**I know it's a bit out there, but I had a dream a few nights ago after I watched the movie that this all happened and I really wanted to write about it, hope you like it by the way the first part here is just a "before" thing. Chapter one is right after it though.
Colin's POV
My black colored fingernails dug into the cheap wooden desk in my third period creative writing class. I toyed with my midnight colored rosary which was wrapped around my wrist a few times. I was in class a few minutes early as usual just to get started on the journal entry that was written on the board. Words began spilling out into my composition notebook like a waterfall and I couldn't hear anything else around me but the sound of pencil on paper.
But then the loud slam of the door rang through my ears and footsteps filled the empty classroom. I glanced up under my hair to see the new girl walking into the class and taking her normal seat next to me.
God she was beautiful.
She wasn't like Jennifer, not at all. Jennifer's beauty was different; it felt fake, forced, unnatural. I didn't find Jennifer attractive in anyway like everyone else in Devils Kettle. But Emily's beauty was natural, but dark in a way. She had bronze hair with what seemed like thousands of thick blonde highlights throughout. Although she was practically blonde and had piercingly blue eyes, she still radiated this aura of darkness which I felt drew me to her. Maybe it was the way she dressed. Black cloaking her from head to toe. Or maybe it was her I-don't-give-a-fuck attitude she had towards life. She rarely spoke and if she did it was only because the teacher asked her a question. Or maybe it was how she had an unexplained hatred towards the most popular girl in school. Emily and Jennifer had exchanged hateful words on multiple occasions and I loved how she didn't care that everyone detested her for it. I have never seen her smile in class ever and I would make it my goal to make her at least smirk. That was my goal for today. Maybe even ask her out.
I opened my mouth and nothing came out, she must have felt me staring because she looked up from our two seater desk and our eyes met.
"H-hey," I choked.
"Hi," she looked directly in my eyes and I choked up again.
She cocked her head to the side, "You're Colin Gray."
"Yeah, you're Emily Brayer. I've read a few of your poems."
Her eyes twinkled a little, "What did you think?"
"I think you have amazing talent," I gave her a small smile. This was it…I was going to ask her now.
"Thanks," she said, turning back to her notebook in front of her.
"I uh…I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out this weekend and go see a movie or something," I sputtered out.
If I hadn't been staring directly at her for that moment, I would have missed the small smirk which appeared on her face.
"Sure," she said. "How about tonight?"
I thought for a second, remembering it was Friday, "I'll pick you up at eight?"
She choked for a moment, "How about I meet you there?"
My face flushed a little, "Alright."
Her gaze diverted from me to her lap where I noticed she was holding a cell phone. I couldn't help but to stare as she read a text.
From: Ryan
I need you tonight. Got a lot of work to do.
She had a boyfriend?
"Actually I forgot I have to study tonight for a chem test," I mumbled.
"Oh," she said blankly. I think she knew that I read the text.
I didn't say anything to her for the rest of class and she didn't bother saying anything to me.
At the end of class we walked out into the hallway and we couldn't help but glance at each other a few times, I sighed and stood in the middle of the hall. It was just such a shock how she would have a boyfriend and was going to go out with me. Either it was a boyfriend or just some guy she was hooking up with but still, it was fucked up. I could feel her behind me, in that awkward state of mind where she was contemplating whether or not to walk over to me. She just needed to back off. But I wanted her to come over and say something, anything to explain it.
Then without thinking I looked up to see her enemy standing with my friend Needy. Jennifer Check. She was walking down the hallway and I jumped in front of them.
"Hey Jennifer?" I asked, seeing Emily in the corner of my eye.
"What?"
I then proceeded to ask her to go see The Rocky Horror Picture Show with me and she turned me town. Embarassed, I sighed and walked away.
"Hey!" I heard Jennifer call back.
"Yeah?"
"Why don't you come to my place tonight. I just got this new movie Aquamarine. It's about a girl whose half sushi. She must have to have sex through her blowhole or something. Ill text you my address."
"Sounds good," I answered. What the hell have I gotten myself into?
Chapter one
"Emily, I really need you to take this one tonight," my teammate Ryan told me as he pushed his long black hair from his eyes after I begged one more time for him to let me have a night off, still pissed from school today.
