As I hopped out of the bus, the bright lights of New York surrounded me. A chill was blowing by and I pulled the coat closer to my neck, my brown hair flying in the wind. New York was so beautiful at night. This was my home ever since I had been a baby. New York held all my memories, my favourite people.
Well, I had always had a lot of friends, but they never really liked me. I was just another figure in their groups. I had never really gotten along with people my age, they didn't really understand me. I was plain, definitely not adventurous, and I wasn't pretty enough to compel people to like me. But I've dealt with it. What I haven't dealt with was my parents' death. The horrible fire in the downtown New York hospital, a chilly January night that killed hundreds. I was currently in the hospital for my high fever. My parents had died to protect me, a guilt that never left my conscious. They had always said the fire was mysterious. No one knew how it had started, people rumoured that it had been magic. Pfft, magic. I mentally rolled my eyes.
I lived alone now, in a two bedroom house smack down in the middle of a very crowded neighbourhood.
I rounded a corner; I was now within eye sight of my house. It was decorated with little pumpkins since Halloween was next week.
I found my key under the flower pot and unlocked the door. The door unlocked and I was immediately confronted with the smell of burning chicken.
"Damn it!" I cursed, dropping my bag and running into the kitchen. I pulled the fire extinguisher out of the closet and opened the oven. A gust of black smoke came out, and I sprayed the insides of the oven along with my dinner. Takeout again today, probably. I walked over to fetch my bag and walked past the mirror.
"Ugh." I said, examining myself over in the mirror. My brown hair was frizzy and tangled my skin a faint touch of pink. My hazelnut eyes looked tired, mainly because I was. I grabbed my bag and flew up the stairs, two steps at a time. I got to my room and roughly yanked a brush through my hair. It didn't help much. I sighed, pulling the curtains at the window aside. It had started raining now and the lights of New York were blurred. A shiny object caught my eye on my driveway.
The shiny object belonged to a limp, bloody body on the driveway. Oh crap, I thought. Should I call the police? Impulsively, I ran down the stairs and flung myself out the door. The rain poured down on me as I tried to squint at the body. It was a male, about my age, with blonde hair.
I walked up towards him cautiously, was he dead? I shivered at the thought of a murderer in the neighbourhood. I crouched down next to him and shook his arm.
"Dude, are you alive?" I whispered, shaking his arm again. He stirred and I gasped, backing away a few steps. I heard him cough, as he tried to lift himself up. He turned his head, and I was met with two blue piercing eyes.
A rustle in the bushes across the street made me jump.
"Shit." He mumbled, getting to his feet. He quickly limped towards me, grabbed my arm and roughly pulled me inside the house. I rubbed my wrist gingerly as he locked up the door. What the hell did he think he was doing? I was about to ask him when something large bumped against the other side of the door. I just stared at the round imprint on my door. The guy backed away from the door a few steps. I heard large steps stomp away from the house getting fainter. The guy relaxed, but I was still stiff as a board.
"What was that?" I asked. I was kind of pissed of now. I try to be a good citizen and I end up with a weird guy in my house and a thing trying to destroy my house. The guy turned around to face me. I could see him clearer now. His blonde hair was a bit shaggy, with lighter highlights. It lightly brushed his sky blue eyes that sported a small cut underneath. His nose was very angular, his jaw chiselled. He was well build too, and only a few inches taller than me. He was beautiful. I subconsciously brushed my wet hair out before he spoke.
"It was a demon. And it'll be back." His velvety voice had distracted me until –
"A what? Are you crazy? Should I take you to a hospital?" I asked, digging in my pockets for my cell phone.
He just grinned, leaning back against the wall.
"How do you explain that, then?" He asked, pointing towards the door.
It was true; there weren't any large animals that would screw up doors like that in New York. But I wasn't going to accept his crazy demon explanation. I put my hands on my hips and glared at him.
"Who are you?" I asked, looking him up and down again. He was so gorgeous. He pushed himself of the wall and I noticed a large bleeding cut on his arm. "Oh, I'll get you something for your cut." I said, walking to the kitchen and opening the medicine cabinet with trembling fingers. He went and sat down at the table, resting his wet feet up on another chair. How rude.
I walked over with some cream and gauze and sat down in a chair next to him. As I reached over to touch his arm with the cream in my arm, I felt a spark shoot through my fingers at the contact. I pulled my hand back, examining it, what was that? I looked up at him. He looked confused, staring at his hand, and then looking at me with a surprised and amused expression.
I looked nervously away and started to work on his arm.
"Are you going to tell me who you are now?" I asked, looking down, still working on his arm.
"My name is Jason. You can call me Jay though." He replied, the look of amusement still refusing to leave his beautiful face.
"Hmm" I replied, finishing wrapping the gauze around his arm. "Done."
"How'd that happen to your arm?" I asked squinting at his face.
"Demon, I told you." He said it as if stating the obvious. I rolled my eyes.
"Oh right. Demons." I sneered at him. Jay gave me a dirty look.
"And who would you be?" He said, looking me over.
"Sam." I said sceptically. Who was he to ask me questions when he was the one who ended up on my doorstep?
"So… who are you?" I asked again, not satisfied with his previous answer. He looked taken back. Then looked at me like I was asking the stupidest question ever.
"Jay…" He looked at me like I was mentally handicapped and then smirked. "Girls don't usually forget my name." He added confidently. Ugh.
"No, I mean, who are you really." I said, rolling my eyes.
"Oh. I'm a demon catcher." He stated, matter-of-factly. I groaned.
"Really dude, drop the magic crap." I said, getting of my chair to return the medical supplies. "Because I don't believe you. You must be seriously crazy." I turned to look at him; he looked like he was in deep concentration. The doorbell rang. He gave me a hard glance.
"Don't open that."
"Calm down, demon catcher. The only thing bad that might happen is if I get over charged on my pizza." I said, walking towards the door.
"Sam! Don't!" He called behind me. He grabbed my wrist, and I spun around bumping into his chest. His blue eyes were full of worry.
"Let go of me, you crazy hobo!" I retorted, struggling to get free. The doorbell rang again impatiently. Who did this guy think he was?!
I reached out to the door with my other hand and turned the key. Jay cursed behind me.
The door blew backwards, right off its hinges. Jay and I were flung back, hitting the bottom of the winding staircase. I landed face down right on top of Jay, who looked very annoyed. He brushed me off, and I landed on the ground next to him with a 'plop'. I looked towards the door.
That definitely wasn't the pizza man.