The boy's desperate voice was cut short by the demon's own shriek. Eclipse tossed the kid away, falling on all fours. He gasped for air, as piercing pain spread from his back into the whole body. He clenched his chest, smelling his blood.

"W-Who could...?"

The demon looked over his left shoulder, seeing a black silhouette. "Y-You?" He gulped upon seeing a dark figure standing behind him in ragged clothes.

"Yes, it's me." Father Shadow was panting, unable to calm down his breathing. It had taken him several long minutes before he dug his way from the rubble. He had no idea how he was able to escape death, or how his body managed to avoid broken bones, he only knew he had to find that demon.

That thought kept him moving, guiding him through the city like he knew where to go. He didn't understand why the old factory lured him inside, but when he heard Sonic's scream, his body bolted forward, ignoring every pain. His hand grabbed the gun and shot without aiming.

"But how?" asked the demon astonished.

"You will need a bit more than burying me alive to get rid of me," Shadow answered, trying to calm himself down, but he was wheezing, and his body screamed for a rest.

"Apparently," growled the black and red demon.

Shadow glimpsed at Sonic, who was now half-way sitting, gasping heavily and trembling. It seemed the boy was alright. The priest sighed in relief.

The momentary change in Shadow's concentration gave him away, and the demon smashed his tail into the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

The priest fired a few shots, but missed, as there was no new scream. He let the demon be for a brief moment, kneeling in front of Sonic. Shadow grabbed him by shoulders, lightly shaking his body.

"Sonic, do you hear me? Can you walk?" The priest quickly glanced back, hoping the demon wouldn't try another sneak attack. "Sonic?" he called him again.

The shaking green eyes pushed tears out, and the boy's breathing was turning sharper, and faster. It seemed he might break into hyperventilation any second. The priest bit his lip. This could turn ugly, he had to snap Sonic out of it, or he might start suffocating.

"It's okay, now!" Shadow cupped Sonic's face keeping his weapon in his hand. "Don't worry. Everything is alright."

Sonic slightly nodded and did his best to control his breathing.

"Now, listen to me," the priest said in a firm voice, "go to my church!"

The boy again nodded. He tried to talk, but his throat was too dry for it.

"I'll just take care of this monster! So, go!" he shouted the last sentence before giving the demon chase.

Meanwhile, above their heads, Eclipse was trying to hide.

'Damn! Damn!' cursed the evil creature. 'Everything was going so smoothly!'

He obtained a huge victory, he got a play-thing, so why did it all fall apart? The wound in his chest was hurting like hell. It was close to his heart, too close! Piercing it would kill him on the spot.

The small demon rubbed the still bleeding wound, trying to override the pain with a different feeling. However, at the same moment, he tripped on stairs, hitting his wound against the edge. He yelped, and a loud gasp escaped him.

Eclipse didn't move, catching his breath. The adrenaline was slowly leaving, turning his limbs into dead weight. The thoughts of the priest being alive terrified him.

He survived.

If Eclipse had taken the time to dig him out, the priest might have killed him. Cold sweat covered him, and he bit his lip. His sensitive hearing picked up steps from below.

'He is coming!' shot through his mind, he tried to get up. The right motivation came when another bullet scratched his cheek. Eclipse shrieked, forcing his body to get up and move. This time it was his turn to be hunted down.

Shadow growled in his mind, 'Not again!'

The priest was out of breath, and the gun kept sucking him dry. In all honesty, this was the first time he used it so often. Every other fiend died after one shot. This one must have been as stubborn as Shadow was.

Shadow gripped the railing, forcefully moving his legs up the stairs. The next ladder seemed to be almost impossible to climb, but he overcame even this obstacle. The only good thing about this was the demon seemed to have the same problems.

Eclipse was about two levels of platforms higher when he slipped on a ladder, sliding through the opening. He would have fallen down if he didn't spread his wings blocking the opening. While it helped him, the sudden movements shot pangs to all corners of his body. The small demon would swear his tail bristled regardless of being covered by scales.

With a deep breath and great effort, Eclipse pulled himself up, losing way too much time to reach the platform. None of the wounds he suffered so far were serious like the last one as it refused to close, constantly bleeding.

Swirling thoughts filled his mind. He couldn't die here! Not now! There were still so many things he had to do, he wanted to do! The images of his pet dust balls, he had created from scratch, flashed inside of his mind. What would happen to them? Who would feed them?

The rising panic gave him the strength to climb higher than Sonic managed. He let out loud gasps, straining his lungs to the maximum. He crawled toward the edge of a broken bridge, realizing there was a bottomless pit below. 

