What just happened? -Open-

A cloaked figure appeared in an alleyway, coughing. It untangled itself from its cloak, stepping into a beam of moonlight.
"Oh Sh..." The figure said as a small flash of magic erupted from her. She stepped out into the street, a figure swathed completely in black walking into the orange glow glaring from the streetlights.
"Well hell." Said the distinctly feminine voice.
"And hell is exactly where you're going." Said another, male voice.
"Teran." The woman replied with a voice layered with hatred.

Pacing ever so silently through the barely lit streets, a dark figure sprinted forwards. His steps merely made any sound, and he suddenly stopped every now and then to lift his head, revealing four shining red marks on his face. The silhouette glanced around, avoiding the beams of light which fell from the street lights. He felt it. He felt her. Something he hadn't felt on these grounds for quite a long time. But he knew exactly what it was.
Continuing to stride onwards, he checked every avenue and street. He lurked behind the depths of the black shadows, swiftly moving from one place to another. As he dashed on, his heart beat stronger and stronger with the sensation getting more important by each step.
He then skidded to a halt, and turned his head into the alley. Normal eyes would not have seen anything - only darkness, slithering, looming. He scurried into the alley, sensing two presences, one which he recognized, the other, not.

The woman crouched slightly into a defensive position, pulling a knife from a sheath hidden under her sleeve. Teran smiled slightly, his golden hair glinting a little under the orange lights, casting reddish reflections on the walls around. He stood easily, leaning against a wall. He chuckled a little.
"It would seem that you are in a fine mess, aren't you, little princess." He said. The one ice coloured eye visible behind the woman's mask narrowed.
"Just because I seem to have teleported at the wrong moment doesn't mean I still can't take you down!" She snarled, even though she knew that, in her human form, the princess held no threat against the powerful half demon.

The vision of the two became clear in little time. The boy wrenched his arm backwards, strips of black electricity running through the claws and hand. He clenched his teeth, lunged forwards, and slammed his hand onto the ground. Bolts of sharp dark magic shot out from the ground, leaving black burnt marks where they had previously impaled the ground. The boy's other hand then started to become tensed with lightning as well, and he raced the few meters that were left standing between him and the two others.

Teran barely flinched as the magic ripped up the tarmac.
"Who's that? Yet another hybrid that you've added to your clan. How many hybrids are you planning to accept? All you're doing is diluting our blood. I would have thought better of the supposed princess of our kind."
The woman seemed to be infuriated by his words, but tried to keep it under control. The long blade in her hand, held in a backstab position, the blade lying along her forearm, shook slightly as she tried to control herself.
"Don't worry, Bart," The woman said, her gaze not shifting from the part demon in front of her. "Teran was just leaving. He won't attack me until we're on equal grounds."

Bart leaped to a frozen position, adopting the kraferric stance he had trained with with Dominique. He stood next to the half-demon known as Teran, feeling every ounce of the demonic magic which coursed through him. He knew something wasn't normal with his presence. Shadow's words had not calmed the kraferr down, though, as sparks still flickered, twisting around his fingers and claws. His tail flicked violently at the air.
"What're you doin' here in the first place?!" he hissed, his body slightly tensing.

"I had come to confront Shadow," Teran drawled, "But it would seem that she's human. As she cleverly stated, I can't challenge her now."
"And thank the goddess for that." Shadow muttered under her breath before addressing the part demon. "So you can shift! Go on! Scoot!"
Teran mockingly bowed before telleporting.
"I have never been more glad for that rule," Shadow muttered to herself.

Bart relaxed a few moments later, the bolts of lightning disappearing from his palms before he stood straight, staring at the place where, a few seconds ago, Teran stood. He huffed, grabbing two silver bracelets from his pockets and clasping them around his wrists. His black claws shrunk back to normal size, while his eyes merged together two form two glistening blood-red ones. A wave of brown coated his fur, transforming it to the normal color, before he sharply twisted his head to Shadow.
"And I thought you were supposed to be in Aspheri," Bart remarked, lifting one eyebrow.

Shadow also visibly relaxed, sheathing her knife under her sleeve, taking care to pull the sleeve back down over the splint that still held her broken arm together. She tugged at the ribbon holding her mask in place, taking off the black face.
"I messed up my teleportation," She said. "I sensed my vulnerable time coming while visiting another dimension and tried to teleport back to the palace. Unfortunately, I must have tried to go 'home', which has brought me here."

"I thought Synairn was your home," Bart replied, his red eyes shining past the thin curtain of dark brown curls which fell over his eyes. He stared at Shadow for a small time, before turning away and sighing.
"Kay, just scratch that last thing I said," he murmured, "You're back, whether it was purposely or not. You can't teleport back to Aspheri?" he then asked, lifting one arm to scratch the back of his head and turning it to look at Shadow.

Shadow shook her head.
"Synairn isn't my true home, given that Arias still rules there, and, as you may be able to notice, I've 'gone human', which really bugs me." She said, running a hand though her black hair. "All I have to do now is hope that Teran dosen't turn up again or the Prince of Merthras. Either would be a bad idea right now."

"Yes, most probably," Bart replied quietly. "Hm..." He thought for a few seconds, before turning to her. "As far as I'm concerned," he spoke, "you can't go back to Aspheri or Synairn for quite a while now. Instead of letting you just be, I think the more wise decision would be to take you to where Dominique and I live. It'll give you shelter while you're... Vulnerable," Bart suggested, turning fully to the demoness.

