Chapter Six

Shouts.

Lucy sat up quickly and reached for her eyes in alarms, they sat on the nightstand beside her bed. She stood up and tossed a pair of shorts and oversized shirt on before running outside into the hallways. It couldn't have been past three am. She rubbed her eyes and followed the noise, leading her back to the entrance. She stood back, Iris pushing her way to the room.

"Get out of the way, blondie!"She shouted, pulling out a Tanto. Before she could exit the mansion, she was pulled back by Satoshi. He looked at her with disapproving eyes.

"You stay here, newbie."He told her before turning to look at Lucy. "You too."

"I didn't come here to be babied. I came here to train, I will be coming with you."Lucy said firmly, planting her feet in place.

"Fine. You want to be killed before even starting your training, have it your way."He scowled. Lucy followed after him quickly, she gasped as her feet touched the snow. She was an idiot for forgetting her shoes completely. Satoshi looked back at her and tsked.

Lucy scowled at him. "Virgo!"She called upon her spirit. Satoshi's eyes widened before fury erupted. A bright golden glow and a 'ding dong' later Virgo materialized. But before she could speak.

"Close that gate now!!"

She could hear Nobu's shout over the rest.

"Close that gate, Lucy!!"Satoshi roared.

"Force gate closure!"Lucy exclaimed. She held her keys to her chest in extreme confusion. "Why!?"She asked, not even caring about her feet being cold.

Nobu cursed and grabbed her hand, pulling her with him as they ran further into the snow, almost nearing the mountains. "Phantoms feed off of magic, they repel magic as well. We are a special group because of this, we specialize in purely physical strength and magic-less weapons. There is no magic here, at all. Just stay behind me."He said. Satoshi was ahead of them by a few yards.

The playboy from earlier ran next to Satoshi, his calm playful manner gone. He looked completely different, his blonde hair was ruffled and it appeared none of them had even had time to put on any sandals.

"Are you good with swords?"Nobu asked. Lucy shook her head, she wasn't good with weapons at all. Maybe her whip, but it was fused with magic. Nobu clicked his tongue before handing her a broadsword. "Consider this day one."

Lucy's heartbeat was going haywire as loud footsteps echoed into the snowing night. Her breath came out in thick fogs, her body was shivering uncontrollably and her teeth chattering. Her hands held the cold sword up, and by the narrowing of Satoshi's eyes, she knew her stance was poor. The earth seemed to tremble.

"There's two of them!!"She heard loud shouts.

"Satoshi, fire the flares!"Nobu shouted. Satoshi nodded quickly and brought a blade to his hand, cutting deep into his palm. The scarlet liquid pouring inside what was a small crystal glass.

"What is he doing?"Lucy asked, staring at Satoshi as he raised the flare, readying to fire.

"Satoshi is half Phantom,"Nobu grinned smugly. "He's our beacon. His blood will bring them to us."

Lucy gasped slightly as droplets of blood rained down on her. She had certainly underestimated the danger Nao had claimed all of this was.

"Get ready, they are running fast toward us!!"She heard another shout. She had seen them when she had arrived, but she hadn't asked for their names. The pine trees quaked, snow falling onto the ground. She heard what sounded like growls, she heard them before seeing them. She was captivated by their beauty the moment they stepped into view. Maya's comment made no justice to how beautiful they truly were. Their skin glistened in the moonlight, their hair had long lost its pigment, so white and gorgeous. Their eyes were all kinds of rare, a mix of colors. They were huge, they were tall.

One turned to face her, she lost track of time as she stared into his eyes. They were so warm and inviting, like hot chocolate on a cold day. She was breathless as he neared her. "Lucy."

She blinked as his rich soothing voice called to her. He knew her name. She stepped toward him, her body moving on its own. Her feet stung as the cold kept eating at her warm flesh.

Everything blurred around her, her only focus being him. He was perfect. Then bullets grazed the air and penetrated all over his body, he fell onto his back. Black mixing with snow. That wasn't the color of normal blood. Drowned out voices attempted to reach her, but she stared at the fallen man.

"Yo-You killed him."She stuttered.

"Look at me!"She was shaken roughly by Nobu. "Look at me!!"He shouted. "Do not give in!!"

"You killed him."She repeated, trying to pull away from Nobu who help her tightly. "You killed him!"She exclaimed, her heart felt like it was tearing apart.

"Jace! Give me a sedative! Now!"Nobu shouted over the commotion as Satoshi kept firing shots at the Phantom. The playboy names 'Jace' ran toward them with a syringe in hand. "This was a stupid idea.."He muttered to himself. He held her back and tightly embraced her in his arms as Jace injected the sedative into her system. She went limp in his arms after a few seconds, her screams dying off. "Take her back to the mansion."He handed her to Jace who held her cautiously in his arms.

"Will do Nobu,"Jace nodded and raced toward the mansion.

"You can quit the act now, you monster."Nobu snarled and pointed the broadsword Lucy had dropped toward the Phantom. The Phantom laughed loudly, cackled like a madman before sitting up robotically. His head rotating at an unnatural angle.

"She was so easy to capture,"He cackled. "Her mind was so sweet and pure, I was sure I was going to have a feast!!"He howled. His face growing bright red. "But you ruined it!!!"He screamed. His fingers shaping into monstrous claws. "You ruined my dinner!!"He hissed and stood tall. The bullet holes bleeding, the black putrid smell coming off of him in waves. His face morphed into that of a beasts, saliva dripping down his chin. The substance too thick that it was a wonder he had not choked on it.

"Get back Nobu. I'll kill him."Alex, a nineteen year old red head said as he pointed a cannon at the crazed Phantom. Nobu jumped out of the way before the large long claws reached him.

"And blast!!"Alex let out a Cheshire grin before Phantom guts splattered all over the snow. The stench was terrible, Nobu being the closest felt as though his nose was burning. He coughed and ran back, away from the mess. He was worried about Jace and Lucy though. Satoshi had managed to bring the other Phantom down. But these Phantoms were tiny in comparison to the rest, his gut telling him this had all been a test of some sort.

"We should head back."Nobu said after a while. There were only five experienced guys, Satoshi, Jace, Alex, Riley and himself. They had been keeping this part at bay. And Nao was working on the other trainees. She had brought a hoard this time, she didn't want mild protection. She wanted total protection, to keep the entire space safe. "Riley you stay on guard tonight."

"Sure thing."Riley nodded, his black hair bobbing as he ran to the post guard.

"Nao must be out of his mind if she allows that girl to stay."Satoshi muttered beside him as they walked back to the mansion.

"Don't tell Jace that, he'll go nuts if you tell him you're taking his angel away so soon."Alex laughed.

"I think we should give her some time. She's new here, she didn't even know a thing about Phantoms up until a few hours ago."Nobu said, feeling quite defensive since he had been the one with the bright idea to bring her here.

"What's up with you?"Satoshi raised a brow. "You would have never put up with a girl like that before, she's a nuisance. We already have enough trainees."

"The more the merrier,"Nobu said before stepping into the mansion.

"Something's happened to our Nobu."Alex whispered to Satoshi before stepping in as well. Satoshi tsked, an irk mark on his forehead. He was not going to get along with that female, he could already tell.