The building was silent. It had been quite a while since any Wind Chaser member had sought shelter and comfort within its walls, and Vamprina knew it. The assassin crouched on one of the stone columns near the property's privacy fence, a lone shadow forgotten by the passing night. She flexed her wings, trying to disguise their nervous twitching. Where had they all gone? This wasn't funny! She couldn't just stay here all by herself and do nothing! If they were in trouble, why didn't they contact her? Even more importantly, if they were in trouble, how had she not seen it coming?

Vamprina scanned the environment, her eyes dimming to conceal her further. There had to be a reason for their disappearance. Aiba would have told her if the clan was planning a huge trip. All the shadows inside the base said the same thing. The others had been there, but left, and now they hadn't come back yet. The assassin narrowed her eyes, thinking. If she left now, what if they came back and found out she was gone? They'd probably go out again and look for her, not knowing she was doing the same for them. No, she'd wait.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she spotted motion nearby. It was that shadowy human figure again. It darted away into the woods, vanishing quite quickly. Vamprina considered giving chase for a moment, but then decided against it. She would protect this building until Aiba and the others were back. Or she could just get in contact with Venox and get him to track her lost clan members. Problem was, she didn't know where Venox was either.

However, she did know his secret. Vamprina spread her wings and took off, circling the clan building with ever-expanding aerial circles. There had to be at least one of those things around here. She was going to find it, and then hopefully all her questions would be answered. A slithery shadow darted out of her view, trying to hide itself in the shadow of the privacy fence. She folded her wings and dove, her talons ready to strike.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the human figure. It had come back. Vamprina flared her wings, breaking out of the dive and sweeping into the sky. Her eyes blazed with anger at her ignorance. With a hiss, she prepared to fight, but the figure had vanished. Vamprina landed, senses alert for threats. Nothing. The assassin's fangs lengthened, and her talons dug deep into the ground. The figure was nowhere in sight. For a moment, the assassin considered the possibility that she was hallucinating, but then brushed it off almost as soon as she thought of it. After a few moments of silence, Vamprina probed the environment for the slither shadow. It had gone too. Maybe it had been surprised by the figure as well. Vamprina allowed herself an angry hiss. The slither shadow might come back, but she didn't know when.

Now...it felt like every moment put her friends in danger, and there was nothing she could do about it.

June 5, 2016

So, Zackeroar's decided to leave. His shadow told me the real reason for his departure, and just in case some stranger finds this, I'm not sharing what it is. He announced his departure while we were all eating dinner and caused an awkward silence to fall over everybody. Aiba said a few things, but Zoe and Charlie were very quiet. I just pricked my ears in Zack's direction and gave him my best confused face. When dinner was over, he packed his stuff and left, just like that. I tracked him to a relatively safe location and tried to get the reason out of him, but he just muttered something unintelligible and continued on his way. Knowing his temper, I didn't press and just asked his shadow what was up. When it told me, I got upset, most-likely because I'm not satisfied with the explanation. Maybe I'm irritated just because Zack's leaving made Aiba sad...

Now we're down to four. I wonder if this had anything to do with the shadow human that jumped me a few nights ago. I'm keeping my eyes open.

June 22, 2016

The building was silent. Not much had been happening ever since Vamprina vanished. Aiba, still getting over the shock of Zackeroar leaving, was hit with fresh emotion at this news. There were rumors that Vamprina had been killed.

Leelee didn’t know what to make of the news. The clan known as “The Wind Chasers” was short of one member. Leelee decided she’d be the person they needed.
Now that she was standing in front of the building though, a tiny shiver went up her spine. Okay…it looked more ominous now at night than it had during the day. Still, she wasn’t completely worried. If the clan leader had picked a creature like Vamprina to join, then he’d let her come in too. She’d heard Vamprina was super scary. Leelee grinned at the thought, and looked down at her paws, revealing and then retracting her claws.

Well, she could be scary too if necessary.

A rustle in the brush caught the bunny girl’s attention, and she crouched immediately. Her night vision sliced through the darkness. What was that? Given the time of night, Leelee decided it wasn’t right to wake the people in the Wind Chaser building. That would just be rude. However, she could stay out here and keep the baddies away while her soon-to-be friends slept.

Her ears picked up the rustle again, and as she turned to face its source, a dark creature darted away from her view. Leelee’s eyes flashed and she bounded towards the target, completely silent. The figure was turned away from her, and its shape suggested that it was human. The dark made it hard for her to see the creature’s shape correctly, as if it was made entirely of darkness. Even with her night vision, the figure’s form seemed indistinct.