Shadow slowly nodded.
"Thanks Bart," She said, meaning it, "I only know where the demonic clan lives if I teleport there, which is not a very smart idea, now I come to think of it." She said, beginning to hate her status as a half-demon... again. It was just a pain in the backside most of the time.

Bart flicked the silver bracelets off his wrists before lifting one hand to Shadow, and stuffing the bracelets into his pockets with the other. The claws on his hand lengthened and turned black, and his eyes immediately separated. His brown fur, in a wave of purple, became violet as well, and his lip curled with a smirk.
"Don't cut yourself on the claws," he advised.

Shadow smile slightly, laying her hand on Bart's shoulder.
"I know, I'm not that stupid," She says, rolling her eyes slightly. "I've been in enough battles to know not to go near the sharp edges willingly." She braced herself for a teleportation, hoping that he had improved since the last time she had seen him try.

"Oh, uh," Bart murmured, "I would like you to know that since the last time you saw me try teleportation, I haven't improved at all."
Bart chuckled, and, before Shadow could react with anything whatsoever, sparks started to form at both of their feet, swiftly engulfing them in a vast darkness, leaving no trace behind, except for small, shattered pieces of glass and coal-black smoke.

A few seconds later, a crackle in space could be heard. Then a snap, and black sparks shot out of a black spot on the ground. Lightning struck upwards twice, thrice, and left two beings, standing perfectly straight, the ground blackened with dust and crackled with sharp shadowy glass.
The wind blew through Bart's hair. The horizon was gigantic from here. They were on the rooftop of a tall construction. Bart turned to Shadow, walking to the door which led inside the building. He opened it, and swayed one hand inside.
"You first," he murmured.

Shadow apeared again, her eyes tightly closed and her nails almost digging into Bart's shoulder. She took a deep breath before stepping forwards, Bart already ahead of her. She walked dpwn the stairs, trying to remember which floor the Kraferr lived on.

Bart followed the demoness inside, taking the bracelets off and immediately returning to his human form. Blue gold-flecked eyes replaced the red ones, and the violet fur sunk into his skin. The nails shrunk to normal size, and the tail slipped back up his spine.
Bart descended the stairs with no noise at all, and he stepped in front of Shadow, stopping in front of a large wooden door. He took a pair of keys out of his pocket and inserted them into the keyhole, twisting it and opening the door. Bart pushed the door open, which creaked painfully. He took one step into the flat, glancing around, before calling out?
"Dominique?" he asked out loud, taking another step as to let Shadow in, "Hey, you in here?"

Shadow walked down the stairs warily. She felt like something was watching her, always watching her. She frowned slightly, but brushed off the feeling. She stopped in front of the door, slightly nervous, remembering the last time she had walked into Bart's shared flat. A homocidal hurricane known as Dominique Kraferr wielding a knife.

No answer then.
Bart looked around, rolling his eyes, and then turned to Shadow, shrugging. "Well, make yourself at home," he muttered, showing the hall with one hand. "We've got another room you'd be able to use... We kept it since the last time you came here, about a year ago."
Bart smirked and walked into the flat, closing the door behind Shadow.

Shadow stepped over the threshold (sp?), looking around.
"I take it that given there is no furious hurricane of fur, Dominique isn't home," She commented. She turned to smile slightly at Bart. "Yes, I still remember the knife-wielding homocidal Kraferr greeting." She said jokingly. She ran a hand through her black hair. She still felt like someone was watching her.

-Yup, good spelling there.-
"Yeah, I remember that one too," Bart replied, lowering his head slightly, "she still does that as times, playfully. She's more grown up, now, though, both physically and mentally." Bart looked around, "it's a quite calm place here. Nothing much happened since the last time you came. Bloody scientists still didn't come back for their food, though."
Bart continued walking forwards, putting his hands into his pockets. "I don't like that guy, Teran, though," he murmured, "he could just be around here, waiting for you to become a half-demon again just to kill you."

Shadow relaxed slightly as she heard that Domonique only pretended to kill Bart now, lowering her guard a little. The silvery circlet that declared her ranking glinted a little in the low light, seeming to reflect a red light rather than a silvery one. She thought carefully about Bart's remark about Teran before she actually replied, and even then she was hesitant about what she said.
"Teran will always be just around the corner, he always will be as long as he can get a lock on my whereabouts." She said slowly.

"Mh," Bart muttered doubtfully. He glanced around the house suspiciously, before letting out a slight sigh and calming down. "Dominique should be here in at most a half-hour," Bart mentioned, "she's never out of the house for more than that period of time, except when she's out with me." Bart turned around and took two glasses out of a cupboard, filling them with water before setting them on a wooden table. "Here, water," he quickly spoke, "you should be thirsty."

Shadow gratefully accepted the glass of water, thanking the Kraferr, holding it in two hands to balance it. She sighed silently. She had been used to using her left arm for almost everything, but since it had been broken, it was painful to use. She had to use her other hand to balance things most of the time. She glanced out of the window at the dark city. It had certainly been a long time since she had been back, and her lungs felt the difference in atmosphere. The air was a lot more polluted than back on Aspheri, but it was also the smell she had become accustomed to over several years when she had come to live there.