I sighed dramatically.
"What's more important than your job that you need a night off for?" he snapped.
"Is the third killing for this one?" I changed the subject, not wanting him to know that I was mad about some guy who I would probably never see again.
"Yeah," he said. "She's taking another victim from the school you've been at."
Ryan and I are a part of a small team of demon hunters. All of us were cursed before we were born because one of our parents was a demon. We were gifted in different ways and all have superhuman abilities. Ryan, the leader of the group, had found me when I was young, took me from my possessed mother, and taught me about how I can use my abilities to help release people like my mother from their inner demon.
I had been staying as a student undercover in a small crappy town called Devils Kettle to learn more about the newly possessed girl we heard of. As soon as we saw the news report describing the first murder, a jock High school boy, we knew exactly what it was. Later on, we tracked down another body that the girl halfway consumed.
"Where is she meeting with him?" I asked, grabbing my black skinny jeans and changing behind Ryan as he sat staring at his computer screen blankly. The apartment that we had been staying at was small and only consisted of a bedroom and living room with a kitchen. We were sitting in the bedroom, Ryan on his laptop and me pacing around as he read various news reports to me.
"I had Casey hack onto the cell phone history before and we got an address she sent to his phone. It's 2239 Hillside ave. It's the last house and looks pretty beat up, abandoned, and in an old lot. It caught on fire a few years ago so you should be able to tell which one it is," he scratched his head, sending his wild black hair all over the place.
I sighed and changed my shirt into a tight black tank top and black army boots. Finally I slid a foot long metal stake into a holder I had on my waist. After I brushed out my bronze hair which had tons of chunky blonde highlights in it that reached my chest, I pushed my side bangs out of my eyes and walked over to Ryan.
"Here Buffy," he joked and handed me a small hand gun. "Don't forget this."
I gave him a mocking laugh and hooked the gun in its holder on my other hip. "I'm gonna bounce. Where is the rest of the team?"
"They all went to check out the girls house while she's out."
"So they leave me to take on the girl by myself?" I laughed, playing with a giant AK-47 which was laying on the computer desk.
"You're second in command Em," he glowered. "You know you can do it."
"Calm down, I was kidding." I messed up my best friends hair and walked to the door. "If I die, tell Casey that she's taking care of you."
"You've done this a million times, don't be a moron."
"Fucking rules." I mumbled to myself as I walked the mile to the site. There were rules to doing what we do. Discreetness being one of them. This means that I can't take a car to the site, and I had to walk.
I looked up at a giant eerie looking house and sighed, "What a cliché."
The house was the perfect flesh-eating succubus residing setting, it was burnt looking, in an empty fenced in area, and there were busted out windows, rats, bats, and other vermin.
I climbed up the front steps then touched the front door, it wouldn't matter if I came in and they were right there, as long as I get to them before the possessed girl….ugh.
I pushed on the door to find it was locked, surprise there. Instead of causing a scene (which I normally did, to much of Ryan's abhor) I decided to go around back and climb up through a window like a good little demon hunter would.
After I climbed up the side of the building without a problem, I jumped through a window which was once covered in plastic and looked like it had been broken through. Gracefully landing on my feet inside the house, I closed my eyes and held my breath. I heard a familiar song playing a few rooms over.
The only thing other than the music that I could hear was my breathing and a soft seductive girls voice speaking. I crouched down and touched one hand to the ground. In my mind I saw an image of a boy standing in a room with fire surrounding him. No not fire, candles. I was looking through the demons eyes.
That was my gift.
His face was frightened but unsure. He was backing up slowly and then I felt myself snap back into my body.
I drew my gun out and walked down the hall silently but as quickly as I could while not making any noise.
"No way," I heard the boy breathe from inside the room.
She was letting the demon consume her mind, I could feel it's presence more than before.
Before she attacked, I kicked down the door and shot at her left knee, making her crumple to the ground. The guy screamed and backed up.
