A Visit to Ireland

Part 5

Leo sat up in bed, faintly startled. That dream sure ended fast. He looked across the room at the other bed and spotted Raphael fast asleep. Either Mike or Casey should be up. Or even Venus, if it was that early. Might as well get up, he thought, standing up. I'm wide awake now.

No. He paused for a moment. He wasn't just wide awake, he felt energized. This wasn't right, something was wrong. He grabbed his swords and quietly went to the door, opening it a space. He could see Venus sitting in the chair, apparently very bored, so he allowed himself to relax just a little. With a small sigh, he stepped into the hallway. "Mieh?"

"Leo? What are you doing up?" she whispered. "It's only four."

"I just had one hell of a dream. Has anything happened?"

She shook her head with a smile. "No, I haven't heard anything. It's been pretty quiet all night and--"

That's when the screaming started.

The sword was in his hand before he even realized he and Venus were running down the hall. At the end of the hallway, a door crashed out with violent force, rammed off of its hinges and slammed back into the opposite wall. Right behind it, a dark shadow darted out and ran towards them. The screaming seemed to be coming from it, but they couldn't see anything like a mouth or eyes in its "face."

"I'll get it!" Venus said, drawing her daggers.

"No, wait!" Leo told her. "Don't aim for the waist, only the head!"

"Huh?" she wondered, but after a moment she understood. The screaming was coming from Shadow inside the shadow. "I'm going up, catch it!"

"Got it!" he answered, dropping behind her a few feet.

She vaulted into the air, passing over its head, and she slashed directly into what would have been the shadow's throat. At first there was no reaction. It continued to run down the hall straight at Leonardo. A few steps later, though, its head dropped backward and fell to the ground, dissipating in the air. Without anything guiding it, the shadow slowed and also disintegrated, falling to pieces and revealing the child huddled inside. Held a few feet in the air, she dropped down into Leonardo's waiting arms.

"Is she all right?" Venus asked as she landed.

"Shadow? Shadow, can you hear me?"

Slowly, the child's eyes opened and focused on Leonardo's face. "Nightmare..." she whimpered, starting to cry.

He smiled in relief and nodded at Venus. "Why isn't everyone else up?"

Venus looked around nervously. "I have a bad feeling about this. I'm going to wake everyone up."

Leo nodded quietly and hefted Shadow into his arms, cradling her. "Shadow, you need to be as quiet as you can, okay?"

Shadow, despite her age, knew it was usually best to do whatever her turtle friends said to do. Still sniffling, she nodded her head and did her best to calm down. "Bad things out here?"

"Maybe. I don't know yet." He carried her towards the room Raphael and Donatello were sharing now and watched Venus rouse them.

"Wh...wha' ya want?" Raph grumbled. "My watch again?"

"No, get up now!" Venus shook him roughly. "Trouble."

At the word "trouble" Raphael woke up entirely and got to his feet, grabbing his sais. While Venus went to Donatello's side, Raph gave Leo a questioning look.

"Something just tried to grab Shadow and take off," Leo answered in a whisper. "Big shadow with her stuck inside. Raph, I think the last ward has failed."

"Shit, what time is it?" Raph cursed in a low voice, heading to the door.

"Still dark," Leo said. "Go wake the others up."

"Why aren't they up?" Raphael disappeared into the other rooms before Leo could answer.

"Probably the same thing that kept everyone from waking up before," Don said in a sleepy voice.

Venus shook her head. "No, the wards are gone. Something else is doing this." She opened her mouth to say something else, but a low growl suddenly started up from somewhere downstairs, cutting her off.

"Here," Leo said, handing Shadow to Donatello. "Get her and April somewhere safe with Riana. Venus, come on."

First making sure that the hall was still empty, Leonardo and Venus stood guard at the hall's entrance as Donatello took Shadow back to where Raphael had already gathered Riana and April. The growling noise was coming closer, along with the sound of heavy footfalls.

"You think one of those big things is coming?" Venus asked.

"Gods, I hope not," Leo whispered.

"What 'big thing'?"

