Shadow's Reign, part two (CnP)

Shadow ate her small portion of food quietly, unaware that having been dining occasionally with ambassadors and the like, the act of eating like someone of royalty had rubbed off on her. She glanced up at Bart, frowning slightly, making a mental note to talk to him later.

Dominique ate her food quietly, while the dark expression on Bart's face became just more and more visible. Dominique lifted one eye to look at Bart, lifting her eyebrow. Bart didn't look back, and the hand he had previously lied his head onto slowly dropped on the table, reaching for the knife right next to the bread. His fingers calmly coiled around the black handle of the knife.

Shadow watched Bart out of the corner of her eye as he picked up the knife. With the dark emotions she could feel coming off him in what seemed like waves, the princess didn't like the thought of him wielding a potentially lethal weapon.

Bart grabbed the knife, and slowly pushed his chair away, standing up, keeping his head lowered. His hair fell on his forehead, and Dominique looked up at him questioningly as he walked towards one of the window, looking up into the sky. Bart then looked down. He growled, and turned around to the table, walking over to Dominique, how also stood up.
"What's the matter, Bart?" she asked nervously.
Bart didn't answer, and he walked over to the corridor quickly. A small breeze swayed past him, and he looked at the door. It was open slightly. It creaked gently. He swiftly turned around.
"Get down!" he yelled.

Shadow slowly stood up, on alert. Everything she had buried away about her past reared its head within her mind, spreading the knowledge of her assassin years around her body. Her magic seemed to be quivering inside her, begging to be let loose, but Shadow denied it that pleasure, at least for now.

A man shot out from Dominique's room, jumping on Bart, who didn't have the reflex to dodge because he wasn't in his kraferric form. The man pushed him against the wall, grabbing his arm, and pulling it upwards to Bart's neck, in a manner so that the blade was facing Bart's jugular.
Dominique instantly reacted, starting to go kraferric. Brown fur sprouted from her arms body and legs, giving her more of a beastial appearance. A tail slid out from her spine, as her nails hardened into claws. Her eyes went from their normal color to red.
"Aphran!" she growled, lending out one hand as if to catch the knife. She pulled her hand upwards, and the knife flew from the man's hand. Profiting of his confusion, Bart gripped the man's shoulders tightly, and rammed his head into the humans', making him recoil. He let go of Bart, who caught himself in an agile manner.

Shadow's magic exploded from her into an fire like aura around her. She reached out one arm, taking the knife in a sphere of magic before throwing out her other hand in an attempt to use her dark energy to pin him to the wall. Her eyes were flickering red slightly, but the demoness knew that she was still in control, for now.

The man was caught by dark flames, and was heaved against the wall. He didn't know what was happening, nor did he know what to do. Bart sighed, lifting one hand to the man's neck, shoving his head against the wall.
"Fat slab of human flesh," Bart growled, his face darkening, "what a worthless attempt. These guys have been sent nearly every week since our joining, Dominique and I. Only once they had been able to actually capture Dominique. You're a survivor of that little event, aren'tcha?!" Bart hissed, the man having a terrified expression on his face.

"Hey, Bart," Shadow said, her tone slightly warning. "Keep your emotions in check." She released the magic around the knife, allowing it to drop harmlessly to the ground before gesturing with her hand towards Bart, her magic flowing to surround Bart with the aim of pinning his arm to his sides and moving him further away from the man.

Bart at first didn't let the magic try to take a grip on him, but he fell to it anyways. It had been a long time since he had to fight other magic. He stopped struggling, and let himself be carried away by the gentle flames, soon disappearing under his feet. He sharply turned around, walking away fiercely from the man.
Dominique walked up to the person, her red eyes glistening.
"You're lucky today, buster," she mumbled, "normally, you would've had the punishment that you intended towards us reserved for you. In other words, Bart would've cut your neck. But I'm slightly more tolerate." Dominique put a finger up to the man's chin, giving him a small cut because of her index claw. "We'll let you go back to that society of yours, you'll tell your boss what happened. If you come back here, I'll have to deal with you myself, and I assure you, I know how to deal pain to someone for hours without killing them nor making them go unconscious."

Shadow gritted her teeth, sending another tendril of magic to hold Dominique back.
"Ok everyone, how about we just calm down here. Bart, just keep quiet. Dominique, I think you've scared the pants off him enough. We don't want to have to clear up the puddle when he wets himself." Shadow then turned her violet gaze to the intruder. "You come back here, and I'll have an army on your back and the back of everyone else who works at the organisation that my friend has mentioned, got that?" She growled.