"It's ok, I'm here to help you," I quickly informed him before I jumped over the girl who was screeching on the ground, giant fangs baring towards me. The metal stake was burning a hole in it's holster so I took it out and held it at my side. She knew what it was immediately and backed up on the ground so her back was to a wall near the window.
Before I could reach her she leapt out the window and disappeared.
I growled to myself and put the metal stake away, "Mother fucker."
Suddenly there was a crash behind me. I turned to see Colin on the ground with a broken CD player in front of him. He was gasping and staring up at me with eyes larger than saucers.
Just then it hit me, Colin Gray. The guy who I was going to break the rules for. Another rule is no dating. And I was going to go out with him tonight but Ryan said he needed me to work. I was going to blow off Ryan's orders but then Colin told me he was busy.
"Colin?" I asked, inching towards him, my eyes as wide as his.
He backed up swiftly, his legs scrambling beneath him.
"You're gonna hurt yourself," I sighed. "I'm not gonna hurt you. What Jennifer just did, that wasn't her. She's possessed by a demon. And I'm….supposed to make sure people like her can't do what she was gonna do to you."
"A demon hunter?" he asked, relaxing slightly.
I bit my lip and sat down next to him, "Yeah."
We sat in silence except for the sound of his heavy breathing.
"Are you alright?"
He nodded, "Can we get out of here?"
I stood up and he stayed on the ground. Extending my hand, he took it and stood up, showing he was at least three inches taller than me.
Quickly, I took my hand back and he swallowed hard. We walked down the stairs, he was close behind me. Close enough that his foot kicked under mine and I would have tripped if I wasn't what I was. My footing was perfect a few steps down and I turned to glare at him.
"Sorry," he mumbled and I smirked.
"It's fine Colin, you just got attacked by a demon possessed teenage girl."
I took his hand and held him closer so he wouldn't be as scared, "I'm here to protect you."
"Why didn't you save Jonas?" he asked as we reached his car.
"We didn't know that there was a demon here until his story got aired on the news. Then we knew the signs, how he was ripped open and his organs were missing. So we came here and I went to Devil's Kettle High school, knowing that the person who was possessed was probably a teenager. I saw you talking to her in school and then she asked to meet with you. So we looked through her texting history and got this address. The rest of my team is at her house," I explained.
"She was going to…do that to m-
"Fuck!" I cut him off and whipped out my phone from one of the holsters on the belt around my waist.
"Casey?" I asked when my teammate picked up her phone, I put it on speaker so I could reload my gun.
"What's up? Did you get the kid out?"
"Yeah, he's with me now. He's ok. I tried killing her but she jumped out the window and I wasn't going to leave him up there. I think she may attack again tonight because she was fully possessed when she ran out," I quickly said, nervous she may return home to jump my friends.
"You think shell come home?" Casey asked, I could hear a door shut in the background and I knew someone went to stand guard outside.
"I don't know. She's been going to that girl Needy's house a lot, almost every night. She never showed any sign that she would hurt her so I didn't make any moves. I want you to tell Mike to go check out the house with you and Harlow just to make sure the friend is ok and to follow Jennifer if she leaves."
"Ok boss," Casey said.
"Call Ryan and tell him what's going on and you know to keep us posted."
I hung up the phone and put it away then looked back up at Colin.
"You need to come with me to my teams house, she may try to hunt again tonight which is a big possibility and since she already put a mark on you I don't want to risk leaving you vulnerable."
"Vulnerable, right," his voice raised a few octaves.
I began to walk away and he didn't follow, "Well?"
"Uh…we can take my car."
I thought for a moment and decided I would deal with Ryan's complaining of my rule breaking later. "Right, can I drive?"
"Sure, I don't think I should drive right now anyway," he choked out and handed me a set of keys with a Jack Skeleton keychain and a small switchblade on it.
Just when we climbed into his car my phone rang again and I was about to pick it up but Colin grabbed my hand, "Can you put it on speaker again? I want to know what's going on."
"Sure," I stuttered, he didn't let go of my hand.
"He-hello?" I asked into the phone.
"Hey Em," Ryan greeted. "Are you on your way back yet?"
"We were just leaving," I answered still distracted by Colin's hand over mine.