They both glanced to the side to see Raphael and Casey coming up behind them.

"Where's Mike?" Venus asked.

"He couldn't find one of his nunchucks," Raph sighed. "He's still looking for it."

Leo muttered something none of them could hear, but it didn't sound all that nice. Before any of them could ask him to repeat that, though, a shrill yell from downstairs echoed up at them, bringing with it a cacophony of other howls, snarls and shrieks. The floor started to tremble as what felt like an army charged up the stairs.

"Here it comes," Casey yelled, readying his hockey stick.

"Wish we could see it," Raph complained.

Venus glanced up at the dark candelabras along the wall, a thought forming in her head. "Candles on!" she commanded the lifeless objects. The guys looked at her as if she had just gone nuts, but to their delight and amazement, the candles suddenly flared to life with more power than expected. The entire hallway lit up nearly as bright as day.

To their horror, they now saw exactly what lay in front of them. Red caps, kobolds, trolls and something that looked remarkably like a winged gargoyle stumbled back, shielding themselves from the abrupt burst of light.

"Damn, that's a lot of uglies," Raph gasped.

"Winners strike first!" Casey yelled, and a throwing knife appeared in his hand just before he launched it directly into the eye of the first red cap, where it sank in and disappeared. The red cap screeched, dropped its sword, and fell forward, dead.

For a moment, nothing happened. It all happened so fast, it took both sides by surprise. They all stared at the dead body, then stared back at Casey with looks of absolute shock.

"What?"

The second redcap in line advanced as soon as he spoke, bringing their thoughts back to the fight.

"Redcap's mine," Leo said firmly, starting the sword fight.

"I got the kobolds," Raph called out.

"Trolls," Venus yelled over the ensuing den. A burst of invisible energy shot out from her hands and struck the nearest troll, knocking it back down the stairs.

"Aww, why do I have to get the gargoyle thing?" Casey groaned. He craned his neck back as the gargoyle took flight and flapped around over their heads, and he started waving at it with his hockey stick as if it was a piñata.

"Michaelangelo!" Leo yelled over his shoulder. "Get over here!"

Mike poked his head out the bedroom door and his eyes widened when he saw the small army in front of them. "Just a sec!"

"Mike!" Raph griped. "You little scaredy-cat, get yer ass over here!"

"Hi-ho, Silver! Away!"

The out of place line caught all of them off guard, making them spare a brief glance behind themselves out of sheer curiosity. From out of Mike's bedroom came the sound of heavy wooden thumps on the floor, and then Mike, carrying the nunchucks he'd just found, came flying out on the only thing he'd ever been able to ride without fear of falling off.

Yes, he was riding the bed.

"Oh, for the love of..." Raphael gasped. "Are you nuts?!"

Mike grinned as the bed came charging down the hall, but his grin faded as he realized he had no idea how to stop. "Whoa...whoa, I said whoa!" he cried, trying to pull back on the baseboard. "Guys, look out!"

"Whose side are you on?" Casey snapped, pressing himself against the wall to avoid being run over.

Venus ducked inside one of the rooms as Mike passed by, but Raphael just lay flat on the floor and watched it pass over. Leonardo, unable to get that far away from a stupid redcap who had no idea what was coming, turned and ran over the bed as it swept by. The redcap, along with several other foolish creatures, caught the bed face first and crashed down the stairs as Mike ran them over. Unable to fly up high enough, a bedpost clipped the gargoyle's right wing and brought it to the ground, where a well-placed "high-sticking" from Casey snapped its neck.

"Wow," Raph breathed as he looked up. Bodies literally lay strewn all the way down the stairs, bent, broken and mangled beyond recognition. "Cool...he actually screwed up right for once..."

"Mike, you okay?" Leo called.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Mike replied. "The bed stopped, but I don't know how we're gonna get it back upstairs!"

"Stay alert down there!" Venus ordered him. "There might be more of them!"

"I don't think so," Mike said. They could dimly see him looking around the lower floor, searching for anything else to fight. "I think we got all of them."

"Shadow!"

