s eyes saddened as she picked up the small pink animal.
“You’re uncle,” the man said, “gave you that on your first day in this house. You seemed to love that little creature.”
“What was she like,” Anna asked with frown, “was she beautiful?”
“Very,” the old man said with a smile, “if you want I can show you a picture of her.”
Anna’s eyes widened with excitement. “Show me,” she demanded.
The old man led her towards the small dresser and said, “Top drawer towards the left. There should be a group photo of you, your mother, and the rest of your family.”
Anna ripped open the drawer and picked up the picture of her long lost family. Her hands swept all the dust away and she stared with disbelief at the group. The man was true to his word. Her mother was indeed beautiful.
John peered over at the photo and whistled when he saw her mother. “Wow,” he said with a smirk, “she is beautiful.” Anna glared at him with resentment but then glanced back down at the picture. The old man pointed out everyone one by one. Her uncle was quite a catch himself. He looked like some sort of athlete. Her grandfather looked just as grumpy as her foster father, and her grandmother looked pathetic. She was too skinny and her cheek bones were slightly sticking out. John looked appalled at her and said, “Man, she had to be on something in order to look like that.” Anna felt like slapping him, but she knew it was futile.
“She was on a bunch of drugs,” the old man said, “meth, pot, needles, and cocaine towards the end of her days. Cory, your uncle, smoked plain old cigarettes and drunk a few beers every now and then. Then there’s your grandfather. The poor bastard was an alcoholic.”
Anna looked disgusted at the thought.
“You’re mother was the only clean one of the bunch.” the old man stated.
Anna looked quite proud about that. Then she went around her mother’s room one last time before she began to roam around the house again. She traveled up the stairs and into another bedroom. This bedroom was completely bare. The only thing that remained of this room was blank spots were posters once hung.
“This was your uncle’s room,” the old man said, “when he left he made sure that he took everything with him. There’s not much to see.”
Anna left the room and traveled along the alls and opened up another door. This time it led to a small looking bathroom.
“This,” stated the old man,” was the main upstairs bathroom. The downstairs bathroom doesn’t have a bathtub in it.”
Anna didn’t even bother to linger in this room and moved along the hall and into another room. The next room she went in had a bunch of junk stored in it.
“This,” he stated, “was the storage room. It once belonged to your mother, but then she decided she would rather live downstairs.”
Anna pondered through all the junk. She came across many things that looked intriguing to her. When she went through her fourth box she came across a photo album. It had big gold letters that said, “It’s a Girl!” Anna opened it up and saw several pictures of a baby inside of it. It had information on where she was born, how much she weighed, but it didn’t say a name. It only had pictures of a baby being held. John and the old man were curious themselves as she flipped through the pages. Towards the middle of the book it started showing pictures of Anna’s mother holding the baby. “Its,” Anna gasped, “it’s me.”
“Man,” John grunted, “you were one grumpy looking baby.”
Anna glared at him and hissed, “Shut up.” She flipped through the rest of the pages and saw herself being held by her uncle and by some strange ladies.
“That’s your cousins,” the old man said, “the one with the short brown hair is Lori, the one with the long blonde hair is Diana, and the one with long raven hair is Tonya.”
Anna turned the page and saw herself being held by her mother at the local park she passed by on her way up here. The picture consisted of herself, her mother, and her cousin Tonya. Tonya was eating an ice cream bar while her mother smiled down at her. Before Anna could turn the page the memory of that day came flooding back.
“Tonya!” Dena screamed, “Don’t tease Anna like that.”
“Oh come on,” Tonya teased, “she’s enjoying it.” Tonya held out the ice cream bar in front of Anna and pulled it away every time Anna reached for it.
“Hey!” a male voice called out, “Better pack it up. I’m fixing to leave.”
“Coming Cory,” Dena shouted as she got up and walked over to the car.
Anna leaned back against a nearby box and muttered, “I remember her.”
John smiled at Anna and said, “Keep it up and you’ll remember everything.”
Anna flipped through some more pictures. Her eyes widened with fright as she turned to a picture that consisted of her mother outside holding her. It was a full body shot of the back of the house. What caught her eye though was the man in the window. He looked quite handsome and rugged too. “Who is he?” Anna asked as she studied him more intently.
“Who is who?” the old man asked.
“That man,” Anna said, “in the window.”
Both John and the old man peered at the window.
“He seems familiar,” Anna said.
The old man stuttered, “As well he should young lady. That man is your father.”
John glared down at the figure while Anna gasped, “But how come he isn’t in any of the other pictures?”
“That’s because no one knew he was living here my dear. You’re father wasn’t human. He would only appear at night while everyone else was asleep. Don’t you remember his nightly visits to you?”
Anna thought a moment. It all came back to her. The gruff looking man was becoming clearer with each passing second. “The hospital,” she gasped, “he was there at the hospital. He said something about…something about his master.” Anna glanced over at John.
“Well don’t look at me,” he snapped, “I don’t control shadow puppets.”
“But,” Anna stuttered, “then who was he referring too?”
John though a moment before he said, “I don’t know. Shadow puppets are demons that are formed in Hell. They’re not allowed to interfere with humans or interact with them. If they get caught the punishment is dire.”
“What the hell did he mean then by master,” Anna snapped.
John glanced at the old man.
