Pierced (Completed)

Chapter 6: Conflict

"BEING BUSY DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN REAL WORK. THE OBJECT OF ALL WORK IS PRODUCTION OR ACCOMPLISHMENT AND TO EITHER OF THESE ENDS THERE MUST BE FORETHOUGHT, SYSTEM, PLANNING, INTELLIGENCE, AND HONEST PURPOSE, AS WELL AS PERSPIRATION. SEEMING TO DO IS NOT DOING."-THOMAS EDISON

*****

The shadows were clinging to him, trying to draw him in, compress him until he was nothing. Harry was doing his best to let them.

It was daytime. He was standing near the edge of a clearing, the thick foliage from the trees protecting him from the deadly midday sun. He was staring at the trees opposite the clearing, trying to envision himself standing in their shadows instead. It was his goal to end up in those shadows, but he wasn't allowed to walk around in the safe shadows.

Finally, perspiration beading on his cold skin, he exhaled loudly and gave up, his brain hurting. He had felt so sure that he was going to get it that time.

"Looks like I didn't make any progress after all," he muttered to himself, still staring at the far shadows.

"On the contrary," came a voice from behind him. Harry turned around to look at Shadow, who was sitting on a low branch of a tree. "You are making incredible progress. I could feel your intent, your determination, and I could see the shadows enveloping you, about to swallow you. You just needed one more push." He gave Harry a pleasantly surprised look. "Incredibly good progress," he said.

"Thanks," said Harry, laying down on his back. This was the fifth day in a row that Harry had been training, though it wasn't necessarily all Shadowalking training. There was also sparring, mental exercises, and speed training. It was all very taxing.

And though she would never show it, Harry knew that Hermione was growing more anxious with each passing hour. Katerina's execution was set for two nights from now and Harry's Inner Vampire showed no signs of surfacing any time soon.

But that was just Hermione's perception. Harry could feel the vampire side of him coming on strong, his hunger overwhelming. He would get bursts of bloodlust and would hear the faint voice of his vampire side, indicating that the change was indeed going to happen soon.

Harry glanced over at Hermione, who was sleeping on a bed she had transfigured from a leaf. Sure looked comfortable. She had switched her sleeping schedule to match their time of most activity and movement, though falling asleep during the daytime was still difficult for her. She had been doing training of her own during the night, training that confused and bewildered Harry. She wouldn't tell him what she was doing, only that it was beneficial and necessary to the success of their mission. He would've found out for himself, but he was too busy with his own training.

He sighed, staring up at the leaves as he relaxed on the soft forest floor, then grunted when Shadow stomped on his stomach. "How stupid," Shadow said. "If you're going to relax physically, than at least be mentally alert." He went to stomp on Harry again, but he only met ground as the younger vampire rolled away and stood up, clutching his stomach.

Harry took his fighting stance, Shadow doing the same. Then Shadow was behind Harry, who rolled, jumping towards the nearest tree afterwards to use it as a springboard. He shot towards Shadow, who easily dodged and caught Harry with a devastating uppercut to the face, making him crash into the ground after a little more flight time.

As he sat still on the ground, dazed, Shadow informed him. "I'm still only using half my speed, Harry. You'll need to do much better than that."