They all turned to see the same shadow figure running out of one of the bedrooms, Shadow clutched tightly in its arms before it swallowed her up in its dark body. Behind it, one of Riana's lightning bolts followed it out as Donatello swung his staff at its head. Instead of being affected like before, the weapon passed harmlessly through while it turned and crashed through the second story window.

"Oh shit!" Casey snarled.

"Horses, now!" Leo ordered, already racing down the stairs. "Mike, stay here!"

"But--!"

Leonardo didn't hear his arguments, though, since by then he was halfway to the stable. Raphael and Casey ran after him, leaping over the bed still in the middle of the living room.

"Make sure they get those wards back up!" Raph told Mike before he also ran out of the castle, Casey right on his heels. They got to the stable just in time to see Leo take off on the black stallion again as it galloped after the shadow. He could hardly keep it in sight in the twilight, but he could spot the black figure against the brighter tree trunks.

"Don't lose it," he begged the horse. "Please, don't lose that shadow."

*

At first Leonardo didn't even notice that he was following the shadow right into the dark forest, all he could think of was trying to stop it before it flickered out of sight. It was a strain just keeping it in view since it was camouflaged perfectly, darting in and out of the darkness. Faint glimpses of darkness against lighter colored trees were all he had to go on.

"Please don't stumble," he begged the horse, leaning close to his neck to dodge a branch. He struggled to guide it in the proper direction, since there had been no time to get a saddle or bit. Barely holding the mane at all, he tried to give his mount as much leeway as it needed to see any fallen branches or little monsters on the ground, while still guiding it after a monster it obviously didn't want to follow.

Suddenly the horse veered wildly without warning, nearly throwing him off at the hard angle. His first instinct was to fight it back on course, but instead he allowed the horse to continue forward on its own terms. Anything as long as the thing didn't get away.

A split second later, he heard a loud crash behind them, followed by a hideous, high-pitched screech. Glancing over his shoulder, he spotted two bright red eyes that lit part of the forest up around them, silhouetting another of what Riana had called a nuckelavee. Recognizing the mantis-like creature, Leo groaned and urged the horse on faster.

Can't fight that thing on horseback, he thought. Not with my swords, and throwing daggers would just make it mad. He looked back again. Sure enough, it was gaining. Okay...option one...stop, kill it, and lose Shadow...option two...keeping going and let it kill me when it catches up...no, don't like that one either...option three...option three...c'mon, there's gotta be another choice!

"Holy shit, that thing's huge!"

Hidden from view behind the nuckelavee, Raphael and Casey's jaws dropped when they saw the back end of the creature ahead of them. Raph's hand instinctively went to his sai, but he dismissed that thought in an instant. What good was a sai against something that big? Besides, he needed both hands on the horse's mane just to stay seated.

Riding next to him, Casey shot a glare through his mask at Raph. "Will you shut up! All we need is for that thing to hear you an' turn around!"

And of course, that's when it decided to see what was making such a racket behind it.

"Holy shit, that thing's huge!"

Raph rolled his eyes as he brought his horse to a stop. "You said that already!"

"It's worth repeating!"

There was a roar and the sound of wood splintering as the nuckelavee decided that two riders in the forest were definitely worth more than just one and turned, felling a tree in the process.

"Keep going with Leo!" Raph yelled over the noise. "I'll take care of this!"

"I can't leave you here with it!" Casey said, torn between helping his friend and going after his daughter.

"Go!" When he saw that Casey wasn't gonna go, Raph leaned over and slapped the horse's rear with the end of his sai.

"Gaah!" Casey cried as his horse dashed away straight at the hulking monster before him.

Delighted at the prospect of an easy kill, the nuckelavee raised one mangled arm, preparing to slash downward and eat the human when it fell of its horse. It salivated in anticipation and opened its jaws.

Casey got a perfect view of the creature's throat and teeth and decided he'd rather not be on the menu. Whipping out one of his seemingly endless sporting goods weapons, he tossed a baseball bat up at it while ducking as the torn arm swept over his head. Its jaws closed on what it expected to be Casey's head, but instead found its mouth stuck open with a baseball bat cleanly wedged between its teeth. The sensible horse, seeing none of this, simply carried what it now knew to be an insane human past the monster and farther into the forest.