"Don't come back to the apartment just yet. Why don't you two go to the dock near that lake we checked out the other day? She won't go back to a past hunting ground."
"Alright. How's Casey, Mike, and Harlow?" I asked.
"They're good, Casey told me everything that happened. Why didn't you follow her," Ryan asked, sounding slightly angry.
"I couldn't leave Colin there," I snapped.
"Since when do you care about the victim?" he retorted.
"Ryan I'm just doing my job."
"Your job is to hunt and kill possessed-
I cut him off, "I need to go."
He sighed then said, "Don't get emotionally involved. You know how easily we lose victims."
"Ryan," I growled. "You need to shut up."
"Emily you're like my little sister, you know I love you and I don't want you to get hurt."
"Bye."
I hung up the phone and let out an aggravated sigh. Colin's hand was limp over mine, his breathing was staggering again.
"I'm going to die?" he asked, staring at his knees.
"No," I jumped up and pushed his face so he was looking at me. "You're not. I told you I would protect you."
His giant blue eyes stared into mine for a few seconds before I relaxed my hand on his cheek and let it fall in between us.
"Ryan's your boyfriend?" he asked suddenly.
I snorted, "Ryan? Hell no! He's practically my brother."
He sighed, "Oh…listen about today with me randomly telling you I couldn't go out…"
"Whatever," I started the car and began to drive to the docks. "I get it, Jennifer is the beautiful, popular girl. I totally get it."
"No!" he jumped a little. "That's exactly it. I hate that about her."
"Popularity and beauty?"
"No," he seemed distressed. "She's fake beautiful. She isn't popular either. People don't actually like her. Popularity is such a cliché. What makes her popular? Is popularity not being loved by everyone? Who is Jennifer loved by? She is a backstabber and will do anything to help herself."
"In thy face I see honor, truth and loyalty," I said aloud without realizing.
"That's Shakespeare," he mumbled.
I felt my face turn red, "Yeah."
"But you're right. She shows no truth, honor, or loyalty."
I glanced over at him for a moment, "Are you scared right now? Of me."
"I have, indeed, no abhorrence of danger, except in its absolute effect - in terror," he recited.
"That was Edgar Allen Poe," I smiled to myself.
He smiled back and I felt his eyes on me, "Yes."
"So you're not afraid of danger unless it's scaring you."
"Exactly right," he nodded. "And right now, I feel safest around you even though you are slightly dangerous."
I pulled into the side dirt road to get to the dock, "Me? Danger?"
"Em," he sighed. "You just fought off a demon from eating me after she rips me inside out. I think you're not afraid to stand in the face of danger and say, fuck off."
I laughed, "I assume so."
"You know," he began as I pulled to a stop. "that was the first time I've ever heard you laugh before."
I shrugged, "I just don't like to talk to people at school."
We both stepped out of the car and walked to the edge of the dock, "Whys that?"
"It's hard," I began. "With my job that is. We move around a lot. I'm the youngest so I go to stay undercover in the high schools when we are dealing with them. Then if I talk to people normally they notice how I have to mysteriously disappear for a while then come back and then disappear all together. To be honest this is the most human interaction I've had outside of my group in years."
"Can you get into trouble for telling me all of this?" he asked, sitting down. I sat beside him and let my legs hang off the edge of the dock. His arm was close to mine, brushing up against it every time I swung my legs back.
I shrugged, "Doesn't really matter. Ryan is first in command and i'm in second. So I pretty much do what I want within limits."
"How are you second in command if you're youngest? By the way how old are you really?"
"Nineteen and because I am the most experienced."
"Oh," he sighed. "I was hoping you weren't actually like thirty or something."
I laughed a little, "Do I look thirty to you?"
"No," his intense gaze forced me to look away. "Sorry if i'm asking so many questions."
"It's fine. I told you I don't get out much, this is nice."
"Want me to keep going?" he teased.
"Unless it's my turn for the questions," I poked his arm.
"What could you possibly want to know about me? I'm a gothic outcast at a small-town high school who writes poetry and listens to metal. You on the other hand are a gorgeous world traveling demon hunter who attacks possessed flesh eaters as a daily task then rescues said gothic outcast small-town boy."
