***NEED WORK

Soft claps of footsteps echoed and bounced off the smooth stone walls in a fast steady rhythm as Ava sprinted down the Lower Levels hallway of the Paramount Towers. The sound seemed to drill into her mind, trying to force her into betraying every set control she had on her emotions and thoughts.
Breathe....Be at ease… she silently commanded to herself.
But even for her, calming down at the moment was easier said than done. Especially when three of her comrades were out there in the Living somewhere; alive, wounded, or worse…

Ava skidded to a halt and turned to a blank wall on her left. Without a pause, she stepped forward and pressed her hand against the cool hard surface.

The shielding hologram rippled and dissolved under her hand, revealing the hidden door of the ATRU, the Advanced Tech Research Unit. Completely surrounded by high-tech surveillance, sensitive reactors and other fancy gadgets designed for security, this Unit did its name no shame.
This was the one place everyone assumed as unbreakable.
Ava saw the entry gel-pad emerge smoothly from the wall, waiting for proper entry procedures. She glanced down at it briefly before turning back to the massive wall. As much as she cared for the security of the Four Gates Headquarters, her friends came first.

Ignoring the gel-pad, she moved to the center of the great steel door. If she remembered correctly, there were three equally thick and solid doors, one set after another. The crease where it opened should be the weakest point…

Taking a deep breath, she lifted her right hand, pressing it into the steel surface. And she took a great step forward.

The surface of the steel door gave way like liquid and swallowed her in, first her hand and then her arm. Ava continued forward until she was in up to her upper arm. She held her breath, focused on keeping her Energy neutral, and dove in.

It was solid pitch black, no sound, and no air.
Ava quickened her pace into a sprint, hurrying to get out of the cold, lifeless material.

Just a few more steps…five, four, three, two---

Ava felt warm air brush against her fingers as she reached forward through the other side of the third gate. She forced her shoulders out in a lunge and pulled the rest of her body free. She righted herself quickly as she gulped down a breath of air and started to walk down the busy main hall of the ATRU in brisk steady strides. She made her way past the white-robed technicians, weaving her way past them. Not one of them seemed to have noticed her very much stealthy and improper entry into the Unit. It wasn’t long before she reached the Monitoring Center at the very heart of the Unit.

Ava could hear her heart beating unusually fast as she reached for the entry keypad on the wall…

“WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG?!” someone roared from the other side of the door.

Ava instinctively jumped back as the door slid to the side with a sharp hiss. She didn’t even have time to brace herself for the next thing that came. The next second she found herself lifted off the floor by her jacket collar and pinned to the opposite wall. She gritted her teeth against the pain that shot through her half-healed shoulder.
“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN, LASSIE?! WHAT, YA DECIDE TO TAKE A TOUR AROUND THE WORLD, HUH?! DO I LOOK LIKE A PATIENT PERSON TO YOU?!” her assailant raged in mad fury.

Ava took hold of the hands that pinned her to the wall, trying to pry herself free without much result.
“Thya, it hasn’t been fifteen minutes!!” she gasped.

But at this point, that didn’t seem to be a valid response.
“Fifteen? FIFTEEN?! NOW WHY THE HELL WAS I WAITING FOR 15 MINUTES, HUH?! ANSWER ME THAT!! I-SHOULDN’T-HAVE-TO-WAIT-AT- ALL!!” Thya growled, rattling Ava like a rag doll with each syllable.

Ava repressed a sigh at her friend’s unreasonable behavior. She knew better than to press any buttons at this state, if she valued her neck at all.
“Thya, we have other things we should be worried about!” she said in a firm tone. “Throwing a rampage on my inconvenient ‘tardiness’ is only eating up the seconds we need to start moving.”

Thya opened her mouth but no words came out. It was as if she was waiting for an immediate, smart argument to come flinging out of her mouth and smack Ava right in the face.
Suddenly without a warning, Thya’s hands loosened, letting Ava fall to the ground in a heavy pile.
“GAHGH!!” she roared.
She knew Ava was right, and there was no winning this time.
And she absolutely hated that.