Knowing he'd better press his attack now, while it was off balance, Raph jumped off the horse and ran forward.

*

"All right, I think I got the windows all locked," Mike said as he sat down on a couch, "and I put some furniture up to block them. The bed's up against the front door. What now?"

In front of him, Donatello stared intently at his computer while Riana poured over the diagrams in the book and mentally reviewed the spells she'd need. Sitting before the fireplace, Venus shrugged.

"Now we wait," she sighed. "These two say it's best to do this outside, and that means it has to be sunny out first."

"Better to have you in direct contact with those lay lines," Riana nodded. "There's too much iron around the castle to risk something going wrong in here."

"So...we're gonna do this on the roof?" Mike asked.

Don looked up in confusion. "Why would we go to the roof?"

"Well, you guys said the castle was in the center of those lines, right? So...if you want to be out in the open--"

"No," Riana shook her head. "We've decided to do this on the female line in front of the castle. I'll use that to pull the masculine energy in, which will run through Venus' energy, and back into the wards until they're full of power. Donatello will make sure everything runs smoothly on that computer of his."

Mike sighed and looked away, glancing up the stairs to make sure they were still alone. "Um...speaking of that...Don, you will be extra careful, right?"

Donatello glared at his brother. "Why do you ask?"

"Well...usually when you work on things at home, the lab blows up. Now you're working with energies straight out of the earth. I don't want the planet to explode," Mike admitted.

Don cursed under his breath as Venus laughed. "Look, little brother," he snapped, "everything is going to be fine."

Mike lowered his eyes dubiously. "Uh huh..."

Don rolled his eyes. "Even Leo thought this was a good idea, and you know how paranoid he gets."

"That could be because he left you with a practiced witch and Venus," Mike said.

"I'm sure we'll manage somehow," Venus giggled.

"Oh, you're a riot, V'," Donatello grumbled.

*

Raphael quickly found that the best way to handle his situation was not to face the creature head on. With one throwing star punching through its chest and another melting in its skin, he decided not to waste one of his sais and instead turned around, jumping back on his horse. He gave the horse a jolt in its sides, but with what was behind them, it needed no encouragement. Raphael nearly toppled backward with the sudden burst of speed his horse put on.

I wonder if it's following us, he wondered.

*thud*thud*thud*thud* came its footsteps.

Oh, yeah, it's following us! Raph sighed to himself. "Why do I get myself into situations like this?" He glanced back again. Sure enough, it was gaining on him.

"Okay, I can't run back to the castle, it'll just kill everyone there," he thought out loud. "And I probably wouldn't make it back, anyway. But I can't take care of it out here, I'll just end up losing my sais."

As he tried to think of something to do, his horse veered to the left, narrowly avoiding the nuckelavee's twisted arm as it smashed down behind them. Trusting the horse's instincts, Raph just leaned closer to its neck and hoped it would find a spot the monster couldn't follow behind. The horse vaulted over a fallen tree, and for a terrifying moment Raphael lost his grip on its mane. His legs tightened around its waist and he threw himself forward, hugging its neck with his arms. Bits of wood flew up around them, accompanied by a violent roar that told Raphael his pursuer had just ploughed right on through that tree.

While his mind was occupied with thoughts of its sheer strength, he noticed something familiar coming up ahead. He recognized the small pond he'd seen before, the one where the undines had nearly dragged him under. A crazy plan hatched in his head and he forcefully turned the horse towards the pond.

The horse whinnied, as if to ask if he was completely insane or just plain stupid.

"I know, I know," Raph told it, "but just trust me this time!"

As the horse ran by the pond, Raphael jumped off and hit the ground hard, groaning in pain as he lunged toward the water. Hooves pounded into the distance as the horse kept going, but the nuckelavee knew what it wanted. It ignored the horse and followed the turtle.

