The Juvenile Pack: The Dark Hour

Chapter 5: Smells Like Trouble

Karmen: Finally posting again! Yay!

Grim: Yay. Hope you all enjoy the chapter.

"Wow!" Lucienne stared at the hotel room in amazement, her mouth gaping as she stared at the luxury before her.

Lucienne entered the enormous, high-class hotel room first as Bang and Cardo followed behind her with bags. The two boys noticed the high-quality furnishing the hotel room had with opulent, expensive touches. The walls had original art on them, reminding the wealthy boys of their own home.

The only girl of the three sat down on the bissini Italian style sofa of the living room, laying back and relaxing.

"Man, so this is how the wealthy live~?" The teen girl sighs in relaxation.

Cardo looked at Bang before looking at Lucienne with a raised brow. "Weren't you adopted by a mob boss?" He asked rhetorically. "From what I remember correctly, he had millions upon millions until you locked him up."

"And spared your life," Luc mentioned. "Don't forget that if it weren't for me, you wouldn't be here right now."

Bang sighed from seeing the two bicker. He sets the bag he had down by the door before removing the sunglasses, face-mask, and trench coat, leaving them on the coat rack next to the entrance before joining Lucienne on the couch.

"Come on, you two," Bang chuckled softly, seeing the two glaring at each other. "I know it's only been a year since it happened, but can't you two at least pretend to get along?"

Lucienne rolled her eyes before standing up from the sofa. "I'm going to the bathroom," she announced as she walks away from the boys.

Cardo sighed as he looks through the photos in Bang's camera. "So, where should we start?" He asked his older brother.

"Well, we can start looking around, asking people about the shadow lurkers," Bang answered as he stood up and walked towards the window, opening it and looking outside of the building from the sixth floor they were on.

Cardo put the camera down and went on his phone, checking the blog Lucienne found on the internet.

As Bang looked out the window, he looked at an alley and couldn't believe what he saw. A shadow lurker. The tall black tar creature was just there in broad daylight as it entered the alleyway.

"Cardo, I—" before Bang could finish his sentence, he saw the same teen Asian girl in steampunk clothing follow the shadow lurker into the alley. "Oh shit!"

Bang, without hesitation, immediately teleported away.

Cardo was still on his phone. As he was scrolling through Phoebe's blog, he saw a photo of her with a shy-looking Latina girl and a happy-go-lucky-looking brunette Asian girl who looked the same as the one he and the others ran into when they exited the elevator not too long ago.

"Hey, Bang, this girl looks familiar," he said as he turned to look at Bang, noticing that he was gone.

"Bang?"

Later, Bang appeared at the entrance of the alleyway. He didn't find the shadow lurker but instead saw the same girl running towards some black ooze on the dead-end brick wall of the alley.

"Hey, wait!" Bang shouted, but it was too late.

The girl jumped into the portal right before it started getting smaller.

Bang teleported to the portal as it was shrinking by the second. He raised his arms as they start to glow blue before putting his hands inside the black ooze and spreading it apart to keep it from closing. He was surprised that this worked. He then looks inside and saw a dark forest and the girl running further into the woods.

"Hey, wait!" He shouted again, but the girl didn't seem to hear him as she kept running until she was out of his sight.

"Goddamnit!" Bang shouts in frustration as he tried his hardest to keep the portal from closing.

"Hey, Bang!" Shouted Lucienne.

Bang turned around and saw Lucienne flying down towards him with Cardo holding onto her. The two landed in front of Bang as his brother lets go of her.

"What the hell is that?" Cardo asked as he pointed at the black oozy portal Bang was keeping open. 

"A portal!" Bang answered as he grunts, struggling to keep it from closing. "Luc, help me out!"

"No, it looks gross," Luc shivers from the sight of the black tar.

Bang groans and narrows his eyes. His eyes start glowing blue as he forces the portal back to regular size. He saw the portal was beginning to close again as he looks at the others.

"Let's go." He orders before going inside.

"Wait, we're not actually gonna go in, right?" Luc asked Cardo as she saw him go in as well.

She sighs and shakes her head. "This better not ruin my clothes," she said before going inside the portal.

After doing so, the three were now inside the forest. They looked at their surroundings and couldn't help but feel uneasy about the place.

"Geez, this is like the setting of a horror film," Luc looks around cautiously.

"What's up with the portal?" Cardo questioned Bang. "And why the hell did we go in it?"

"I saw a shadow lurker," Bang answered his brother. "And I saw that same girl we ran into following it into this portal."

"The cosplayer?" Lucienne asked.

Bang nodded. He looks around before looking back at the portal, realizing it was already gone. He looks at both Cardo and Lucienne. "We need to find her; she can't be too far."

"Yeah, what if she got hurt?" Lucienne crosses her arms.

"Any idea which direction she could've gone?" Cardo asked Bang.

"I saw her run straight ahead when she entered the portal, so she shouldn't be too far."

"We could easily get lost in this place," fretted Lucienne. "What if there's more of them?"

Cardo snorts at Lucienne. "What, are you scared?"

Lucienne looked at Cardo and glared at him. "Hey, at least I have a chance of living," she retorts. "I'm bulletproof, and I can punch down walls. What can you do with that nightstick of yours?"

"Guys, this is really not the time to be arguing!" Bang shouted at the two teenagers before him.

The sound of an electronic blast echoed through the forest, making the three jump from the loud noise.

Bang turned in the direction of where the girl went. "We need to find her. Right. NOW!"