If you look up the word nighttime, you'll see it labeled as "the time between evening and morning" or "the time of darkness." What you won't see is it describing all the other things that go on in the night.
Most people were laying in their beds at night, children dreaming of games and excitement, sleeping soundly knowing that they were safe.
Night lights were plugged into walls to keep the monsters away, and parents laid down only down the hallway, ready to comfort their child if needed.
But for some people like me, the only thing awaiting in their dreams were nightmares that continued on even when they woke up. There were no lights to keep away the monsters of the night, there were no parents down the hall, there were no parents at all.
Living in the city with no home or people to turn to, is difficult for anyone. Now add on being a child with no family or home, it was damn near impossible to survive. It was either learn quick or die, and it was likely that you weren't going to die in peace either. Not in this city, not with the monsters in the dark.
This story though isn't about the monsters in the dark, it's about the man that killed those monsters and saved my life in more ways than one along the way.
The streets were dark, the only light coming from the run down looking lampposts that were scattered up and down the block. At the end of it was a large park, in front of the gated entrance hung a single traffic light, the cracked light stuck blinking on yellow.
The block was quiet, stores stood next to each other, all locked up and closed for the late night hours. All of a sudden, a small figure darted from the shadows between two buildings and ran straight down the street, running into the park.
It ran for another five minutes, occasionally looking behind and stumbling as they ran. Eventually, the figure slowed down and stopped on the cement path right before entering the light from the lamppost.
As the figure caught their breath, they took a step forward into the light to reveal. Underneath the lantern, stood a girl of not even seven years. The skin that wasn't covered in bruises and cuts seemed to glow golden caramel, despite the sun not being out. Her lips were tiny but filled and shaped like Cupid's bow, a bleeding wound was on her bottom lip. She wiped away a few tears that were on her dirt-smudged cheeks with scraped up hands and kept walking on the dirt path. Her tiny chest heaved as she tried to regain her breathing.
If someone were to look and see the little girl they would've been in complete shock of her appearance, though it wasn't hard to see that she was homeless. She looked as though she had just been through a fight, her clothes were covered in dirt and dried blood. Her shirt was a couple size too big and was covered in patches, some of which were coming off. She seemed small in height but the more concerning part was how thin the girl apparently was, it looked as though she hadn't eaten a decent meal in months, maybe even longer.
It wasn't just her tattered look though that would've caught people's attention, however. It was the fact that this little girl has hair that shone like moonlight underneath the lights. Her hair was dirty, but there was no way to hide the fact that this little girl had hair that was the same color as the moon that she looked up at.
Icy blue eyes stared up at the moon, taking comfort from the sight of it and reveling in its beauty for a moment. She strolled along that path, looking around at her surroundings with an alertness that was shocking to be seen in someone so young. Coming up on a bench, she decided that it would be best to sit down for a moment.
Before long she was laid out on the bench, her rest didn't last long though before the bushes behind the girl rustled loudly. Her eyes snapped open, and she stood up from the park bench looking behind it, staring into the bushes with intensity, her heartbeat thumping in her ears, waiting in anticipation to see what was coming from within those bushes.
All of a sudden, a squirrel came from the bushes and looked at her before running off quickly. Her shoulders relaxed, and she shook her head in annoyance at being scared by a squirrel.
Turning to keep walking down the path to leave the park, she was instead met with a man of about 30 glaring down at her. She froze in fear for a second, her eyes full in horror at seeing this towering growling giant a few feet in front of her.
Laughter rang from behind her, and she spun around to see a woman and another man being the cause of it. They were only about ten feet behind her and were closing in quickly.
"Well well well, what do we have here?" The second man asked as the two came within only a few feet. The woman smiled at her, the light from the lamps glistened off her teeth, and the girl noticed the unusual sharpness of her teeth. Upon looking at the other two, she saw that their teeth were similar.
It took only a second before she found herself being grabbed by the first man. Immediately she started to squirm and kick, this just seemed to amuse the trio as they laughed watching her struggle.
"Aww I think we scared her," the woman said in a teasing manner, her voice sounded like she was hissing more than speaking. "Where is your mother girl? Don't you know it's dangerous out here at night?"