"Man, I hope this works," Raph said, wading into the water even though he could see the pale green girls rising up around him. Brandishing a sai in each hand, he forced his way into the water as fast as he could.

The nuckelavee watched him for a moment, deliberating whether to follow or not, then stepped into the water. It swung wildly at Raphael, barely missing him and nearly nailing an undine instead. The girls screamed as they recognized their danger and dived down into the shallow depths. Raphael wished he could follow then, then leaped forward, swimming to the other side of the pond. He could hear the nuckelavee swimming after him, but to his satisfaction, he could hear something else.

Bubbling, as if the pond was full of antacid tablets.

Raphael climbed up on the opposite shore and turned, his sais still gripped firmly in his hands. When he saw the nuckelavee, though, he realized he didn't need them now. Looks like Leo and Venus were right, he smiled grimly. These things do melt.

Black slime slipped away from the creature's skin, sloughing off in great sheets from its waist. As it lost mass below, it sank farther in, losing more and more of itself until nothing remained but an oily slick covering the surface.

Raphael stared at the mess for a moment, then laughed. "Messed with the wrong damn turtle, didn't ya?!" he shouted. He sighed and leaned back against the closest tree, catching his breath.

Soft hoofsteps caught his attention, and when he looked up he spotted his horse slowly coming back, sniffing around to make sure they were alone.

"Decided to come back, huh?" Raph grinned, going a short distance to the narrowest part of the pond to cross so he wouldn't have to touch the water. "Probably just couldn't find your way out." He climbed onto its back and carefully maneuvered her back the way they had run. It would be easy to find Leo and Casey. He just had to follow the path of destruction and go from there.

"Looks like it's almost daybreak," Raph murmured. "All right, let's get going."

*

Casey's horse kept running, apparently hell-bent for glory, hooves pounding to carry them as far from that monster with the sharp claws as possible. Casey grabbed the reins and held tight, barely saving himself from a drop as the horse took a sharp turn and vaulted over a fallen tree.

Casey grinned and spared a moment to glance back at the large tree trunk they'd just cleared. "Hey, not bad," he said, congratulating himself on not falling off. "Guess I'm a better rider than those guys after--oof!"

The horse kept running, either not noticing that its rider was wrapped around a low branch or just not caring. Casey groaned and slid down, landing on the ground with a heavy thud. He grumbled a few colorful phrases at the retreating hoof beats, then stood with a muted groan.

"Casey, get down!" came the hissed whisper, and then he was being pulled down none too gently into a patch of prickly bushes. His mask stuck in the dirt, and he had to fight to force it out again. When he looked up again, he was not in a decent mood.

"Leo?" he growled, his look threatening violence to the ninja kneeling beside him.

"Quiet," Leonardo snapped, still looking out over the bushes. "I don't know if they can hear us."

"Who?" Casey asked, dropping his voice to a whisper.

"Them."

Casey finally looked up and gasped. How on earth had he missed the castle in front of them? His eyes narrowed. No, not a castle...more like a ruin. "Didn't Riana mention something about a ruin in here?"

Leonardo nodded once. "One that was burned out...I think this is where the demon's hiding."

"Demon?" Casey wondered. "Who said anything about a demon?"

Leo mentally kicked himself for letting that slip. "Just go with me on this," he sighed. If he said anything about his recent dream, would they believe him or just think he was going crazy? If it was Venus or Mike, he could say something, but with Casey...better not. "The shadow ran in there. I still haven't spotted a good way in."

"I guess the front door is out." Casey motioned at the row of crumbling windows along the wall. "What about the windows?"

"Not those," Leo said, looking up at the tower on the side. "The window up there."

Casey gaped at him. "All the way up there? How the heck are we gonna climb that?"

"Quickly," Leo answered. "Right now, before it gets too light. Come on!" He kept close to the trees, relying on their cover as he got closer to the tower. Worn down from age, the bricks jutted out at odd angles and shifted when he put his hands on them. With a resigned sigh, he started up.

Casey waited until he saw that the heavier turtle was able to safely climb, then followed suit, careful to use bricks that hadn't been jostled about.