"That's basically what I just said," Dominique muttered, turning away, slowly transforming back human. Her tail slid back into her spine, and her eyes regained their greenish taint. The fur slunk back into her skin as her claws became nails again.
"We'll let you go, you get out of the flat, okay?" Dominique asked, "Any smart move, and it's over for you, and probably your family too, while we're at it. Shadow, release him please."

Shadow stood down, recalling all her magic to her, her eyes stopping their mad dance between red and violet. She took a deep breath, stepping back one pace, eyes narrowed.
"Get. Out." She growled, glaring at the man, trying to keep a handle on her anger.

The man struggled back to his feet, breathing quickly. Dominique grabbed him, and kicked his butt out of the door, sending him slamming down the stairs. Dominique shut the door, and sighed heavily, lifting one hand up to her forehead.
"Thanks for helping me," Dominique murmured, "Bart doesn't like those guys. I can't blame him. But sometimes I'm scared he gets too angered, like that last time. I don't like them much either." Dominique shook her head, lowering her face to look at the ground. She lifted her head to look around, and she walked over to Bart, who was muttering curse words addressed to the people who had been sent. "C'mon,' she muttered, laying one hand on his shoulder. He nudged it off quickly, turning his head to Dominique.
"You go on, I'll join you," Bart replied quietly. Dominique nodded quickly, and walked over to Shadow, rolling her eyes. "well, that dinner's lost," Dominique murmured, trying to bear a half smile, "c'mon, it's going to get late. We should all prepare for the night."

Shadow nodded at Dominique, but then spoke quietly.
"I'm just going to have a quick word with Bart, ok?" She said, as if asking Dominique's permission.

"Fine with me," Dominique replied, casting one worried glance at her comrade, then approaching her face to Shadow's, "don't anger him, he's pretty tense after attacks..." Dominique walked away, silently closing the door of another room, which was most obviously Bart's.
Bart stood silently in front of the window, looking into the shining nothingness of the city. He had his arms crossed, and he had gone in his kraferric form by reflex, out of anger. He hadn't bothered to go back into his human state, so he left himself as he was, leaving his tail gently stroke his forearm.

Shadow silently walked over to stand next to Bart, her hands resting in the front pocket of her hoody. At first she said nothing, letting Dominique have a chance to get out of earshot before speaking.
"I think we're going to have to work on your emotional control." She remarked quietly, looking out at the dark night, secretly missing her dimension already.

"I got p*ssed, I know," Bart replied, not moving, "and I have my own reasons for such a thing."
Bart sighed, lifting his hand from his crossed arm up to his face, wiping it tiredly. "One whole year..." Bart muttered, "Yeah, one year we didn't see each other. And yet, you haven't changed much..."
Bart's tail slowly dropped from his arm to his side, coiling itself around his leg, tightening around his trouser leg. The dim and glittering lights of the city twinkled like millions of stars; impossible to count them all.

"One year for you, three for me." Shadow corrected quietly before turning her violet gaze to Bart. "I was serious about the training. I can tell that you've been training in Kraferric arts with Dominique, but the demons are different, dagerous if there's a rogue running around."

"Yes, I know you were serious," Bart replied almost aggressively, turning his head to the demoness, glancing at her with his red eyes. He flicked a brown fringe out of his sight, before sighing again, turning his gaze over to the city out the window.
"I'll probably get totally taken over in a matter of years anyways," Bart muttered, "whatever training I take, this... Thing's going to take me, and I won't be able to come out of it like the two last times..."

Shadow's violet eyes flashed red for a brief moment before she took a deep breath, calming herself.
"Every part demon faces that, but if they know how, they can bring themselves out of it." She stopped to give a small smile of sympathy. "You've got it hard. That's Karthragan's blood in your veins."

"And I've thought about that," Bart replied, turning his stare to Shadow, looking at her straight in the eyes, "isn't it logical that if I have Karthragan's blood, that means that Kar's still alive, or summin'? Or is that just my mind freaking out on me? Or am I just mad?"

Shadow sighed, turning back to look out of the window.
"Technically, it's always the parent demon that takes over the part demon. It should be impossible for you because you don't have a parent... demon..." Shadow's eyes grew wide. "Oh Arias..."

"Did I just sense an allocation used to determine very sensible situations?" Bart asked, lifting one eyebrow sarcastically, "No, really, I mean it; what's wrong?" Bart's eyes didn't show even a glint of worry, but his tail seemed to do everything for him: it was whipping around it the air, slashing behind Bart. He caught it, and seized it tightly in his right hand.

Shadow watched Bart's tail, realising for the first time that she missed her own tail, which had been taken from her during a fighting lesson in Aspheri. Unfortunately, the thoughts of her missing tail weren't enough to distract her from what she had put two and two together to find.
"A parent demon, also known as someone who puts the demon blood in your veins..." She looked at Bart. "I think you can figure out how's in your mind now."