Silent Angel Crashes Through the Sky

"I'll see you later, Clark," Matt said to me as our respective groups got into our cars. We would split up for the night, and reconvene tomorrow night at the same time. We were going to try and get more volunteers tonight. One last ditch effort. We had all exchanged numbers and addresses before we left so we could get a hold of each other in emergencies. He had his arm around me, and I tried to ignore my heart pounding in my chest. He brushed some hair out of my eyes, locking eyes with me. I smiled at him lightly, not wanting to seem too enthusiastic.

"Uh-huh. Good luck, Shadows." I walked away, waving. He smiled and waved back. I went to our car, letting out a deep breath, and fighting a blush. I got in the back with Joe and Patrick, sitting in the middle. I didn't even mind sitting in between them, I was lost in thought, thinking of Matt. I could see all of them, except Pete, giving me goofy smiles. Pete seemed to be brooding in the passengers seat.

"You two seemed close," Patrick said slyly. I wiped any traces of happiness from my face, frowning forward in my seat. I crossed my arms.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Uh-huh," Patrick said with a small chuckle. I hit his knee with mine.

"Well are we leaving, or not? We can't sit here all night. We have shit to do. People to see." Andy started up the car and we headed out. The other boys, Avenged, had left already, going West. I was heading East with Pete and the others. They called themselves the Non-Believers. Ha.

-*-

"Clark, behind you!" I turned around with my stake, stabbing a Hood vampire. He turned to ashes after a moment or two.

We had come across two groups of vampires, merged together in a small city on the East side of Illinois. It was a group of Hood vamps, and a group of Punks.

This was really not good.

Groups never mixed. At least, they never used to. They always hated each other.

I had never seen Pete fight. I didn't like it. It was terrifying seeing a vampire fight, and knowing that you have to trust him. It went against every instinct I had.

But, as much as I hated to admit it, he was actually a good fighter.

We had fought our way through most of the enemy vamps. Only five were left. One for each of us.

I singled out a male Punk vampire. He came at me quickly, using his incredible speed as an advantage. He knocked me to the ground as I tried to stab him with my stake. He knocked it out of my hands. I hit the ground with a thud, having the wind knocked out of me. He immediately went for my throat.

I punched him in the face quickly, and used all my strength to fight against him. I held onto his throat with both of my hands as he tried to force himself towards me. I tried to use a hand to reach down for another stake, but every time I took a hand away he came a little bit closer to my throat. He hissed at me, and started to over power me. I grunted, and kneed him in the stomach twice. He moved back a little and that was just enough for me to reach for my stake and stab him. He turned to ash in seconds. I managed to push him off completely before he disintegrated.

I took in a few deep breaths, noticing that three of the boys were just finishing off their vamps. Pete had stood about twenty feet away, watching me. I furrowed my eyebrows. He came over to me.

"Didn't feel like lending a hand?" I asked huffily. He shrugged.

"I wanted to see how you'd do. I mean, I knew you could do it. You've come this far on your own... If you needed me, I could be there in the blink of an eye." He held out a hand to me. "We're a team now, Clark." I sighed and took his hand. He helped me up easily. I brushed myself off and picked up my stakes, placing them back in their holsters. I figured that along with seeing 'how I'd do' he was giving me a bit of payback. And, rightly so.

I looked at my watch. It was about two hours till sunrise.

"We have to head home," I said, still a little breathless. My back was sore from when a Hood vamp punched my lower back. And it didn't help when that Punk took me down. Pete went over to Patrick, helping him up.

We had managed to find two groups of hunters on the East side of Illinois, but only one was willing to listen to us. It was a group of three human men who called themselves Echelon. They agreed to meet with us tomorrow evening.

We started heading back to the church where we'd parked the car.

"Why do you think those two groups were together?" Joe asked.

"It must have something to do with what I saw the other night," I said, looking back at him and Pete behind us. I was walking between Patrick and Andy. "They're teaming up, I know it." I looked back to my front. I felt Patrick put his hand on my back.

"It'll be okay, Clark. We'll get through this, whatever it is." I looked at him with a small half-assed smile, wanting to feel more grateful. All I could feel, though, was dread. I wasn't so sure that we could get through whatever this was.

I felt my cell phone vibrating in my jacket pocket. I unzipped it and checked the number. It was Brian from Avenged. Before I could even say hello, he started speaking frantically.

"Clark? Is this Clark? You have to come quick. It's Matt. We ran into trouble. We're on our way to the hospital now."