Chapter 38 - "Who's There?"

Ethan lay on the roof, trying to recharge his energy a bit with the darkness of the night, while Umb ran around, very excited about his new paws.

After lying down for a while, Ethan gets up, a little more recharged. He starts thinking about the universe he is in and remembers that some vampires will soon be arriving in the town of Forks.

"How about we take a little walk, Umb?". Ethan said to the shadow hamster.

Ethan wanted to find somewhere dark, emptier, so he could train his powers without having to worry about noises. It was then that he remembered that dark alley and decided to go there. No one would go there at that hour, and since Ethan's senses were much keener, it wouldn't be hard to notice the presence of someone dangerous.

Ethan put Umb in his sweatshirt pocket and climbed down from the roof. He went into the room again, locking the door to make sure Enid wouldn't get in, and grabbing a warmer coat. Then he jumped out the window to leave, with great ease.

He started walking through the empty streets of Forks. It was quite cold that night, which made them empty early.

Even though there were dark places, he could see everything very clearly, as if it were daylight, only with a bluish filter in his eyes.

The street noises became quieter and quieter as Ethan walked. He could hear the footsteps of cats walking on the roofs, and if he was quiet enough, he could hear the snoring of people sleeping in nearby houses.

It was then that he remembered the alley that was close to his house. Where he had felt the call of darkness for the first time.

Ethan walked to the alley, which was empty, as he thought. There didn't seem to be anyone near that place. He could hear no talking, no footsteps, and no breathing.

Ethan began to feel the darkness embracing his body, feeling more and more comfortable in that place. He took Umb from his pocket and placed the little shadow hamster on the floor.

"This looks like a good place for us to train, don't you think?". Ethan said, looking at the little guy.

Umb seemed to be a little intimidated by the place, as it was his first time out of the house, and he was only two days old.

"Relax Umb. As soon as it starts to dawn, we'll go home." Ethan said, smiling.

Then, Ethan opened his hands, revealing the shadow flames coming out of his hands.

He saw that in that alley, they had several objects lying around, like wooden boxes and old cans lying around.

Ethan stretched out his shadow arms, trying to hold those objects with them. Considering that he had no longer trained his shadow arms, he picked up the boxes more easily than he should have. Perhaps the fit of anger that evolved Umb, also helped him evolve a bit.

Ethan picked up the wooden boxes and threw them across the alley, testing the strength of his shadow arms.

As soon as the boxes hit the ground, they were completely destroyed, scattering all the box pieces across the alley.

Ethan took a few steps back, impressed with the strength the arms had acquired, while Umb ran behind a crumpled soda can to hide from the pieces of box.

Ethan concentrated his energies in his hands, turning his eyes a brighter yellow, and threw a blob of shadow into a corner of the wall.

The shadow patch camouflaged itself with the others, disappearing into the darkness. Ethan looked up in confusion. He could throw shadows now, but what was the point?

Ethan stretched his hand out in front of the alley, where it was brighter, and threw a patch of shadow out of the alley.

The patch was thrown and fell to the ground, leaving a puddle of shadow in the middle of the sidewalk.

Ethan walked over to the patch and bent down to get a better look at it. He could create shadows in random places, but didn't understand what he could use with it. It was then that he had an idea.

Ethan took Umb in his hands and placed him on top of the shadow. Umb disappeared almost completely into the shadow, as if it became one thing. Since Umb was made of shadow particles, Ethan tried to think of a way to get him to use those spots somehow.

"Umb, I need you to focus, right? Focus on the shadow particles. Can you absorb the energy of the blob?". Ethan asked the hamster, who stared at him, paying attention to every word.

Umb closed his eyes and remained static, trying to concentrate on the particles. After a few minutes, Ethan began to notice that Umb was losing his shape and merging with the shadow.

"No, no, no! Umb! Stop it! Wait!". Ethan began to despair, realizing that the shadow hamster was disappearing.

Ethan began to run his hand over the spot and felt nothing. He began to tremble with nervousness. Ethan could not feel Umb's presence and could no longer see the hamster's little body.

"UMB?" Ethan began to despair, rubbing the patch of shadow on the sidewalk hard, terrified of what had happened to the little hamster and blaming himself for having told Umb to focus on the particles.

But just then, Ethan hears some noises coming from the beginning of the shadow patch in the alley. Looking back, he sees Umb coming out of the shadows, half lost as to where he was.

"UMB!" Ethan said, smiling, his eyes filled with tears.

He ran toward the shadow hamster.

"You want to kill me from the heart? How did you do that, man? That was amazing!". Ethan said, very happy with the shadow hamster.

Umb could teleport through shadows. Since he was made of shadow particles, it was as if he was everywhere there was no light present. This meant that Ethan would be able to spawn Umb from anywhere that had a large concentration of shadow particles.

Ethan then cast lighter patches of shadow through some places in the alley that were brighter, encouraging Umb to teleport through them.

Umb began to appear in each one, faster and faster, but still not instantaneous, until suddenly, Ethan stops and becomes motionless.

Umb looks at him confused, as they were having fun, practicing their skills.

"Hold still, Umb, I hear something!". He says to the hamster, softly.

The two stand still, motionless, until a strange figure passes in front of the alley, drawing Ethan's attention.

"Umb, hide!" Ethan said, walking out of the alley slowly, trying to listen to where the figure had gone.

- Could they have arrived sooner than I imagined? - Ethan thought, wondering if it was Laurent's clan.

Ethan looks to the side and sees the figure walking away quickly.

Then, without much thought, Ethan starts to run towards the figure.

He was fully charged with energy and had his necklace with an energy reverse. He knew he could get away if he needed to.

Ethan starts running towards the figure. He was much faster before, becoming just a figure to anyone who saw him on the street.

The figure was trying to get out of his vision, but Ethan could hear where it was going and followed perfectly the path it was taking, so he was able to run behind it.

The figure started to run towards the forest, but Ethan wasn't intimidated and decided to keep running, without thinking too much about how dangerous it could be.

That adrenaline coursing through his body made him start to feel pleasure from it. Ethan felt the shadows completely dominate his mind, as if his life goal at that moment was to reach his prey and kill it.

They entered the completely dark and silent forest, making Ethan feel his energy increase, leaving him safe in case he needed to fight, because it was the most comfortable place for him.

It was then that he heard nothing more. There was complete silence around him. It was as if he had gone deaf. He couldn't even hear the noise of nocturnal animals.

He stopped running and stood still, looking around, trying to find where the figure had hidden itself. The forest was bright in Ethan's vision, but it was as if the figure had become invisible. He couldn't tell where it came from, but he could feel that someone was watching him. It was obvious that someone was in the forest with him.

"I know you are there, I feel your presence!". Ethan said, trying to stay as still as possible.

His body was on a million adrenaline, so he noticed that the shadow particles were denser, almost like a strong wind current around his body.

"There's no use hiding! You'd better come out, or else I'll have to find you...". Ethan said, with a mischievous tone. He seemed to be enjoying this. His eyes were turning red and the expression on his face was frightening to anyone who looked.

Then something jumped out of the trees, causing Ethan to instantly turn his body toward the noise, not blinking for a moment.

"What are you?" A voice said, coming out from among the trees, and as it got closer, Ethan realized...

"Alice?" Ethan said, dismantling the demonic look that was prevalent on his face.

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