Chapter 1-The darkness within

Thick soft blood tickled his skin. It was warm and pleasant, like a gentle blanket of darkness. He looked around the dark room, his red eyes pulsing with crimson light.

Bodies were spread throughout the room, laying at awkward angles hinting at broken bones. The smell of death filled his lungs, causing a smile to curve up in his lips.

The rays of moonlight entwined themselves with the ripped curtains and revealed a small demon. Its skin was a sick green color with sharp spikes sticking out everywhich way. He stepped closer towards the curious creature.

The demon looked up at him, a smile of bloody fangs taking up most of his deformed face.

"You wanted their power." It said in a raspy high pitched voice. "So you took their blood."

The moonlight in the room grew brighter,and slowly he managed to see the features of the bodies more clearly. A scream caught in his troath as he recognized them. He looked down at his trembling hands and dropped the blood-stained knife that his fingers had clutched tightly.

Had he really done this?

The blood didn't seem pleasant anymore, it had grown dry against his skin causing unberable itch.

"You took their blood. " The demon said once more. " Now come take their power."

The creature stretched its blistered hand out towards him. He wanted to run away, to hide away, but found his body inching closer towards the demon. He saw his own hand reach out to meet the creature's hand. His fingertips burned when they came into contact with its skin.

Cole awakened with a gasp.

He looked around the room and relaxed at seeing only the sleeping bodies of his fellow ninja. He stood and stumbled towards the bathroom then violently turned on the small lamp, almost shattering the bulb. He showered his face with water then fearfully looked up at his own reflection.

Dark brown eyes stared back at him.

Cole sighed with relief. "It was only a dream you dummy,"

He knew this was a lie. It wasn't just a dream anymore. It was The dream. The dream that had haunted his sleep ever since he came back from the hospital. The dream that caused him to run into the nearest mirror, to remind himself that the evil inside him had really gone.

Misako had explained that when Lloyd's skin had come in contact with his open wounds, the green ninja had banished the devourer's venom from Cole's body just as he had done with his father. Everyone had been overjoyed to have Cole back in the team, and things had gone smoothly after that.

Except for The dream.

Cole feared that maybe Lloyd hadn't fully cleaned his blood and that somewhere within him darkness still grew. He wasn't about to blabber out his fears to everyone and end up looking like a coward, so he kept quiet.

After reassuring himself once more that his eyes weren't crimson Cole headed back into the room and he quietly laid against his lumpy mattress. He took a few deep breaths and tried to fall back to sleep, which was an almost impossible task due to Kai's loud snores. Cole tossed and turned until his brain slipped into the dreamland.

In the far corner of the room, where no light interrupted the thick darkness a small figure stirred. It blinked in the ninja's direction before crawling up and out the window.

"It's almost time." The creature chuckled to itself then ran into the darkness' embrace where his mistress waited.