The old man backed away and stuttered, “Don’t look at me. I never saw anyone else of supernatural properties come into this house. He was the only thing a miss in this house.”
Anna went back to searching through the boxes. She found several items. They consisted off: more photo albums, priceless antiques, some old baby clothes, and some books that looked interesting. “There’s so much memories locked inside this house,” she whispered as she dusted off one of the books. It was a romantic novel. The person on the front cover looked hot in some ways, but funny in others.
“Huh,” John huffed, “that guy looks ridicules.”
Anna giggled as John studied him more and complained about how tacky he looked and how women were stupid to ever fall for a guy like that. “You’re jealous,” Anna snickered.
“Me,” he defended, “jealous of that overrated pretty boy. Yeah right!”
Andrea even agreed with Anna. “Master John,” she snickered, “don’t tell me you wish to be on that book cover instead of him.”
“Andrea,” he snapped, “how dare you imply something like that. Even though I would look FAR better then that pompous fool, I would never be caught dead on one of those things.”
‘Meaning he wants to,’ Anna thought as she opened up the book and began to read it to herself.
“We don’t have time for this,” John shot, “Gather up everything you wish to take with you and let’s be gone. We can always come back to visit memory lane later.”
Anna sighed with defeat as she gathered up several items and stashed them inside an empty suitcase she had also found in the room. When it was packed to the point where it didn’t want to zip up, Anna exited the room and traveled down the stairs. When she reached the doorway she was greeted by three very gruff looking men.
“You,” John gasped as he backed up a few feet.
Anna backed up against a wall and asked, “Who are you?”
John was glaring at them. A low growl arched its way up his throat as he muttered, “Put up a barrier.”
One of the three gruff looking males stepped forward and said, “Now, now no need to get all testy.”
“That’s right,” said one of the other gruff looking males, “we wouldn’t want anything to happen to the frightened looking girl, now would we?”
John positioned himself in front of Anna and threatened, “Get out of here.”
“Now, now,” the third male said, “don’t get your knickers in a bunch. We were sent by your dear old mum.”
“That’s right,” the first male said, “think of us as the welcome wagon.”
“John,” Anna asked with a shaky voice, “what’s going on? Who are these men?”
“Why we’re devoted servants of old Johnny boy‘s mother. You might even say we‘re his brothers.” the second male said.
“What,” Anna gasped as her eyes glanced over at John. She could tell he was shaking with fright as he stepped back a little.
“Feh,” John spat, “you three are fools to obey her. She’s only using you to do her dirty work.”
“Just like she used you?” the third man asked with a smirk.
John growled, “Shut up, she never used me.”
“Oh really,” the second man said, “so when she banished you to this puny world and ordered you to kill all those people…she never used you?”
John took a defensive stance and said, “I killed those people on my own free will.”
“Your own free will aye? Then what was your motive?” the first man asked.
John didn’t answer.
“I tell you what your motive was,” the first man said, “your motive was to prove to your mother that you were indeed worthy enough to be her son. She banished you form your rightful throne because you were a disgrace. The only way you could return is if you killed humans. Even then she refused to let you come home. So you killed more, and more. Soon you were addicted to killing them and that led to your downfall. Now look at you. You’re still a pathetic disgrace to her. No matter what you do, she’ll still find away for you to stay another hundred years in this world. How long has it been now…600 no 700 years? I bet you’re pretty homesick.”
Anna’s eyes darted back and forth. ‘He’s over 700 years old!’ she screamed to herself.
“Are you done,” John snapped.
“Not quite,” the first man snapped back as he charged for Anna.
‘Anna,’ John thought, ‘oh no, he plans to kill her.’ John merged inside Anna’s body just in the nick of time. He was able to use is lightening fast reflexes to jump out of the way and out of a window. Glass shattered everywhere as he made Anna jump out of the nearest window and remount her motorcycle. Then he kicked up the brake and sped off down the gravel road.
The three gruff looking men followed in pursuit as they used their lightening fast agility to quickly catch up to her.
“Give it up,” the third man spat, “you can’t escape us.”
John smirked as he tapped out of Anna’s mind and reappeared in front of the third man. “Oh no,” he yelled as he punched him in the face. The third man lost his balance and went tumbling towards the earth.
The first and second men were closing in. “John,” the first man huffed, “if you just give up we promise to make your death quick and painless.”
John whispered to Anna to put up a barrier when he gave her the signal. Anna nodded and waited for his command. “I don’t think so,” John shouted as he stuck out his tongue.
“That’s it,” the second man muttered as he jumped into the sir and pulled out a sword. He was closing in on Anna fast.
“Now” John shouted as he jumped to be beside Anna. Anna’s eyes lit up and suddenly a pink bubble encircled them. The second man clashed his sword down onto the unbreakable shield. His sword broke in two and the power from it sent him tumbling back. The first man soon stopped chasing them when he realized he was in over his head. “We’re in the clear,” John whispered as Anna’s shield slowly disintegrated. Anna sighed with relief as her back hunched forward.
“Every time we turn around,” John stated, “there’s someone new chasing us.”
“Got that right,” Anna whispered as she sped up the motorcycle and exited back onto the main road, “Where to now?”
“Where else,” John said, “to a hotel.”
Anna nodded and continued on down the main road. She pulled off toward the side when she saw big yellow sign advertising a Comfort Inn. ’Finally,’ she thought, ’hot steamy bath here I come.’