"Yeah," the second man asked, wrapping an arm around the woman's shoulders. "Don't you know its dangerous for a kid to be out here this late? You could get hurt…or worse."
The girl narrowed her eyes at them, staying silent despite their questions. "I have an idea," the woman said walking closer. She began to struggle, but the man only gripped tighter onto her arms causing her to flinch in pain. "How would you like for me to be your mother?"
Her question was met by a large wad of spit landing right in the woman's eye, causing her to shriek. Wiping away the disgusting glob, she grew even angrier when she saw the smirk on the child's face. It was quick to disaster though after she backhanded the girl, there was enough force for the scrunch holding the girl's hair in a bun to come off, sending her hair flying and covering her face.
"You little bitch! Just for that," growled the lady, grabbing the girls cheeks, squishing them painfully. As she looked into eyes, it felt as though she was looking into eyes made of ice with their stark color and the emotion within them. It was slightly disturbing, but she pushed away from the thought and continued on with her threat. " I'm going to make sure you die very….very…slowly."
The other men only laughed and watched as she tilted the girl's neck and nodded at the man holding her. The girl struggled more causing him to smirk before baring his fangs, ready to bite down.
"Hey bloodsuckers," a voice yelled out interrupting.
They all looked up and growled, standing at the end of the path was a man dressed in black leather and holding a long silver sword.
"Its Blade" the woman hissed.
Letting go of the girl, the man turned and ran towards the man trying to attack him, the other two staying back. At the last minute the mysterious man jumped up but before he even got close, and with a swing of his arm, it was over.
In a flash, the man seemed to disintegrate, turning into ash with a loud yell and a flash of red as though he was set on fire for only a moment. Seeing her chance, the girl ran and hid in the bushes, closing her eyes and covering her ears. After a few minutes, she slowly pulled her hands from her ears and heard nothing. There was no sounds of anyone even being there, let alone a fight.
Peeking through the bushes, she saw the man in black standing there calm as ever and on the ground surrounding him were three piles of ashes. Sneering down at the debris, he shielded his sword. The girl moved slightly, and a branch snapped, hearing the sound the man looked over and saw her.
Walking over slowly he crouched in front of the girl watching him, not sure whether to stay or to run.
Lifting up his hand, she flinched, and he stopped and just looked at her. Finally, he spoke and asked her if she had been bitten. His voice was deep and slightly rough, looking up at him she noticed his eyes were golden in color, a contrast to the dark chocolate tone of his skin.
She looked at him for a second and then shook her head, then tilted her head side to side to show her neck after seeing his unsure look. Nodding, he looked her over "where are your parents?"
The little girl just looked up at him, blinking slowly.
"Where's your mother?" he asked, frowning at the lack of response. She looked down and shook her head. "Father?" He tried again only to be met with the same response.
For a second, he thought about his own mother before shaking his head to rid himself of the thought.
"My name is Blade. What's yours?"
She looked up at him and held out her hand, he looked down at it before outing his hand in hers. Instead of shaking it, she flipped it palm side up and put out his hand and using her finger, she began to trace letters on his hand, spelling out "A-M-O-R-E."
"Amore," he said to her making her smile and nod.
The moment was broken when Blade heard police sirens coming their way. He looked at Amore and frowned, "You have a place you can go?" he asked. She shook her head and spelled out 'no home.'
He paused before sighing, "do you want to come with me?"
The smile that appeared on her face then could've rivaled the Cheshire Cat's, and she rapidly nodded her head. She felt safe with this man, maybe it was just because he saved her from those others. She had noticed that his teeth were like the others, but if he were like them, he would've joined them on trying to kill her rather than stop them.
He walked over to his car and put her in the back, then got in and drove away. Blade couldn't believe he was doing this, but she didn't have anywhere to go, and he couldn't have her giving away anything to the police. He was in some slight hot water as it was them after his last mission down by the piers. An entire loading dock blew up, and he had been spotted near the area. The last thing he needed was to be labeled as kidnapper along with his murderer title.
'I must be crazy for doing this...and Whistler is going to be pissed,' he thought with a soft sigh.
Looking in the rearview mirror, he saw Amore asleep wrapped in the blanket that had been in the backseat. 'Maybe this won't be so bad'He thought and continued to drive towards the warehouse they had set up shop.