Leelee sprang, her claws unsheathing as she struck the target’s back. The figure fell, planting the side of its face in the dirt. Leelee kept her hind legs pressed on the back of the creature’s knees, her paws resting heavily on the being’s shoulders.

“You’re not supposed to be here!” Leelee stated, trying to make her voice sound grim and serious, but then she giggled at the last moment.

To her surprise, the figure began to laugh too. The laugh was not a nice one, and Leelee felt the fur rise on the back of her neck.

“After all this time…” the figure hissed, sounding like a scary snake. “…I don’t get caught by the assassin…but by a fuzzball with claws?”

Leelee giggled, feeling some of her fear dissipate.

“I’m not a fuzzball…” she replied, her tail twitching. “I’m a Leelee.”

There was a short silence. The figure tried to squirm, but Leelee’s paws pressed more firmly on its body, her claws digging ever so slightly into the being’s flesh.

“Sorry but I can’t let you leave.” the bunny girl cooed. “The assassin is that Vamprina girl I’ve been hearing rumors about. What happened to her?”

“She died.” was the reply, and then the figure laughed again.

Leelee’s ears flattened, and her eyes narrowed with predatory focus.

“What’s so funny?” she snarled, inexplicable anger rising in her.

“Well…it was my fault that she did. I would have preferred she stay that way, but then her irritating little Author revived her.”

Leelee tightened her grip, feeling the figure’s body tense beneath her.

“You’re a murderer.” the girl stated, a fire burning in her eyes. “I don’t like murderers.”

The figure snorted, turning its head as much as it could so it could face her. Leelee noticed what it was doing and growled.

“What are you going to do?” the figure asked, chuckling a little. “Kill me?”

Leelee raised her claw, but then hesitated. Killing the figure would just make her a murderer. Silent, she leaped off her prey and crouched a short distance away, watching as it got up. The figure turned to her, and then she saw it resembled a male human.

It had pale skin, black spiky hair, and a fancy-looking suit covered its whole body. The being had strange V-shaped marks on its hands and one on its forehead. The forehead mark was glowing red, and the hand marks were dripping with a substance that looked and smelled like blood.

The figure’s eyes were pure black, with no pupils or irises or anything. Leelee felt uncomfortable as she stared at its face.

“Who are you?” Leelee asked, and all thoughts of making friendly advances were driven from her mind. Somehow she knew that this…thing…didn’t deserve her kindness.

The being smiled and she saw strange slithery bug things crawling across his teeth, disturbed by the moonlight.

“My name is none of your concern.” he replied smoothly. “Since you’ve seen my face…you must die.”

Leelee frowned. That was abrupt. She crouched down and growled, scarring the ground with her claws.

“Can’t.” she replied. “Can’t let you hurt anybodies, especially not my new friends.”

The man narrowed his eyes.

“They don’t even know you.”

“They will.”

“Yes…everyone will know of your death soon enough. I might even hang your corpse from the top of the clan building…just to give your end an entertaining twist.”

Leelee shook her head.

“I won’t let you.” she said forcefully. As she did, she suddenly felt like the people in the building were even more of a responsibility now than they ever had before.

“I’m afraid that’s not a decision you’re authorized to make…” the man continued, raising his bloody right hand. It began to glow with crackling red energy, and Leelee tensed to pounce. Suddenly the figure halted, and the look on its face suggested it was confused (and a little irritated).

“We’ll meet again sometime.” the man said abruptly, and then vanished as Leelee sprang.

The bunny girl buried her claws in a tree, and then clung there for a couple of moments. She was drenched in sweat, even though it wasn’t a particularly hot night. Leelee released the tree and dropped down on all fours. She then shook herself off, sniffing at the place where the intruder had once stood.

Well…that had been interesting. Where had he gone? Why wouldn’t he tell her his name? Vamprina had died, and then not died? Her mind whirled with more questions, but she sank down onto her belly and focused on her final memory of the figure.

Just before it had disappeared, it had an unmistakeable look on its face…a look Leelee was quite familiar with…

Fear.

The creature was scared.

June 24, 2016

Dear Journal,

Today I got to meet the clan peoples. They were very, very nice, especially the leader. His name's Aiba and he can use wind. It's pretty cool! There's also this guy called Charlie, and he really likes using fire and stuff. I heard someone of them mention the angel demon girl left the clan a few days ago. Her name was Zoey, and I can see Aiba got upset about it.

Oh well! They're my new friends now, so I'll be with them forever and never leave ever!