Can't Feel My Soul
Prologue: The Beginning
Kyle sighed as he locked up the store behind himself. There were a lot of perks to being a manager, he reminded himself. Perks that definitely made up for having to close up by himself at two in the morning. Definitely.
Clutching his messenger bag tight, Kyle slipped his keys out, little bottle of holy water dangling where he could reach it easily, and let his gaze drift around the parking lot. It was murky, but there were enough lights around the lot that he felt somewhat-safe walking to his car. He knew that, statistically, he was a lot safer than any of the women he worked with, but that was no excuse not to be cautious. He'd even been sure to park under one of the lamps, his little clunker of a Suzuki ringed in flickering light.
Not, he reminded himself fatalistically as he power-walked towards the beat-up old machine, that a little circle of light would help him any if someone decided to attack him here - the little convenience store was situated on a lonely corner of a rarely-traveled intersection. The few other buildings in the area were either closed for the night or up for lease, and his store's owner hadn't felt security cameras in the parking lot were a useful expense.
There wasn't a lot of trouble in Angel Grove, to be honest. There was definitely a higher percentage of non-humans, to the point that the population was nearly fifty-fifty, but neither the AGPD nor the Peacekeepers had a lot of unregistered non-humans to deal with, and the registered ones hardly ever stepped out of line. Still, it's never a bad idea to be careful, said a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like the old lady in apartment 38B. And besides, the non-humans weren't the only ones that could be dangerous, not by a long shot.
Almost on cue, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. Heart in his throat, Kyle whirled around, very nearly plowing into a man about his age who'd been paying more attention to his cell phone than his surroundings.
"Oh," the stranger said, blinking at Kyle in bewilderment, as though he'd sprung out of the ground right in his path. "Uh, sorry." Shrugging, the plastic bag of groceries the man carried swung gently back and forth.
"No," Kyle replied, frowning. "Sorry, my fault."
The man offered him a distracted grin, eyes flicking back to his cell phone, and suddenly Kyle recognized him - one in a string of faces he'd rung up that evening while his staff was busy stocking shelves, who'd seemed more interested in arguing with someone over his phone than taking his receipt for the ridiculous amount of Skittles he'd purchased.
The man still seemed incredibly preoccupied, somehow managing to walk across the lot and out of sight around the corner without tripping despite still being glued to his phone, and it wasn't until Kyle'd turned to continue to his car that he thought to wonder why the man was still hanging around.
Must have forgotten something, he told himself, shivering.
Kyle pretended he didn't give a little sigh of relief when he reached his car safely, but the feeling was brief as his bag slipped from his shoulder and scattered his belongings across the asphalt.
"Oh, great," he groaned, heart suddenly hammering in his chest. He wasn't a fan of horror or slasher films, but he knew enough to know that this was generally the part where someone died horribly. Usually a blonde woman, of course, but now would be the time the universe chose to honor principles of gender equality. Not that Kyle was against gender equality. He was very for it, actually, especially the part where no person of any gender got murdered in a parking lot, ever.
Shut up, he told herself, sighing as he knelt to gather up his things. You've never had a problem in this parking lot. This area's never been known for any kind of crime. The only other person within blocks of you has wandered off...
As he reached for his cell phone, a pair of black trainers entered his field of vision, nearly catching his fingers. Startled, he looked up.
The young man from before was frowning down at Kyle thoughtfully, bag of junk food slung over one shoulder, his free hand tucked into his pocket.
"Need a hand?" he asked, concerned.
"I..." Kyle blinked again, fingers closing around his phone as he stood, a rush of cold flooding his body. The stranger's eyes never left his, and he noticed that the concerned expression looked strangely wooden. "I...no, I'm..."
They were nice eyes, actually. Brown, with long lashes, strangely Bambi-like for such a masculine face. And staring into Kyle's still...like...
Oh, he thought as conscious thought slipped away, as those eyes seemed swirl into inky black pools, so this is what it's like.
That was his last thought as the black of the man's eyes bled out over his skin, drawing Kyle inexorably into his power, until he saw nothing but shadow, felt nothing but a tug at the side of his neck, and then...
Letting the body of the convenience store clerk fall to the pavement unceremoniously, the man licked his lips and kicked at the fallen cell phone. He watched it skitter away, rolling his eyes as his own phone began to buzz. With a put-upon sigh, he pulled it out and swiped his thumb across the screen.
"Yeah? No, I remembered the coffee, Kat. Yep..." Snorting, he picked up his bag of groceries. "I am not always late. No, I didn't get pulled over again. Just stopped for a drink," he said with a slight shrug, turning to walk away. "Nah, it's fine. I made sure. He didn't even scream."
As he faded away into the night once more, leaving behind the cooling body of his victim, Tommy Oliver laughed.
:::WARNING: Fic contains slash, femslash, het, and poly pairings; sex without love and unrequited love; major character death; angst and dark humor; some descriptions of violence, blood and possible mild gore (very mild, I promise).
Though there isn't any Tommy-bashing per say, he is not depicted as one of the good guys here...as you can probably tell.
May also include brief flashbacks and crude or suggestive language.
If you have an issue with any of these things, I urge you to click far, far away from this fic. If you don't, and you message me angrily about the inclusion of any of these things, I will not respond.:::
A/N: Okay, so, the warnings might be a little scary, but I promise they're mostly for the benefit of those who can't handle a little creepy AU. I meant it when I said this was gonna be horror - vampires, ghosts, demons, pancake abuse...it's all there.
This is mostly gonna be Adam-centric, with multiple and ever-changing pairings that aren't really the focus of the story, and boy, howdy, whatta story! It's looking to be 20 chapters long, tho that could change, and if ya stick around I promise there'll be more humor (dark and otherwise), intrigue, and supernatural whosits and whatsits for your reading pleasure...or something like that.
Please review - I live on reviews!
Coming Up - Chapter One: Roaming
"You're an odd duck, aren't you, Adam Park?" Tommy said slowly, letting his glamour slip and his eyes bleed black, dark veins writhing out from them.
Adam met those eyes without flinching. "You have no idea."