He tilted his head, seeing a big hole in the roof. The stars twinkled. For many people, it might have been romantic, but right now it seemed they were smirking at him with nasty delight at his pain.

Eclipse wanted nothing more than to spread his wings and fly away. He would do it, but a few bullets swished above his head. He crouched, turning his body.

Shadow stopped on the other side of the bridge. His hand was shaking, but his grasp on the weapon was strong. Just one hit. All he needed was one hit to end this.

Eclipse hissed, there was only one way for him to get out of this; to kill the priest. With his tail, he tossed a loose metal plate from the bridge. His movements were sluggish and slow, but so were Shadow's reactions.

The priest moved to the side. Avoiding the plate wasn't that problematic, but he had lost sight of the demon for a second.

Eclipse was too desperate for a victory to care for his wounds, sore body, or safety. With one long jump, he closed the distance between them. He swung with his claws, aiming at the priest's legs. He missed his target completely as Shadow jump-rolled over him.

At that moment everything painfully slowed down. Both could hear only their heartbeats.

Eclipse turned his head, not feeling the cold floor below him. He saw Shadow moving his other hand to his gun, the barrel pointing at his head. He was trying to shoot him in mid-air.

Time started to tick again.

Eclipse's tail swished through the air, knocking the weapon out of the priest's hands. The sharp tip drew some blood, and Shadow landed on his back.

The old platform screeched, dangerously leaning closer to the ground.

The priest quickly got to his knees. He needed to get out, but first, he punched the demon in the jaw, repelling his immediate attack. The night creature toppled onto its back, hissing.

Shadow stood up, and at the same moment the platform bent down, finally losing the rusty connection with the bridge. The priest made a weak jump forward that was enough to bring him to the edge of the stable end. His hand gripped the railing, pulling his body to safety.

The demon leaped forward, desperate to end this. Eclipse's claws whistled through the air, slashing the priest's robe and the cross around his neck ended up in pieces.

Shadow shrieked, his leg slipped down, and the rusty railing gave in. His other hand tried to catch the edge, but before the priest could do it, Eclipse headbutted him, pushing him away. He was falling down for the second time that night. Fate must have a black sense of humor.

Before Shadow could look around for anything he could grab, his chest was pierced by a metal pipe. The blood gushed from his body, the intense pain paralyzed his brain and dulled his senses for a split of a second until all the pressure was released in one long yell.

Eclipse was hyperventilating. His claws dug into his skin on his chest, piercing it like more physical holes could let the stress leave sooner. He needed a dozen deeper inhales to have the courage to look over the edge.

His eyes flew from one corner to another, scared to miss the priest's next attack. The smell of fresh blood guided his line of sight toward the hanging body pierced by a metal pipe. From above it looked like a bent cross.

"Is he dead... for good?" At this moment, he expected for Shadow to just shake it off and get up. It was scaring him, but it wouldn't surprise him.

"Heh... no mortal... can live with a hole in their chest... right?" A twisted smile appeared on his face. He felt like laughing, but he was afraid to do so. He had enough. He wanted nothing more than to escape, to return home, and catch tons and tons of Z's.

He was slowly climbing down, cursing everything around him as stairs, ladders, or pipes he slid off were causing him pain. He had no idea how long it took him, but this was the longest night he had ever lived through.

Once he reached the ground level, he felt relieved. He no longer could fall down. There was nobody after his life. He could go home.

A screeching of metal startled him. His body jerked, crying inside, expecting another hunter. "No more," he slowly whispered, but nobody was coming at him. His eyes widened, it wasn't another priest.

"That kid," he gasped, seeing a moving figure.

Sonic once more didn't listen and stayed, waiting for Father Shadow, hidden behind a thick column. When he saw the shadowy figure, he thought it was the priest, but as he noticed the demon, Sonic got scared and tried to run away. However, he stepped on a metallic grill, giving away his position.

Eclipse must have been really tired as he watched the figure for a few seconds before his brain calculated what it meant. "What a good naughty boy you are," he said, smiling. Eclipse slowly walked toward his young prey, but he was still faster.

"Will you ever stop running?" growled the demon, too tired to enjoy any form of tag.

Sonic didn't stop moving until he tripped over his own legs. The fall bruised his knees and elbows but most importantly robbed him of strength to get up. The fear was pushing him forward even if it meant crawling.

Eclipse finally caught up with him and lifted him by his dirty T-shirt. Sonic tried to kick the demon, but even when he hit him, there was no power behind the blows.

"Let me go!" the child shouted weakly.

"Dream on," replied the annoyed demon, "and speaking of dreams, I really need to catch some Z's. I'm dead tired." He started to walk, tucking the kicking prey in his armpit.