Chapter 1: House of Horrors
Jared took off his headphones as he walked through the airport doors, hitching up his sunglasses to his forehead and breathing in the sweet smell of the summer air. It was the first day of the summer holidays and Jared had convinced his parents to let him come to sunny California to spend the entire three months. After much debate with his parents, they had finally succumbed and helped Jared secure an apartment near the coast for the whole time and even gotten him a camera to take photos of his trip with. Jared had always wanted to come to California for the summer; to bask in the sun, to swim in the warm waters, but most of all, to watch the surfers.
Jared had had an intense interest in surfing since he first saw a surf competition five years prior, but was never able to take classes or try his hand at it. Coming from a small town in Texas didn't help either, but Jared had never given up his dream. He was sure that he would get to see the surfers strut their stuff on the beaches that thousands of people flocked to year after year, and that was exactly where he intended to spend most of his time anyway.
He hailed a cab down and after giving the driver the address of the place he was supposed to be staying in, he allowed himself some shut, but it seemed like only minutes before the driver was shaking him awake, telling him that he had arrived. As Jared got out from the cab, he found himself on the road parallel to a beautiful strip of beach. Turning around to the place he was supposed to be staying at, he was surprised to see a tattoo parlor instead. Looking at the cab driver with a confused expression, Jared took out the piece of paper he had scribbled the address on and showed it to the driver.
"This is where I'm supposed to be at," he said and the cab driver pointed to the shop. "And that's where you're at, bub," he said and deposited Jared's bags onto the sidewalk. Jared was sure that something was wrong, but the cab driver insisted that this was the place. "Hey," he said as he wound down the window and looked at a very exasperated Jared, "You told me the address and I brought you here, Mr. Just go in and ask, huh?" With that, he drove off, leaving Jared standing at the sidewalk, paper in hand and bags next to him. Slowly he turned around and looked at the shop with his father's words ringing in his mind. Don't you dare get into any trouble young man, his father had said and here was Jared, very much in trouble.
Finally, he pushed open the door of the tattoo parlor and was greeted by a woman that Jared would have called mildly breathtaking. She had black hair, streaked with white, wore thick eyeliner artistically swirled at the ends and had the most interesting tattoo's that Jared had ever seen; and she was absolutely gorgeous. Jared wondered how she could still be so attractive even with all the ink and make-up, but he decided it was her charisma that was so enticing. "Hey there, Shaggy," she said and smirked a lopsided smile that Jared found amusing. "Hi," he said suddenly feeling a little self conscious, "I uh… think I got the wrong address," he said and looked at the paper but it was taken from him but black nails with neon red lines painted into them. "I'll judge that, Hotshot," she said and looked at the paper before looking back at Jared and smirking even wider. "So you're Jared," she said and Jared was taken aback. "Y-Yeah," he said, "How d-" "How did I know, Shaggy?" she cut in and chuckled, "You ARE staying at my little house of horror's for the summer aren't you?" she said and Jared's blood ran cold. He was supposed to stay in the tattoo parlor?
Jared looked around trying to find a place that might have even suggested a place to stay when he heard a throaty laugh coming from the lady, "Please, do you think I'm really gonna let you stay in my creative space?" she said and nudged her head to the back of the shop, "C'mon Shaggy. Oh and by the way, I'm Victoria."
Victoria led Jared to the back of the shop and up a flight of stairs to a door. She unlocked it and Jared was amazed at what he found. The apartment that stood before him was exactly the way he had pictured it, save a few small surprises. It was a spacious area with a kitchen to the left and what looked like two bedroom's to the right. There was a huge U-shaped couch in front of a plasma TV, but what intrigued Jared were the walls of the apartment. They were covered in beautiful pieces of art, ranging from koi fish to girls with flowers for eyes.
"Woah," Jared said softly and Victoria beamed. "Glad you like them, Shaggy," she said and walked in. when she realized Jared wasn't following her, she turned around and raised an eyebrow. "What, too good for my apartment, Hotshot?" she asked and Jared quickly apologized and went in. He found that not only was this Victoria's apartment, but that he would be staying with her. "Don't sweat it, Shaggy," she purred, going up to Jared and running her nails halfway down his shirt, "You're too clean for me anyway." She left him to unpack in his room and Jared had just sat on the bed when he heard a knock on the door. "Dinner at 8, Shaggy," he heard Victoria say and before he could respond, he heard her walking away.
Jared unpacked his clothes and put them in the drawers that were there and flopped onto the bed. It was soft and the sheets smelled heavenly and Jared couldn't help but snuggle in a little before he remembered that he had to make a very important call. He sat up and dialed his home and had to sit there for the next hour talking to his parents, assuring them that he had not been robbed, drugged, killed or kidnapped. After the phone call, he decided that he would take a shower before dinner and as he stepped under the cool shower, he felt himself relax and savored the feeling.
When he stepped out of the bathroom, he was horrified to see Victoria standing there and thanked god that he was wearing a towel. "My, my, my, Jared," she said, eyes trailing up and down his chest and stomach, "Aren't we just a Roman statue." Jared blushed so deeply that Victoria was reduced to a laughing fit and when she was done, she wiped away a tear and shook her head. "You blush too easily, Shaggy," she said and Jared's lips thinned. "You just embarrass me," he said and Victoria's eyebrows lifted as she smiled. "You're just easy," she said and pointed a thumb to the direction of the kitchen, "Dinner's on, okay," she said and walked out, shaking her head ad chuckling.
Jared quickly changed and joined Victoria at the kitchen. There was a smell of pasta wafting from a pot on the stove and Victoria pointed to a seat on the island counter that was there. She served to giant plates of pasta and Jared realized how hungry he was, but forced himself to eat slowly. "That was amazing, Victoria," Jared said as he sighed happily with a full stomach. Victoria smiled genuinely and took his plate, "Glad you liked it, Shaggy," she said and Jared's lips thinned a little.
"Hey, Victoria, why do you call me Shaggy?" he asked and Victoria smirked and wiped her hands before she sat across from him again. "It's cause of your hair, Brainiac," she said and ruffled his hair a little. Jared smiled and joked, "Call I call you Streak then?" he asked and Victoria actually seemed to think about it for a moment. Jared was about to say she was joking, but she laughed. "I like it actually. Streak it is." They joked about things for a while, and ended up on the couch, finding out more about each other. Jared found that Victoria had a Master's in Arts but loved tattooing more than anything else. He found out that she was a singer in a band that played regular gigs in the different café's that lined the strip. Jared somehow knew that Streak and him were going to be good friends.
They finally said goodnight at around 3A.M, Victoria telling Jared that she needed to open shop the next day. As Jared laid in bed, he realized that something somewhere, some work of the universe had brought him to Victoria's house of horrors. He just didn't know what it was yet.
Halfway down the block, Jensen looked out at the dark waters, moon reflected on the surface of the ocean and sighed before taking a long drink of beer from the can he held.