Cursing a string of unintelligent words loudly, she turned around sharply and marched swiftly back into the Monitoring Center. The door slid shut with the same biting hiss, cutting off all sounds of her ranting. Ava was just getting up and brushing herself off when she heard more yelling and commotion from the other side of the door.
The Monitoring Center door opened once again with the sharp hiss.
“Here, take THIS with you!!” Thya spat angrily.

Ava only looked up in time to see Thya heaving a large object over her shoulder and throwing it overhand right in her direction. The dark object let out an odd squealing noise and flew through the air in a dark blur…

Zeik landed roughly in a messy pile at Ava’s feet, his eyes wide with shock and confusion. He scrambled back onto his feet, obviously frazzled and disoriented. He looked at the already closed door and back to Ava.
“Sh---she jus--- she just threw me!!” he stuttered, as if trying to believe it himself.

Ava let out a huff of air she was holding in and hastily took hold of Zeik’s elbow.
“Come on, let’s get moving.” She said in a low voice, not wanting to stay for another one of Thya’s outbursts.
Zeik only seemed too happy to leave the Monitoring Center. Ava tried imagining what it must be like for the technicians in their monitor stations, almost cringing at the thought.

The pair had only made a few feet when another angry bellow came from the door.
“And this time, USE the door to go through, dammit!!” Thya barked.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Mivian’s POV

A cold chill ripped through me, leaving my mouth dry. My skin prickled coldly and my muscles tensed at what I saw on the glowing monitor.

What is this? What the hell happened here?

Scrambled thoughts raced through my mind as I stared at the clear message that screamed out at me on that computer file.

HELP US HELP US HELP US HELP US HELP US
HELP US HELP US HELP US HELP US HELP US
HELP US HELP US HELP US HELP US HELP US

Somehow, I managed to thaw and reached down to the keyboard to scroll down the page. The same message went down the page, seemingly without an end. But finally, there was a break, leaving the screen chillingly empty.
That’s it? No clues at all? There had to be more than just this weird, unexplained message.
Bemused, I tapped the scroll down button a few more times. Sure enough, more words appeared, but this time, it was not the desperate cry of help.

Beware of the shadow where it sleeps
Beware of the spaces where it lies
Step by step one by one
Here is comes with hungry eyes
One by one turn by turn
The endless cycle can’t be undone
With each turn we all fell
Into the hands of the never-ending dark.

Beware of the doubt that shall betray
Be wise in search of open doors
Beware of the cries that marks its prey

For now the turn had become all yours.

And that was it. Nothing else but this crazy riddle. Strange enough, though, I regretted reading it. It weighed down inside my head as if a dark cloud had settled down over me. Stiffly, I moved away from the computer, chilled. Something about the last passage got to me, forming a knot in my stomach. This was ridiculous, I know; it’s just a stupid saying of some sort. Made to affect people the same way it affected me.
But still…it made me curious…
Hesitantly, I reached down to the mouse to search through the other files.

“Ugh, I can’t get over the tension of this place. It fills up the breathing space.”

I jumped a mile at the sudden, loud voice that broke the eerie silence. I looked up and saw a pair of lights blindly sweeping through the dark across the messy ground.

“We’re hunters; this should be something we’re already used to,” another deeper voice said in a calm voice.

Shit! Humans!!
Without another pause, I put the computer on hibernate and dove under the desk and squeezed myself in the tight space, my feet pressing up against a heavy filing cabinet.
What were the humans doing here?
Ignoring the burning irritation and my racing heart, I forced myself to breathe. I had to think, somehow, of a way to get myself away and out of this very, very bad situation I found myself in.

From what I can feel and had heard, there was a female and a male. With that calm, authoritative response that the male had given, he had clarified that the pair were hunters. I grimaced at the fact.

I was never the one to be fond of these human hunters in the past century, or ‘Night Hunters’ as some of them proudly claimed, and I’m sure that I’m not the only Immortal Slayer that feels the same way.
Many years ago, there weren’t half as many of these hunters---everyone feared the unnaturally strong and intelligent predators that picked off of the human population. Very few dared to go out at night to hunt for these Bloodkins. Even fewer knew how to do the job right.
Back then they actually served a good purpose; going out and getting paid for each kill. But the change over the years were devastating and appalling. Now these self-acclaimed Night Hunters were everywhere, wasting time in taverns getting drunk and spreading overly exaggerated tales of their ‘horrifying’ hunting experiences.
All Night Hunters are now are drunkards hunting just for the glory and their hunts were just a sport.