*

"Ah think it's light enough," Riana said softly. "Are ye ready?"

"I think I've got it all figured out," Don nodded.

Venus and Mike exchanged a worried glance, then nodded. Michaelangelo went out first, checking to make sure nothing was waiting for them. Choosing a spot not too far from the door, Riana dropped to her knees and began to sketch out a circle in the earth, scooping the dirt and grass away while Donatello drew the outline. With a resigned sigh, Venus took her spot in the middle.

"Here?" Mike asked. He looked around and scratched at the top of his shell. "But there's no lines."

Riana smiled, not looking up from her work. "None that we can see yet. Once the spell starts, ye'll see part of the line light up with Venus in the middle."

"Inside...?" Mike gasped. "I didn't think she'd actually...damn, no wonder Leo was pissed."

Venus lowered her eyes and nodded. "I don't think he'll be too happy even after this is done." She glanced up at him, and as their eyes met, Mike realized why she was so upset about that.

"I was right," he whispered mostly to himself.

She just smiled and held silent.

Completely missing the conversation, Donatello shook his head. "He's never happy." He helped Riana with the rest of the circle, digging out the last half of the thick line. "Ready, V?"

Venus took a deep breath and bowed her head. "Go ahead."

"Keep an eye out, Mike," Don ordered as he opened the laptop. "Okay, Riana."

The witch stayed on her knees and began whispering words in an old language none of them understood. All around them, the air began to crackle with potential energy. Her words turned into a song as she called the female line into sight. A blue tint began to glow around Venus, spreading into a kind of rectangle around her in all directions. Mike took an involuntary step back.

"Damn, that's gonna be big..."

*

Raphael followed the deep horse tracks in the ground, letting his own mount keep an eye out for any other big monsters roaming around. He noticed big monster tracks as well, but they followed his own previous prints, so he doubted there were any more left nearby. Deep in thought, he fell off again as the horse turned sharply and pranced backwards a few paces.

"Damn it, what was that for?" he grumbled, getting up. "You're just as bad as Leo..." His voice trailed off when the spotted the other pair of horses standing together. Hoping there were no goblins or other creepy things he didn't know of hiding in the tree tops, he looked around for signs of his friend and sibling. Instead he noticed the ruin in the clearing. He narrowed his eyes and scanned the front.

Mmm...have to go in through the lower level, only an idiot would try to scale that wall, and I won't give Leo the satisfaction...the last window on the right, that's it! Glancing left and right to make sure he was alone, he ran forward and dived through the stone opening, rolling once and bringing up his sais. To his relief, the room was empty. He sighed and lowered his sais.

At that moment the ceiling creaked, as if someone had stepped on it. There was a muffled curse and Raphael looked up just in time to see part of the wood and stone surface drop down on top of him. He managed to back away from most of it, but a big, heavy object landed on him, driving him to the ground.

The object turned out to be alive and squirmed out of his reach as fast as it could, standing up and shaking the dust from its face as it whipped some kind of long weapon out. Raphael could hardly tell what it was in the immense dust cloud, but he could find out after it was dead.

"Goongala!"

Raphael froze when he heard the familiar battle cry. "Casey?"

"Raph?" The monster stopped and lowered what was now recognizable as a hockey stick.

"I told you not to step there," Leo called from the ceiling, looking through the large hole.

"Oh, good, yer both here," Raph grinned. "We heading in?"

"Of course." Leonardo jumped down to join them.

"Wait a sec," Raph said. "Did you two climb the walls?"

Leo nodded. "Yeah, so?"

Raph just shook his head. "Nothing...never mind. C'mon, let's go!"

"Yeah, kick some monster ass!"

The trio found no monster ass to kick however. Instead there were only long hallways with missing bits of walls and empty, broken open rooms. After a few minutes they stopped covering each other and moved rapidly through the halls, looking for any sign of life.

"I can't believe this," Casey griped, slamming a hockey stick on the ground. "All this way and not one--"

*crack*

They all looked down at the floor he'd just struck. A moment later, Casey was falling straight down through the broken mortar.

