Monster - Part 8

The rain seemed to keep pouring down even harder now as she was aware that she no longer was in the comforting embrace of her bed. It sucked, but as far as she could tell it was not a dream, and there she was was all wet and even more irritated than just a moment ago.

She stared at the shadows, yet they had not yet noticed her presence and still seemed quites preoccupied with was going on in front of them. The unknown guy held a firm grip of the girl in his arms but it would not need a second look to see that his embrace was not of kindness, but rather one of malice. Akime too a step closer - the sound of her shoes was dampened by the rain - and was about to shout out.

"Hold the calling." The dark voice was back again. Fuck.

"Why the fuck now?" She thought awating a reply. To her surprise one was delivered.

"Did you notice the two shadows, Prey, even though what you see just now they are your primary concern. You need to deal with them first." For some reason the sound of falling raindrops were pushed into the background, even if one could discern sounds through the dampened background these words were pushed to the foreground for now and so seemed to hold even more seriousness than other sounds, they surprised Akemi.

"What are you talking about? He is about to have his way with the girl, how the hell could that not be something important to prevent?" She was even suprised herself with her own eloquence.

"Did you also notice the shadows that are hovering above the degenerate?" The question came natural, and as it did it painted an oversight of the situation.

"Yes, but what does that matter, the guy is about to violate her?" Even if the discussion was currently in her mind the question was asked with such an impression that the walls next to her seemed to shake from it.

"As I said, I hold answers but cannot tell them all at once, and this is such a moment. Now, please hold back for a second and I shall answer some of your current questions. It is all up to you." The voice was a bit different, steadfast, but different.

"What you see in front of you is what is happening. But there is more than one assailant at play here..." The voice started to explain.

"The shadows?" Her reply came even more natural than she could imagine. It was as the scene itself started to clarify.

"Yes indeed. As I said, there is more than one assailant at play here. And to be forward in this situation there is no set order. A lowly mind has it set thoughts, and will follow through in action if nothing stops it. Even more fiercefully so if it is encouraged in a situation that we see now. And that is the role of the shadows, they push the fragile mind over the forementioned ledge." The voice held authority yet still it was also an aura of guidance around it. She listened.

"Expel the shadows and then remove the physical assailant would be the proper action. Remove that which gives power in order to clean up the confused mess so to say. But the choice is all up to you, Prey. But in this situation I do admit that that label is not yours to hold." Her focus was still keen on the internal dialogue, but it still managed to surprise her.

"What do you mean? I could just yell out, and in worst case scenario, kick his ass and it will be dealt with?" She felt compelled to ask the question as even though the previous comment seemed clear enough there were still something off.

"All that happen is unique, that is the best explanation I can give for now. And even in this current situation you are correct as the primary action for you now would be to stop what is happening in front of you. But also know that even if the person you see in front of you may hold thoughts of the action you currently see, many chose to not put any action into their own indulgence but if there were someone - or something - to push them over their own limit they will.

The shadows you see are two such things, their main focus is to find those that are wandering near their limits and to push them over in order to reap the benefits that then will come."

This.. this was confusing to Akemi as she had so far known the voice to almost belittle her and force her to solve riddles when it came to information. But now all of a sudden it had decided to tell her what seemed to be the truth? How could she suddenly trust someone that up until now only had spoken to her in riddles?

The sudden hint of honesty was quite encouraing for Akemi, not only did she know what she had to do, but she was also able to discern the order of what was in front of her; the foul ghosts needed to be dealt with in order to extinguish the danger the guy would pose to both her and the girl. It was as a light shone and enlightened the dark alley in her eyes. As she leapt forward she heard the voice in the background trying to rein her back but it was not important in the moment. With a leap she managed to gain traction towards the wall and jumped over the head of the assailant whilst grabbing the shadows as she landed in front of him and the girl. It was all in a motion that seemed to almost be rehearsed.

She stared at the guy as he was surprised of the sudden appearance before him.

"NO! This one is mine, they allowed it!" He shouted surprised. The girl moaned and tried to cover herself.

Akemi was enraged hearing his voice; she grabbed the shadows harder while they tried to free themselves from her grasp.

"You mean these two trying to corrupt your mind even more than it alread is?" She asked. There was someting harsh, almost sinister, in her eyes as she looked down upon the degenerate.

"Mine! She is MINE!" He shouted and tried to put a firmer hold on the girl.

What happened next was both so quick, and in a sense blurry, that Akemi almost did not realise it. She clasped on both the shadows as they were trying to escape that they suddenly caved in on theirselves and disappeared with a popping sound. She breathed heavily as this took its toll on her, but there was still one more thing to sort before she could relax; the person in fron of her whom tried to get his way with the girl.

"Huh, guess you go first then" He said as he pushed the girl aside and locked his gaze on Akemi.

"Good.." was the only thing she managed to exhale, she was worn out already but she could not understans why.

He moved towards her as the girl was lying on the floor gasping for air from his hold of her. He moved towards Akemi with determination, but there was someting lacking. And that something was her advantage.

As he moved in to grab her Akemi made a swifth move blocking his right hand with her left arm; and as he came closer she buried her right fist into his groin.

With a soft cough he fell in front of her grabbing his groin with both hands and whining with a high pitched tone.

"Good" Akemi said as she kicked him in the head. "Now go to sleep" he was knocked out and his wailing silenced as the alleyway grew forward with the silence of the falling rain.

"Are you OK, did he manage to touch you?" Akemi asked the girl whom had crawled up against the wall.

"i... I do not know... no.. I do not think so.... th-tank you..." was all the girl mustered in surprise of what had just happened.

"Get out of here, get yourself home, ok. There is no need for you to stay here, I'll sort this.." Akemi said between heavily breaths.

"oh.. ok.... thank you.." the girl said between nervous breathts and got up on her feet and moved away from the scene.

Akemi took a few heavy breaths and looked at the perpetrator in front of her. "And now for you.." she said.

Moments later she awoke in her bed.