| FAN FICTION "Under the Moon" - Written By DarkPhyre Groaning in agony, Jericho snaps awake, grabbing hold of his stomach tightly. "What the hell is wrong with me?" he uttered painfully. Glancing around he noticed the sun was a few hours from setting. He had slept all day. Rolling over, Jericho started hacking and coughing as he became aware of the pain that burned in his lungs. With each hack, he spat out globs of blood tainted with black specks. "What the fuck is going on with me?" Cross thought, trying to remember if he''d smoked anything bad lately. Not able to come up with anything, he attempted to sit up. Falling over himself, he decided to call his trusty horse for some help. Still hacking, Jericho managed to let out a high pitched whistle, letting it waver a bit before stopping to spit out more blood. Less than a minute later his vampiric hybrid of a horse trotted up to him. Shadow had been with him for many years, and even was faced with the evil the night Jericho had been turned. Cross had fed upon his horse that night. It had been his first time feeding that kind of hunger, and shortly afterwards, his horse began displaying vampiric traits, his elongated fangs being one of the most notable. But now, in this instant, non of this came to Jericho''s mind as he reached up for the reins to pull himself up. Shadow held his head up high to help his master, and when Jericho had finally made it to his feet; he leaned against his steed to rest for a second. He was confused at how he felt. Jericho Cross had never been sick, ever. He was a bad-ass through and through, even fighting the battles within to the end, always making it out on top before even showing signs of sickness. But now, at this moment he felt as if there was a battle within that he was losing. And this was much bigger battle inside than the one he''d felt when the ivories of Lazarus had met with his neck. Struggling to pull himself on the saddle of his horse, Jericho leaned over to hack out a bit more blood. Shadow felt something was very wrong, and gave his friend a helping hoof, almost boosting him up onto the black leather seat strapped to his back. Out of breath, Jericho just sat there for a few minutes, trying to comprehend what was going on. Wiping his mouth on his sleeve, to remove any blood remaining on his chin, Jericho took in his surroundings again. It was the habit of an outlaw, to check his surroundings every few minutes, even in such pain. He''d never been caught by the authorities before, nor by the demons that''d haunted him now. Well, they''d come upon him many times, mainly because they came straight out of the ground beneath him, but they''d never been able to take him down. So in that sense, they''d never captured him. Wary of the afternoon sun, Cross pulled his hat a little over his eyes. The sunlight seemed to bother him a bit now, like it was too bright, even though it was nearing sunset. Looking at where he''d been resting he saw the fire was still going in his pit. The spit lying nearby still had the remains of the charred coyote stuck on it. Even in his pain, Jericho let out a gruff laugh. Damn coyote, just did not want to be eaten. He wondered if it had come to kill him in the first place, or if it was really going after that lucky rabbit. Before he could continue that train of thought, he doubled over in agonizing pain. It felt as if something were burning inside of him, like hot embers were trying to rip through him by melting their way out. Already in fierce pain, and completely unaware of what was to come, Jericho decided to find some water to quench his unearthly thirst. Parched beyond the words definition, the cowboy pulled on his horse''s reins to signal it was time to go. Remembering that there was a creek nearby, Jericho guided his horse in the direction of the fresh water. A bit later, Cross awoke on the back of his horse, confused as to when and how he''d fallen asleep. Shadow had found the creek, not to Jericho''s surprise, without his master''s help. The horse was already lapping up water into his dry mouth. "Damn Shadow, leave some for me". Back to Fan Fiction |