"Aaah!"

Raph grinned. "I guess that's it. After you."

Leonardo jumped down, followed by his sibling.

A moment later they landed on top of Casey, who had fortunately landed on his hind end. With a groan they stood up, rubbing various sore spots. They looked around and found themselves in a small steel room that seemed far too modern for its crumbling ruins.

"Door," Raph whispered, pointing at the one in front of them.

"Two of 'em," Casey added, noting one above the other that had small stairs leading to it.

"Okay," Leo nodded. "You two take the bottom. I'll take the top. Remember, no fighting unless you have to. Shadow's gotta be around here somewhere."

*

Venus visualized a stream running from the female, through her, to the male, and back again to move into the line around the castle. Once everything was up and running, the transfer wouldn't take long. At least, she hoped it didn't. Every second she stayed increased her risk of dissipating into energy and rejoining the dust of the earth.

Donatello looked up from the laptop. "Phase one complete. Begin phase two."

Riana barely heard him, but nodded in acknowledgement and started the next verse, using what sounded like a different language for the next part. Running perpendicular to the female, the masculine line rose up and appeared. Nowhere near as clearly visible as the female, the male streak appeared hazy and unfocused.

That's the best she can do, Venus realized. All she can do is show me the male. I have to pull that power in for her. With more than a little anxiety, she reached her hand out and gently tugged at the misty light.

A loud roar echoed through her head, as if something inhuman was shouting right beside her, bringing her to her knees in pain. She looked up to see if the others were feeling it and found that they were only watching in horror, apparently unaffected by the sound. She glanced to her right, to see if she could spot whatever was making the noise, and to her surprise she could see all the way down the masculine line, straight into the forest, into the ruins. Dropping her sight down through the ground, she looked past what seemed like Raphael and Casey moving along a short hallway, another door, and...

A cold chill froze her as she saw what had tapped into the line with her. With huge bat wings and claws, the demon was laughing with Shadow right in front of it.

*

Shadow wouldn't let herself open her eyes. She'd seen the monsters around her, the green things with red hats and swords and the shadow thing that carried her away from the castle, but nothing had prepared her for the batwinged goat thing in front of her. She heard its hooves thump on the ground as it came closer, shaking the floor.

"So this is their innocent virgin?" Its voice rasped like something out of the exorcism movie her father watched sometimes. Heavy claws wrapped around her upper body and hauled her into the air. "A little young for my tastes, but a sacrifice is a sacrifice..."

A door slammed open behind her, and curiosity made her open her eyes. She squeaked when she saw herself dangling right over the demon's head, held up in one of its hands. When she looked away, she saw her father and Raphael standing in a doorway only a few meters away, weapons at the ready.

"Put her down," Casey said, taking a step forward as if fighting demons was an everyday occurrence for him.

The demon laughed, a strange barking sound, and held her even higher. "Come any closer and I'll eat her right here and now."

Raphael spared a moment to scan the room. Instead of matching the rest of the ruins, this room was extremely modern, with metal walls and a catwalk running along the ceiling. What surprised him the most was a large television screen in the back and what looked like a dozen computer servers gathered around it. The demon noticed his look and laughed again.

"Like it?"

Raph dropped back into his fighting stance. "Since when do demons need science?"

"Since it's the easiest way to hack into the earth's energy. A dead wizard and his weak daughter aren't the best tools for--" it stopped speaking as something clattered on the cat walk. All of them looked up just in time to see a blur move past the demon's head. A moment later, its hand and Shadow both fell to the ground and Leo came to rest a few feet away.

"Shadow, run."

Already on her feet, she ran around the demon's hooves and hid behind her father's legs.

Raph moved to shield them. "Casey, can you get her out of here?"

He turned and found their way blocked off by a batch of kobolds crawling towards them. "Not alone. I bet there's more where those things came from."

The demon took a step forward, shaking the floor, and picked up its arm, shoving it back into place. "You're the little nuisance from the dream."