“Hey Arlanya, I found the front desk,” the male human called, his voice snapping me out of my thoughts.

Nice job, kid! You know, they were probably made to be found, these front desks…

Wait…the front desk?!

“Vardavit!” I squealed, my voice tight and appallingly too small to be heard.
I cringed deeper under the desk as I heard who I assumed was Arlanya came closer to the desk.
"Of course you did. Front desks of hospitals are made so people can see it. They aren't exactly something hard to find or easy to lose. Find anything useful?" she said in a sarcastic tone, her voice much closer and louder.

Normally, I would have taken time to appreciate some of this sarcasm but really; this was too close for comfort.
Carefully, I dared to inch closer out from under the desk.

Should I bring my Energy back to its normal level so I would be invisible? That was a thought but I would be completely blind in this dark. Then I’ll risk running into the humans. Besides, if the two were close enough, and alert enough, they may feel a change in atmosphere if I shifted back into my regular state.

I heard rustling again and I pulled myself back under the safety of the desk just as a beam of light brushed across the floor beside me. “I don’t see or sense anything abnormal,” the human boy said.
Someone sighed tiredly and exaggerated.
“Well, we won’t find anything useful if we just stand around worrying about nothing.” this Arlanya said.
"Hey Vayden, help me out? We'll probably find something behind the counter.”

Oh no, oh no, oh no…I didn’t even think out a PLAN!!!
My heart jumped into my throat when I heard footsteps slowly trail around right outside the desk. Panicked, I looked around me for any possible exits. The only way out from behind the desk was the way I came in, which was not a choice as there was a human girl standing there. What were my options, oh better yet, where were my options!

Well, I would just jump over the desk and be on my way if these humans would stand nice and still long enough…huh…

I looked around in the little space I was cramped in. A distraction big enough may give me just enough time to slip right past the two unnoticed…
My eye caught the filing cabinet that I had my feet against and saw that it was separate from the desk’s main panel.

I guess I’m just going to have to count on my luck…and pray that luck would be on my side just for this one time.

Suddenly, there was movement from the front side of the desk, where the boy was supposed to be.
“Arlanya, wait! Just---” the human boy ‘Vayden’ started.

Sorry kid, no waiting for me.

Without waiting another moment, I shoved my right foot behind the metal filing cabinet and kicked it out from under the desk. It flew forward easily with a loud screeching noise. I dove forward with it, completely revealed for almost a full second. I curled my leg back into my chest and snapped it to the right. My right foot connected with the back end of the filing cabinet before it hit the ground, sending it flying into the opposite wall and right in front of the only way in to behind the front desk. There was a loud crash and screeching protest of metal, the air filled with a cloud of dust.

I spun around as I crouched low to the ground before springing into the air. I flew fluidly over the desk in an arch without coming in contact with the desk surface. I landed silently on my toes, my knees bent softly to absorb impact.
“What the---” I heard the girl cry out.

I bent lower into my knees, getting ready to spring again. A weird feeling came over me and suddenly I felt this wave of emotions wash over, overwhelming me. I froze, half unwillingly, and half out of dark curiosity.
Something was behind me…something I had to see…
Gritting my teeth, I pushed against this invisible force and started to move. I managed to slip into the shadows, perfectly hidden from anyone’s view.
The invisible force grew heavy in my chest, making it hard to breathe. Slowly, I looked around the corner and back at the front desk. I saw two dark silhouettes in the settling dust. I could hear two heartbeats beating in a fast rhythm, and I felt waves of anxiety rolling off of the pair.

The dust settled, and the silence rang in the empty space, leaving an eerie atmosphere…
I got a glimpse of the human boy’s face---and an unpleasant shock ran through me.
I looked at the girl, and back at the boy. Both of them haven’t noticed my sneaky escape.
And both of them were children…well, actually…

They both looked about same as my human age.