"I'm not that great," I rolled my eyes. "I have horrible social skills, I have horrible morning breath, and I have never been on an actual date before."
"How?" his face twitched.
I shrugged, "I told you, I don't get out much. And I don't talk to that many people."
"I asked you out," he prodded.
"Then two seconds later made up some excuse to go and ask out a demon hooker," I ribbed.
"I did that because I thought you had a boyfriend. I saw a text message you got from that Ryan guy that said I need you tonight," he looked embarrassed.
I burst out laughing and had to lean on his shoulder for support. Soon enough he was laughing with me.
"Oh my god! Yeah, he needed me to stop the girl you ditched me for from eating another guys intestines out which turned out to be you," I cracked up.
"Small world," he muttered and we both began laughing again.
"I remember," I laid back on the dock. "A while ago you wrote a poem about the perfect girl."
"Kissing Perfection," he laid back next to me on his stomach.
"It was about a girl who you went out with and turned out to be a vampire then drank all your blood and killed you," I glanced at him. "Seems like you found your perfect match with Jennifer."
"Or maybe I meant I found the girl who understands me, the vampire part, and drank all my blood and killed me, as in she made everything else around me irrelevant so that my life was all about her."
I chewed on my lip, "But you said 'she tears me limb from limb. My soul bearing for all to see'."
"You actually remembered that?" he breathed.
"I uh…yeah."
"I meant she makes me need her, like she took all my limbs off so I need to depend on her. Like a drug. My soul bearing for all to see…it's obvious how I feel about her," he explained.
I stared into his bright blue eyes for a while before I felt my eyes twich.
"Oh my god," he choked.
"No," I grabbed his hand. "I'm not like her. That just happens when I feel an extreme emotion or something. Jennifer did it because she felt that extreme adrenaline rush."
"You're like her?" he was getting ready to back up.
I sighed, "Please don't be scared. I told you i'm going to protect you. Just let me explain."
He took a few deep breaths, "What? What are you?"
I growled a little, getting pissed off. I moved closer to him and held his face close to mine, "Calm down. You're going to hurt yourself again."
After a few moments his breathing regulated and I let go of him, staying close.
"I'm part demon. But not like her. My mom was a demon and she killed my dad right after he got her pregnant. Then she had me and Ryan found me eventually. But I wasn't 100% like her so I knew what she was doing was wrong. I still have the abilities like a demon would, the 'super senses' if you may. I can run faster than humans, I'm stronger and other things like that. The eyes are just a thing which normally happens before they hunt, but it happens for half bloods all the time because we can feel other emotions unlike them. For them it's either neutral or possessed."
"Do you eat people too?"
"No," I shook my head. "And half bloods can change other people to be like us, unlike the demons who change people and they just become full fledged possessed."
"You can make people like you? Have you ever?"
"Ryan changed this one girl one time but it ended up killing her. I never tried it," I thought back on the girl whose life he tried to save a few years ago. She got attacked by a demon who we were hunting and she was bitten but she was too weak to be able to change.
He stared at me for a few moments, "Why did your eyes do that?"
I felt my eyes widen, "I don't know."
"You felt an extreme emotion?"
"I guess I did." I gnawed down on my lip and avoided his eyes, staring out into the water.
He leaned over and somewhat nuzzled my neck, breathing in my hair. His lips brushed against my bare skin and he kissed my collarbone softly.
I squeezed my eyes shut, knowing they were twisting to their cat like shape at the moment.
"Open your eyes," he commanded, face centimeters from mine.
"No," I pleaded. "This isn't fair."
He touched his nose to mine, "Let me enjoy your beauty, please?"
"My what?" I asked, opening my eyes.
He put his hand to my cheek, "Amazing. You're the definition of perfection."
"You're the definition of crazy," I rolled my eyes.
He brushed his thumb over my bottom lip, "You're the definition of ignorant."
"Ign-ignorent?" I stuttered as he pulled his face closer our breath twisting together.
"Of your own perfection," the side of his nose was touching my own.
"You're the definition of insane," I breathed.
"You're the definition of Kissing perfection," he said as he touched his lips to mine.