From the shadows around the room, dozens of the various creatures they'd had to fight before, redcaps and kobolds and imps and trolls, crept forward. All three of them looked around the room, and they sighed in relief.

The demon frowned. "What the hell are you so happy about?"

None of them said anything, not wanting to give it any ideas, but the three had the same thought. Thank God, no nuckelavees.

Leonardo turned his back on the demon and faced the miniature army. "Raph, deal with that thing. Casey, find a way out of here."

Raph grimaced. "Oh sure, give me the big one."

The volume in the room rose as weapons clashed together and the demon backed away from Raphael's sais, lashing out with its own claws. Blood began to flow in currents along the floor.

*

Venus swore in Chinese as she watched the battle start. Shadow cowered behind her father, who'd put his back to the wall so nothing could sneak up and grab her, only now the amount of battered corpses made for a kind of makeshift wall. Raphael had his hands full with just dodging the demon's claws and hooves, and occasionally its tail whipped around and sliced into his skin. His blood started to mingle with the blood filling the floor, literally pouring from the bodies mounting on Leo's side of the fight.

And I can't do anything.

Leonardo froze over one body. "Mieh?"

Her eyes widened. He heard me? "Leo, look out!"

He turned, avoiding a sword through the heart but getting a slash down his arm. He deflected the next cut and dodged under another redcap's swing, bringing his sword up to disembowel one and using his other blade take off the second assailant's head.

Falling into a defensive stance, he watched several creatures advance towards him. "Mieh, what's wrong? Why can I hear you?"

Venus forced herself back to her feet. "You're in the male line. Wherever you are, you're right in the center of it. I can see all of you."

Outside the circle, Mike looked at April. "Who's she talking to?"

"I think we'd better abandon the plan," Leo said, still waiting for the next attack. "It looks like the demon's been waiting for this. I'm willing to bet when you start pulling in one energy, it'll start pulling back."

"So it isn't a vengeful father we're against," she said. "This has gone beyond keeping the castle safe."

"Tell Riana to cancel the spell."

Venus gave a weak laugh. "It's not that easy. Once started, a spell has to be finished, or at least taken to some kind of end."

"So of course you didn't tell me." Leonardo took a step back and found himself against a wall. "Dammit, Mieh--"

"Don't you dare say 'I told you so'."

He blinked. "I wasn't going to say that."

"I know you too well."

"Well, think of something then, there has to be a way out of this."

Raph tilted his head. Who the hell is he talking to?

Venus looked back down at the battle. "Can you get to that computer?"

One of the trolls charged, and he leaped over it to decapitate a redcap and spear a kobold before the slow moving monster could turn again. "You want me to touch a computer? Mieh, I'll just end up--oh."

Her laugh was stronger this time. "Mm. Maybe I should be leader now."

"I'm not the one stuck in a magic bubble."

Thinking he couldn't fight because his back was turned, the troll advanced on him. Once it was in range, Leo turned, took off its head, and slowly made his way toward the computer. "Speaking of trapped, though...are you all right?"

She nodded, forgetting he couldn't see her. "I'm fine. The magick isn't fluctuating. Just kill that computer so I can finish on this side."

"Right." He made his way to the large screen, wading through the bodies already falling at his feet. "I hope it rains again today. This is disgusting." He pulled up short at the computer screen and looked around. "What the...there's no keyboard."

Venus blinked. No keyboard? She turned and looked at Donatello, who had looked up at her from his own computer. "Why would a computer have no keyboard?"

"Huh?" He tilted his head. That's out of the blue... "Um...well, a keyboard is an interface, so if it doesn't have one, then it must have a different interface." He sighed when he saw her blank face. "There's another way to tell the computer to do something."

"Another way to tell it something?"

Leonardo heard Venus and closed his eyes for a moment. "Oh hell...if that's true..." He jammed his sword into a seam where two panels joined and pried it open. He jumped back after one good look. Sometimes I hate being right.

"What is it?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

He looked away from the decomposed head and body in the computer. "I think I just found Riana's father."

Venus winced. "Ew."

*

Part 6