Story Title: Just a Soul
Character/Relationships: Needy, Veronica, mentions of Needy/Jennifer
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: References to female/female relationships, bad word or two.
After the killing and the blood and the vengeance, after Jennifer's maliciously laughing voice had faded from her head – 'Why did you have to kill me, Needy? We could have played together.' – she wandered west, avoiding small towns where she would stick out, and prowling through the big cities that she'd always been a bit afraid of, and a bit excited by, kind of like Jennifer. She tried getting a real job once or twice, but her picture was on the news – the crazy girl escaped from the asylum whose name was sometimes linked to the dead band members by a clever reporter, making her flee again and again until she learned to accept that whoever, whatever, she was now, couldn't hack it as a normal girl ever again.
She stood outside a church once, thought about confessing, blowing some priest's mind so that she could hear Jennifer's laugh in her head once more, but had the vague uneasy feeling that if she stepped inside, she might burst into flames.
So she kept wandering west, resorting to shoplifting and seducing foolish men into disappearing into dark corners or convenient cars with her, where they were left with headaches and empty wallets. It made something inside of her giddy at how proud Jennifer would have been, although her best friend would have mocked her for not fucking them before robbing them as she undoubtedly would have.
Once she crossed some invisible line in the middle of the US, the news reports changed, started to compare her to some murdered Californian Heiress. It made her curious, the girl who was her but wasn't, and her wandering changed too; no longer aimless, now she had a purpose – Neptune, California, full of rich people as soulless as herself. Jennifer would have loved it.
She haunted the streets, careful not to show her face after a few strangers took second and third glances at the ghost she looked like, listening and learning until she figured out the major players, and the plotline, to this other life she could have lived. There was a little blonde thing, Veronica, the dead girl's best friend, and something about her made Needy twitch with longing, both the innocent girl who'd been more than half in love with her own best friend, and the dark, not-quite-human thing she'd become.
This Lilly girl had been her Jennifer – beautiful, popular, boy crazy, kind of a bitch, but still her best friend in every sense of the word, and it was clear that Veronica had worshipped the ground she walked on. Only Lilly had stayed dead, and Veronica hadn't cut her heart out with a box cutter, and that was where the stories diverged. But still, there was something about the girl whose kick-assness had been triggered by her BFF"s death, that Needy recognized as a kindred soul, albeit a slightly less psychotic one. That same thirst for vengeance burned in her big blue eyes, and Needy found herself wondering if she too could pass on demonic powers with a bite.
Jennifer's taunting whisper was back in her head, egging her on as she watched the blonde sitting in her car outside some seedy motel, looking bored but alert as she propped a camera on the steering wheel. 'Do it, Needy; you killed me when we could have had such fun together, you need another girl to kiss.'
But what about her life? Needy argued back. What if I take her soul too?
'It's just a soul, Needy, I didn't miss mine.'
I doubt you even noticed the difference, Needy retorted, as she wouldn't have to the real Jennifer, when she'd been the real Needy. The voice of her dead best friend didn't bother replying, already knowing that Needy had given in as her muscles tightened in anticipation and her eyes began to glow.
It's just a soul, she repeated silently to herself as she pulled down her hood, walked up to the car, and leaned against it, heart beating faster when the blonde looked up, her pink bow lips parting in shock as she saw Needy's face.
Just a soul.